Tim Needles: I Begin Each Page With An Open Mind

I’ve lived most of my life attached to a sketchbook.  As an artist and writer I’ve found my creative process has evolved over the years but it nearly always begins in the book.  I have a closet full of sketchbooks from the last 20 years.  I’ve digitized a few pages from a selection of books and posted a few on my website but for the most part these pages are for me and are generally only seen by my art students, a few select friends and acquaintances.  As an artist I feel that these books may represent the most pure artistic creations I’ve made and are some of my greatest successes as an artist.  The irony is that these books are rarely seen and have no audience.

I like thicker, heavy paper so I use Canson sketchbooks and keep a few pieces of scrap paper underneath a page as I work on it for notes and to prevent bleeding.  I also use smaller Moleskin watercolor sketchbooks for when I travel or when I’m temporarily between books.  I often complete the 108 pages in under a month but in general I use a book between 1-3 months.  I also will film my creative process in creating work with short videos and share it via social media.

I write, draw, take notes, and paint in my book daily and I’ve been working in them so long my process itself has become something of a meditation.  I’ll write down and sketch out ideas, paint over it, glue, layer, collage, and see what happens.  I use words and images but the two often meld together and I let the work choose it’s own direction.  I often begin without any set idea or intention by putting a pen or brush to the page.  I’ve become confident in this practice that once may have caused doubt or fear.

I work each page until I feel satisfied, whether it’s complete or not.  The more I work the less I try to control the process.  I begin each page with an open mind and no idea of what I’m going to do.  Over the years I’ve noticed certain trends and I understand that my work has some fluidity but I try to push it further and innovate.Most of all I create for myself. As an artist I try to be authentic, in the moment, and enjoy the process of making art.

I also participated in the sketchbook project last year and that book which was focused on creating portraits each day throughout the month of October is available to view online.  The video below shows the process of creating one of the pages.  The project asks artist and writers to create a sketchbook with a theme that can be shared online and housed in their headquarters at the Brooklyn Art Library in Williamsburg, NY.  You can learn more about it here at The Sketchbook Project.

My philosophy is that every day is another opportunity to be creative.  I began drawing and writing for myself and that is what I try to do each day.  I think creating art in any form is a wonderful thing.  As an educator I encourage everyone to create and find what gives you a sense of meaning and let it be a beacon in your work.  Don’t worry about your audience, create first for yourself.  The most important advice I give to my students is simply to work, regularly and diligently- each day if possible, it is the only universal secret to success.

Creative Challenge: Use this image from my sketchbook as a writing or art prompt. If you want to share it via social media add the hashtag #terpart which I use for my annual month of creative challenges.  This is an ongoing challenge, so you may share at any time.

Tim Needles is an artist, writer, performer, and educator from Port Jefferson, NY.  He has been teaching art and media at Smithtown School District in NY for 17 years as well as working as an Adobe Education Leader, a PBS digital innovator, an educational consultant for The Japan Society, and as an adjunct college professor.  His work has been featured on NPR as well as in The New York Times, the Columbus Museum of Art, SVA Gallery, the Talks With Teachers podcast, and LitReactor.  He is also the recipient of the National Art Educators Association AET Outstanding Teaching award and the Robert Rauschenberg Power of Art award at the National Gallery of Art.  He is active on social media guest hosting education chats and sharing his thoughts on arts and education-you can find him at TimNeedlesArt on Facebook or @timneedles on Twitter and Instagram. You can view a few pages and covers of some of Tim's sketchbooks at his website, Tim Needles.

Sharing Our Notebooks is offering a giveaway of a book Tim recommends - SHOW YOUR WORK! by Austin Kleon - for a reader of this post.  Please leave a comment by Sunday, November 20 to be entered into this random drawing.  Please be sure to leave a way to contact you in your comment as well.

Available at Your Local Book Shop

Please know that Sharing Our Notebooks welcomes all kinds of notebook keepers - of any age and interest - to open up their pages and share their process.  At the present time, I am accepting all notebook entries and am especially hoping to receive some entries from boys and men who keep any kind of notebooks.  If you are interested in writing in this space, please contact me, Amy, directly.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Melissa Stewart: My Most Critical Writing Tool

I began my first nature notebook in 1989, while taking an ecology class in college. Initially, I used it to record observations I made during field trips we took as part of the class. I still have that notebook, and I sometimes refer back to it for information as well as inspiration.

My professor recommended that we purchase a specific brand of notebook and waterproof pen. He told us to keep the notebook in a plastic bag, so it wouldn’t get wet, and suggested that we keep a small ruler in an envelope secured to the inside front cover. Of course, I followed all his recommendations, but over time, I’ve developed my own persnickety notebook habits.

For many years, I only pulled out my notebooks when I went hiking or explored natural areas near my home. But in 1996, I began a special notebook, a travel log, when I went on safari in Africa. After that, I kept a special notebook for each major trip I took—the Galapagos Islands, the Costa Rican rainforest, the coral reefs off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Hawaii, the Florida Everglades. Those travel logs now reside in special folders inside a giant file cabinet in my office, and I pull material from one or more of them for almost every book I write.

When I became a fulltime freelance writer in 2000, an account advised me to keep records of how I spent my days to use as evidence if I was ever audited by the IRS.

At first, each entry was just a brief listing of projects I worked on each day.

But soon they evolved into much more. Today they are a hodgepodge of everything from lists of books I want to read to research notes to snippets of poetry.

They include sketches and observations, lists of title ideas, and thoughts about how to structure manuscripts in progress. 

My notebooks might seem like a cluttered mess to someone else, but not to me. By keeping all kinds of thoughts and ideas together in one place, I always seem to be able to go back and find what I need when I need it. 

I never go anywhere without my notebook, and I can’t imagine my life without it. It’s my most critical writing tool.

One thing I like to do in my notebook when I’m out exploring is make quick lists of observations. I write down anything that makes an impression on me, and then I try to use the observations to write a haiku. 

During a recent week-long residency at Wealthy School in East Grand Rapids, MI, I accompanied a group of students in grades 3-5 to a local wetland. I was intrigued by three female mallard ducks furiously feeding, probably because they wanted to fatten up before migrating. 

One student said, “It looks like their heads are vibrating.” What a great comment! That was all the inspiration I needed to start writing.

Here are the notes I took:

You can see I used pencil because I wanted to be able to erase. Based on those notes, here’s the first haiku I wrote:

Three female ducks
shaking, quaking, vibrating,
furiously feeding.

I wasn’t totally satisfied with that, so I left some blank space in my notebook. I thought I might give it another try later. 

Sure enough, while I was eating dinner, I had an idea. I realized that if I showed a photo I had taken of the ducks along with the haiku, I could use my words more wisely. 

Thanks to the photo, I didn’t need the first line of the haiku at all. Readers could see the three mallard ducks I was writing about. That allowed me to include some information about the setting.

Here is my revision:

Three vibrating heads

in a shallow wetland,

furiously feeding.

What do you think? Which version do you like better?

Melissa Stewart is the author of more than 150 science books for children, including FEATHERS: NOT JUST FOR FLYING (Charlesbridge, 2014, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen), an ALA Notable and winner of the Cybils Award for Nonfiction and the Nerdy Book Club Award for Nonfiction. She is the co-author (with Nancy Chelsey) of PERFECT PAIRS: USING FICTION AND NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS TO TEACH LIFE SCIENCE, K-2 (Stenhouse, 2014). To learn more about Melissa and her work, please visit her website. 

I am very grateful to National Geographic, one of Melissa's publishers, for offering a giveaway of these three wonderful nonfiction books - SNAKES, DEADLIEST ANIMALS, and METEORS - to one lucky commenting winner! Please leave your comment by Sunday, January 31 to be entered into the drawing.  

As winners have sometimes not claimed their books, I would like to remind you that I will announce this month's winner in this space on January 31, and I will also make announcements at my Twitter page and at The Poem Farm Facebook page. Please consider following either of those pages if you would like to receive such updates.

Please know that Sharing Our Notebooks welcomes all kinds of notebook keepers - of any age and interest - to open up their pages and share process.  If you are interested in writing in this space, please contact me, Amy, directly.

Please share a comment below if you wish.