Weekend Reading for Moleskine Lovers

I have to admit it, after some initial hesitation, I'm a Moleskine convert. When visiting Melbourne last week, I made a beeline for Pen City so I could stock up on my favorites. I love the squared notebook for writing notes and ideas in. I bought a watercolor notebook to try out. Pen City still stock the perforated ones - I gather these are being replaced by non-perforated pages which maintain a more Moleskine-like integrity. But now I need one of these intriguing Handmade Moleskine Bookmarks.
So with my newfound enthusiasm for the little black book, I thought I'd ferret out some weekend reading for Moleskine lovers!

Russell Stutler has a detailed article covering the use of sketching media in several Moleskine notebooks, titled logically enough, Sketching With a Moleskine. And check out his wonderful sketch boxes. Artist and illustrator Sarah Wimperis includes a gallery of Moleskine watercolour sketches on her blog, "Muddy Red Sketchbook. It's really lovely work, mostly of garden and nature subjects.

'Hiking Artist' is the blog of Frits Ahlefeldt, and includes many colorful sketches; my favorite is the lively, gestural elephant drawing at the bottom of the page. I love architectural drawing, ink, and color, and all three meet in a particularly successful fashion in the Moleskine sketchbooks of Judith Nijholt-Strong. Judith is an American living in the Netherlands, so travel and regional architecture feature strongly in her sketchbooks.

For an eclectic assortment showing every possible approach to drawing and journalling in a sketchbook, you probably can't go past Smashing Magazine's Beautiful Examples of Moleskine Art

If the simple black cover looks a little too bland and businesslike for your taste, check out these altered Moleskines and don't miss these sublime altered cahier journals and collaged cahiers. Oh they are all so gorgeous. I'll have to get some of the little brown cahier Moleskines now!

I love this - a fantastic drawing project you could do over a month: portraits with quotes on facing pages. I love this idea from art teacher Andrew Wales. A series of sketches and quotes in a small cahier would make a wonderful, personal gift.

That's all folks! Oh and don't forget to read my previous blog entry on Moleskine with tips and hacks.