Starting a New Sketchbook with Botanical Art
This week, I share how I am starting a new sketchbook!
Eged’s silverweed (meriketohanhikki in Finnish)
Starting the Dingbats Pro Green Beetle Notebook
For a long time, I’ve been looking for a sketchbook that works well with both pens and watercolors. I’ve used Fabriano’s thick (200 gsm) Accademia drawing paper for individual drawings for years. But now that I’m gathering material for a new painting series, I really wanted to create my work in a book instead of keeping loose sheets in a folder. Flipping through a book’s pages just feels so much nicer than turning plastic sleeves in a binder.
I noticed that a Finnish stationery shop, Vihkokauppa, had added the Dingbats Pro Green Beetle Notebook to their range. The product description said that the maker spent a long time developing the paper to make it suitable for watercolors. I don’t live near the shop, so I took a chance and ordered it online.
I was lucky. Based on the experience so far, the paper is truly great! It’s thin enough (160 gsm) so the notebook doesn’t feel bulky, but thick enough to hold water. The pages are wonderfully smooth and work great with fineliners and colored pencils. Because of its size (B5), it’s also a good fit for my new course, Drawing Soulfully, if you prefer to do your course drawings in a book.
Moving Away from Procrastination
I have a few topics I want to explore before starting my next series of big paintings. I have a short list, and I’ll share my ideas in future blog posts. These are mostly things I have wanted to explore more deeply for quite some time, but have procrastinated on for some reason. It’s time to stop that procrastination! Building the new course, Drawing Soulfully, has given me a lot of energy for that, and I hope that the course will inspire you too!
One of the topics on my list is plants. The exact species doesn’t matter, though of course I prefer to see the plant with my own eyes first. Plants have such interesting shapes and details that I want to add to my artistic repertoire. So now, when I was starting a new sketchbook, my first project was to pick a plant and draw it.
I took a few photos of a cute yellow-flowered plant during a little getaway in June, and later identified it at home. The silverweed made it as the very first entry in my new sketchbook!
I started the drawing without any pencil sketching, going straight in with watercolors. For the main flower, I followed one of my photos quite closely, but after that, I let go and worked more freely.
I think the soft feel of watercolors and the precision of fineliners go together so well. I just love drawing with thin pens.
Using only a little water with thin brushes makes me feel like I am a decorative painter in the 18th or 19th century! I also made some notes about the plant on the opposite page.
Having the black-and-white parts on the page didn’t bother me at all, so I actually thought about leaving the page like that—half black-and-white.
The next day, however, I decided to color in the black-and-white parts with colored pencils to bring more life and atmosphere into the drawing. It didn’t even take long, since the drawing itself and part of the coloring were already done.
Starting a New Notebook – Watch the Video!
I recorded a few short videos while working. In the video below, you can see the notebook and how the first page came together. You’ll also see the watercolor swatch grid I made at the front of the book.
Even if the starting point is botanical, the finished drawing can be expressive rather than stiff. I hope all of this inspires you to draw more, and maybe you are starting a new sketchbook/art journal too!
For the Love of Drawing
Don’t forget to sign up for the new course Drawing Soulfully! In the short video below, I talk a bit more about the love for drawing and what the course is all about.
Drawing Soulfully – Sign Up Now!
In Drawing Soulfully, we work with and without photos but always with a creative approach.
Drawing Soulfully begins on August 25, 2026. >> Sign Up Now!
From Drawing to Style
I know there are plenty of art courses out there advertised with slogans like “find your style” or “discover your inner artist.” To be honest, those sound like pretty big words to me. Maybe it’s because we Finns tend to be quite modest—and sometimes so brutally honest it makes you want to shake us a little!
But as I started creating my new course, Drawing Soulfully, I wanted to raise the bar. After so many years of teaching, making art, and deeply exploring artistic thinking, I wanted to gather my insights for developing your own style. And not just share theoretical ideas, but show you in practice how drawing forms the core of visual expression.
Even though my main works are paintings, I developed my style through drawing. I kind of threw myself into a free fall guided only by the hand-drawn line—and survived it so that my inner world came out onto the paper. For that, I’m forever grateful to my line. I deeply believe that by awakening your line and giving it a soul, you can unlock your unique artistic style. And once you find that style, you can use it in any visual art, not just drawing.
Style Isn’t a Fixed Destination
Style is a journey. In the beginning, we all walk the same path together, and slowly, we start to branch off. The fundamentals are the same for everyone, but how we apply them comes down to subtle choices, tones, and personal emphasis. That’s why I like to teach the principles first, and then show examples of how you can adapt and play with them. In Drawing Soulfully, techniques are just tools, not the final goal.
One of the hardest things in teaching art is artistic expression. I think that’s why so many art courses focus purely on technique. But to me, that feels like hopping on one leg. Can you even have true style without expression? In Drawing Soulfully, both are included.
Some projects are black and white, some colored. You will need black fineliner pens and your favorite coloring supplies. The examples are in watercolor, and some also use colored pencils.
The early-bird sale of Drawing Soulfully ends on July 26, 2026, at midnight PDT. Sign up now!
Let’s crown this year with a passion for drawing!
Finding Your Soulful Line
This week, I am excited to talk about the soulful line and share thoughts behind the new course Drawing Soulfully. This blog post can be watched as a video here!
We want to achieve something grand with art, but in reality, art begins with something so small it almost goes unnoticed. Art begins with a line. Style begins with a line. Bringing soul to paper begins with a line. When we say we can’t draw, it means we haven’t become friends with our line.
At first, a line can be clumsy and closed off. But when it opens up, and a connection is found, drawing becomes a channel for our creativity. Even when we draw every day, we don’t have to draw just everyday life, but we can also escape it by drawing. We can draw more than we dare to dream, because on paper, even the impossible is possible.
That is why art can’t be born only in your head; it is born when you create. Through the pen, you see further. Your soulful line connects you with art, making you understand your taste, your style, and as it all develops, a new world is born. Your art is born.
From Living Line to Soulful Line
For a long time, I have wanted to create a comprehensive course on drawing. In the past, I have had courses like that — Inspirational Drawing and its successor, Inspirational Drawing 2.0. Those courses were retired quite some time ago, and over the years, I have discovered new ideas and concepts that weren’t included in them. However, the core philosophy (which also forms the foundation of my own artistry) remains the same: in art, the line is the beginning of everything, the seed of expression from which everything else grows.
I decided to make the new course and name it Drawing Soulfully.
I have talked a lot about the living line, but when I started working on this course, ‘living’ no longer felt like enough. Our line may look lively, but do we live within our line? Do we feel the line all the way in our souls? This is what an artist wants to strive for!
Drawing Soulfully
Drawing Soulfully is about expressing yourself through drawing. It’s a journey into your artistry and teaches a way to work towards your style. We will draw mostly with black pens, and then color some of the drawings with watercolors and colored pencils. We will use reference images for some projects, but in a creative way that broadens your perspective.
In Drawing Soulfully, I want you to think about your artistic roots – the cultural history that touches you. In the course, I also share some of mine. At the end of the 19th century, many artists who studied or worked in central Europe came back to Finland for the summer. They read, wrote, and painted in their summer cottages, and thus, captured the best season in their souls. Yet, in the past, they didn’t have all the ways to express their emotions. There were walls that no longer exist. Nowadays, we can free up our pens and pour it all out on paper.
Your line is your voice. Just like for a singer, a great voice isn’t just about physical technique — it’s about connecting the voice to the soul.
Drawing Soulfully – Sign Up Now!
Drawing Soulfully begins on August 25, but the early-bird sale is now on!
Get 20 EUR OFF! >> Sign Up Now!
Sneak Peek at The New Course
This week, you get to see a sneak peek at the upcoming course! The course is about expressing yourself through drawing. It’s a journey into your artistry and teaches a way to work towards your style. We will draw mostly with black pens, and then color some of the drawings with watercolors and colored pencils.
Drawing a line is in the center of the course. How to draw is not only about how to draw realistic objects so that they are recognizable, but also about how to find a living, soulful line that makes you want to pick up a pen again and again.
I believe that without the ability to draw, it’s impossible to create any visual art. Everything is based on a line, and thus, on drawing. And not just any kind of drawing but …
Drawing is not about sketching something that you quickly erase and change. When you draw soulfully, the pen opens up a new horizon, and you live within your drawing.
We will use reference images for some projects, but in a creative way that broadens your perspective.
You not only learn how to draw but also how to get the most out of the practice.
Your Journey to Drawing
In Drawing Soulfully, I want you to think about your artistic roots – the cultural history that touches you. At the end of the 19th century, many artists who studied or worked in central Europe came back to Finland for the summer. They read, wrote, and painted in their summer cottages, and thus, captured the best season in their souls.
But it is also so that in the past, they didn’t have all the ways to express their emotions. There was suffocation, which no longer exists. Nowadays, we can free up our pens, the colors, and pour it all out on paper.
When lines are soulful, so will the art be.
Drawing Soulfully will begin on August 25th. The course will be published in three parts and will last three months. The early-bird sale will begin next week.
What do you think? Will you join me?