A Peek In My Sketchbook: Learning To Draw Simple Botanical Borders

It has now been more than a month since I started seriously filling up the pages in my sketchbook, and the process has been truly amazing. I have roughly another 29 pages yet to fill, so within a month or so I can buy a new sketchbook and start another journey, this time from scratch, (this sketchbook was half filled 20 plus years ago…..) can’t wait! In the mean time I will continue sharing some of the things I’ve been up to, which I hope will encourage you to take even 15 minutes out of your busy day and spend it in your sketchbook. Yes, Yes, Yes, I highly encourage you to start a sketchbook practice of your own, and to go on an adventure that is both relaxing and helps with that need to create! I’ll admit, most of my sketchbook exercises have been closer to doodling than actually drawing, but that is fine too, as simple doodled flowers and botanicals and just about anything are sweet and joyful and have an energy about them that serious exacting drawings don’t. Not knocking intense drawing with shading and proportion, that has its place as well, but most folks will get more joy from producing something quickly, and the joy is the key! So having said that, I’m now sharing with you a bunch of botanical borders, that you can practice in your sketchbook and use to decorate so many things. Enjoy!

As you can see my botanical border practice didn’t exactly go so well on the right hand page, as I ended up patching that with piece of white paper to cover whatever mistake I had made.
Botanical doodle borders make great family monograms!
And or course don’t forget to give the corners special attention and to work on borders that are bold and borders that are delicate. Now go and open up that sketchbook and get to work. All of this drawing was done with a pen, no pencil first please, unless you just have to, but the goal here is to get your skills up to spead so that the first time around, with pen, is lovely enough.