Today's Sketchbook Conversation is with Melissa Hyatt. Here's Melissa's story:

I use a sketchbook to capture my ideas, work out compositions and to just play. I am a watercolor artist and surface pattern designer. Many times my simple black line drawings become new designs as in my sea coral and fishy sketches. I love to draw with a Faber Castell Pitt pen for my design work but I also love to sketch in pencil as well.

sketchbook, pen drawing, sketches, Melissa Hyatt, Sketchbook Conversations

watercolor, coral, sea life, Melissa Hyatt, Sketchbook Conversations

In preparing for this blog post I rediscovered several sketches in my sketchbooks that I want to go back and paint, it was like finding buried treasure!

sketchbook, Melissa Hyatt, Sketchbook Conversations

Using a Sketchbook helps me to feel organized as I know where to find my ideas, sketches, notes and color studies too. I also think it helps me to develop my drawing skills, I love to do daily drawing challenges on Instagram, last December I participated in a Advent Calendar drawing challenge. I kept all my sketches and ideas in the same book so i knew where to find them. I hadn’t painted any Christmas designs in at least 10 years so it was a great way for me to work on new imagery. The Robin sketch and painting was one of the pieces that I did for that challenge.

Melissa Hyatt, sketchbook, robin, advent challenge, sketchbook conversations

I sketched these circles while in South Carolina,

Melissa Hyatt, Sketchbook, circles, Sketchbook Conversations

then painted the design”Grace”,

Melissa Hyatt, Grace, Sketchbook Conversations

which was the inspiration for the design that I hand painted on my studio floor last spring.

Melissa Hyatt, Studio, hand painted floor, Sketchbook Conversations

I always bring my sketchbook when I travel , you never know when inspiration will find you! My advice is to keep on sketching no matter where you are on your creative journey…