Inside Someone Else's Notebook

Danielle Peers of Right Hand House

Getting a behind the scenes peek in an artists studio or sketchbook is always a treat. Danielle Peers of Right Hand House was lovely enough to share with me her approach to using a sketchbook for her art work for both personal and business.

Danielle started drawing again whilst pregnant with her first born and then used that to creatively build a business based on her art work. she’s so flippin good at it, that now, pregnant with her second, she won’t be going back to her old job again once this little bundle is here.

I first found Danielle’s work on Instagram and really fell for her black and white pen work. She is developing her style all the time and her latest collection of cards are beautiful watercolours. We had a chat about how her sketchbooks have helped to develop her style. So grab a cuppa, and have a peek.

Tell me a little about your art practice and how you came to turn your art in to a business

My art practice/ creative journey has been a very higgledy piggledy one.. I have always been a very creative person but didn't really come understand it or how it impacts my life until I had my little boy I remember being pregnant and ordering a Peggy Dean (Pigeon Letters) book online so I could start doodling again and it very quickly snowballed from there. I started with fineliners, as I always loved sketching when I was younger so I just transferred everything that I wanted to sketch into penwork and immediately loved what I was making!

The first time I thought I could possibly turn it into a business was not long after my boy was born, I feel like being pregnant and having a child seemed to boost my creativity, that and trying to figure out how the hell I was going to go to work at a job that I no longer had any interest in whilst leaving my boy in the care of someone else. I decided that if I had to that then I would do it doing something I love.

 What is your favourite medium to work in

If you had asked me this question a year ago I would have said hands down, pen! I loved the antique effect you can achieve from a fine liner and the different effects you can achieve every time with each scribble and squiggle. However, now I actually consider myself a mixed media artist but my favourites change from season to season. At the moment, watercolour is my absolute favourite to work in, partnered with Polychormo's coloured pencils and also pen. I have also started dabbling in acrylic ink, which I have never really used before. At the moment im still scared of them so maybe if you asked a couple of months down the line I could give you a better answer!

Do you have a regular sketchbook practice and how does that help you to develop as an artist?

I now do have a regular sketchbook practice but this feels like it was a long time coming! in the evenings and spare time at the weekends I get to work in my sketchbook and create just for me. Doing this is so important to me because my art has changed so quickly in such a short space of time and I’m interested to see what gets unlocked along the way and how my style will change in the future, sketch booking is the main way I can see to develop this. They are books just for me, it doesn't matter what they look like, the messier the better because in that mess something unique appears.

I have gotten myself into the habit of always carrying my sketchbook (my A5 blue Stiggy) around with me wherever I go, just in case a moment ever arose where I had 5 minutes and my hands were free of a toddler. On work days, I tend to work in my sketchbook if I have gotten to the end of my tasks for the day and I have spare time.

I have about 4 different sketchbooks at the moment, I think! My A5 Blue Stiggy is my main sketchbook for pretty much everything. I am developing a wholesale catalogue for greetings cards at the moment and this contains all my artwork for these. It also started out as a house plant journal, just sketching the jungle ive collected in my house and it is also my carry around sketchbook, sketching daily scenes, nature, a little bit of a journalling too if the feeling takes me. I have a Strathmore Mixed Sketchbook also which is purely for my personal art and the development of my style. I have a straight watercolour sketchbook which was a gift and I love the shape and size of it. The pages are beautifully textured and I use this purely for my watercolour art development. It's a little messy. Lastly, I have another sketchbook which was a gift, it's Talon's I believe but the pages are very thin so this one is kept just for coloured pencil. I have a real love for coloured pencil so its nice to have somewhere to dedicate to it.

What do you look for in a Sketchbook?

The first thing I look for is the paper thickness, quality and texture. I like the paper to be as thick as possible so I can use as many mediums as possible but I also like a little bit of texture, not too much though as penwork can quite difficult if its too textured. I also like a bright white paper to make my art stand out. Im not a fan of a ring bind sketchbook as they always get in the way of manoeuvring your hand around the page and I also like them to fold out as flat as possible. I also really like it if the cover is plain-is so I can cover it in stickers!! So im not too picky really!!!haha 

Do you use other journals for writing too or just for drawing?

I do but not religiously. I would love to be able to spend more time journalling but the days just aren't long enough. I'm very interested in mental health and all the things that can help us in our mental health journeys so its something that I wish I could do more but unfortunately it's something that has fallen by the wayside for the time being. I like to see everything in seasons though, so that's not to say that in the next season, I won't find 10 minutes a day where I can start to write my feelings and thoughts. I originally used some thin Moleskine notepads that my husband bought me a couple of years ago and I still have them half empty so when the time comes I will pick them back up.

If you’d like to see more of Danielle’s work, she has some beautiful reels on Instagram - you can find her here She sells her work on Etsy, so do go and visit her shop here