Sketchbook Drawings and The Time-Keeper's Sphere
[August 2026]
Hello dear friend! This is the monthly newsletter/blog of artist and illustrator Nicola FouchĆ©.Ā If you missed last month'sĀ one ā On Passports, Visas and the Hindering of Movement ā you can catch up on it here. If a friend forwarded you my newsletter/blog, and you would like to subscribe (it's free!), you can do so at the bottom of this newsletter or on my website. If you enjoy my stories and ramblings, please consider sharing and subscribing. Your support means the world. |
Dear friends, family and fellow art lovers,
Ā
The past few months have taken on a slightly different flavour. In the writing of my last two newsletters [Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and the Gifts of a Multicultural SocietyĀ and On Passports, Visas and the Hindering of Movement] I re-discovered my love for history and research. I spent ample time delving into interesting texts and articles about things I knew very little about, and just as much time weaving bits of what I had learnt into my newsletters. I have an inkling that the rekindling of this long lost love has quite a bit to do with the fact that I am planning on pursuing an online Masters degree in Asian Studies next year. The course focuses on the history of South East Asian Art and Architecture, and is a perfect fit for the direction which my interests have taken these past few years. Alongside all of this I have also started a daily sketchbook practice, as well as started an online course on meditation to help deepen my own practice as a meditator and yoga instructor. [For my fellow yoga teachers, or those simply interested in learning more about the history and practice of meditation, I will post a link to the course at the bottom of this newsletter].
Watch as I page through the sketchbook that I started in June of this year.
One of my soft intentions for this yearĀ was to draw more.Ā I tend to spend most of my creative time on pieces that can be sold (and then worrying about how on earth I am going to sell themš š). I realised that this pattern had become unhelpful to my creative journey, and needed to be broken. I needed to create a space for something less serious and more experimental.
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Enter: The Sketchbook. To aid my intentions for this book, I devised some rules:
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Rule #1Ā Switch up and switch out materials. I had to use materials that I didnāt usually draw with like highlighters, felt-tip markers, ball-point pens, masking tape and so on. [Which meant that I absolutely HAD to visit the art supply store to shop for new markers.]
Rule #2 Use cheap and easily available paper. The paper had to be plain (nothing fancy!), the book needed to be ring-bound for ease of drawing and small enough to fit in my bag. The less expensive and precious the better. [It had been such a long time since I had drawn on cheap paper, that I needed to take a few deep breaths first before starting.]
Rule #3 Sketch in the in-between moments. In aid of this I decided to keep my sketchbook next to the TV, so that I could make a drawing or two when we watched an episode of our favourite series at night. [This was an excellent rule, and has led to almost daily sketching.]
Rule #4 Your sketchbook is another limb.Ā Where you go, it goes. Whenever I leave the house, the sketchbook leaves with me. Whether I use it or not, it's there just for in case.
Rule #5 And lastly, but most importantly, NO social media. No chasing likes, no getting seduced by the empty promises of faceless followers and false adoration, and absolutely no tailoring of drawings to an audience that doesn't exist. [I love this rule.]
Top Image: The very first drawing was of my mother-in-law preparing beans for her delicious Aloo Beans (potato and green beans curry). I had to sketch quickly because she is a swift and nimble with a knife.
Bottom Image: All the gorgeous ingredients prepped and ready for Brinjal Curry. Try as I might, I cannot get it to taste like my mother-in-law's.
For some of you it might come as a surprise that I felt it necessary to create a set of rules. One of the very valuable lessons that I learnt during my time at university, was that rules are there to aid your intention, especially when it comes to a drawing practice that is supplemental to your studio practice. This does not mean that these rules are set in stone. Their main goal is to be helpful.Ā The moment they are no longer helpful, I will tweak and update them. An intention is a lighthouse, and rules are the footpath, together acting as helpful guides on your journey. Drawing in my sketchbook has been a refreshing change of pace. Itās so easy to take yourself too seriously, especially when you are a professional. The sketchbook helps me to counter this. To break down some of the illusions I have conjured about what Iām doing and what Iām supposed to be doing.
*I have found this entire sketchbook journey to be so helpful that I am hoping to offer an online course on it in the future. Sketching is for everyone, not just for practicing artists, and can serve as a wonderful well-spring of joy and a depository of emotion. I will attach a form to the bottom of this newsletter to help me gage whether any of you would be interested in attending such a course with me. Your feedback will be very much appreciatedāŗļø*
The Time-Keeper's Sphere VI. Watercolour paint and fine-liner pen on 100% cotton watercolour paper.
42cm x 59.3cm. 2026. Framed in a black coated aluminium frame.
For Sale. [Contact me directly for more details].
Alongside my daily sketchbook practice I have also taken the time to source a few frames for the three most recent drawings in The Time-Keeper's SphereĀ series. I have developed an affinity towards aluminium frames. They are strong, infinitely re-usable and (in my opinion) very pretty. All of the pieces shown here are for sale, framed or unframed depending on your desire. If you are interested, simply reply directly to this newsletter.
Axis Mundi 
Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi (Detail) 
Axis Mundi (Detail) 
Axis Mundi (Detail)
Axis Mundi. Watercolour paint and fine-liner pen on 100% cotton watercolour paper.
42cm x 42cm. 2026. Framed in an aluminium frame.
For Sale. [Contact me directly for more details].
Thank you for presence!
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All my love,
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Nicola
PS.Ā As always, if you enjoyed my musingsĀ and know of anyone who might also enjoy my ramblingsĀ please forward my newsletterĀ to them, your support will be greatly appreciated. I would also love to hear from you. So any responses or comments or creative stories of your own that you might have and would like to share with me, please simply reply to this email. Ā
![The Time-Keeper's Sphere V. Watercolour paint and fine-liner pen on 100% cotton watercolour paper. 27 x 38.5cm. 2026. Frames in a black coated aluminium frame. For Sale. [Contact me directly for more details].](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c06faa_74b0b74a264e47c28e1027fec93a8bb3~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1302,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/c06faa_74b0b74a264e47c28e1027fec93a8bb3~mv2.jpeg)
*I read all responses and comments so if you have anything you would like to share with me, please Ā send me an email. *
It surely is a Brave New WorldĀ when I need to start ending off my newsletters/blogs with the statement that this newsletter/blog was fully written by me using my fallible human mind and hands. I have never, and will never use AI to write it for me, as the writing of these newsletters serve as a kind of month-in-review for me, and that is invaluable. The same goes for my artwork, illustrations and photographs. All images, photographs, illustrations and artworks which you see in my newsletters/blogs were created by me, by hand in the real world, unless otherwise credited. |
In Other News...
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