How to Choose the Right Sketchbook for Mixed-Media By Dariush Nateghi

🎨 Blog Series – Gallery Lake Geneva 

How to Choose the Right Sketchbook for Mixed-Media 

By Dariush Nateghi

The first time I walked into Gallery Lake Geneva—830 West Main Street, walls breathing Chagall color and Basalt bronze—I carried a beaten-up spiral pad that had survived three countries, two monsoons, and one over-zealous TSA agent. I laid it on the counter and asked the director, “If I’m going to paint, print, collage, and probably spill wine on these pages, what should I upgrade to?” She laughed, pointed toward the lake, and said, “Let the water answer.” 

Below is the lake’s reply—distilled into seven questions you should ask before you marry a sketchbook.

---

1. Will the Paper Take a Bath?

Geneva Lake moods swing fast: cobalt glare at noon, nickel drizzle by twilight. If you plan to drop watercolor, acrylic ink, or gouache washes, look for 200 gsm (100 lb) stock. My go-to is 300 gsm cold-press cotton; it drinks pigment without cockling. Test corner with a loaded 1” flat—if it buckles like a pier in high wind, walk away.

---

2. Can It Be Punished by Dry Media?

After the wash comes the graphite storm. A mixed-media sheet needs enough tooth to grab charcoal yet enough sizing to let colored pencil glide. Lay down a 6B vine stripe, then burnish with white polychromos. If the charcoal dusts off or the wax blooms, the paper is too slick; if it scars, too soft. Goldilocks lives between medium-texture and light-grain.

---

3. Does It Giggle at Glue?

Collage is the Wisconsin supper club of art—everything ends up on the same plate. Tear a strip of vintage nautical map (available in the Gallery gift corner), brush matte medium, and press. After ten minutes, tug gently. No delamination? Good. Now repeat with gel medium + cheesecloth—the ultimate stress test. Only 100% cotton rag or alpha-cellulose passes without pockmarks.

---

4. Will It Stay Open When You Beg?

Spiral bindings corrode near lake humidity. Sewn-signature, lay-flat journals (think Stillman & Birn Beta or Hahnemühle ZigZag) open like a prayer book—critical when you’re capturing a sudden sailboat tack from the Riviera pier. Pro tip: if the cover droops, slip a 1/4” birch panel inside the back pocket; doubles as a mini drawing board.

---

5. Is the Size Illegal in Three States?

Too big and you’ll leave it home; too small and you’ll fight proportions. I carry 8 × 10” portrait for walk-abouts and 5 × 8” landscape** for café sketches. Both fit in the Gallery’s complimentary canvas tote—yes, the one with the Basalt bronze sketch printed on it—without violating airline “personal item” rules.

---

6. Will It Survive a Spilled Old-Fashioned?

Wisconsin’s state cocktail is delicious, murderous. Coat finished pages with clear workable fixative, then seal the cover with two light passes of UV archival spray. The gallery’s custom-framing studio will even laser-etch your initials on the spine while you browse—free if you mention this post.

---

7. Does It Inspire You to Show Up?

Ultimately the right sketchbook is the one that whispers, Draw, or I’ll haunt you.” Mine has a scrap of Lake Geneva sailcloth glued to the inside cover; every time I open it I smell cedar mast and feel the 2025 “Best Art Gallery in Wisconsin” medal pressing against my palm from the night we celebrated upstairs. That tactile memory is worth more than any paper specification.

---

 Try Before You Buy – Lake Geneva Challenge

Next Saturday, stop by Gallery Lake Geneva between 10 a.m.–1 p.m. We’ll provide four sample books, a tray of mixed-media goodies, and a lakeside perch. Create one page: watercolor sky, graphite pier, collage of the 1836 survey map. At the end, trade notes with strangers who will become sketch-friends. Leave with the book that fought back the least—and a 10% collector discount, because the lake is generous.

Art, like water, should never be confined to a single medium. Choose the vessel that welcomes every ripple.

— *Dariush Nateghi

Resident Teaching Artist, Gallery Lake Geneva 

830 West Main Street, Lake Geneva, WI 53147 

(262) 248-2222 | [www.gallerylg.com](http://www.gallerylg.com)