For all of the talk I do about journaling and sketchbooks, can you believe that I have never fully completed a sketchbook?!  Well, not until a few weeks ago.  I have filled plenty of pages in plenty of sketchbooks over the years, but I typically end up abandoning a book, unhappy with many of the completed pages.  It’s interesting because I’m not a perfectionist, but I do take creative work seriously.  When I was in college, studying musical theatre, my music theory teacher once told my parents at a performance, “Marian is very serious.”  And I was.  I vividly remember feeling an irritation with my peers who didn’t practice or work hard during rehearsals or focus during classes and workshops.  I cared about doing things with excellence. So, when I’d go to fill a page in a sketchbook, I would look back at the previous pages and cringe at some. 

A few weeks ago, I was searching around for something short and inspiring to watch.  Maybe a documentary on an artist?  Or a short art lesson?  My curiosity was piqued when I spotted The Royal Paintbox on my Masterpiece Subscription.  I mean, anything about paintboxes these days is interesting to me!  So, I started the documentary.  In it, HRH Prince Charles shares his own artwork as well as art from various royals, kings, and queens, who showed varying levels of proficiency.  The work I was most interested in, though, was the sketchbooks of Queen Victoria. I figured she painted since I have seen that portrayed in movies and series on Victoria, but I never imagined she sketched and painted extensively using different mediums.  As I watched Prince Charles slowly flip through some of her sketchbooks, I had to pause the documentary to see if they had ever been published.  And