Lola Stong-Brett is a Margate based artist whose paintings draw from memory, nostalgia, and her surroundings to form a contemplative, dynamic, and diaristic practice. Her work explores human contradictions, which initially surface as spontaneous ideas in her drawings. These take the form of glimmers of reimagined classic cartoon characters, her personal interests, and local environments, painted with her characteristic abstract ambiguity. Lola visited the Jackson’s Studio to give us a glimpse inside the pages of her sketchbooks and talk to us about her practice. She discusses the wide variety of forms a sketchbook can take, how the humble pencil – her drawing tool of choice – encourages experimentation, and the importance of embracing chance.
I use one main sketchbook at a time. It’s usually a Moleksine; I like the XL size and the thinness of the paper because I like when things seep into the next page.
I also keep a watercolour sketchbook at the studio, and often use other more random/sporadic single sheets. These vary from newsprint to Bristol board to plain cartridge paper.
They have more of a scrapbook feel to them, with bits of tape, collage, watercolour, and ink – they tend to pile up in my studio!
I always use a pencil in my sketchbook, never a pen, and never an eraser. I like the raw, ‘old-school’, accessible style of a pencil; simply crossing out mistakes rather than being too neat or careful. There’s certain marks you can make with a pencil (I like 3B, 4B, 5B, and 6B) whereas a pen is too meticulous.
I like to leave a lot to chance, or fate, with both my sketchbooks and my paintings; this is why I think mistakes are important! And this is why I mostly just use one sketchbook at a time. I’m quite adamant about the order things are in, as I like to believe drawings and writings are done at a particular time for a particular reason, whether consciously or not.
My sketchbook is actually mostly writing. Poems or lines almost like song lyrics scrawl across pages, as well as quotes from books I’m reading. I often look back through the notes I’ve made during the time I took to paint one of my paintings; these (at the time sporadic) sentences then form the titles for my paintings or the exhibitions.
I draw or make notes in my sketchbook pretty much every day. Although my sketchbook spends most of its time in the studio, becoming my holy grail, a precious object I’m terrified to lose. The same as a book, I like it when the sketchbook starts to show wear and tear, with odd things slotted into the pages.
I also love other ‘self-made’ forms of sketchbooks. I did the Tracey Emin Artist Residency a couple of years ago, where we wrote one poem per week for 14 months, which we then compiled into a book. Mine was compiled from collected sheets of monoprints, with each poem written in capitals, backwards (so that the print read the right way). I then made a cardboard cover for the poem sheets to slot into. I loved it. This is something I want to do more.
Also, I remember going to an exhibition of Anselm Kiefer’s in Oxford last year; he had some brilliant sketches collaged onto big sheets of cardboard. This is something I’d also like to copy!
Sketches and writings from my sketchbook form the spark, the initial idea, that then makes me want to pick up the paintbrush. I don’t sketch out paintings beforehand, but through continuous sketching, ideas, or more so emotions, start to bounce around and eventually come out onto the canvas. Almost like an explosion. I also like to tell myself that thoughts are ‘brewing’, like a cup of tea; you could think or feel something, draw it, and it isn’t until months, or even years later, that it comes out in a painting.
Drawing is also a comfort; the thing you can reach to when you don’t have anything else accessible. Again, that’s why I like to just use a basic pencil.
I would say, when I was just starting to make art outside of uni, the most important thing to me was my sketchbook. When I was working in an art shop, or couldn’t get to the studio, I kept a tiny sketchbook on me and made sure I did a drawing a day.
I also watched lots of YouTube videos, especially the BBC documentary series What Do Artists Do All Day? I was so fascinated by their lives, and from memory, almost all the artists I admired were constantly sketching or drawing mostly at the kitchen table, even if they had large studios. I remember watching a documentary on Maggie Hambling; it was showing her going into her studio every morning around 6am to do an ink drawing, and the thought of it still inspires me. Although I need to pick up that routine and actually do it!
There’s also a good VICE documentary series called Tattoo Age on the artist Thom deVita; his house is absolutely covered in artworks and sketches. Being surrounded by the things that make you happy, the things you collect, the piles of notes or drawings, or the memories drawn from certain sketchbooks at certain times – it’s all brilliant and just makes you want to make more!
I would say to make the most out of your sketchbook, the best thing to do is to simply bring it with you everywhere and draw/take notes in it as much as possible. To not be too precious, use a pencil and to try and pick a sketchbook you don’t mind messing up.
Materials
Staedtler or Conté à Paris graphite pencils – in 3B, 4B, 5B and 6B
Random paper bits!
About Lola Stong-Brett
Lola Stong-Brett (b. 1996, London, United Kingdom; lives and works in Margate) most recently graduated the Tracey Emin Artist Residency (2024) following studies at the Edinburgh College of Art (2016-2019). Her first solo exhibition, For That, I’ll Always Smile, was presented at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate in 2025. Lola’s paintings have shown both locally and internationally, including Paris (Hussenot Gallery) and Mexico City (Naranjo141). Lola currently has a debut solo show, Sometime Somewhere Someone Is Dancing, at James Fuentes Gallery in New York City, USA. For any enquiries please contact Carl Freedman Gallery.
View Lola’s work on Carl Freedman’s website
Further Reading
Inside the Sketchbook of Henry Ward
Inside the Sketchbook of Evie May Adams
The Dark History of the Pencil
Collage for Beginners – What You Need to Get Started
Shop Sketchbooks on jacksonsart.com
