Sketchbook Layout and Inspiration Project by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare

I recently discovered Japanese tape and have been using it in my sketchbooks as a way to add ephemera without having to glue the items down. For this layout, I decided to use the pink and gray tapes as a starting point. The pink striped tape seemed to have a vintage feel to it, so I decided to stay with that vintage theme, adding in the pink vintage flashcard on the left and the found black and white photograph on the right. I imagined the couple in the photograph spending the summer together in the country - rowing on the lake, going to the theatre (the ticket stub) and falling in, and then out of love at summer's end.

I worked quickly and added in the other bits of tape and collage as I worked. I didn't over-think the composition; it was almost as if I was "painting" stripes of color with the tapes. In addition to the five different washi tapes, I used ledger and graph papers, a piece of a dictionary, letter stamps to add the "ONE," and a piece of a doily. The handwriting on the left reads: it was a long and splendid summer… and on the top of the right hand page I wrote in pencil: we were together for a summer… as a caption for the photograph.