How To Fix A Botched Mixed Media Sketchbook Page

Yes, it is true, a sketchbook is not about perfection and is a private place for exploration that should not be based on outcome whatsoever. That said friends, if not so great pages are found in between pages that give you joy, you can certainly just let them be, but in my case that total failure of a spread was the first spread in a new sketchbook. I did not want to look at the blotched spread every time i opened the sketchbook and even though about the biggest no-no of all, cutting the pages out! Yikes, this thought was after about three attempts to fix the ever growing monster. But then I fortunately did not give up, and endedup with this spread of blooming saguaro cacti, which while maybe a bit on the cute side for my personal taste, is just totally fine. Phew! Keep on reading to hear about the process that lead to this sketchbook fix!

Ideas For How To Fix A Botched Sketchbook Page:

Paint over entire area with gesso, which is what i did, twice!
Do collage over botched art
Do another piece on a lightweight piece of paper and glue it over the offending page
Do a collage of little doodles together with painted swatches
Turn the page into a swatch page, but first paint over it, or glue swatches over art

How I Fixed My Botched Sketchbook Page:

I painted over the art with white gesso, which ended up looking green as the art medium underneath was water soluble.
In a stroke of frustration (yet actually the salvation!) I made lines in the gesso with the end of my paint brush
I let it sit for a week, and while thinking about birch trees initially, the idea of a cactus in bloom suddenly came to me and I knew it would be relatively easy to pull off
I went with my idea, and phew, the first spread in my new sketchbook was rescued.