Journal Sketches Capture Developing Ideas

For many of us keeping a journal is a way to capture our emerging thoughts and ideas. Sketching enables me to work through the details before becoming enmeshed in the act of creation. Simply because an idea has occurred doesn’t guarantee its coming to fruition. This sketch of a library table painted in a chinoiserie inspired pattern is an example of an idea generated sketch which helped me see it wasn’t a good idea!

(Architectural Digest, April, 2020 “Remy Renzullo Lays Claim to an Old World Upper East Side Apartment”)

Antiquarian and interior designer, Remy Renzullo, is someone whose work I greatly admire. My first introduction to him was through a story in Architectural Digest in 2020 about his apartment in a Manhattan Beaux Arts building.

(Architectural Digest, January/February 2026)

It was lovely to open the January/February 2026 issue of Architectural Digest and see his inclusion in the AD100 register of top designers. The bottom of the page is a photo of his project for Britain’s Castle Howard. The second photo is of a seven-year project with jewelry designer Jessica Sailer on her family’s townhouse in Brooklyn, New York. The thoughtful curation of antiques and art from several distinct periods and custom sofas in the townhouse is indicative of the intellect and talent Mr. Renzullo brings to his clients.

In a recent Instagram post Remy Renzullo shared a year in his sketchbook; a delight to peruse! This prompted me to photograph sketches from my own journal and share a few with you!

A vintage silver plate champagne bucket from France. It was exciting to receive a package from overseas. It looks elegant filled with white tulips. It is rugged enough to go outside on the hearth when we eat beside the fireplace or to the table further down the land at the top of the grotto. An article about a woman who serves boiled shrimp on ice in her champagne bucket made me want to try this!

I picked up this branch with berries drying on it from the ground outside Tre Trattoria in the courtyard of the San Antonio Museum of Art. The sketch was begun while we waited for our Ceasar salad and soppressata pizza which arrived so quickly it was left unfinished.

A sketch of a pot filled with sweet basil. The journal entry is about liming the pot inside and out to age it using a mix of organic lime and water.

These two sketches are ideas for creating my own nightgowns from linen sheets we tried but didn’t like to sleep on. The linen is beautiful and will come to good use. My further thinking notes read, “Leave off the collar. Difficult to wash face and/or sleep in it. Use a ½” size piece cut on the bis and let it be longer so you can tie it and let the ties hang down the back. Cutting on the bias is really important so it will fall straight.”

The second sketch is for a nightgown with a center ruffle of some tea-dyed lace. The lace was too white and my thinking was the tea would soften the color and allow it to contrast with the white linen fabric.

This is a sketch of a spot on our land where nothing has ever grown; it is a nicely shaped patch of caleche (a hardened sedimentary soil layer which can form cemented layers requiring a jackhammer to break). My idea, as expressed to my husband who likes concept sketches, was to plant eight gray santolino plants in a random pattern. Santolino grows well here and can withstand drought, heat, and freezing temperatures. He liked the idea and was willing to haul the jackhammer down on the land and create eight holes like little clay pots in the land we filled with topsoil for the plants. They have been in for several months and are doing well!

We have amassed a small group of bird’s nests from our trees and potted plants. We only collect them after the birds have moved on. There is usually a fine story to go with the nest. For example, the time we left out bits of lace and the birds incorporated them into their nest. For each nest we decide to keep there is a small card attached with the story written down. We have ordered glass domes on wooden bases and the nests fit perfectly inside. You can turn the globe or walk around it to view the intricacies of construction. This sketch demonstrates what it might look like if the dome were on a plinth.

This egg was abandoned in a nest built by Carolina Wrens in a small terra cotta pot on our porch containing a kalanchoe beharensis plant. There were four eggs in the nest and three of them hatched. The eggs were pale pink with light brown freckles.  As we were unable to remove the embryo inside it was best to sketch it and let it go.

This is a sketch helping me work out how to take a long, loose, tailored shirt and give it some fit while keeping the front flat.

Having made a long straight skirt with front slash pockets and wanting to change the look I found there was just enough fabric left to make a short, gathered skirt to look like a long full peplum. I wore this out to dinner after attending a lecture and it was quite a hit!

This sketch of a lemon was made while reading all about the history of growing lemons and how best to care for them. The second sketch is a concept for a wooden container with a hinged side. We knew we would have to bring our two lemon trees inside for the winter and this was an idea to keep their pots off the tile floor. As it happens small rubber disks under a saucer work well and it was much less complicated to move their existing pots off the clay pot feet and onto the saucers inside.

Our local fabric store was selling sheer fabric. As it was located in the drapery and upholstery fabric room, my assumption is that it was meant to be made into sheer drapes. As it was reasonably priced and reminded me of organza, a substantial amount (10 yards) came home me! I used it to make this two-tiered skirt to be worn with long-sleeve ribbed turtlenecks.

The same fabric was used to create an oversized funnel neck blouse to be worn over a silk camisole. A long scarf goes with it, intended to drape across the front of my neck, over shoulders, and down my back.

This oddly shaped jet beaded ornament was in a box of trimmings in a shop called Somewhere in Time in Galveston, Texas. I repaired the loose beads with archival glue and sewed it onto a long piece of ¼” black grosgrain ribbon. It can be tied around a bare neck or over the neck of a turtleneck as a decorative antique choker. The idea stemmed from a photo of a model in a Dries Van Noten fashion show.

Here is a concept sketch for several folding screens to be made from wood we once used in the garage to screen the window and trim we purchased but did not use. Being able to use something we already have in the creation of something new and useful is absolutely thrilling to me. In my journal under the sketch are the words “This should be peaceful and beautiful.”

My sketches help me remember the ideas that come to me when doing other things such as jogging in the hills or folding towels. They help me remember and enable me to see how something might work before attempting to bring the thought to fruition