Sketchbook in studio painting course: A case study

While the researcher is looking for a doctoral thesis topic, starting from his field of interest, he wonders what kind of education is given in the studio painting courses in B.A. (Bachelor of Arts). In this direction, the researcher observes 6 studio painting courses in B.A., at a state university within the borders of Turkey for two weeks in terms of accessibility. As a result of these observations, he realizes that in a studio painting course, the teacher puts great emphasis on sketchbooks and carries out art education through sketches. As a result of this observation, the relationship between the sketchbooks and the art education given in this course is shaped as a research problem. The purpose of this research is to understand and describe how sketchbooks are used in art education in the context of the studio painting course in which the observation is made. The researcher makes observations and interviews during the fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. Since a case with certain temporal and spatial boundaries is researched with qualitative data collection methods, the method of this research is qualitative and shaped as a case study. The participants of the study are 12 people, including the researcher. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data set; 4 main themes were reached: "the relationship between the sketchbook and communication", "the relationship between the sketchbook and the composition", "the relationship between the sketchbook and nature" and "the relationship between the sketchbook and the painting". Keywords: Visual arts teaching, Sketch, Sketchbook, Studio painting course, Nature