Richard Diebenkorn's sketchbooks, previously accessible only to scholars, document the working process of one of the twentieth century's most admired American painters. Known for the Ocean Park series of abstract paintings and earlier figurative work, Diebenkorn maintained sketchbooks throughout his career as sites of experimentation rather than studies for finished paintings. The reproduced pages show his thinking about composition, color relationships, and spatial organization, often accompanied by written notes on his process. Diebenkorn's reflections on beginning a painting - how to find a way into a work, how to sustain momentum, how to know when something is finished - will resonate with anyone engaged in creative work. The book situates the sketchbooks within Diebenkorn's larger practice, showing how ideas developed across decades and how the private work of the sketchbooks related to the public work of exhibitions. Unlike some artist's books that fetishize the sketchbook as object, this volume focuses on what the pages reveal about artistic thinking. For students and practitioners of painting, the book offers rare access to a significant artist's working methods. For general readers interested in creativity, it demonstrates how sustained practice generates the conditions for breakthrough work.