Brian Clarke made extensive use of sketchbooks throughout his career as a means of drawing, exploring artistic ideas and developing compositions for his works. This practice began at an early stage with the Burnley Sketchbook, which contains a collection of drawings, watercolours and collages created in 1967 after Clarke’s move to Burnley and during his studies at Burnley College of Art.

Discussing his Burnley Sketchbook in an interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, published in 2023 in Brian Clarke: Collages, Clarke says:

"This is my first sketchbook – so this is when I’m fourteen, in 1967. And the first item in my sketchbook is a drawing of my parents and my grandparents, with collaged elements in it."