The Sketchbook Format Dilemma

As evident by many of my recent posts, I keep a daily sketchbook. Because at the beginning of the year I switched over from sketching buildings on weekends to sketching trees, I started sketching in a portrait format sketchbook (a Stillman & Birn 8.5×5.5” softcover Gamma book), since trees tend to be vertical rather than square. This works well for my weekend tree sketches, which tend to be extended sessions away from the house, but less well on weekdays when I just want to do a quick sketch, and a square format book seems best. My current sketchbook is entirely of plant bits, all of which lie happily on a portrait page. I like the consistency of the theme but it might be time to move on from plant stems. This leads to the dilemma of what format should be my next daily sketchbook. Here are some of the issues:

• A square format sketchbook works well for quicker sketches but is not so good for trees. What would be my next subjects for weekend field sketching?
• I have trouble finding subjects for portrait format sketchbooks that are not plant bits. I suppose there is the vacuum cleaner, water bottles, and the cat tower.
• Landscape format sketchbooks are great for, well, landscapes but there’s too much surface to cover for quick weekday sketches.
• I like the Stillman and Birn Gamma paper but the Gamma softcover sketchbooks don’t come in square format. The Alpha ones do but they are a relatively large 7.5” square size.
• Having a background in 4:3 camera formats (the little Panasonic ZS-50, micro four-thirds cameras), I much prefer 4 to 3 ratios for layout within a frame. I don’t know any 4:3 sketchbooks though.