When is a journal not a journal?

I find it really, really hard to put my inner thoughts into writing - this almost certainly relates to the fact that I find it even harder to put my thoughts and feelings into words and tend to bottle up emotions rather than expressing them like I should! Yet art lets me express my feelings and gives me a window to explore these feelings without feeling that I'll be judged.

Dancer from my sketchbook

There is only one page of 'real' journalling in my art journal to date. I hate that page. It feels impulsive, immature and most of all raw. I never read it because when I wrote it I managed to tap into a side of me I try and keep hidden. I'm unlikely to ever show that page to anyone. I'd like to create more written pages but it feels false to me to write down everything that I did in a day. Largely because nothing really that exciting happens!

Yet, I still consider my sketchbook to be a journal/diary style endeavor - every page represents a different day and mood that I was in when I created it. But how much worth does it have as a recollection of my life at this moment in time? Very little. There's no massive revelations in it or astute observations about the world. It's just me creating.

And that's ok.

It's ok to have a journal that's not really a journal. It's ok to have a space just to document your feelings and the odd day. And it's ok to never write if you don't want to.

Part of my ease with this probably comes from the fact that my smashbook documents a lot of the more personal things in my life - events, people and places. But still it's not massively writing heavy. Again my enjoyment of pictures over words wins out.

And that's ok too.

Art Journal Page Progression

My art journal/sketchbook has progressed quite a lot since I started it, when it was originally just a place for sketches. The only rule in my sketchbook now is 'No removal of pages'. If it sucks, it doesn't matter, it stays. 

I thought it might be interesting to see how I go about creating a page, as I'm still pretty new to the idea and as always, am still learning. So here we go, one of my pages from start to finish! 

You may notice that this double page spread has streaks of green paint on it, ahem, because I'm not exactly the neatest worker. Yes, the page before this is green. But it's ok, because the first thing to do is to prime the page using Gesso.

Gesso is pretty amazing stuff. The pages in my sketch book aren't that thick - it's a cheap, generic one from an arts store. If you have a watercolour/acrylic paper sketchbook you almost certainly won't need to do this but if you're working on paper that's a little thin, it's a great first step. Gesso will add thickness and if you desire, a little texture to your pages.

As you can see, although the pages are slightly crinkled now they're a hell of a lot more of a blank canvas to work on. The second page has some texture added for next time.

Using a dry small paintbrush, I attacked the page with acrylic mixed with gesso in various quantities. You can do anything you want for the background, but I tend to go with acrylic as it adds depth and texture as well. Next time though I want to use watercolours for a more washed out feel.

I've had this song stuck in my head for some time now, so it was the first quote that came to mind. It's written on washi tape. The background doesn't really correlate but meh. I stenciled in black acrylic a flower and wrote the final word of the lyric in large print.

Everyone needs a cloud!

And what does every cloud need? Some sparkle.

The above three series are to show that you can muck up and fix it - it doesn't matter! I wanted to stamp a flower border along the bottom but the ink wouldn't stick and I positioned it wrong. No worries, stick something over the top!

Glossy accents on the flower.

The bottom corner looked a little bare, so I stenciled another flower, glitter glued and put glossy accents on it.

A few more details and it's done!

I hope you can see how I progress with my pages. I'd love to see how you do yours and what inspires you to make a page; do you work off of quotes and lyrics or photos and craft materials you have lying around?