I never have paid any attention to the phenomenon ‘art journaling’. I thought it was a kind of excessive decoration of a photo-album, made with a lot of ready bought craft supplies. A fun way of pastime, but not really something for me.
But … recently ‘I got it’!
How did I miss this for so long? I wish I had started them 40 years ago!
I discovered the difference between scrap booking (like I described above) and art journalling. Art journaling is expressing feelings, thoughts, opinions and experiences, but not especially by using words. It can be done by drawings alone, but often it’s done by using a collage technique too, because that’s an easy tool to wake up inspiration and to get an interesting result in a short time.
Yes … a visual journal. How simple?
So, a couple of weeks ago I bumped on a ’30-days-art-journaling-challenge’ on the internet. Every day I get emailed a prompt and I have to create a page about it. I found out that pondering about the prompt is not less interesting as creating the actual page. And the most liberating thing is; Art-wise it doesn’t need to be sellable.
For a couple of days I asked myself: “Is it really necessary to show the world every crafty fart I make? Aren’t those clumsy and sometimes simple drawings devaluing my real artworks?”
NO, of course not! I decided that my art journals are belonging to my precense just like my written words. My #artjournal pages as well as my blogs are both no artworks but simply expressions, so what could be my real hesitation?
And seen from the opposite way: When I’m touched by an artwork of another artist, I’m instantly interested in the person behind. No matter in what way he expresses him- or herself.
As long as you and I are not able to meet in real, this can be another kind of peek into my head, in my life and my history.
Okay, I’m not ready to completely leave out the written words. I feel the need to explain how I have interpreted the prompts, so for now they are appearing as a kind of illustration of my explanation about the prompt.
Stay tuned. I will post the first one soon. But for now you get the front page of my art journal. Yes I draw it myself.
A few of my other art posts:
Yellow sky
Commissions
Intentions
The making of
What is art
I can't claim to be visually artistic, but I can totally sympathize with your discovery here. I've found journaling to be one of the most rewarding habits I've ever instilled in myself. Getting a nudge to create something each day - no matter how simple or whether it's intended to be shared - inspires you to continue in the same thread and work on other, more challenging projects as well. Each day you invest some time into creating brings you one step closer to fulfilment of your potential. Love the first page and look forward to seeing more!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Victoria, thank you so much for your encouraging words :)
People often say: The way to your goal is more important than the goal itself (or something like that), but for art-journalling that is for SURE the case.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
please email me at [email protected]
I want to converse with you:)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit