Art Journaling

Now if I've filched the Blogger links and recoded them correctly, this post should show three pics from my summer art journal. I've gotten back into sketching, drawing, painting and collaging in a small way, mainly to refine my motor skills now that I've got more control over my alternate index finger (aka my middle finger -- arthritis has toasted the joints of my official index finger.)

I've also missed my journaling art. I love to sew, and quilting will likely be my primary art-for-fun forever, but sometimes I need a break from the needlework. Having an art journal allows me to play with color and ideas, and express my POV in interesting ways. Over the years I've also collected a massive amount of images, interesting papers, and recycled materials, and working them into art makes me happy while being green. I've also missed painting watercolors, terrible as mine always tend to turn out. It's not the final product that really matters anyway for me; it's the making of it.

As with my experience with adult coloring books keeping an art journal is very soothing. I do write in mine, but not much (and taking a little rest from words is likewise calming and relaxing.) Since it's usually a negative mood changer I have been working on a couple of pages almost every day while moving my youngest off to college. I find I prefer to end my day with art journaling because it works out all the snarls and worries from my thoughts, and allows me to sleep better once I do go to bed. Because I do it just for fun there's no pressure. I don't have to be profound or say things important or even think about it much. I let my ideas loose and see what happens.

Combining collage with doodling is my favorite form of art journaling. Here I put together a pretty little Victorian paper doll I've had sitting in a drawer for years on a recycled bit of black card stock, and used a silver gel pen to doodle around her. Since one of her feet had been torn off I added a clip of the word Paris from another paper remnant to cover the amputation. The end result (see next photo) might look a bit wonky, but I liked it -- and with journaling of any kind that's all that matters.

Incorporating an overall theme for an art journal can help you navigate through the pages with more direction. I have a couple of vintage Victorian scrapbooks filled with loose calling cards and advertising art that I might raid and make into a strictly Victorian scrap-art journal. I've also seen Halloween and Winter-themed art journals that are gorgeous.

Art journaling isn't just helping me cope with being an empty nester. One thing I noticed immediately when I came back from my spring/summer hiatus is that nothing has changed with the toxic levels of dark and evil out there in InternetLand. Honestly, I think it's gotten worse. The only way I know how to combat that kind of ugliness is to be part of the light. Writing may be my big hurricane lamp, but art is my crystal chandelier. If I can inspire just one of you to start an art journal, that's two chandeliers. Three if you get someone else to join us, and more if they do. Imagine if we could all do that, and spread the creation until we bring a little light to everyone we know.

Think about it: if you decided to make an art journal, what would you keep in yours? Tell us in comments.

Notebooking 2017

This year I'm trying a different approach to keeping track of my progress with personal and business projects. Instead of keeping a regular journal, a writing idea journal, a business journal, a quilt journal and a weight loss journal, I'm keeping notes on everything in this one notebook.

So far it's worked pretty well. It saves time, as I don't have to switch between journals to check on something else. I won't misplace the notebook because I carry it around with me all day whatever I'm doing. I can also schedule ahead with more confidence because everything is in one spot. I've never journaled like this, so it feels a little weird, but I figures I'd give it a couple months and see if it works better than my old system.

Right now I haven't planned any of my schedule except for work, my weight loss finish line, and a family visit in March, but I'd like to put some full-month pages or dated bullet lists in the notebook so I can look at the entire month in advance. 2017 already feels like I should be keeping things open and flexible, too, so I plan to save at least one day a week as an anything-goes spot. In between all the work, family and home stuff I'm also tinkering in the notebook on my secret project for 2017, which makes it a little more fun.

How are you dealing with 2017? Planning or no planning? Any tips on how to keep on track? Let us know in comments.

Journal as Dress

To wrap up journaling week, here's a video showing how Ruth Rae journaled in a very unusual way by stitching poems on fabric, and making it into a dress. I love that she hid some of her journaling in the inside of the garment, too (background music):

red thread journal dress from ruth rae on Vimeo.

Journal as Whatever Works for You

My seventh and final journal entry to be posted online is uplodaded (click here to view the .pdf) and it definitely demonstrates how obsessed I am with sewing this year. As July grows closer I'm bubbling over with ideas on what to do during my for-fun sewing month. I also hang onto my patience for the delivery of Anne Frasier's newest release, The Body Reader, confess to my secret affection for squirrels and talk a little about what this experience has been like for me. I'll have a lot more to say about that when I don't have to post online what I write in my journal.

It won't be negative. It's true that I am a pretty private person, and it's always a challenge for me to open up to anyone outside my immediate family. That said, this was a positive experience, and not just because of the absence of spitting pinheads. I went through a brief but pretty ugly crisis, and kept my cool. I came up with some fun ideas for my summer projects. I celebrated very ordinary things that are special to me. My journal is the paper version of the everday me, sloppy hand writing, silly sketches and spelling mistakes included. I don't have to be the pro writer or PBW or anyone else in my journals. You can't believe how relaxing that is when you have that for yourself.

I know I won't convince everyone to start journaling, but I hope some of you will give it a go. No matter where you are in your life, a journal can be a companion to your experiences. It can preserve some of who you are for future generations. It can be your secret art studio, idea library, and writing work desk. Or it can be a place where you can sort out your feelings, focus on things that enrich you, and dispense with what you don't need in your heart or your life. Your journal can be whatever you like, and that's the real beauty of journaling. You tailor it to whatever works for you.

Journal as Edition

Got the latest journal entry scanned and uploaded (click here to view the .pdf) which talks about work, my weight-loss project, birds, poetry writing and an attempt to grow some lychee seeds. I also have some shots of that spring we visited on Father's Day, and a very bare bones sketch of a quilt I want to make out of vintage fabric.

Making a cover for your journal can be as easy or as challenging as you want it to be. I make or remake a lot of my covers because it's fun, and it adds another personal touch to my journals. Often I buy discounted journals with battered or tattered covers specifically for the purpose of recovering them; I not only use them but I often give them as gifts to family and friends who journal.

Here's a purchased journal from 2011 that I embellished with some interesting ephemera and a scattering of flat-backed crystals:



My friend Kathy Uhrig from Strange Notions made this journal, which she recycled from an antique composition book. I love how she used lace as well as paper elements for the cover:



I found this quilted journal slip cover at the annual county quilt show:



Earlier this year I showed you how I covered a composition book with a wallpaper remnant, which is about the easiest way to recover a journal. I've also made journals with unique covers, like this watercolor journal with a mini wool penny rug as a cover. If you sew, here's how I make quilted journal covers.

I also invest in covers made by others, especially when I want to give a journal as a gift. My favorite journal cover artist is Sonya Benson, who has a lovely variety in her Etsy shop SonyaBensonQuilts. Here's one of her beautifully crafted quilted journal covers:



The listing for this cover is here, so you can see the inside and how well-made it is. When I want to give a writer friend a special journal I usually buy one of Sonya's covers, as they're always perfectly sewn and quilted, and fit precisely. I also like the fabrics and colors she works with to make her covers.

Journal as Art

The journal entry I wrote yesterday is online (click here to view the .pdf.) The first page is a bit blurry as my journal is bulking up a lot; a thick journal is tough to scan. You can hear a bit about Father's Day with my guy, a request from a friend, a pic of my progress on the black and white market bag and some art experiments.

I definitely put a lot of artwork in my journals. It's a private place where I can express myself without the stress of having anyone else look at my little sketches, paintings and sewing projects. My writing is very public, and I am happy to share it (kind of the point) but my art is quite personal and off-limits. This is how I relax and work on artistic ideas that are just for me. Generally I am not interested in showing it off, getting feedback or inviting anyone else to participate in the process. I know how selfish that sounds, but I need this so I can recharge my batteries, maintain my sense of wonder and have something completely safe from the pinheads of the world. I've found that's really important in my creative life.

We have very little privacy anymore. If we're not being barraged by the internet and social media, we're being pestered on smart phones (well, okay, you guys are. I don't own one.) Advertising is constantly in our face. I can't even watch the weather channel for forecasts anymore because they turn everything into a natural disaster of epic proportions in between commercials for weather-proofing products. A journal is one of those rare places where we can actually have some time, space and peace to think for ourselves.

Unless you have no soul there are things in your heart you want to explore creatively, but you're afraid to, or you don't think they're important enough, or you don't want anyone else to see them. A journal can be a secure vault for these ideas. It can also preserve them for the future. You've seen the sketches I've done in my entries. This week I had enough time to work on them a little, but if I hadn't I could have gone back to the journal. You may also want to let your art percolate a bit more, or refine the idea, before you try it in real life. Think of your journal is your secret art studio, and I bet you'll start filling it with all kinds of amazing creations.

To give you more ideas, here are some pages from a journal I wrote back in 2009 with examples of journaling art:



This seashell construct eventually made its way in my novel Dream Called Time.



A character sketch, and a reminder to myself to get going with the writing. Cheetahs often show up in my journals.



A pretty picture I cut from a magazine, celebrating my love of the color green.



Two little watercolors that I painted just for me.

Tomorrow we'll talk about ways to make interesting covers for your journals.

Journal as Bullet List Central

Yesterday's journal entry is online (click here to view the .pdf), and it begins with a miniature I made of my office organizer idea (which didn't scan well, so I snapped a pic to go with this post.) Before I commit a lot of fabric to any project I usually make a little practice version to test out placement, materials and so forth. I'm going to replace the actual miniature in my journal with a printout of the photo, some fabric swatches and measurements once I have time to do all that. Going to the city ate up a lot of my time.

Since Father's Day is on the horizon I also talked about my dad, and while I got a little teary I think I'm finally coming to terms with losing him. Cooking helps a lot; he's always in my kitchen in spirit, I think. Regarding my blues, we always say "He wouldn't want you to be unhappy" as a comfort thing, but until this year I really didn't think about how much Dad would hate me feeling miserable about his passing. So while I was in the city I channeled him, found a neat gift plus a cute card for the father of my kids, and felt better for it.

I meant to write bullet lists in my journal to illustrate today's post, but that's the thing about journals -- you write what you need to write on that day, and I needed to talk about Dad. While I do try to stay upbeat, I don't always succeed. There are no journal police; you can write whatever you like on your pages. If it's something you don't want to save, rip them out and trash or burn them. But just getting those thoughts down in my journal was calming and cleansing. Now I can enjoy my weekend with my kids' dad and not have to carry around the sadness over my father while I do.

Fortunately I do have some lovely examples to show you -- these are from my daughter's journal, which she graciously allowed me to scan to share with you:





A bullet journal, which is best described as a running to-do list that helps keep her organized with work, school, events, etc., can be a neat alternative to traditional journaling. This approach is very popular among young people like my daughter who journal. I admire her illustrations, and the little motivational notes she writes to herself -- those make the pages fun. She also has an interesting way of tracking her health goals, such as drawing glasses or apples and then coloring them in as she drinks water or eats some fruit. Since she's very organized (sometimes even more so than me) I'd say it works.

This speedy, interesting video explains the bare bones of how a traditional bullet journal works (narrated):

Bullet Journal from Ryder on Vimeo.

Journal as Playground

My latest journal entry is online (click here to view the .pdf), and contains a celebration page for a sewing project I started back in April and finished yesterday, a bit of whining about the challenges of cooking when I don't know who I'm feeding, a sketch of an idea for a hanging office organizer, more work pages on setting ideas for my next freelance series project, and work & fun to-do lists.

Journals can be playgrounds for endless ideas. Some of my best story ideas begin as sketches or pictures or random thoughts I jot down to get them out of my head. When I use a picture I find online, I also add the URL with it so I can go back and find it again -- this is important if you don't want to print out 37 pictures of an interior, or a character model. Saving the best pic, and then going back later to the URL to look at the rest while you're writing, saves wear and tear on your printer, too.

Playing with ideas in your journal isn't limited to your writing work. As an idea starter one of my Etsy sellers sent me a photo of an organizer project she made, and I sketched an adaptation of it that I'm going to make for my home office. Now that I've finished my rather complicated tote project I also wrote up a list of fun things I can do in my spare time this week. Making time to have fun isn't the problem; deciding on what to do with it is. Having a list handy of stuff I want to do helps me not waste it.

You may notice that a lot of my notes on my setting ideas pages don't make much sense. They do, but only to me -- I use my own shorthand for what I'm thinking about work stuff; all I need are a couple words to nudge the right thought when I look at it again in the near future. It also makes idea play more efficient because I'm not writing out everything in dense paragraphs which, let's face it, are boring to read. When you write in a journal regularly you're almost guaranteed to develop a personal shorthand of your own.

Image Credit: Tverdohlib.com

Journal as Keeper

Yesterday's journal entry is online (click here to view the .pdf), and includes random thoughts, some photos, a to-do list, a setting question worksheet and a recipe I want to try this week.

A daily journal makes a great place in which to keep stuff other than your writing and ramblings. I use mine to store letters, cards, news articles, recipes and interesting photos. Those other-than-writing things aren't just ephemera; they chronicle my life and times. You may not think a turkey and onion quesadilla is a big deal now, but imagine being able to look at what people liked for lunch in Renaissance Venice, or Pompeii right before Vesuvius blew. It's true that you might not become the next Samuel Pepys, but think about your future family. The record of your meals and thoughts and life could be very interesting to the great-great grandkid you never get to meet. I'd love to know what my great-Gran lived on back in her days nursing troops during the Civil War.

If you regard your journal as an archive as well as a place to write, you'll find yourself preserving things that may also be important to you later on in life. Settling arguments is one of the big pluses of this journaling habit; no one ever argues with me on dates or events important to the family because I have a written record of all of them I can produce on demand. While writing my YA books, I often reread the journals I wrote in high school to get back in touch with my younger self. It's easy to remember the big things about being in high school, but the day-to-day gets fuzzier with age. Also, it's easy to forget how different one's mindset is at fifteen versus fifty-four.

My journals are great helps with work as well. I've promised myself to keep learning about writing no matter how old I get or how many books I write. If you don't keep trying to improve your craft, you get lazy, complacent, and/or stagnate. The setting worksheet is a personal kick in the butt to keep refining the way I write setting, and what questions I might ask myself when I do. I actually have to work very hard on setting because it's one of my weakest points as a writer. This will give me a lot to think about while I'm world-building this week.

Journal as Planner

I've posted the first entry into my new journal online (click here to view the .pdf), and it's pretty standard for a Monday. I have one basic sketch and a couple of lists, and I talk about home life and work. I did write four more pages in addition to what I've posted, but those I left out because they cover topics and opinions that I prefer to keep private.

A journal is a great place to figure out things and plan for the week ahead. It may seem mundane to write a list about what to make for dinner, but I needed to go shopping today, and I wanted to sort out some possible menus before I hit the market. Also, I think a lot about seasonal foods (peaches!), my family's likes and dislikes, and what I can make that will be different than what I made last week. As hot as it's been, I'm sticking to simple, cool, and light for dinner.

There's a to-do list in this entry, and that's also a journaling habit of mine when I have a lot of tasks to accomplish. I got all my writing work done, most of the housework and even some sewing last night. The laundry is still in progress, but then, it usually is. By prioritizing my tasks I was able to keep to my work schedule and not ignore the house; when I take breaks from writing I do my chores. When I'm really busy with work, or have a lot of little tasks to do, I'll go back to the journal and check off things as I finish them so I know where I am with getting things done.

No journal has to restricted only to great philosophical revelations, or outpourings of personal torment. I do have the occasional temper tantrum now and then in mine, but I mainly try to stay focused on being creative with my work and life. What I do now may or may not be of interest to someone in the future, but that's not the reason I journal. This is the only time I write for myself instead of someone else, and it's relaxing. I like to have conversations with myself in my journals, and work out my problems, and find things to appreciate in every new day.

Inside a Journal Week

This is my journal for this week. While I've shown you lots of my journals over the years, and talked a bit about what I write in them, I've never actually put one of my journals online for others to read. Since I'm all about coaxing others to write in journals, I thought I might share this one for the next seven days.

The journal is part of a set I purchased from Writer's Bloc. It's a Moleskine, 8-1/2" X 11", with 96 lined pages. The cover art is by Ricardo Cabral, and has this quote on it: "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare; my business is to create. -- William Blake" I'm sending the other journal that came in the set to a friend today; giving journals to people is another thing I do to be pesky.

I generally don't plan what I write or put in any journal. I think that defeats the purpose, and often creates the temptation to make the journal artful or show oneself in a positive or sympathetic light. Aka all those art journalists out there who decoupage their pages with a single encouraging word, Scrabble tiles and unfocused wildflower pics on tinted gesso to which they've applied a Brillo pad or bubblewrap dipped in poster paint. It won't be that kind of journal, trust me. I'm not interested in tarting up myself or my thoughts for anyone's approval. That said, since I'm posting this one online I will probably keep it G-rated for the sake of any kids who might have a look.

I think it's always fun to start a new journal. The pages are pristine, the possibilities of what to fill them with are endless, and it gives me a place to take breaks from work and spend a little time playing with words and images, recording things about my life and enjoying the day. For me a journal is a companion, not an assignment or homework.

Since I like the cover art I may make a quilted cover for this one; I haven't decided that yet, either. What I am going to do now is go and start it. Each day I'll scan the pages I complete and post a link to the .pdf I make from them at the bottom of each post. When the journal is finished I'll also put them together in a free e-book and add it to the freebies and free reads page.

Here we go!

Mini Quilt Recycled Watercolor Journal

My fifth and final project for Recycled Journal Week began with this mini quilt I picked up at a show some years back:



It's made of wool, and really too small to be anything other than decorative, so I thought it would make a great cover for a little pocket watercolor journal. I went into my painting drawer and found a pad with a few sheets of unused 140 lb. watercolor paper leftover from a painting class I took, and then grabbed some old wrapping paper from the recycle bin:



First I cut my wrapping paper to size as end papers, and then tore the watercolor papers from the pad and trimmed off the preforations:



I then folded everything into signatures:



I didn't want to use the sewing machine for binding the signatures as that would show on the outside of the quilt. I dithered around for about an hour at this point because I didn't have a lot of other options -- and even though about going out to buy some sort of binder clip piece to use -- and then while I was straightening up the sewing room I found some leftover ribbon and decided to use that as the binding.

To do that I first punched two holes in the signatures:



I took two long pieces of the scrap ribbon, threaded them through a tapestry needle, and drew them through the signature holes on both ends:



I then used the needle to work both ends of the ribbons through the mini quilt in the center:



Once I knotted the ribbons and tied them together everything was bound nicely:



I also left enough slack in the ribbon while I was knotting it to allow the pages to stay flat:



The finishing touch was a piece of stiff, heavy cardboard to tuck in the pages, which will support them as I work in the journal:



This project taught me that I can come up with a solution to a problem (just not instantly) and that sticking to my objective is worth a little dithering. Total project time: 4 hours.

This has been a fun week for me. As you may remember I started out with this collection of unused stuff:



Without spending a dime on new materials I turned the stuff (plus an extra calendar) into these six handmade journals:



You can do this too, you know. Look around your home, see what unused junk and paper you have sitting around, and apply some imagination to transform it into your own unique recycled journal.

Gift Box Recycled Unbound Journal

My fourth project for Recycled Journal Week was to repurpose this slim 7" X 5.5" gift box, and I really didn't fuss with it too much:



Rather than try to cut down the box I decided to keep it intact and use to to hold individual sheets of leftover paper as journal pages, and since it's a box I didn't have to bind them. The lining inside the box was like quilt batting, so I started working with that and some fabric:



I quilted the fluffy lining between a piece of scrap muslin and a remnant of hand-dyed silk; both cut to fit the top of the box. Once I had it sandwiched together I added a Venise lace flower, metallic thread quilting and some seed beading:



Once I finished the piece I had a nice cover for the top of the box:



Because the box sides were too thick to take stitches easily I hot-glued the quilted cover to the top of the box:



I lined the inside of the box with some interesting scrap papers:



I then gathered up a bunch of pretty scrap paper from the recycle bin to put in the box, and was able to fit all this inside:



The box will keep the paper from wrinkling now, which is a nice bonus. Once I do use up all the pages I can permanently bind them (or even slip them into my pocket journals), refill the box and start again. I've also just run out of paper book marks, which I try to stick in every book I lend or give, so I'll also be making the smaller strips of paper on top into those:



I admit this isn't a traditionally bound book-type journal, but the whole point of making your own is to suit yourself. I like how this one came out, but more importantly I know I'll be using (and refilling) it a lot. Total project time: 5 hours.

Bakery Box Recycled Prompt Journal

My third project for Recycled Journal Week involved the smallest of my materials, this wee bakery box:



I really like journals that have cards instead of pages, and I just happened to have a stack of outdated but otherwise pristine business cards that I need to recycle that fit perfectly inside the wee box:



To recycle the business cards I decided to remake them into creative prompt cards using images, words, and other kicks my muse always needs. As with the brittle journal project I first unfolded the box to see what area I had to work with:



I really liked the cardboard handles, and decided to leave those alone. Across the body of the box I stitched a frayed holiday trim remnant stamped with the word Believe:



I then stitched and glued the box back together:



The prompt cards are going to take longer to make (I think I can fit about a hundred cards in the box), but I put together the first six by sewing some stamped fabric and a piece of paper towel to them to cover the print side of the cards:



One thing that's important to me when I work on a project using recycled materials is to use things I have on hand that versus buying new materials. I've wanted to do something with those old business cards for a long time, and this gave me the chance to give them a second life. Total project time (for the box and six cards): 1 hour.

Calendar Recycled Pocket Journal

My second project for Recycled Journal Week came out so well I surprised myself, and it all started with this unused 2014 calendar:



This is a big glossy wall calendar with beautiful photos of gardens around the world on lovely thick paper, and I originally planned to take it apart and use the photos to make some journal pages, which I then never got around to doing. Here's how each page in the calendar looked:



I took out the two staples holding all the pages together and cut each one in half to separate the pictures:



It took a while to figure out how to use the pictures. I knew I didn't want to use the monthly grids, and I thought of all the craft blogs I've seen use old calendars to make pretty envelopes. That sparked the light bulb for me, and I folded each picture over in half, then in half again so that the grid was on the inside, and the photo faced out:



This produced twelve rather gorgeous signatures:



Once I had them folded I could see how to make each signature into two pockets. First I stitched each open end of the signatures with some embroidery floss:





Once I had all the signatures stitched up, I used the sewing machine to stitch them to a long piece of the calendar's cardboard cover, which I cut and folded into a cover for my pockets. Sewing down the fold of each signature created two pockets (and if you try this, remember to keep the open/unstitched end up as you sew each signature to the cover):



Once all the signatures were stitched to the cover, I had a completed journal. It came out so nice I used last year's Victorian calendar to make another one, and this time I used the sewing machine for all the stitching:



Here's the inside of the garden calendar pocket journal:



And the inside of the one I made from the Victorian calendar:



What can you do with a pocket journal? Save the little stuff! I'm going to use one of mine for some ribbon and Venise lace I frequently use, but you can also pocket your mementos, receipts, notes, photos, postcards, cookie fortunes, letters, or index cards in this type of journal. As a gift for a writer pal you could make one and stuff the pockets with writing prompts, or recipes for a friend who likes your cooking:



What I learned from this project is to keep in mind what purpose you want your recycled journal to serve, and take your time figuring out how to use your materials in interesting ways. Total project time: 2 nights @ 4 hours for the garden journal, and 1 night @ 4 hours for the Victorian journal.