Art Journaling

Creative journal keeping or art journaling has been around for ages. From the intricate hand-drawn and softly colored pages of Leonardo da Vinci to the heavily collaged and painted pages of some of today's art journalers, there is plenty of inspiration to be found. An art journal is a book that blends the written word and artwork. It may be simply text and doodles or real-life drawings in black ink on white paper. It may have layers of paint, magazine collage, stamping and ink. Some can even be assembled in a scrapbook style with titles, photos, and patterned papers.

Art journals can have many purposes and usually have specific themes. You can maintain one by observing and chronicling the daily events around you or you can focus on more inner spiritual reflections. A travel diary, a food log, or a dream journal can all be avenues for combining writing and drawing.

Basic Supplies:

• journal. You might prefer a spiral-bound journal made from a watercolor pad or a hardbound book with blank pages. You might want to create one of your own with any of the various bookbinding techniques. Maybe a scrapbook type album is what you prefer. If you see a book that says journal to you, use it.
• pens. There are a myriad to choose from. Vary the line thickness and color. Don't forget your basic black. Check for permanency if you will be painting over them.
• watercolors or liquid acrylics and a basic brush.
• alphabet stamps and ink.
• glue sticks or other adhesives.
• patterned papers.
• ephemera - ribbons, pressed flowers, receipts, wrappers, photos, magazine cut-outs, etc.

Helpful Techniques:

• Basic drawing skills.
• Painting with watercolors or liquid acrylics.
• Stamping and collage work.
• Writing and observation skills

There are online groups to challenge and inspire you in an art journaling adventure. Some groups provide a prompt a day to get you writing and viewing the world around you. It is helpful to join with others who are creatively interpreting the world around them even though many journals tend to be introspective and reveal private thoughts. I am leading a year-long spiritual art journal through my church this year. A monthly prompt to inspire a spiritual quest is provided at the beginning of each month and at the end of the month we get together to continue creating our monthly pages. Our hope is that at year's end we are farther along on our own personal spiritual journey as we link the written and the creative.

There are a myriad of books to help jump-start this process for you. These are just a few that have been influential in my own life.

Books:

• Visual Chronicles: The No-Fear Guide to Creating Art Journals, Creative Manifestos &[K1] Altered Books by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino
• Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks: Exploring and Creating Personal Pages by Lynne Perrella
• Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art by Jennifer New
• The Decorated Journal: Creating Beautifully Expressive Journal Pages by Gwen Diehn
• The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are by Danny Gregory

Sample Pages:

Walk Towards The Sunshine:

*hardbound book
*Prismacolor Pencils
*Black Pitt Pens

Toy journal page:

*handbound watercolor journal
*Daniel Smith watercolor base
*magazine cutouts
*Caran d'Arche neocolor II crayons
*Black Pitt Pens

Risk journal page:

*scrapbook-style album
*patterned papers
*computer-generated journaling
*photo cutouts

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