June 23rd, 2009
With summer now in full swing, paintings to be made, journals to be bound, a toddler to chase outside, and blog posts to write I have been finding less time to do my own journaling. For these reasons I am going to be posting journaling tips every other Tuesday. I am working on one about journaling with your Inner Critic. Should be interesting…but just need to find the time!
But I didn’t want to post this week without a prompt at least. With the absence of my own journaling these past few weeks, I have asked myself- Why do I journal anyway? I have missed it. The absence of it is very real for me. I have kept a journal since I was a little girl in various ways and forms. But it was only really, the past 7 years that it became a conscious and consistent habit. But why?
…It is testimony, evidence of a life. My life. It is a learning tool. It is Me.
So here is your journal prompt: Why do you journal?
…writing a journal implies that one has ceased to think of the future and has decided to live in the present. It is an announcement to fate that you expect nothing more. It is assertion that you take each day as it comes and make no connection between to-day and other days. Writing a journal means facing your ocean you are afraid to swim across it, so you attempt to drink it drop by drop. It means that you count the last leaves of a tree whose trunk has lost its sap. ~ George Sand
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June 16th, 2009
As promised, mixed media artist Seth Apter has been so kind to share a few pages of two of his travel journals as well as his process of creating these treasures. His travel journals are astounding. I always have the best of intentions to create a book like this, but never seem to follow through. So I just had to pick his brain to see how he creates these books.
amanobooks: Do you have a regular journal that you keep while you are traveling and then go back later and incorporate your writing with your work? Or do you work on site?
Seth: I create the structure for my journal, which so far has always been a handmade book, before I leave for every vacation. I often add a color wash to the pages, which typically are either cold-press watercolor paper or blank, vintage book pages. I keep the pages loose on the trip and bind them when I come home after they are all completed. I always pack a small journal kit, which is different depending upon the vacation. But I always bring a selection of makers, stamp pads, watercolor brush pens, rubber stamps, rub on letters, glue stick, scissors, pieces of handmade and found paper, and the like.
While I am away I am always looking out for things to add to my journal, whether it be receipts, brochures, business cards, local paraphernalia. ephemera, found objects, and other souvenirs. And as I am taking photographs I am also thinking about what I might want to put in the journal. I always start to create pages when I am away. I really enjoy taking time to work in the journal while I am actually on vacation and in the place that is inspiring me. I don’t think I have ever actually completed a page while on vacation though.
I also write random notes about the vacation during the trip too. It is the only way I can remember everything and I always look forward to my note writing on each trip. One of my favorite things to do is to give people I visit or meet on the trip a page to complete for my journal. This way I take home a piece of everybody from the trip and they become part of my journal.
When I come home, I print out pictures, gather all the stuff I brought back, sit with all my art supplies, and complete the pages. Then I will bind the book and complete the cover. The journals I have from my trips are really sacred objects to me. Each time I look through them I am transported back and I re-experience the vacation.
Thank you Seth for your generousity and for sharing your creative process in creating these fantastic travel journals!
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June 9th, 2009
As summer approaches, trips and vacations may be appearing on the horizon. Our photo albums generally record our vacations for us. We look at a photo and say “I was there on this day and we were doing xyz”. Creating a Travel Journal, however, is a great way to capture more than just static images.
When you bring along a journal and write while on your trip, you are giving yourself a moment to slow down. It allows you to soak it all in. Even while on vacation there is a tendency to to do it all and get it all in while you can. Try taking a moment to just sit and write about your surroundings, your observations, your plans, and your adventures.
+ Write out your itinerary in your journal
+ Collect maps, ticket stubs, currency, matchbooks, found objects and ephemera that capture the flavor of your destination
+ Pack an envelope to collect these various found mementos to add to your journal later
+ Observe your surroundings, capture it in words
+ Bring a watercolor set, or at least a favorite pen, to sketch a scene
+ Write about the people you meet in your travels. Have them write something in your journal!
+ At the end of your trip, create a top ten list of moments you don’t want to forget. These can be pretty funny when you look back. It is also interesting how a short phrase can bring back a flood of memories.
Writer Ann Somerset Miles shared some pages of her journal that she kept on her vacation. Her entries are mostly written and her accompanying illustrations add color and character to her pages. You can get a glimpse ino other aspects of Ann’s work at Wild Somerset Child blog.
Ann Somerset Miles
Writing as you travel will capture as much and even more of the essence of your trip than just photographs. Write during layovers, on a bus, or at the day’s end. If you want to do a more detailed travel journal later with your photos corresponding with your text, you can. But writing down the details while you are traveling helps keeps the memories fresh.
from one of my journals, 2006
leaves I collected on a walk around the B&B we were staying at
Stay tuned for next week’s travel journal post featuring a few of Seth Apter’s travel journal spreads.
His process of ceating a travel journal combines the two approaches- doing some of the journal while on vacation and then finishing it later after the trip.
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June 2nd, 2009
Who are you? A simple question for a complex answer. Answering this question in your journal could lead to some interesting writing. For a quick and simple way to start, make a list of roles you lead in your life- I am a… mother, father, sister, daughter, friend, scientist, teacher, etc. Move on to characteristics and attributes- athletic, creative, messy, tall, quiet, funny, dreamer, etc. As your list grows, get creative in naming the different facets of yourself.
Tackling this question in list format is the easiest way to start answering this fundamental question.
visual journal entry, 2004
For the visually inclined:
For the above spread, I simply printed out a self-portrait I painted years ago and blew it up to just show the eyes. I doodled with ink around the image and then journaled my list.
+ Print out a photo of yourself and attach to your journal. Journal around your image.
+ Challenge yourself to draw your portrait in your journal before writing your list. If sketching your whole face is daunting, focus on just your eyes. Eyes are the mirrors into the soul, after all…
+ Write your list out. Print a photo or drawing of yourself onto transparency. Attach the transparency on top of your writing.
+ If you are new to altering your own photographs, I highly recommend Karen Michel’s book The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery : Mixed-Media Techniques for Collage, Altered Books, Artist Journals, and More
The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change. ~Richard Bach
Looking at yourself with honest eyes can be a courageous thing to do. Growth requires self-examination. Using your journal to explore themes of “you” is a safe place to do so. Journaling has not been called a form of “cheap therapy” for nothing!
“Know thyself?” If I knew myself, I’d run away. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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May 26th, 2009
The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Writing in a journal allows us to stop and reflect. Use your journal as a place to reflect on the things you are grateful for. Often we are overwhelmed by all the obligations we have in our daily lives or what we lack that it is easy to forget what we have. Gratitude for what is in our lives allows us to be present and really savor the good things. Being able to reframe circumstances that we find ourselves in also opens us up to allowing even more positive possibilities. This is not about being unrealistically happy 24 hours a day, it is about fostering a more positive perspective on things.
+ Write a Gratitude List as an entry in your journal. From the big things like a recovery from an illness or getting a new job. To the smallest things such as a genuine smile from a stanger or the extra whip cream in your mocha. When we remember what we have, our lives become more abundant. If this is difficult, start small. You’ll be amazed by all that you have to be grateful for.
+Make writing a Gratitude List a habit. Every time you sit at your journal, begin an entry with a short list of 5 things you are grateful for for that day.
Pink Poppy print available
in the amanobooks art section
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May 12th, 2009
In honor of Mother’s Day this past Sunday, this journal tip is dedicated to journaling with kids. Not only is this an engaging activity to do with your child, but it will create a lasting memory for both of you. In an age where everyone is running around with hectic scheduling, take the time to stop and reflect with your child. You may be surprised by their observations!
My 9 year old niece, Bella, was gracious enough to share several of her journal entries with me for samples of journaling with kids. I love how her journal is already bulging on the side with things she collects and glues into her journal.
Here, my niece glued down an atc I created and wrote down what she felt the image meant.
+ Get a plain notebook or sketchbook and have the child decorate the cover with stickers, collage, or even their own drawing.
+ Encourage the use of pictures, drawings, and stamping in their journal. This is especially the case for children with pre-writing skills.
This spread was created by my 5 year old niece, Sophia. On the right side is a photo from a vacation. She continued the landscape according to her own vision!
+ Help them observe their world- don’t forget the wh questions, who, what, when, where, why, and how.
+Make it fun! Emphasize that there is no right or wrong way.
+When a child finishes a drawing, ask them to tell you about it-write their words down! Attach it to their drawing on the opposite facing page, or write it on the drawing. With their permission, of course.
When Bella was 4 years old, I got engaged and told her the story about the proposal. She later illustrated it and my sister wrote down her description of her illustration. This drawing hangs in my studio to this day.
+Children are so observant of their surroundings. Have them use a journal to record their sightings on a nature walk, or a city stroll. Tape or glue in the little things they collect on their walks- leaves, sticks, found objects, etc.
+Collect personal photographs or random images. Let your child pick one to glue into their journal and then write a story about it.
+Don’t forget to date the entries!
sounds like a poem to me…
+Journaling can also help children process their own feelings of emotional events in their lives. It provides a safe place for them to express themselves.
Here are some interesting online resources:
- mom’s minivan: trip journal
- nature journaling with kids
- kids creativity portal
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May 5th, 2009
This week’s post is not a writing tip, but a tip to help add images and artwork to your journal pages. A very easy way to add imagery to your journal page is to get your hands on a box of transparencies that you can print on from your local office supply store. They are pricey, but if you will use them, it is worth it! Read the instructions for your printer, of course, and make sure you are able to print on transparencies before experimenting.
1. Print out your image on a transparency sheet and then trim down to size.
2. Write out your journal entry in your journal, then glue your transparent image on top of your writing.
from my personal journal, 2007-2008
Or you can collage various papers and add some paint before laying down your transparency. I did that in the example below and added a journal entry on top of the collage, and then attached my transparency.
from my personal journal, 2007-2008
In the spread below, the right hand side, I placed a picture of myself behind a transparency of a tree. The actual writing of this journal entry is behind my photo in a glassine envelope. The layering possibilities are endless with transparent materials!
a spread from a collaborative visual journal
Other resources:
+ There are onlines stores that sell images on transparencies such as art chix studio. They have fun images that could inspire an interesting journal entry! I do however, highly recommend using your own images, if you can or are willing. Your journal entries will be much more personal if you use your own images.
+ Somerset Studio published a book called Transparent Art
+ There are also ways to do transfer techniques with transparencies. If you do a quick search online, you should be able to find articles on this technique.
+ Use your own photos or even artwork. It is always fun and interesting to go back to a finished painting and rework it in your journal.
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April 28th, 2009
What I mean by “Self-censorship” is not writing the whole truth and nothing but the truth in your journals. Sometimes it is really hard to dig deep and be completely honest. But if you can’t do that in your own journal, where can you do it?
Have you ever written a heart wrenching entry that was cathartic to have written out, but then everytime you open your journal you see it and it sends a painful memory back to you? You may then find yourself either not wanting to use that journal or not wanting to write such entries down, which is not helpful at all. You may even be tempted to rip the entry out, burn it, throw it away. Which is fine, if you really want to do that. I hate ripping pages out of my journal though. My journal is me- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes we need to be raw and ugly in order to find the beauty in our lives.
Life is not always peachy and sometimes you just need to vent. Writing it out in your journal can help get all those emotions out safely and in a constructive way. We also may censor ourselves in our journals because we are often taught to not express our emotions or opinions-keep everything “pleasant”. Your journal is the place to write down your honest thoughts at that moment, even if that changes in the next moment.
Below are some visuals from my own journal and how I dealt with self-censorship. I wrote all my angst out in my journal…but after I dealt with the emotions and the situation passed, I didn’t want to see it anymore. So, I covered it up! It’s not beautiful, but it served its purpose. I needed to write what was inside of my head, but I didn’t want to see it everytime I opened my journal.
On the spread above I actually sewed pieces of scrap fabric to my journal page, covering up my entry. I know what’s under there…but I don’t need to see it anymore. I liked how the sewn-in fabric added more character to my already bulging journal.
This spread above you can see the thread stitches poking through. I also covered up some of the writing with pencil scribbles and also glued on another scrap piece of dark fabric.
If you can be honest with yourself in your journal, you may feel better afterwards. Or if not totally better, at least lighter and with more clarity.
Other cover-up tips:
+ Staple the pages together- this is good if one day you do want to go back and read the entry. You just need to get the staples out!
+ Glue the pages together
+ Glue a decorative piece of paper on top
+ Paint, scribble, doodle on top of the entry
+ Write on a separate sheet of paper. If you want to put it in your journal, you can by stapling it in, paperclipping, or by gluing an envelope and sticking the paper in there. If you don’t want to keep it in your journal, toss it, burn it, shred it up!
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April 21st, 2009
One of the greatest things in the world is to train ourselves to see beauty in the commonplace. ~Charles Hawthorne
The point of having a journal is to record your thoughts and events. It is easy to fall into the trap of writing things out like an itinerary of events. For example: Today I woke up and ate breakfast before I had to get ready for the day. I then got dressed and left the house.
Yes, that definitely records what happened that day, but if you stop and really think about the details and write them out, your entries will be so more richer. Here is an alternative to the above example:
I woke up around 5:30 am and the world was so still. When I let Foggy out, there was snow on the ground and on the fence. The snow seemed to glow in the morning’s darkness. And inside the house, all was quiet. The world felt like it was still asleep.
When I read that entry, my memory comes to a sharp focus on that moment, the morning of the day my son was born. If I had just written the first example, I don’t think I would remember that stillness of that January morning. It brings it all back to me. Even the way the light came in through the kitchen window.
Try writing a journal entry this way. The easiest way is to do it in the present tense. Sit on a bench outside in a park during your lunch break. Describe what you see, what you hear, what you smell. Remember the “wh” questions you learned to ask in your high school writing class- who, what, when, where, why, and how. Get it down. You are painting a picture with words.
Artist Erin Kenepp is chronicaling a whole year of her life with a visual journal entry for every day. It is really quite amazing.
page from Erin Kenepp’s visual journal
I love this visual journal entry that she was so generous to share here. The marriage between the richness of her words and the simple use of color captures that moment so well.
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches. -Rainer Maria Rilke
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April 14th, 2009
Although many artists like to say that their work speaks for itself, we usually have to talk about the work whether in an artist’s statement or at a show. Someone is inevitably going to ask you, “Why do you like trees so much?” or “Why do you use red circles in your work? or even “Are you ok? Your painting looks like you’re tormented” (yes, I did get that from a friend once!) Anyway, wouldn’t it be nice to have an answer prepared so you don’t find yourself tongue tied? But better than that, it’s good to have that conversation with yourself- figure out what symbols or themes appear in your work often and then find out what that means to you.
Use your journal to get the thoughts out, brainstorm, figure out what it is that you are trying to say. You can use this exercise to help you write that dreaded artist statement. When you write your artist statement you want to be concise and not too wordy or convoluted. In your journal though, you can be wordy, have spelling errors, awkward syntax and even incomplete sentences. This is about getting it out in the first place. Exploration before the execution.
Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist. ~Edward Hopper
+This is a big one: look at your life, yes, at you, at who you are. What moves you? What issues do you find yourself gravitating towards? Are there certain themes or events in your life that have had a impacts on the way you think or behave? Do you have a life philosophy? Write these out in list form. You can go back later and dedicate a journal entry to each one.
+If certain themes or a general feeling appears in your work, write it down. List form. Go back and pick out areas to write about. How does this theme in your work reflect areas of your life, your own personal history? After all, we create what we know. Where could these themes be originating from and why? Or maybe we are creating what we don’t know, what we wish for….
+Make a list of the symbols, figures, shapes that appear or that you are drawn to. For each one, list what they could possibly mean. Or if not a meaning, how does it make you feel? Once you have a list, you may find themes. Themes can always lead to a series…….
+Write about the colors that you are drawn to. Why do you always pick up that Paynes Gray? Colors have a whole psychology to them. Look it up, put it in your journal. Here are a few links to start with:
:: http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm
:: http://www.squidoo.com/colorexpert
+So you like to paint a bowl of fruit and really there is no reason or symbolism behind that, that’s great too! This is still a good exercise to do to help with the artist statement or the gallery chat. If you think about it, of all the things in the world to paint, you are choosing fruit. Why? Maybe you just love to paint and the organic forms and the vivid colors allow you to explore paint and all its wonderful qualities. Writing about what motivates you helps clarify why you do what you do.
It might feel awkward to dissect your own work like that, but we are visual communicators. Even if you think there is no meaning to the dots you placed in the lower right corner, something compelled you to do so. Find out if there is a deeper meaning or maybe you will find that you are guided by something else, something more intuitive, or more experimental. Finding this out is valuable and can only enrich your work.
++These tips may also help if you are feeling stuck or blocked with your work. Figuring out what you are drawn to and what symbols or colors can help jumpstart ideas.
Some of the pictures are truly mysterious to me…which is why I so often say publicly that I don’t know or don’t care what they’re really about. And yet I can also say that the paintings are prayers. ~ Susan Rothenberg
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