The sub-heading for today’s tip is “creativity journaling”. I plan to have a few posts geared towards creative types for ways to use journaling as a brainstorming tool for creating art. Creativity journaling can include visual journaling, but it really has more to do with writing.

I have worked on a few series of paintings and always seem to have ideas about future ones swimming around in my head.  Before I really get into the thick of working in a series, I journal.   I write an entry (or more) about what issues I want to tackle.  Looking at these entries I find that most of what is written are questions.  Why? How? What happens if? How come? Where did this come from? etc.

I hopefully work out the answers to these questions visually through my paintings. More often than not, though, the paintings lead to more questions. So back to my journal I go!

After writing down the issues, it may also help to just brainstorm about what symbols you might want to use. Write anything and everything down. One idea can always lead to another. Make sketches next to your lists. Or even collage images down.

U.K. artist Vivien Blackburn created a book called “Ravelled Sleaves”. In this book she utilizes the image of her hand as one of the symbols of herself and her identity to depict feeling torn between all the demands on her during that time in her life-art, school, work, family, life. I think we can all relate to that at some point in our lives!

You can see in just three images how the hands transform into a wave that threaten to drown her. Be sure to check out Vivien’s Sketchbooks. Her sketchbooks are such a treasure to look through. Landscape studies combined with written observations and color studies are so insightful into the way her works progress. Then go visit her web site to see how her sketchbooks influence her finished paintings. And she also has a blog!

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The hardest part of visual journaling is finding the time. When I want to write a journal entry, the last thing I want to do is to pull my paints out or find my glue stick or figure out what I want my page to look like. I just want to write. The best way to beat this is to prepare pages beforehand. You don’t have to do page by page. Just pick random pages throughout your journal.

visual journal entry from my journal

This page was created using a phototransfer technique of one of my photos. I had created this page before hand, so on a day when I was stuck waiting in the car I happened to have my journal with me and I pulled it out and wrote to the left of the image. Later when I went home I finished it by adding a stamped date, lettering with some alphabet stamps, and a little more paint here and there.

Ways to Start
+ Paint backgrounds using watercolor paints, acrylics, or ink.
+ Glue down images from a magazine or newspaper
+ Glue down cool background paper, such as scrapbooking paper, or a torn dictionary page, or wrapping paper, or…
+ Glue down your own photos
+ Glue down a black and white photocopy of an image- the white of the background leaves a perfect space to write an entry
+ Get your stamps out and ink them up all over the pages, create borders, boxes, divide up your page creatively
+ Do a photocopy transfer {see technique tip here}

Once you have your pages prepared, you can write in them as you come to them. Don’t worry about the page not being “ready” for your words. Once you get your words in you may have a better idea of how you want the art to progress.

Check out this spread created by mixed media artist Amber Gibbs. In this spread you can see how she created a collage combined with her line drawing. The architectural element of the arch provided the perfect space for a written entry. The whole spread is pulled together with the purple background.

Visit Amber’s blog to see more of her art journal spreads. She shares her experiments in her journal as well, so you are sure to get some good ideas there too. She has been gracious to allow me to show some of her journal spreads here and I will be sharing a few more in upcoming posts.

If you totally hate what you have created, just cover it up with a piece of scrap paper. Paint over it. Don’t let the fear of ruining your page or ruining your journal stop you. If you treat your visual journal like something sacred and precious, you may just end up putting off creating a page for another day. Again.

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So what is this “visual journaling” thing all about? Visual journaling or art journaling seems to be the popular way to journal these days. With all this attention on art journaling, I think a lot of people who just write think, what’s the big deal?

I myself prefer just writing in my journals, but I do have visual journal entries scattered here and there in my journaling between pages of just written entries. My visual journal entries are spaces for me to experiment and play, use up bits of collage material, see what happens if I put that color on top of that one. More often than not my imagery has nothing to do with the written entry. But sometimes it does, and that visual imagery just serves to reinforce the written.

The first time I became aware of a consciously deliberate visual journal was in high school when I ran across a book on the diary of Frida Kahlo. I was blown away and knew that I wanted to have a book just like that! The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait. Here is another book that will knock your socks off: The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon

an art journal entry from my handbound journal

Visual Journaling combines the written and the visual. It’s as simple as that. Some art journalers dedicate a whole journal just to visual journal entries. Page after page is filled with collage, paintings, sketches, plus writing. Some people even skip the writing and explore their thoughts, feelings and experiences purely through visual means. The journal becomes a piece of art in and of itself. A container, of sorts.

So why do a visual journal entry?
- creating a visual page can often express a feeling or an experience that you may have a hard time putting into words
- during the process of creating with imagery and color, you may reveal more about yourself or your situation that you are journaling about than if you had just written an entry about it
- allows you to flex those creative muscles
- allows you to play and explore without any pressure
- this flexing and playing could inspire you to do something bigger and deeper
- what else are you going to do with your pack-rat tendencies? It’s a place to use your collage papers, ephemera and photos.
- it’s fun and will make your journal feel scrumptious in your hands!

links and resources:
+Dawn DeVries Sokol’s book 1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations (1000 Series) is filled with many different artist journal pages, 1,000 of them in fact. The great thing about this book is that it shows that there is no one right way to visual journal. I am proud to have a few of my spreads in Dawn’s book.

+L.K. Ludwig wrote a fantastic book called True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling L.K. is a wonderful writer and offers many insights into creating visual journals as well prompts to guide you. Two pieces of mine are also in this book.

Also check out L.K.’s blog , especially on Friday’s as she has just started doing a visual journal prompt every Friday.

+ One cannot talk about visual journaling without mentioning Teesha Moore. Just go see for yourself.

+Visit Kelly Kilmer to be inspired by her visual journal pages. She also teaches workshops on visual journaling, online and off.

+I have just discovered this art journaling blog One Artist Journal. Her work is just wonderful. She also teaches workshops on art journaling.

+Dispatch from LA blog will just inspire you to pull out a journal and all the ticket stubs, random papers and stencils you have been collecting and go at it. She is about to start an online workshop. I believe it starts soon.

There are so many resources out there, but those are just a few to get your creative juices going.
The next couple of posts will be focusing on visual journaling techniques, but those of you who are just writers, don’t despair. I will return to writing prompts, but also always with a tip for the visually inclined.

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Starting a new journal can be daunting. A whole book of blank pages just waiting to be filled in is enough to stop you in your tracks. But actually, it is kind of exciting. Imagine all the new experiences and thoughts ahead that will put down in the book. It all will be written as your story unfolds.

I just finished a journal that I have been keeping since December 2007. Now as I start a new journal with a blank first page, I wonder what lies ahead. When I begin a new journal I like to create a first page of intention. There is no way for me to know what will fill the pages of my new journal, but I do know at the time of starting that there are certain issues in my life that need attention. Topics that I need to focus on, matters that I need to attend to. I like to do this because it can set a tone for the journal. You can even think of it as a title page. Think about the possiblilities that open up for you when you first page just has the word “explore” or “dream”. Or you can have a simple and concrete intention of “this journal is going to house overheard observations of my two year old”. The first page of intention can be anything.

And just becuase you have a first page of intention, does not mean that you have stick with it throughout the life of that journal. Journaling is a companion to our lives, never predictable. It can, and should, evolve with you.

That day on a cold December in 2007 I wrote that I wanted to explore what “home” meant to me. It’s interesting to see how in this journal that I just finished there is an evolution starting with these thoughts, to our decision to move, our home search, our move, and then settling into a new city.

detail from that first page of my journal

If you are not starting a journal, an interesting exercise to do is to go through your journal you are already using. Read through your entries and see if you see any recurring themes or topics. Write a journal entry on what you find. It may be enlightening!

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Several years ago I saw a movie during the Seattle Independent Film festival about a 20-something woman who comes face to face with her 12 year old self. Their encounter is an awakening to her, making her take stock of her life.

Write a journal entry to your 12 year old self- what would you say to that younger self? Is there any advice you would give?

visual journal entry by Julie Prichard

The words that mixed media artist Julie Prichard wrote above in her journal entry are words that I wish I could tell my younger self. Actually, they are good words to keep in mind even now in my current life!

Visual journal tip:
Find a photo of yourself a 12 and make a copy to use in your journal. Either glue this copy in just so and write around the image, or do a transer.
Here is a very easy way to do a black and white phototransfer transfer:
1. Photocopy your image. The ink has to be toner ink.
2. Brush on Gel Medium onto the image. There are so many gel mediums, but my favorite is any medium made by Golden. And right now, I am really liking the
Golden Acrylic Gel MediumsHeavy Gel Semi-Gloss. I switch gels and mediums every so often. So, right now I am using the Heavy Gel Semi-gloss.
3. Lay image and gel face down onto your page. Burnish really well. You can use a brayer, a bone fold or even the back of a spoon. Let this sit for a while. If you can wait at least an hour that would be good.
4. Spray water onto the paper and start to rub off the pulp off the back of your image. You should start to see that the ink has transferred to your receiving paper.

mixed media self portrait

The above image is not an image of a 12 year old me, but it is an example of a transfer using a photo of myself. Using your own photos and photos of yourself and those in your life can really enhance your journal entries. It brings an even more personal and intimate documentation of your life to accompany your words and your thoughts.

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