Head on over to Dawn’s blog D’Blogala for daily journaling prompts for the month of November. NaNoJourno stands for National Nonstop Journaling Month. Dawn is posting a word a day at her blog to inspire your visual journal entry for that day.

I know that four days have already gone by for this month already, but don’t let that stop you.

For visual inspiration of someone who creates beautiful visual journal entries that aren’t fussy or overly complex, visit the blog of 365 Days of Being 30…an art journal. Erin’s visual journal pages were featured on this blog earlier this year and she is still at it! I find her journal pages very inspiring.

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!

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 for great ideas on how to use your photosgraphs in your artwork.

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!

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!

+ Somerset Studio published a book called Transparent Art that showcases mixed media works using a variety of transparency materials and techniques. I have never read this book, so I can’t give a recommendation. But it looks like a good place to start if using transparencies is new to you or if you are just looking for some inspiration.

+ 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.

+ I 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.

+ You can even use older artwork as your starting transparency image for your journal entry. It is always fun and interesting to go back to a finished painting and rework it in your journal.

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!

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

It seems to be a psychological thing because a canvas is something that will be up on a wall. Or to be submitted for a show or added to a body of work. Pressure! But my journal is for me, not a finished piece of artwork. Not anything that anyone is going to see, unless I feel like sharing.  It can be ugly, it can be messy. Or it can turn out a new discovery.

It actually helps me to keep visual journal entries along side written entries.  Along side grocery lists.  Along side a photo of my son and an entry about something funny he did.  It helps me to keep things loose.  Less precious.  Less sacred.  If I had a book solely dedicated to amazing visual journal pages, I probably wouldn’t use it!  Or I’d be a little less risky.  And this type of visual journaling is all about experimenting.

Mixed media artist Amber Gibbs often uses her journal to experiment with different collage techniques.  She discusses these experiments on her blog, which is very helpful to see how to loosen up and play.

journal spread by Amber Gibbs

:: So, you don’t collage? Well then slap down some images on your pages.

:: You’ve never used your own photos in your work?  Here’s your chance.

:: Drawing a face freaks you out?  Draw a face and write all around the head like a halo.

:: You only use colors like Paynes Gray and Burnt Umber in your paintings?  Do a spread using Hansa Yellow and Napthol Red.

:: Use up your stash of odd bits of different textured paper.

:: Instead of using glue to attach images or paper, explore different methods of attachment- staples, eyelets, needle and thread, etc.

:: Try different mark making tools for your writing- graphite, conte, charcoal, ink and nib, white-out pens, gel pens, crayons and watercolor to create a wax-resist, etc. etc. etc.

a visual journal spread in my 2007-2008 journal

My son was born in 2007, so my time in the studio went from full time to any time I could get! When I came to the studio to work, I always started with visual journal page. It was a way to just get the creative juices flowing. An exercise to experiment with no pressure visually as well as a place to write my intentions for that day down. The page above was one of these studio morning pages. Several weeks later, I was working on an encaustic painting and trying to figure out a composition….when I remembered this page I had created. I went to my journal and looked up this page and I knew what direction to go in for that encaustic painting.

Use your journal to try new things out and create without pressure. Creating visual journal pages in this way can loosen you up and create new possibilities for you and your art.

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!

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.

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.