journaling tip tuesday: visual journaling, experiment

Continuing with the visual journaling theme this week and looking at your journal as a place to experiment. If you are a painter or a visual artist of some kind, a journal can be a very useful tool in housing ideas, generating ideas, and just letting yourself to let go.

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.

Posted in creativity journaling, journaling tips, visual journaling

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 8:46 am.