Wednesday, July 4, 2007

written journal...

I notice a lot of people are making pockets for the back of their beaded journal pieces, or starting a journal for the project. How many people are doing this? How many people are avid journalers to start with? I used to fill up notebooks with journaling, I even taught journaling classes. But for this project I decided to let the beads be the journal, and whatever thoughts I have I just let them swirl around in my mind, or in a spiral of beads.

17 comments:

Padparadscha said...

I journal quite a lot, and my first piece is based on a story, but I'm not sure yet if I want to attach it to the BJP page.

Maybe just a sentence. Maybe it's best to let people imagine their own story...???

s said...

Oh I think those are great questions to ask here. I hope lots of people respond.
I for one made a pocket on the back.
I then put my thoughts down and put them in the pocket. Not really just for me. But because some day if I am not around I want my children or grandchildren to understand the piece. I live very far away from all of them, and I am hoping that might help them know more who I am/was. Also, some day I may not remember the thoughts I had when I did each one. Life is very busy and even now I pick up a "UFP" unfinished project and wonder why I did things a certain way.
As for do I journal. I do at times.
I am not avid, just at times when I feel the need to write I do.
Doing this project has certainly gotten me into the habit of writing more. This project has been one of the most wonderful things to happen to me "artsy" wise in a very long time. I am very thankful for it.
Happy 4th to all,
Sunni

Robin said...

Thanks, a2Susan, for this fun question. Like Sunni, I hope many people answer.

I try to write personal poems (not to be judged or confused with writing proper poetry) inspired by each piece. Mine BJP pages are postcard size (4" x 6"). I think (not positive yet), that I'll use book binding glue to attach a watercolor-paper postcard to the back of each piece. Before attaching, I'm going to paint, stamp (or write) parts (or all) of my poem, date and sign the postcard.

I never journaled until I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, at which point I faithfully wrote morning pages nearly every morning. As years passed, I didn't write/journal as often, but I still do it, especially when I'm upset about something.

It turns out that my poems (based on my artwork) are more telling about me, who I am at my core and in my heart, than the journaling.

Lois2037 said...

I am the world's worst for keeping a journal. I do blog, but that really isn't the same thing, though it does keep a reord of my days and some of my thoughts. You need an attention span for journaling, I think, and I am one of the easily distracted. Still, I'm seriously thinking of attaching a pocket to the back of my BJP pges and including some writing. I may be really glad I did that later on.

abeadlady said...

I have journaled off and on over the years, but I think I am going to add a pocket on most, in not all, of my pages. This bead journal is turning out to be something very personal to me and I want some documentation of my feelings.
Arline

vivage said...

hmmm, good question. I blog daily; the little things that happen in my life so I can look back later to see where I was at the time and how far (or not) I've come.

I am going to create a pocket on the backside of each journal page for a small journal entry in addition to the journaling I'll be doing in my daily blog and my BPJ blog. The pocket entry will be specific to what I did on the piece, and how I feel about it.

I love the idea that I can look back at this piece when I am 80 and laugh at how much trouble I had threading needles!

Tally said...

I would like to journal more than once in a while. But with working full-time, crafting, blogging and having my sport and travels I don't get around.
I try to blog in not too long intervals and plan to print out the posts and put them in a pretty binder.
If I don't want to have my pieces displayed all the times I might add pages where they will be tied on to.

I bought this binder the very day I registered on BJP, planning to use it for all kind of information and inspiration I gather on beading. So far it's empty *lol*, but that is because I'm surfing and reading too much instead of actual beading, printing and writing.

Hello from Hamburg
:-Tally-:

GraceBeading said...

I've kept a journal off and on over the years. I have not been very diligent about it, but do try to keep one when I travel. On my BJP pages, I will make short notes on the back for what motivated me that month.

CC said...

This is the first improvisational journal I've done. My daily pages are to just get rid of the junk in my head. Besides, I have an hour in the morning when I have to wait for a pill to kick in before I eat. :)
Besides my daily pages, I have a personal art journal, & am just finished with one art journal swap. Also starting another art journal swap with another pal.
For this improv beaded one, I am keeping notes of words & poems I write to include when I attach it to whatever I decide to...probably canvas board. We'll see!
With aloha, CC

Timaree said...

The only journal I've ever done is with "The Artist's Way". I jot some notes about ideas or sketches of projects I've done in a couple of notebooks but after reading all this, I am thinking I may need to write a little about each page and keep it with the beaded journal for my kids and grandkids. Now to figure out how to attach the writing to a table topper which is what my bead journal will be...

Vicki said...

I have seemed to journal when things get tough, it helps to get it out of my head. But you've reminded me of using a process I learned from Pat Allen, author of Art is a Way of Knowing. You dialogue with your piece, asking who would like to speak. Your soul truly comes through, as I've received "messages" I would never have come up with.

Your questions bring to mind that I would like to use some form of letting my soul speak in words while I'm doing this project. Thanks!

Judith said...

I'm "sorta" doing a written journal with each piece. Then again, you could call it a paper title to go with the beaded page. Thinking through the month ahead, I've made an ATC sized backing card that is computer ink on paper. These are images and words that "say" something about the beaded detail on the front.

Trilly said...

I love to journal and find myself even stealing time at work to start writing when something is nagging at me. I laugh now though since I resisted journalling for such a long time, and now it is one of my greatest tools for staying centered and calm through the worst storms.

As for my beaded journal page, I decided to write a poem for each month, to be done after I completed the piece and sat with it, to see what thoughts arose from meditating on it. I am going to attach the poem to the back of each piece. I don't write poems very often, so this will be a new challenge as well, but one I am doing solely for myself.

Lillian said...

I enjoyed all the responses to these questions-Thanks everyone!

My initial plan was to write a story for each page...we'll see. I love to write, especially in artsy books/journals. There are some days I am too busy to write, but am glad when I do :o) I'm glad to have the art say what I need to with this project though. Thanks for asking questions to get my creative juices flowing,

Lillian :o)

Magpie Sue said...

I've been journaling for years. The Artist's Way really cemented the practice for me though. Anymore I don't do well if I don't get my half hour in first thing in the morning to clear my head!

I also keep a sort of sketchbook or notebook while I'm working on various projects. Mostly they're technical notes, but sometimes I have to sit down with a piece - or between pieces - to figure out where it's going or what needs to be done next. I think I would benefit from a more rigorous practice of journaling "with" each piece as I work on it, a la Robin's poems.

Since I am making bead-embellished quilts for this project my intention is to have an artist's statement to accompany each quilt. I have a binder that will hold all of my journal quilts, and the artist statements will go in the sleeves opposite their quilts.

a2susan said...

I have kept journals since I was in high school, so for about 35 years. However, about 5 years ago I decided to discard some, because I felt they had served their purpose and no longer had any value to me. Then about 2 months ago I threw all my journals out, everything. There were 2 reasons, first, I didn't want anyone else to clear them out for me, and second, they were filled with a lot of pain, the pain of growing up, of being lonely and depressed, of learning about life. I mainly used the journals to record unhappiness and the pain that I experienced. I didn't want to hold on to that pain anymore. It felt like a huge burden being lifted from me, I was so glad to let those journals go.

flyingbeader said...

Good question. I am planning on having a little pocket in the back of year journal pieces & have a brief description of what motivated me to do them. I also am planning on eventually blogging them in a separate category & printing them out for a written journal.

I'm really bad at journal/blogging every day. Some days I just don't seem to even have the energy to read my e-mails. Plus, I'm such a procrastinator! dot