Monday, May 21, 2007

What's in Your journal?

Obviously some of us have kept journals a long time. Some may be new to the idea, others (like me) have started and abandoned and restarted. I currently have a few journals - one for pictures that inspire me, mostly from catalogues and National Geographic. My mother kept a similar one, that had page after page of little cut out pictures in a big scrapbook that probably had acidic pages and she used Rubber Cement to glue the pictures down. I also have one for my thoughts, dreams, notes from books that made me think, anything I know I'll want to remember at some point later. I do scrapbooking, which is a form of journaling, of both current and past history. I've never done an "artistic" journal, where the pages reflect my creative, nonverbal self. This project is hopefully the start of letting that side of my personality speak louder, instead of just a whisper here and there! How do you journal? What materials do you use? What form does your artistic journal take? I've decided for this project not to worry about a book form, I'd personally rather see them all at once, sequentially, as my life flows on. Do you only journal in books, or individual units, or some other form? I'd love to know!

2 comments:

Padparadscha said...

I like your idea of a journal for pictures. I have kept a word journal for years, pouring my heart out on various bits of paper.

What I like about beading/sewing, is that it enables me to go emotional places I can't visit with words and which are very surprising. So I really look forward to this bead journal.

Kind regards, Hélène

Any Smith said...

My pen and paper journals are a combination of words (I'll never be able to stop putting words down on paper) and images. Sometimes the words are images themselves. Sometimes the words are in color or I have added images that I find attractive for one reason or another to the page.

Everyone does it differently - there are no rules, which is what makes it fun and interesting! I like to journal in books - not on separate pieces of paper - it's not chronological.

In college I had a friend who journaled. Her composition notebook was fat - pieces of paper sticking out here and there and held together with a big rubber band - so full of ideas!

I always wanted to get a peek inside her journal. I like to see how everyone else does it - if you're interested, pick up a copy of 1000 Journals (check it out online at www.1000journals.com)

I fully expect that my beaded journal pages will be completely different than my paper journal. I look forward to the challenge and the change of pace.