Creation/Destruction

In Hindu spirituality, the Goddess Shiva (the one with the many arms) is responsible for both creation and destruction. This is sorta surprizing to me - but it really does make sense - sometimes you have to tear things apart to find something new.
Sometimes the path to something being awakened involves some sort of sacrifice or messing up of what is already there.
I know I have damaged many pages in my journal with my experimental messing about - but then, something new and interesting can emerge - something I didn't plan in advance.
"Mistakes" can be the best thing that ever happened!
So don't be scared of just messing around and trying something new.
your journal will thank you!

make a picture

since a picture is worth a thousand words - just grab some photos, or colored pens,
collage it.
maybe add some words.
maybe not:

grab those markers!

Put a bunch of smooth flowing brightly colored markers in a solid mug.
Put this mug on your desk.
Some time today - grab your journal - spread some pretty color on it using ink or charcoal, and just start writing with those juicy markers.
Let the words meander and turn here and there.
Words can add design beauty!
Have Fun!

a stack of journals

They do pile up after a while.
but it always feeds my soul to keep a journal going.
If I don't work in it for a few days, I get journal-withdrawl.
So go get your journal, make a collage, and write some words.
This is such a busy month with holidays - how can we NOT spend time in our journals?

today

words. colors. maps. images.

Just grab some bits of paper, spray mount them down, add some color.
then write.
see what happens.

are you messy? are you neat?

at my artist's salon the other day, a friend showed us all her journal - I was thrilled to see my "influence" (she has been using my book) and all her pages were so lively and beautiful and way beyond what she had done before.
makes me feel like my message is getting out.
but one interesting thing - all her pages were so neat and tidy.
her writing is perfect, and all her images are carefully printed and very square.
and her journal was fantastic. . . .
my first inclination was to encourage her to be more messy, but one of my artist friends pointed out that we each have our own way.
great point.
we each have our own way.
use these ideas, and find your own way!
and do share images - if anyone e-mails me an image from their journal, I will gladly post it here with a link to you.
so - get crackin'!

so why are you here?

Why do you keep a journal? What is it that YOU want to accomplish with it?
For me, working in my journal is an indispensable part of my own journey - this fat messy book feels like a friend with whom I get to have a dialog every day.
This book listens to me with no judgment, takes any griping I need to dish out, receives my messy collagey experiments and even is kind enough to save them for future reference.
The big stack of journals shows me that I accomplished SOMETHING in all these years of rushing about, doing this and that, raising a family, moving from Maryland to Indiana to New Jersey, trying to make art and sense of all the commotion that is our lives these days.
and my book is my own chance for self-expression. Sometimes what I say is not what I want to revisit - and a friend at our group last night said how she paperclips pages that have damaging material closed so she will not accidentally see them and evoke negatives that she is working hard to keep under control.
What I loved about her idea is that we are in control of what is in our journals.
We can remove pages if we want, we can work over them, we can erase, and cover things.
but we are always free to explore anything in our journals - free to say whatever needs saying at the moment, knowing either we can keep it forever, or remove it later.
There is total safety in our book!
SO let your journal help you understand yourself more.
Comments are very appreciated - I love to know someone is reading this!

on the road and missing your journal?

I always carry a little notebook along - write in it where ever you are and then you can collage these pages into your "real" journal later.
Traveling this is a great way to get pages filled with your local sites, then add ephemera from your day - stubs, photos you take, menus, etc.
It all makes for great collage!

words words and more words

If you are doing on art journal, you might not think words are going to be a big part of your work.
But guess what - the words might not even be your own! I love to incorporate newspaper bits, quotes, and other people's words in my collaging.
ALSO - if you do keep an on-line journal, it is great to print out those pages, and put them in, then do some art around that.
It makes a record of your on-line work.
and how about e-mails and chats? I bet there are some of those you would like to save in your blank book, and illustrate with your art.
and don't forget those letter stamps - nice to get some captions and big lettering in there, too.
Collaging around words that are meaningful to you makes for great pages.

pictures

I love to choose pictures that create a mood, then write.
I don't decide what to write first, and look for a photo that supports that - that makes my writing too contrived.
I suggest just grabbing what catches your eye - and playing with the layout first.
and since you don't want it to be scrapbooky - it's a good idea to tear or be rather messy about it - this also loosens up that right creative side of your brain that you want to be accessing in your journaling.
Mostly - be messy and have fun:

more on words:

so just let the words do what they do.
let them wander and meander.
let them grow and shrink.
let them play.

making the words look **nice**

Someone asked me if I try to make the words in my journal look nice.
Here is my answer:
It depends - sometimes the words are so blobby and sloppy and quickly written that I can't even read them - other times I am slow and artsy and careful with the words and I try to make each letter sing.
it really depends on what I need those words to do for me - they are my servants, after all - and they are there to do MY bidding!
(although there is a time that I do just let them do their own thing and I step out of their way - probably that's when I can't even read what I've written!)
all kinds of writing styles are there for your use - explore them all!

and here is one page that I payed attention to the shape and beauty of the lettering:

and when you add some words?

So here is that last spread with the words written on the images.
Maybe the words add to the pictorial power, maybe not, but I enjoy the interaction of word and image.
and the colors and mood created certainly add to the content:

the page BEFORE the words

So I have been encouraging you to let your words flow from the subconscious, and to do that, asking you to make your images and your collagey pages in your book before you start to write.
I thought I would show you a spread before I added any words.
Here is what it might look like - just some shapes (a digital photo I manipulated) some tissue paper spray mounted in, adding some ink. . . .
and you are ready to write write write.
I do think the mood helps you get someone in your unconscious that you might not otherwise get to. I know I tend to write the boring and uninteresting to-do lists and the gripes of the day if I start with a totally blank page, so let the images work their magic and see how the words unfold after:

lots and lots of words

Okay dear readers - I know lots of you are here because you are ART journalers, and you are expecting to make pictures in your books.
all well and good.
but for me, my journal is my sounding board - the shoulder I can cry on and the friend who hears me out, the one who always is there to take whatever I have to dump with no advice or judgment.
Really what a good therapist does is just LISTEN.
So I use my journal as that listening entity.
I just let the words flow, and let the unloading of my issues make me feel lighter.
I told you before to start with an inspiring photo.
A great way to start. . . . and then just let the words flow. If you want your page to be attractive - choose your favorite juicy pen, and let the words twist and turn with your mood - but mostly - get it all out and let those images take you into your own subconscious flow.
Just Do It.

more on mood

I love vintage images. They have a certain mood that just can't be reproduced - they remember a whole era, a time when the world had a totally different viewpoint.
I love to gather these interesting images and just throw them in my image bag. (Remember that?)
Used book sales are a great place to pick up old magazines, and old books can be taken apart and the images used.
Tear out any captivating photos, and put them in your bag - next time you are rummaging around, grab what catches your eye, and work that into a collage on your page.
You get some fun results:

moody images

I love the mood images can make on a page.
I like to just randomly choose a sketch or drawing or photo and maybe tear it into more than one piece - make a design by playing with the parts and spray mount it down, add some color, and then words.
You can take an old sketch book with drawings you thought were not interesting, and when you tear them up and add color, VOILA - very cool stuff to collage into your journal.
The layers and layers and whatnot are fun.
and don't forget the way you are accessing that right brain stuff by making images and color . . . .
it's all about MOOD, baby!
EnJoY

Left Brain/Right Brain

So why does adding pictures to our journals open us up so effectively?
Mostly because the visual side of our brains are our right brains - this is the side that is responsible for:

feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

SO when you choose some color and make a collage in your journal, you are in the right place to connect to your intuitive creative brain - and when you add words when in this place, you might just be surprized!
Add some color to your pages, add some lines, then write some words - see what happens.

more on images and mood.

The process that works for me is to let the images create the mood in my journal. I choose images without wondering what about them attracts me. Then I might find paper that goes with the images, tear it all into some bits. Now play around with the layout. When you like what you see, spray mount your collage into your book. Now choose some markers that go with it. I like to use fat ones if I have a loud/large thing I need to say, small ones if my words want to be a bit more quiet.
You can also add some doodles and scribbles and drawings after the words, or during!
When starting this way in your journal with an image, the creative/intuitive side of your brain is accessed, and the words that flow out of you just might be a surprise!

These Mayan figures spoke to me:

images, color and where it ALL comes from. . . . .

Some images have emotional content for you.
and you might not even know why.
When I saw this little frog, I knew I had to draw him.
Maybe he is sort of a power animal or totem for me - I didn't try to figure it out, I just drew him. Then I scanned and printed in a few sizes to paste in the journal, but it works just fine to just draw something meaningful right into your journal.
Something opens up in your subconscious when you draw something you feel emotional about.
Color, too, adds emotion.
I always add lots of color before I write.
Something deep in there is also unleashed by the color choice. I don't try to figure all this out, I just draw, add color, and write, and see what happens. Planning is what you DON'T want to do.
and I have heard artists say, "Oh - I wish I thought of that!" Guess what - it is ALL copying anyway - sometime, way back without you knowing, you saw something that influenced you.
All artists are very influenced by visual things - that's why we are artists.
So get over it and don't worry about COPYING - that's what all artists are doing all the time whether they admit it or not.
What you want is to access your deep inner self, and copy from there!
If other artists get you there, SO BE IT.
Now go make some pages in your journals!