The Inconstant Journaler

Yes, I was an inconstant art journaler; days or even weeks might pass without a new entry in my officially designated art journal.  However, an idea from Year of the Spark plus a recent online class have changed my ways :-)

The first influence I attribute to an art journal page layout that Carla Sonheim shared in a Year of the Spark lesson.  The page looks like this:

Draw it new every day.

Creating the boxes and printing a set group of words is a nice ritual to get my hand moving.  I like the categories for the boxes – I find them to be very useful.  Also, the sketchbook is a plain wire bound one (so it isn’t precious in any way) and it is a larger format – a Strathmore 400 Series 9” X 12”.

The second influence is from an online class I recently completed – “Making Art a Practice” – which was taught by Cat Bennett.  Cat emphasized enjoying the creative process and doing it daily.  She generally sticks to simple tools and media e.g. a few brushes, colored pencil, opaque watercolor, and NeoColor II.  Cat’s approach is relaxing and playful :-)

These are some randomly chosen pages from my art journal – specifically of the Draw and Misc boxes:

Remy in ink.

Colored pencil, ink.

Pitt brush pens, ink

Sharpie pens, ink, Pigma Micron pen, randomly created “stamps”

The content is pretty much what I see around me or doodle or imagine - probably why my red coffee mug appears so often :-)  The "10 Ideas" box is great for capturing thoughts or projects which come to mind first thing in the morning.  I like capturing all of it in one place.