Gratitude Day 10 Art Journals

This is the cover of my every day of March Art Journal

Today I am grateful for the wonderful time I have been having this year completing my art journals.


Art journalling I started at the beginning of the year as a way to trick myself into journalling as I do not like the straight forward writing words in a book journalling, I thought this was a way that perhaps I could enjoy it.

Photo Source http://www.milliande.com by Artist Yolanda

It has turned out to be a mix between scrap-booking,  paper crafting, a travel log, just having a diary of what you have been up to each day and much more. Just a combination of art and words with no rules, just a wonderful experience of self expression.

The idea is not new after all  Da Vinci's drawing journals of flying machines, Vincent VanGogh's notebooks and Picasso's sketchbooks etc were around long before this new craze of art journalling started.

This shows two pages of my challenge a week for a year journal - page 1 you had to write on your  collage work and page 2 you had to use fabric within the page

There are many different types of art journals, I completed one of each day of March as this was my birthday month, I thought it would be nice to record what I got up to celebrate etc over the month. I have also been working on a challenge a week for a year journal where you are given a topic to journal each page and told of the types of materials to incorporate into the page ie paints, fabrics, pictures from magazines, photos, 3D objects etc. Another series of journals I am doing is a photo a day journal for each day of the year. Each month I am given a list of topics for each day and I have to take a photograph eg breakfast, green, letterbox and then create a page.

So there are as many varieties of journals as there is imagination. I thought it would also be a great way to use up craft supplies that I had lying around, as you don't need a lot of anything to create a page. The pages can be in all sorts of books of all sizes,

Photo Source http://kristalnorton.com

You become the artist and the creator of each masterpiece so you are only limited by your ideas, this is where the internet is so wonderful, just browse the web and see so many different forms of journalling and give each one a go even when it doesn't seem to be your style. Sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone really allows you to have fun and just go with any ideas that come as you work. You can jump from one art style to another from page to page.

As I didn't really know anything about this when I started I think this enabled me to really just let my heart create to it's own drum, and I have extended my ideas greatly from those I had from card making and scrap booking. I am still reasonably conservative in my work and like things to be pretty but I have had a go at all styles and have enjoyed it all.

This was interesting to doodle each step of your day

In the journals you can records events you attend such as weddings, birthday and even funerals. You can add favourite quotes that you come across, receipts, cards and tickets can all be added. Then it is also good to add just the everyday events such as the washing, picking up the children from school etc. As these journals will become a keep sake in the family and will record what we did here in the 2000's.

You can talk about how you feel with any given subject, an great successes or perhaps struggles you have had. Your family will notice what you are doing and will want to have a look at your creations. This can make a valuable talking point and discussion can be had that may have not come up without the prompts from the journal.

Photo Source http://www.milliande.com by Artist Yolanda

It all starts with a book, they can be spiral bound, hand bound, smooth or porous pages, any size, blank or lined pages, it is all entirely up to you, so go out and purchase something that appeals to you and then you can get started. We all have pens, lead pencils, probably some of the kids colouring pencils or crayons that is enough to get started.

If you decide to take up art journalling try and make it a daily habit for a while, until you become comfortable with the concept, it is a place to play with ideas, put down emotions whether in word or art form, this can be a great source of self care for things troubling you etc, reminisce, use it as a testing ground for new art materials etc before applying them to the project. The whole process is nurturing to your soul and can become quite meditative.

This is the spread from my every day of the birthday month, I had a great birthday.

Once you are comfortable with the process then it doesn't matter when you do it, if the kids are on school holidays it may be a couple of weeks before you get to it again, or you may go to it a couple of times a day. There is no need to finish a page on the same day and can go back and enhance a page from weeks ago or move on, as I have said there are no rules.

Photo Source http://www.milliande.com/ by Artist Yolanda

So it may be better to start with a smaller journal perhaps one for each day of a week and then see if you enjoyed the experience, however I do warn you that it is addictive and I started with my every day for a month and now have three different journals happening at once. You don't need to spend a lot of time creating your pages it can be as little as 10 minutes a day or it could take hours that is all entirely up to you. It is just about nurturing your soul so whatever feels right.

If you give it a go there will be a style that you will fall into by just going with your instincts you will be a arty type, a wordy type, a scrap booker type, a doodler or a collage type, or of course a cross between a couple of these styles.