visual journals 2010

...this year, i'm keeping a few different art/visual journals...

1. A Year in the Life of an Art Journal - this is a lovely group started by Rachel, who is hosting (along with a few other creative genius types) bi-monthly prompts to get your mojo working...if you participate, by the end of the year you'll have 24 pages of art goodness to treasure. i highly recommend this group as there are participants from all over the world, from beginner to experienced visual journalers. there are discussions on their ning group about supplies, inspiration, how to get your materials to cooperate, the process of journaling, etc.

i have decided to do these prompts on some old recipe cards that i've had laying around for years...(you all know how much i love cooking, right?) and will be altering a recipe box i found in the michael's dollar bin to hold them all.

i do the artwork on the front, and then i journal about the prompt on the back. this is similar to what i did last year for the ABC's of Me prompts at the same site...only different sized cards.

here's a picture of last year's art journal box:


for some reason, i like NOT having these prompts in an actual bound journal. i find it more genuine just working on one piece without being tempted to look at other pages, to start fresh, etc. i also like that i can be pretty messy and not contaminate already finished pages (although i do love a big chunky, messy, well-loved art journal too.)

so far, there have been 2 prompts for 2010 in january...

PROMPT 1: what is holding you back/keeping you from art? i wrote about prompt #1 right HERE.

PROMPT 2: hope. here's the front side of prompt 2. journaling is on the back:

i like working with these small sized cards, and they can handle quite a bit of medium if i gesso them first.

2. Large Sketchbook Moleskine. i am keeping a larger book this year as well, just for my own ideas and thoughts as they come up. i like that this book is already bound with quality cardstock, i can be pretty rough with it and the pages don't curl up much, and it's a good quality journal to work in. i haven't taken any photos yet, and i might not...this journal is for me, and i have given myself permission to experiment, make terrible, ugly pages, and not share if i don't feel like sharing. this is my freedom journal.

3. Mini Sketchbook Moleskine. i got this mini version of the moleskine to keep with me when i'm out and about and the mood strikes to draw/doodle/vent/journal. i keep a small art journal kit in my purse with it. more on this in a later post where i will talk about what's in my mini-art journal portable kit & show you photos of the mini moleskine.

4. Remains of the Day Journal. this is an online class taught by Mary Ann Moss, who i must say is a delightful, charismatic and freeing instructor. Like me, she is not a seamstress, but she embraces it, and employs what she calls "guerilla sewing tactics" to make the most fabulous, dreamy, eclectic journals i have ever seen. so i'm jumping in. have new sewing machine, will sew papers! If you just google "remains of the day journal" you will find many others in blogland have undertaken this class with outstanding results! i am nervous, but i'm going to do this. i can sew, i can sew, i can sew. :)

5. Bookbinding. oh yes. i'm going to start doing this. i am. i am. and i don't even like green eggs and ham.

would love to hear what YOUR creative plans are this year!

i know my dad has recently resumed his love affair with ATC's. he's been sending them to me by the handful every week or so! i'm going to have to scan and make a slideshow of those, they are truly something to see. my dad would never admit it, but he is an artist. i love that we have this in common. next task: scanning dad's atc's to share with the world. well, the world that consists of the 9 or 10 of you who actually read this blog, that is. :)

until then, compadres, i'm off to get painty/inky. gotta take advantage of the weekend days as much as possible, because weekdays i'm in social worker mode and my muse is afraid of that heidi, so she usually hides from me starting on sunday evening through friday night. *sigh*

happy sunday!