Sunday, May 1, 2011

A different type of journaling...

I've been working in this composition notebook for three weeks. It cost eighty-five cents at Wal-Mart. I've used all kinds of paints, inks, pens, pencil, stencils, pretty much anything I can think of. I've been cutting things out of trash and magazines. Words, silly pictures. Printing pictures from my phone. I stick them in with a tape runner.
This is a spread I was playing with - watercolors and a picture of Mini Me in a bubble at the playground. I LOVE it. Under the watercolors is some stars I sprayed with glimmer mist, and some white acrylic to give the page a little more strength. Today while I was playing, I was trying to figure out WHY it is that this journal is so much fun? (Kelly's been calling it the Cheap Thoughts Journal, so we'll refer to is as CTJ from now on.) I mean, I love my Frabriano journals. My Arches journal. I love nice, smooth, thick watercolor paper. But I think the reason the CTJ is SO freeing is there are no expectaions. First of all, I never call my journals "art journals". That's too much pressure. I use "art journal" as a blog label so it shows up if someone does a search, but if I'm talking about it or looking for it, I just call it my journal. But still - if I've paid $17.95 for a Moleskine, or $15 for paper and spent and hour cutting and binding, can I just slap paint around in it? I kind of do...but not like this. I've NEVER picked up a pen to draw with before. Not ever. And I've never really layeres before. I mean, a couple of layers of acrylics and stamps, maybe a litle collage, but this feels different. Like broadening my horizons with a cheap notebook and a pen with four colors.

3 comments:

  1. It's hard to break that habit. I am the same - freer in my cheap journal. Feel like my journal with good paper I feel the pressure of producing the beat piece I possibly can. Perhaps the more we do, the free-er we shall be.

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  2. Oh, now that I'm AWARE of it? I'm totally going to be freer in my "good" journals!! I can't wait!

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  3. I completely agree with the freedom to play without worrying how fine the outcome will be. Check out the yahoo group CompositionArtJournals.

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