Journals and Papers

There are many different types of journals that writers can keep. What if you simply don’t want to write all the time? Perhaps you are an artist, or if you don’t want to call yourself an artist, maybe you love designing and creating new things. Why not combine your love of writing and creation into an art form, and make pages relevant to the thoughts and ideas you wish, and incorporate them into a journal?

I found a lovely site, called, ‘Keeping an Art Journal’, which explains art journaling and blogs about different workshops and ideas. After looking at several sites, and doing some research, I would define art journaling as, “Creative expressions on paper or in bound book format, which include any medium which the artist combines into a message that is preserved and recorded, expressed uniquely from the artist’s perspective.”

Sounds easy enough - go for creativity, and as with all journaling, remember there is no one to judge or grade you. If you have an idea or message that you want to express, simply gather paper or a bound book. Then, take whatever medium you would like to use to draw, sketch, paint, collage, scrapbook, glue, photograph, etc., and place your idea creatively on the page.

Examples of art journals can be collages combined with words or quotes, photography embellished with poems, or fabric and paint illustrations. Words may not even belong on your page if the concepts you are expressing don’t need them. If you are new to art journaling, start with a few simple concepts and progress slowly. Look up ‘art journal’ in your web browser and see many different types of samples. Here is another site ‘Art Journal Everyday‘, which also explains art journaling.

If you are looking for great journals/sketchbooks and paper to help you with your art journal pages, Journals and Papers has specialty paper which will accept different mediums. Check them out at: Journals and Papers.com

You must be logged in to post a comment.