I’ve had several discussions this past month about how I journal. The topics ranged from subject matter & technique to actual daily habits and how much of a journal to share.  While all of these subtopics are wrapped up in the larger idea that a journal is a personal thing, I know that I often look to the process that others share in order to push and grow personally.  I don’t believe that there is a right or wrong way to keep an art journal; how you journal depends on what you value. And so, there is worth in sharing our individual expressions  & methods with each other.  Christian scripture says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” I believe that’s what happens when we share the authentic stories behind beautiful pages.

In my journals, I place high value on authenticity, healing & beauty.  Thus my pages are at times raw and in process.  However, because it matters to me that my pages look good, I often find myself in a double bind.  The truth is that sometimes pages don’t look good because of learning curve on a technique, human error or uncomfortable subject matter.  So, I end up with a page that isn’t beautiful but is born out of where I am.  I am learning to be okay with tension & paradox in my pages.

In analyzing my journaling, I have discovered that the value of Beauty {perfection?} has formed many of my habits {& often sabotages forward motion. More on that topic another day…}  Truth be told, the only true daily habit that I have is that I write in a journal every morning.  In Julia Cameron’s book,”The Artist’s Way”, there is a method for unblocking and processing called Morning Pages.  In this method, you write 3 long hand pages every morning and put them in an envelope and never look at them again.  In the beginning I wrote pages exactly as instructed, but as I have unblocked and gotten honest with myself in the pages, I have come to the realization that I make valuable discoveries in my morning pages.  As angst moves out of the way, themes and global ideas emerge; important words and specific details rise to the top.

Thus, in the past year, I have modified my Morning Page usage.  I still write 3 pages {or some mornings for 30 min. straight.}  But I have adjusted slightly in order to catch the important.  I start out with a space for a “To Do” list.  I started adding the list to the actual pages because I found it very distracting to flip over to my planner when I remembered an action item.  {ie. Send transcript from Belmont}.  I go back and transfer tasks to my working To Do list after writing.   It may seem inefficient to write twice, but for me it is more important to keep the flow going and switching over to other books or a dry erase board was distracting or even worse causing stalls.

I also use inexpensive Picadilly notebooks.  They have thin paper and the elastic band breaks if you carry them around or fill them up with art journaling, but they are always on sale at Borders Bookstore so I keep them around in piles.  Psychologically, there is a tremendous amount of freedom in writing without worrying about “messing up the pretty book”.  I think that I start to obsess about perfection and method in my “real art journals” and, like with To-Do-list-distractions, perfectionism halts the creative process.   By not worrying about the journal or the content, my morning books are open & unfiltered.  It’s where I have found my true voice and freedom.  I hope eventually to relax into my art journals the same way.

{Zom, pictures of morning pages just for you.  }