Tuesday 14 April 2015

Journaling and Art

I am currently taking a Journaling course through Monash University online for 6 weeks.  Each Monday and Wednesday (Eastern time USA) a new lesson is released.  I must say I have really enjoyed it and though it is quite a basic class and there is a lot I already know, it is good to have it structured in order to work through it.

I am also enjoying the recommended reading. As always happens with Amazon I look for one entry and that leads to more entries in the same genre.  Journaling books are quite beautiful looking too. They always have illustrations of pens, pencils, art work, nature such as birds, leaves, flowers and the list goes on.

I wanted to share two of the books I am reading this week and enjoying very much.  I enjoy the writing side of journaling and learning different techniques to get in touch with my thoughts and emotions is good. But I am allowed to draw in my journal.  Now my drawing is appalling. No, really. I can barely  make a straight line with a ruler.  But of course a journal is private. I can draw whatever I want and no one sees it.



I remember once running a summer language group for early primary school students one year with my friend.  We did a lot of drawing.  I remember drawing some animals on a sheet of butcher's paper and one of the little 6 year old boys fell onto the floor in a huge belly laugh at the sight of my drawn animals.  He had tears going down his face. Of course that was contagious and all of us ended up crying with laughter. It was the best laughter because so much conversation ensued.

As I am older now I am able to take being made fun of in stride. I can even laugh about it.

These are pens made of wood and you press the eraser to get the point 
to pop out.  I really like the way they write as they are a bit thicker and
I can hold them easily.
These books outline the various kinds of journals one can keep. All of them with illustrations though. You might make lists in your journal, use writing prompts of which there are a million in books and online.  You might write dialogue or in the course now we are talking about unsent letters. Just make sure you destroy it once written. Or put a padlock on your journal.

I am reading about the different types of books you might use, or paper or tools such as pens, pencils, paint, crayons, stamps and stickers. I don't know many book lovers who don't also love stationary.

If you're interested in a book on journaling these are good but there are many others that are also fun. I have a few of them on the shelf that I pull down and look at quite regularly.

I am going on a 6 week trip in mid May overseas and I look forward to getting my journal in order to record a lot of what we do. I might even sketch an Italian city. Haha, more like I'll sketch a doorknob I see on a door or something easy like that.

So whether I can draw or not I am going to have a go at it and I'll enjoy the experience. After all isn't that what trying new things is about?

Do you keep a journal? Do you have any favourite books?

2 comments:

  1. I've kept a diary off and on since fifth grade, when someone gave me a pale blue diary with a lock to bribe me to stop biting my fingernails or stop sucking my finger. I guess I was anxious as a child and still am as an adult. That translates into about 50 years of scribbling. But that's different from a journal, a thoughtful, artistic endeavor. I've occasionally kept theatre ticket stubs and newspaper clippings in my diaries, but I've never illustrated them. I admire the kind of journals you write about and that you're keeping.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not as far along as you think. I tend to write more in a journal than to illustrate it. I just want to start doing this. I think it would be fun and give my days more focus than they sometimes have now. Also fun to record any travels both local and overseas.

      Delete

I love comments. I promise to try very hard to reply to any message left.