Journaling: New Fun

Last week I decided to start keeping an art journal. Now I can't even remember what made me think of it. But I can say that I love it and I see how people get so addicted to it. I've been waking up thinking about what to put in it for the day. In the evenings I look forward to spending time doodling away in the journal. It's similar to when I first started blogging.

There are several types of journals and everyone has their favorite subject matter and materials. You can read books and blogs on it. You can watch videos and take classes.

With my journal, I plan to accomplish three things:

• record family moments - milestones, daily trivia, and just life as it is now for us.
• achieve calm - sketching helps me destress, unwind, cheer up, and just work through things that are bothering me
• practice my craft - sketching from life and practicing mark-making

To do that, I'll plan to:

• sketch several times a week - but feel no pressure to hit every day
• journal to warm up to the day or unwind from the day - whatever suits
• sketch during family times or social gatherings (should I work up the nerve to sketch people I know)

And I'll plan not to include:

• goals and plans - I have a vision journal for that, maybe I should share that story with you all sometime...
• planning stages for artwork - this, for me, is better done elsewhere

All that to say, you may find some journal pages popping up on the blog now and again - because I am finding I truly love visually thinking through my day and life. Although, as some of it is personal, I do not plan to post every page that I do. Part of the magic of this for me is to play, enjoy making images and designs and I don't want to spoil that by feeling I have to post everything.