All shot with PX600 from the Impossible Project in the Supercolor 635CL we bought, practically as newlyweds, in the early 90s. Isn't it amazing what a variety of black & white tones you get - apparently it depends on lighting conditions and temperature.
I've optimistically used the plural in the title with the idea that there will be other Thursdays of Journals. We shall see.
After listing my creative intentions, I was all fired up of course. I had Wednesday off work, so made a start on what I wanted to get done this week, creatively. I didn't get as far as I had hoped, but farther than I would have without a list. I finished personalising my pages for Move More, Eat Less so that I could start as I mean to go on, and have well designed pages to record my progress. I worked on my Life & Times 2010 photo book and hope to send it to print this weekend, although it needs a little more time.
What I am most excited about though is sorting through my journals and getting them back on display and in use. I knew I had several journals underway, but none that I could just grab and go. It was stopping me journalling and I've missed it. You can see how out of hand it is:
So what's going on here?
1) The book -
I made this in Julie Pritchard's Art Journal Super Nova class. The cover paper is an experiment I did with layering up my own carved stamps a la Anne Bagby. It's got great paper in it, and I was trying out acrylic backgrounds from Julie Pritchard's Layer Love class (seriously, check out her classes, they are great).
Why I'm stuck -
I want to finish working through her techniques, and I want the book to have a consistent feel, so I'm stuck until I do more backgrounds.
So?
If I set it up in the kitchen, I can work through the lessons over the next week or so and then put the journal aside until it's needed.
2) The book -
A moleskine watercolour sketchbook I used as a travel journal in Nova Scotia in 2009
Why I'm stuck -
it isn't quite finished, and even when it is, it won't be even a quarter full I don't think.
So?
See if I can't finish it off, a focused evening should do it. Then when I go to NS this year I can carry on working into the same book.
3) The book -
A mini-book I made in a Shimelle class as a journal of another trip to Nova Scotia
Why I'm stuck -
I'm not so much stuck as I totally forgot that it wasn't finished.
So?
I should be able to finish it off pretty quickly, although I will need to dig out the paper scraps and feather stamps I used. (I'll show you the book when it's finished, I think it's really pretty.
4) The book -
Another one from Art Journal Super Nova. I love this journal, and it chucks in a bag very nicely.
Why I'm stuck -
I've started it with watercolour backgrounds (quite new to me) and I want to carry that through. The watercolours are inaccessible at the moment and I only have one more spread prepared.
So?
While I'm tidying the studio in the next few weeks (yes, weeks!) find the watercolours and set them up in the kitchen (it's not a big kitchen, we don't even have a table, but we manage to live with my having a little bit of counter for a painting station and more gets done there at the moment). Then I can carry it around with me as my journal of the moment, but keep ahead of myself background-wise.
5) The book -
Oh I love this journal! It's made from an old battered dictionary and I just love how it looks and feels.
Why I'm stuck -
I love it so much that I got that weird perfect thing going and now I only do weirdly stilted work in it.
So?
I have to be brave and kind of mess it up! Then I will be able to use it properly and be real.
6) The book -
My journal from Artfest 2007, the first I attended.
Why I'm stuck -
Artfest was so amazing and overwhelming, that I had no words at the time, so it is mostly empty.
So?
I have some photos and sketches from that trip, so I'd like to finish it off retrospectively, tell the story of what happened, rather than beating myself up for not doing it at the time.
7) The book -
The final book from the Art Journal Super Nova class. This one is in use for the Simple Things Project over at It's A Creative World. We've been doing a word each month, and some months I haven't been able to participate.
Why I'm stuck -
I let myself get intimidated by some of the other work being done. I think we've all been there, and I know how important it is to work through that stage.
So?
One word at a time, in time for the big reveal later this month. I can set it up by the sofa to work on in the evenings.
8) The book -
A standard moleskine. For years I always had one on the go, wherever I went, and that's what I'm missing.
Why I'm stuck -
I started using this one for Susannah Conway's Unravelling class. It is pages of personal writing alternating with mandalas. It's slow work, and I like the idea of it being saved for that meditation and contemplation.
So?
I give myself permission to keep this journal separate, for handwriting and mandalas. I'll put together a little kit to keep with it, with the pen, any writing prompts I want to use and the protractor and compass and for the mandalas.
Whew! Thanks for sticking with me while I worked through it. It is such a waste for us to feel guilty about stuff like this, to feel like a failure because we've lost our way with a project. I am going to go and display (and enjoy!) my finished journals and start getting these set up so that I can enjoy working through them in the ways that I need to in order to find the happy.
I was restless on New Year's Eve, feeling the need of some ritual to see off 2010 and call it done. So I started my new journal and wrote a few words about the year behind and the year ahead. I raised a glass with some of my family. It satisfied the need, but it also set the ball rolling.
I wanted to review my photos for 2010 and I wanted to write a few notes along side that to take account of the year. I was fooling around with folders and tags and I suddenly realised that the easiest way to do it would be to drag favourite photos straight into a photo book. Light bulb moment! I think this may become a tradition. My photos tend to sit in the computer in chronological order, by season (thank you Stacy Julian!) and key events have their own folder. Such a simple way for the chronologically challenged like me to remember when things happened. And I certainly don't scrapbook everything that happens in a year, plus some little moments never make it onto layouts. My hope is that this will allow me to shed more photos with a light heart, knowing that there is a record of sorts. I can't wait until it arrives. One tricky thing was choosing a title, something warm and friendly, without being pompous or corny - hmmm.
Looking ahead to 2011... I'll be doing the Best Year Yet exercise sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'm preparing for Ali Edwards One Little Word class over at Big Picture Classes (more about that later). For a variety of reasons, we have been fine-tuning our diet, so I'm following Cathy Zielske's lead and Moving More, Eating Less and writing it all down to keep myself accountable, especially as I am trying to monitor my intake of certain food types.
Tonight I was reading through my favourite blogs and an entry of iHanna's really inspired me. Take a look and you'll see what I mean (but come back...) so begging her forgiveness, I would like to pinch her headings and share my creative intentions for 2011.
I've slightly lost my way with this lately. It comes from having to keep a sketchbook during 18 months of art courses in part, and in part from over exposure to 'the pros' and losing my own voice a little, as I explained in my last post. I really got my voice back in a big way with my angry, sad journal in November and now I'm raring to go.
the Mr. gave me a cute, teeny Moleskine in my stocking with a challenge to doodle, scribble or scrawl something each day.
I am in the middle of tidying up my display of art journals (more on display for me than for visitors)
I am setting up my journalling station for ready access
I want to audit my recent journals in the sense of checking what's on the go, what each one calls for and having them ready for when their moment calls out
I want to art journal every day in January, along with the fantastic Julie
I want to share more pages with you and stop getting tangled up over it (I'm seeing my word in action here...)
I will start making books again, both blank journals and artist books
I will subscribe to the Blue Book and get signed up for some artist book fairs
I will finish the rest of the limited edition of Things which last a heartbeat or a lifetime
I will organise my Gocco station and start printing with it again - precious is wasted if it isn't treasured (and with art equipment, that means used, people, not just stroked)
I will continue my printmaking sketchbook
I will set up my inspiration books (inspired by Lotta Jansdotter's easy way with pocketed display books)
I will start carrying around a little sketchbook again (I've missed it)
I will finish knitting those blue socks
I will work on my Nova Scotia blanket so that it has the chance to be finished one day
I will do at least three pieces of experimental embellished felt work (again, the supplies are there - don't waste the precious!)
I will make a skirt
I will buy one other pattern and adapt it to my shape (because I know how to do that and I tend to forget that I do!)
I will use that beautiful sari silk yarn for something - probably a journal cover or binding
I will blog more often, for me and for you (more for me)
I will experiment with instant photography and record the results in some orderly fashion
I will use my own images more in my journals
I will try and overcome the shyness that makes me risk losing new friendships out of fear
I want to show you my ridiculous collection of cameras
I will meditate most days
I will take charge of our home's personality again, poor neglected thing
Which leads me to a story I've been struggling with whether or not and how to tell you. It's how a little tweeted comment shut me right down. It wasn't mean, it wasn't to me and it wasn't about me. But it touched a nerve, the way only the things that we judge harshly in ourselves can. It was about blogs doing one little word, and if the person who said it reads this, they may recognise it. If so, forgive me for bringing it up, it's not you, it's me (really!). It made me feel ashamed and twee and it took me a few days to turn it around and remember that a) I enjoy reading about people's words for the year and I don't think it's twee, so why feel embarrassed that I was doing it too and b) to paraphrase my last post, we can't be cool and clever in everyone's eyes, we're lucky if we can be cool or clever in our own, never mind anybody else's. Something similar happened several years ago when I met someone at a cool art event, and they asked me "aren't you a scrapbooker" in a friendly way, not a judgy way, and I squirmed and said "well, yeah, sometimes, kinda, a little, but not really". All kinds of stuff going on there, and I still feel a little ashamed that I responded like that.
All of which just shows how perfect my word for 2011 is for me: voice.
There are many reasons I chose it, and I will share those when I put up the first page from my One Little Word album, once my supplies come.
Thank you, Hanna for the inspiration and the headings!