Art Journalling

Art journalling is something I’ve done over the years but not with any regularity and certainly not with the goal of making it a daily habit.

I love to draw and paint. I’m not terribly good at it, but I am learning through my YouTube videos that one has to start somewhere and slowly slowly over time one can’t help but to improve.

And I think that goes for everything in life.

I am also learning that you don’t actually need to be very good at something in order to extract some enjoyment from doing it. I am creative to my very soul, but I’m not very good at the technical side of things – the making drawings look realistic or how they appear in my head.

Anyway, I intend to journal daily and complete one double page each week.

It will probably be nature inspired, simple drawings because they are what I enjoy looking at. I’d like to find my own style within this genre so to speak. It would be really cool for people to see my drawings and know immediately that they are mine!

Gary has very kindly funded my newest passion, and whilst waiting for my supplies to come in the post, I begged, stole and borrowed some to get started.

I don’t usually post pictures on this blog, mainly because I want to keep it really simple and easy for me to do as a daily discipline. However, I don’t think one can talk about art without some sort of visual.

So these were my first doodlings – a colour chart, mixing the paint colours I already had, a continuous line drawing and an anime drawing of Becca.

I wasn’t overly enamoured by any of it, so I know I’m going to have to keep repeating to myself ‘process over product’, ‘process over product’….

What I will say is that I enjoyed it more than I can put into words. It’s awakened something long forgotten inside me and I have so many ideas and goals related to this new artsy phase in my life!

Right now, I draw out my pictures in the morning, go over them in black ink (new supplies allows me to do this now) and rub out the pencil. I also do a wash over the sheet if I need to, but as I am only covering one double spread a week I don’t need to do that daily.

In the evening, whilst watching tv with Gary, I paint my little drawings. I hope to share my spreads each week as a means of keeping me accountable. As I improve, perhaps I’ll share some of my dreams regarding this art journey.

Are you doing anything new this year?