Okay, I don't hate-hate my art journal, but I'm definitely not happy with it. This is only the second time I've run into this problem, but that still doesn't make it any easier. The first time around I ended up throwing the (unfinished) journal away, in retrospect a bad decision, because now that it's gone, I've realized there were a lot of pages I totally loved and wish I still had.
The problem with both journals seems to be:
1. Size. Too small. I like to use a lot of images, words, colors, and collage papers, and a journal measuring only 5" x 6" just doesn’t give me the room I need. I must have bought these journals thinking they were "cute," but cute quickly became tight and cramped.
2. Paper. The journal I tossed had a delicate parchment-like feel that didn’t work well with ink, watercolor, or any kind of water-based medium. When I did use pencil, it felt scratchy and uncomfortable. At the other end of the spectrum, my current journal's pages have a slick, shiny surface that initially felt nice, but now seem like trying to draw on magazine pages. To make matters worse, I gessoed the majority of the pages thinking that would improve them. Not. The result was disastrous—the thicker pages have made the journal so chunky it’s bursting out of the binding, making the book even more unattractive to me. Yuk. So what's an art journaler to do? I don’t want to throw out the pages I do like, but I don't want to continue in this frustrating vein.
Consequently, I've been brainstorming some ideas I could try to fix the problem, and you know what? I think they’re going to work! I’m just sorry I didn’t think of them earlier in order to save that first, and now lost, journal. Maybe you can use these too!
The problem with both journals seems to be:
1. Size. Too small. I like to use a lot of images, words, colors, and collage papers, and a journal measuring only 5" x 6" just doesn’t give me the room I need. I must have bought these journals thinking they were "cute," but cute quickly became tight and cramped.
2. Paper. The journal I tossed had a delicate parchment-like feel that didn’t work well with ink, watercolor, or any kind of water-based medium. When I did use pencil, it felt scratchy and uncomfortable. At the other end of the spectrum, my current journal's pages have a slick, shiny surface that initially felt nice, but now seem like trying to draw on magazine pages. To make matters worse, I gessoed the majority of the pages thinking that would improve them. Not. The result was disastrous—the thicker pages have made the journal so chunky it’s bursting out of the binding, making the book even more unattractive to me. Yuk. So what's an art journaler to do? I don’t want to throw out the pages I do like, but I don't want to continue in this frustrating vein.
Consequently, I've been brainstorming some ideas I could try to fix the problem, and you know what? I think they’re going to work! I’m just sorry I didn’t think of them earlier in order to save that first, and now lost, journal. Maybe you can use these too!
- Keep going. Seriously. Think of the journal as "practice." Sigh.
- Collage over the bad pages with new images.
- Take the whole thing apart and re-use the good pages for new material. If you’ve only completed a portion of the journal, cut or carefully remove your favorite pages from the binding. Do the same with any blank pages and use those for scratch paper or practice sheets. Especially gessoed or pre-tinted pages.
- Try improving both good and bad pages with ideas from a how-to book such as Collage Lab.
- Cut "bad" pages into small squares and divide them into color groupings for future mosaic-style collaging.
- Put the journal away and then just . . . walk away. Forget about it for a while and start something new.
- Change topics—if you’ve been using a particular theme, drop it and start something new, perhaps only using the journal for writing rather than art, or for you daily morning pages.
- Use the journal for whining. Call it "the bad, ugly, whiney journal" and put inside everything that upsets you. Burn it when you’re finished.
- Analyze why you don’t like this journal—is it the shape, size, color and/or theme choices? Figure out what's wrong and try not to repeat.
- Give it away. Ask someone else if they'd like to complete the journal. Or pass it on to friends as a Round Robin project.
- Go for messy and dangerous. Try out techniques you would be too afraid to put into your “good” journal.
- Keep any pages you tore out and use them to learn book binding. Make small finished journals of only a few pages each. Write poetry. Use them for greeting cards or other types of gifts.
Tip of the Day: The next time you are unhappy with a journal or sketchbook, keep in mind that everything you do is really just practice. Use a bad experience to propel you into what you really want to do. Write out your findings and goals and then start afresh with a brand new journal. That's what I'm going to do!
2 comments:
I hope you find ways to make peace with your art journal, Valerie. In our healing art program, our facilitator encourages us to keep everything we create there as a visual journal of ourselves & our journeys. Similar to your experience, I'm sometimes dissatisfied with what I've made, but hear Mary saying "keep them" in my head. One approach I've taken is to deconstruct the pieces I can't bring myself to appreciate & rework elements of them into new pieces. I feel this allows me to preserve some respect for the original process, while ridding myself of the dissatisfaction.
This is an excellent idea, Lisa. Going to try the same approach. I also want to go deeper into why I have a negative reaction to the pieces--as they say, what we resist is what needs to be explored. Thank you for the reminder!
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