Art Journal Pages

I’ve decided 2010 is the year for trying new things especially in the art/craft arena.  Much to my own surprise I’ve already started!  First a background story…when I joined swap-bot I noticed a lot of swaps for art journal pages and I didn’t really know what they were.  I had a very vague impression of these journals being something that “real artists” kept to doodle in, jot down thoughts and that sort of arty farty thing.  Well I was kinda right!

From what I have gathered from internet searches and forum posts these journals are (mostly) used by all sorts of creative people and are usually visual, as in illustrated or collage, and hand written.  In a way it’s like a scrapbook of your creative thoughts, ideas, feelings and hopes/dreams.  Some people like to keep them private, for instance if they made an art journal of a difficult time in their life like divorce or illness, and others will post their pages on blogs or places like Flickr.  Just hop on over to Flickr and search for “art journals” and you’ll see hundreds of examples.  They are all pretty darn amazing.

I love the idea of an art journal and knowing that I don’t have to be an “artist” to keep one makes me feel more comfortable with the idea.  So I found a like minded soul on swap-bot and created a private swap for our first ever journal page.  I also decided to make a few extra for wishlist granting too as well as my very own to keep.

So down I sat at my desk with paints, stamps, inks, pens and other paraphernalia and got to work.  I have to say it was very enjoyable although I don’t think I’ve quite got the gist of it.  I found it hard not to turn it into a “scrapbook” page like the ones in my albums and I didn’t really know what to write.  I think as I make more journal pages the actual writing part and free expression thing will come more easily.  And I definitely intend on doing more!

So here are the pages I’ve created so far…

This is the very first one I made and will be keeping to put in my own journal.

This one is for my swap partner who has also never done these before and is just starting to dip her toes into the creative waters.

And these last two are one I made for the Aussie Swapper wishlist.  I’m not sure if the recipients have done art journals before so I hope mine are “ok” and they like them. *edit ~ yes they loved them, yay for me!

So now dear friends, tell me, have you made an art journal before?  Is it something you do all the time?  Or like me have you been under the impression it was only for “real artists”?  If you have some pages to share or any helpful links please pop them in the comments as I’m very interested in learning more and seeing other peoples work too.

Kris