How do YOU art Journal?

So Many Possibilities!
Do you journal BIG or small,  Messy or Polished?

  

Do you use your journal to sketch what you see or what you think?  Is it a practice place for future artwork?  Do you experiment with new techniques and medias or stick with your favorites?  Do you work on one page at a time or have lots going at once?  Do you start front to back or skip all around?  Do you begin a page with a finished look in mind or let it wander and evolve?  Do you prefer painting in prebound journals or on separate sheets to bind together at the end? Do you have a favorite type of paper or do you mix it up?  How often do you art journal?  Do you have a particular day or time of day which you tend to work on your art journal?  Do you journal alone or with others? Do you use your art journal to battle demons and combat fears?  Do you keep your journal private or enjoy showing it off?

There are as many ways to Art Journal as there are Journalers!  Although I do think there is this something that connects most art journalers together.  A certain something inside -an introspection and seeking.

I just love keeping an art journal.  I am sporadic as life gets so so busy, but I've noticed that my creativity all arounds intensifies when I am faithfully painting in my journal.

Several of my art journal pages lately have been in response to the Life Book Workshop.  The diversity of teachers and prompts is such a joy, but I find that by doing my pages on large individual sheets instead of a bound notebook, I tend to turn them into more polished works and they can become a bit too precious to me.  

I get caught up in trying to make everything just so.  I've even found myself wondering, "Will other people like my page, will it gets lots of Facebook comments?"  It is embarrassing to find myself think this way.  It is so NOT what art journaling is all about for me (it is perfectly ok if it is for you -totally no judgement here)  It is about process, exploration, expression.  It is all about the journey, not the final destination.  

I'm working on finding that balance which allows me to get lost in the freedom of letting go -letting go of the constraints in my head, telling me what I should be painting or should be thinking. I have this sneaky little monster on my shoulder that wants everything to be part of some larger goal, have an outwardly measurable worthy bigger purpose.  He questions my daydreams and tells me to be more "productive."  My best weapon against his pointed attacks is pencil and paint and more cowbell (wait skip the cowbell part, I don't know where I was going with that, random tangent -although more cowbell is always good.) 

OK, back to the art journal.  Focus Laurie.  I wanted to share a page I completed earlier this week.  I feel really happy with this one.  It represents the deeply personal messy unselfconscious attitude I like. It is not a "work of art"; it is unabashedly an art journal page -flip flower, secret meaning, imperfections, aspirations!

It started as an example of background techniques when I invited a few special ladies over for a little art play on my birthday. Very random and quick.  Then I just added bits (like the cut out flowers from a birthday card) off and on during the week after work. 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there and ta-da, here it is!

Music for today: The Who - Who Are You?
(I had such a crush on Roger Daltry when I was young)