Blogging A to Z: J is for Journal

April is here!! It's time for daily blogging, lots of visitors and meeting new friends.  In other words, time for the Blogging A to Z challenge hosted by Arlee Bird and his team of minions.  Thousands of other bloggers from all over the world participate in this blog hop each year, and anyone may join in as long as they blog each day during the month of April, (except Sundays) the blog posts correspond to the appropriate letter for that day, and they sign up on the link list. Simple!

One of the things a lot of artists use as a learning tool is a Journal. This can take many different forms, and in fact I have several journals, each with a different theme or purpose.  These journals can be made by hand or purchased, and can have special paper inside, or just plain white. A lot depends on what you are planning to put inside as to what the paper should be made of.

Over the past sixteen months I have been involved in traveling art journal projects with friends I met through social media--primarily Instagram. Each artist creates her own journal (we have so far all been women) and decorates the cover, outside and inside.  Some people also add a sign-in page for the artists to log their name and contact information, but some just rely on the artist to sign their pages.  The blank journal travels around to each participating artist, who then creates two pages of their own style of art inside before passing it on to the next one.  The end results of these treasures have been fantastic! None of the artists that have been in these round-robins are professional artists, but the work is inspiring, nonetheless!

Here are a few photos of some of the pages I have done in other people's journals:

Usually artists keep at least one journal to draw or practice or record ideas.  I have not been very good at keeping up with the habit, but eventually I would like to add something to my journal every day.  Just like any skill, the more you practice it, the better you become.  It would certainly stretch my creative muscles a bit!

Another form of journal that has gained a bit of popularity in the last few years is called a Junk Journal.  Paper crafters often have a lot of bits and pieces left over from various projects, whether scrapbooking, making cards, or whatever.  A great place to put these things that are too pretty to throw away is inside a junk journal; also called smash books and glue books. The main thing I keep in my Junk Journals is mail art.  Sometimes you can recycle an old book to use as the base pages for the journal, just gluing things onto the pages that are already there.  My junk journal is completely comprised of items I received in the mail, and I repurpose the envelopes I especially like into pockets to hold other bits of mail such as post cards and small inclusions.  I keep it all in 8" 3-ring binders.  Here is a video (my first ever YouTube!) of one of my junk journals.  I have three volumes now. :)

I am still becoming friendly with art journaling. It isn't that I don't enjoy it, because I really do, but I haven't yet made it a priority.  At any rate, I love the journals I do have, and hope to get more consistent through the months to come.  Thanks for dropping by, today!  I'd love to read your comments! :)