While organizing my bookshelf, I came upon some half-finished journals and sketchbooks. I’m constantly making new journals, trying new papers and formats. So that creates a whole lot of mess when it comes to chronology or any sense of completion. I rarely date pages and work out of order all the time. You can call it freedom, but it’s also chaos.
I also don’t share all my art journal pages because they can be pretty mundane, just a book of my random musings. Or they can be a flood of negative emotions, something I don’t want to post publicly. I don’t shy away from destroying pages or even entire journals. I take them apart and keep only what I like. It’s a way for me to process negativity. As time passes, certain pages don’t hold the same meaning anymore.
Although it may seem unauthentic to edit, there really is no right or wrong way to art journal. And no one says you have to treat them as masterpieces to keep forever, it’s all up to you. And honestly, we edit everything in life! There would be too much to consume otherwise. I personally really like the feeling of cleaning things out, making room for the new.
Of course, I’ve been trying to see things from a different perspective and thought I might try being more systematic. Work in one journal before going to the next. Going for simplicity and positivity in the end. Maybe that would eliminate the need for me to edit after the fact.
What is your creative art journaling process? Have a favorite journal? Do you destroy or toss things out? Would love to know how others keep or don’t keep their sketches/notes/musings.
