“Pensieri” means “thoughts” in Italian and that is the title of my first handmade zine. It feels fantastic to put my thoughts into writing and have it published in a little book format. Not only that, I had loads of fun creating this handmade zine stitched together with lots of little bits and bobs to get your creative juices flowing. This first issue is all about Art Journaling – one of my loves and I’ve made the zine into a collaborative art journal… here are some peeks…
Those who are interested in art journaling or have thought about starting, please check out the art journaling week of blog posts on Julie Balzer’s blog! It’s a whole week all about art journaling and I’m super honored to be guest posting as well. Woohoo! Check it out all week long and enjoy!
Art journaling is really no different from a dear diary type of idea, except that putting art in front of journaling gives you free reign to do whatever you want in your book.
Yup, it means you can add in words or not at all. It means you can splash colors or keep it black and white. You can sew in your pages or collage with a variety of materials.
It’s all about recording and documenting your feelings and life experience through various forms of creative expression, inside a book full of pages.
I personally love to collage, paint, doodle and mix a bunch of different materials together in my art journal pages. But it can be whatever you want it to be. Some people mostly write in their journals and add just a few visual elements here or there. Others like to collage their everyday ephemera into their pages, making it a direct reflection of their days.
Now, I do realize sometimes having too many options can be intimidating.
So here are a series of videos of how I started an experimental art journal. You can follow each video to create your own pages along with me or just take from the idea and create something with whatever materials you have access to.
Enjoy!
If you want to learn more about art journaling for beginners, you might want to check out my very first zine all about art journaling here.
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my youtube channel here if you want to see more journaling, DIY and creative videos!
Art journaling is difficult to define because it can be so many different things. Although there might be trends and popular ways to approach art journaling, I believe there truly aren’t any rules at all.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I broaden my definition. Art journaling is a record of your thoughts, emotions and experimentations over time in a book-ish form. There are those who have illustrated diaries, sketchbooks, travel journals, diet diaries, dream journals or simply to-do lists… but really they are all a type of art journal for that particular person.
Perhaps it is the word “art” that throws us all off. We think of “Art” with the capital A and suddenly a whole lot of expectations are thrown into the mix. Shouldn’t an art journal be beautiful? Don’t you need artistic skill to art journal? Well, I think our lives are most definitely our “Art” – so anything you create and record in your journal is valid. Perhaps we can think of it as the “Art of our lives.” It is different for everyone and the ultimately it is the process not the end result that is important.
For those that are into the planner craze, decorating their notebooks and filofaxes… I sort of think that is a form of art journaling as well. It’s creative playtime after all!
Art Journaling Is For Everyone
I think art journals are for everyone because it is a safe place to express yourself – in whatever way and with whatever medium you wish. The details of how don’t matter. It’s the process of creating that is magical, not the end result.
You might art journal to let it all out, writing out your emotions in raw form. You might art journal as a way to experiment and play with new ideas, techniques or supplies. You might want to document your life and your thoughts. You might just enjoy the creative fun and process of playing in your journal, creating something on the blank page. All of the above perhaps?
So really, anyone can art journal, there is no skill involved. You can have a whole journal filled with ink splatters and criss crossed lines. Or you can just collage magazine clippings. The process and motion of making marks… putting imagery together… that means something. The creative action helps you let out some energy, expressing your emotions in a different form. It’s healing and soothing and hopefully, really fun and enjoyable as well.
The action of creating feeds your soul and I think it makes us better and healthier in the end. That is why art journaling is for everyone. I think we all really need it as a part of our lives.
When I give myself some art journaling time, I’m usually in need of letting something out of my heart and soul. It might be serious and deep or it might be light and happy. Either way, my art journal is a safe haven for me to mull things over. I definitely need that space and time in my life.
Sharing Your Art Journal
These days we see a lot of folks sharing their art journals online for all the world to see. But I don’t think you ever have to share and more often than not, your art journal is more of a personal workbook than a finished piece for exhibition. We can easily be disillusioned by all that we see online, but remember that is only one facet of the person posting. It’s rarely ever the whole truth.
Don’t think you have to reproduce and mimic what you see. It can be fun to join in on the community, but I don’t think that is the core of what art journaling can do for you. It’s so personal and raw that it’s totally okay to keep it to yourself… at least most of it to yourself.
I often share the light and happy parts of my art journaling, not all the other stuff that is deeper, darker, too personal for a public audience. It’s an individual choice really.
Why Not?
I often wonder what stops people from joining in on the wonderful world of art journaling. Notions about what it has to be? There are no rules, just go for it. Fear of being judged? Don’t share. Don’t know how to get started? The easiest way is to use pen and paper and just write your stream of consciousness. Let it flow and slowly go from there. You’ll be surprised how easy it really is. No time? Don’t tell me you don’t spend countless minutes and hours waiting in line, shuffling from one thing to another or zoning out in front of the TV. Instead of letting those little bits of time slip through your fingers wasted, think of how you can take that time for yourself. It will only do your soul good.
Let’s Art Journal
If you would like to get started art journaling, I highly encourage you to do so with simple pen and paper. You don’t really need fancy supplies or an expensive journal. Once you get into it, you’ll naturally expand and explore all that it has to offer and perhaps the fun of getting more supplies as well.
If you want more guidance to start out, consider my Pensieri zine #1 – Art Journaling. It’s my most popular issue and guides you through while being a starter art journal itself!
Are you an art journaler? Want to join in on the creative fun?
I know that we all like to take a peek into an artist’s sketchbook and get that behind-the-scenes look at their art processes. Often what may seem mundane to the artist, might actually be totally weird, cool and inspiring to an observer.
With that in mind, I thought it would be nice to round-up my favorite art journaling posts. It’s actually been fun to look back at my own work and getting that sense of creative accomplishment and enjoyment.
I hope my pages will inspire you to create and have fun in the process.
Some of you may not know, but I also have an art blog called tortagialla. From my creative musings there, I started writing a zine about art and craft topics and really loving the process. It occurred to me that issue 8 is all about scrapbooking, but I haven’t introduced it here on the blog. So here’s a little plug for myself!
My handmade zine is called Pensieri, meaning thoughts in Italian. It’s an outlet for me to share my crafty endeavors, from art history to specific techniques and craft subjects. I design the whole zine myself, a one-girl operation when it comes to printing, folding, binding and all the handmade touches. The cover of my zines are created with a big envelope, which results in a back pocket for goodies – a feature I’m particularly fond of. Although it takes a massive amount of time to create these zines, I love the process and love sharing a bit of my knowledge and writing with others. It’s been a really amazing experience for me and ultimately, I think I gain a lot from creating Pensieri.
The last issue of Pensieri is called Scrap Slam Smash – A mini history of memory, story and life keeping. I suppose you can say that it’s a culmination of my own adventures in scrapbooking and how I’ve ended up (thus far)…in terms of why I scrapbook and all the ideas I have for the hobby. I go through a brief history of the hobby, some design principles, a color discussion and pages and pages of journaling prompts as project ideas. I really hope to inspire others to scrapbook in the end. Whether it be a mini project or an ongoing scrap your life in an art journal type of way. Whatever works for you.
I scrapbook because I love the process. I get to relive beautiful memories and celebrate them by scrapping those stories. It’s also a fun and creative release for me. I love playing with pretty materials! I also love to share the results with friends and family, seeing the joy it brings and helping them to relive those wonderful moments in our lives. Again, it’s about celebrating the good and perhaps even acknowledging the bad and working through it.
Angel policy: All free printables posted are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Feel free to share as long as you link back to this website. Thank you for spreading the love!
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