Paper and Paint Meet Again

So I really want to teach a visual journaling class. Bad enough that I have it written up and have proposed it two places in town. One place said it was “too arty” (that’s a direct quote) and another said it was not artistic enough (paraphrasing). I think both parties were clearly insane and wrong. But the good news is I may have a real chance coming up. I’m not allowed to say anymore now, and I really don’t want to jinx it, but I do have something to share today.

I know two posts ago, I shared something of a teaser of my new visual journal. Well, now I have a few more pictures. If I do get to teach a class, a big thing I want to stress is how low-cost, accessible and simple visual journaling can be. I feel like a lot of people are really intimidated by the idea and think it’s something reserved for “real” artists. It’s not. It’s for everyone who wants to play. To prove that, I tried a journaling format that is new to me but INSANELY easy. Two words: binder, cardstock. Because I can’t bring myself to toss office supplies, I had a blue three-ring binder on hand, as well as a punch. All I had to do was pick up a ream of card stock at Target during my regular shopping trip. And here is how the whole new journal thing went down.

There was painting (after I punched all the pages). With brushes, brayers, combs, bubble wrap and my fingers. My kiddo even got into it. Instead of thinking, I just dove in and threw colors around on about a dozen and a half pages at a time. Once they were dry, I flipped them, shuffled them and did it all again. It was messy, fast and fun. I repeated the cycle with a few of the pages to add more depth, but for the most part, I just stacked them up and saved them.

Next up, I set them all up by my drafting desk. I cleaning and reorganized it, so I have an official writing station. That means if I have ten minutes to write, I can dive in. I just grab and page and hammer out whatever thoughts are there. And when I am done, I am done. No need to worry about picking up so small hands can’t get to my supplies and pages.

It’s not super artistic or technically awesome, but I love it. It’s me, it’s on paper, it’s cheap, it’s fun. What more can you ask for?