I've always treated my sketchbook as, well, a sketchbook. In pen, or pencil -- or occasionally, (oooo) colored pencil -- I dabble & doodle my way around a plague of ideas, or practice drawing forks and tomatoes. I also have my "watercolor journal" -- which is a place where I capture successful color blends and palettes, and splat my brush around to loosen myself up before tackling the "real" work.
And then there is my "furniture design" journal, which is full of weird little sketches of shapes that I want to explore in wood, and rough, but measured plans for tables and boxes. Oh, and I shouldn't forget my landscape design journal, which is loaded with lists of plants that I think would look interesting together, and the occasional texture drawing.
Pretty dry stuff. Nothing at all like my written journal, which is full of character studies and overheard snippets of conversation, song ideas, the occasional rhyme, tiny essays and mini insights, business ideas, aromatherapy notes, and loads of daily dross. Multi-color pens. Playful bits of calligraphy. Even an occasional illustration, directions to Royalston, a grocery list.
Ideas gnaw at me, and distract me, unless I pay them respect & capture them with a whispered promise that I'll come back later. My journals have always been therapeutic and utilitarian.
Well, today by way of a Facebook friend's friend's friend, I was turned on to a richer style of journaling. I am inspired by mixed media artist Manon Doyle's blog, generously loaded with examples of her journal pages, her process, and her lively and thought-provoking work http://manondoyle.blogspot.com/. (The image included in this blog is hers.) She describes how journaling allows her to work on ideas, even when she thinks she isn't going to paint...
More examples of visually stimulating journals can be seen at:
http://www.artistsjournals.com/ and this site is filled with technical information & instructions for creating your own mixed media journals.
To utility and beyond!
