Dear art journaler, first of all I wish you a very happy, creative and healthy 2021! The last year has been a roller coaster for many of us, and hopefully things will get better soon.
If there’s one thing we did in 2020, besides washing our hands, it might be ‘reflecting’. Because many of our regular routines were interrupted and we needed to act upon changes that we did not see coming, we had a lot to think about. Which by the way does not mean we found all the answers! There are many ways to reflect, it can be a good conversation with someone close to you, it can be a Zoom-meeting with your colleagues or it might be writing a page in your journal every day.
You might already guess, to me art journaling is the best way to reflect. If you’re new to this, you should definitely give it a try. Translate your thoughts to little pieces of imperfect art. Not just life changing insights or very deep questions waiting for an answer, you could use just a favorite quote or one word to describe your state of mind.
When I started journaling years ago, it took me almost a year to fill a book. Depending ofcourse on the number of pages, but in general it took me quite a while before I finished one. Although often quality is better than quantity, I’ve learned that this rule does not apply to art journaling. ‘Cause when you focus on making more and more pages, you get yourself in a creative flow that brings a lot of joy, teaches you important things and reveals so many surprises.
The last journal I worked on, I’ve started in September and it was finished on January 3. So you could say my production is up! Seeing the end of the year coming close was a motivation to fill the last pages; it does feel really good to start a new journal in these first days of January. I’m not really sure how to start and where to go this year, but the pages, the paint and writing will help me find out.
If you want to start art journaling, go for it! If you live on Curacao, go to Bruna to get a simple journal with blank pages, get some nice supplies from Diamonds Craft Store or Samsom and just begin.
Would you like to know more about journaling? Want to get in contact with fellow journalers? Great! Just send me a message, I will be happy to hear from you!