Art Journal

I have always been fascinated by books, I have started a few art books of my own. I have a small leather bound book with tattoo sketches in, I have also made my own note book with a binding tool courtesy of my sister. I used different pages, papers and images but I'm too precious to use it because I love the way it turned out so much. 


Why now? The reasons for this project now is, not only because I'm interested in it but as I have just moved jobs into the field of mental health I think it would be beneficial as a spontaneous and personal activity that they could do with or without me, even along side me. This would also give me more experience in the field of Art Therapy activities. So, this got me searching for inspiration, and here's what I have learnt and found at the early stages,


Had a good look through this blog and found some useful lists hints tips and do's and don'ts in the New To Art Journaling Section by the very creative Kelley Luckett who has a story very similar to that I wish for myself, a creative soul who went to study Art Therapy which is where I want to be in a few years from now....


But this was my Fav so far... Julie Fai-Fan Balzer's Blog is informative has great tutorials on how to conquer a blank page, tips such as gesso and masking tape on you inside spine (genius) and a FAQ section that had me sorted pretty quickly with resources about how to get started, themes and lists etc.

Some of projects or challenges that caught my creativity were "The A-Z of me" and lists such as Things I love about me, places I want to go, things about my town and even illustrated recipes. Challenges you can set yourself, as the above taken from Squidoo, Art Journaling and prompts. This reminds me of a project I did many years ago at college which I should upload to show you all soon. Other things that appeal to me, mostly as I adore music is doing illustrated albums by a certain artists, I remember doodling these when I was at school bored in lessons. I once has a whole A4 page of Aerosmith tracks in picture form :D. I Also like the thought of doing a kind of instruction manual of different tasks etc that I could set myself so I could pick some at random to run along side the project. So two books, one journal and one inspiration and prompts book.


I also aspire to be able to do a little bit a day, even when I do 12 hr shifts even if I prep a page background or title/assign a project to a page.... SO


WHEN DOES THIS START I hear you cry. Well I am on the hunt for the book of choice in the next week or so. and I will thoroughly document this journey in the line of Art Therapy research. I have plenty of materials to get me started and previous work that I can draw from as inspiration. I will also upload previous art works completed with my support by people I have worked with with varied disabilities to document my Art Therapy interest and approach.


Exciting stuff, stay tuned.....