Journal Keeping

                                                   From Diary to Journal

When I was young we all kept diaries.  They would hold our most secret thoughts, dried flowers from a prom corsage, tickets to a rock concert, always travel tickets and often a special note or token from an adventure.  Occasionally I would sketch a flower, tree, bird or something that caught my fancy. Somehow these tidbits of memories and fun would turn into fanciful pages.....all without the slightest effort.  Fancy gift wrapping, tickets, flowers would somehow form to tell a story abut our lives.  How I wish I still had some of those pages to reflect on today. 

Fast forward many, many years and I am still keeping a diary, albeit today it is a journal.  I especially take pleasure in writing about my travels.  I could share with you the favorite Tratorria in Italy, or the amazing little gift shop on a back alley in Paris, but the most pleasure giving pages are the ones that carry with them the sketch of a door or building or the chic young lady drinking an espresso.  Along with these are stories to tell, some from my imagination, some from ease dropping or just some historical tidbit. Many pages I would not hesitate to share with you, but many more fall short of what I would call perfection. That is not the purpose.  If you only strive for perfection, then you will loose that ability to be spontaneous and it is that spontaneity that brings forth the best work.   Mostly I tell myself to just let it rip...most likely I will be the only one to see what I accomplished that day anyway, and often a sketch, good or bad, will turn into something I will work on in the studio.  

Years ago while living in England, I purchased a Barbour bag, and it stands ready, like an emergency bag, and travels wherever I go. Tucked in that bag is a black journal, small water color set. empty spice jar for water, pencils and a few ink pens. I never want to loose a memory to a lost moment. If time is short, then I will take a picture of what I want to capture in hopes that the time lingers on in my mind. I could probably count 20 journals lined up in my studio and each one tells its own unique story.

Start simple, I tell my students, and don't compare your work with others. What lays in your journal is what is peculating in your mind and your artistic interpretation. 

The picture of the door is from Mexico and is done with a fairly dry brush.  Paints dry fast there and it is easier to use less water...that and in itself creates a vision.