We’ve covered what is an art journal, sketchbook, travel journal, junk journal etc… and what we need to use them (basic art materials you have at home)… now, let’s see how we can use them:
- sketching – for practicing and honing skills like drawing hands, gesture poses, watercolour leaves etc…
- or sketching for jotting down your ideas
- visual to-do list of things you’ve seen on Pinterest and want to try later on 😉
- drawing places you’ve been to (travel journal)
- urban sketching (if in the city)
- plain-air (that’s a fancy name for “landscape painting on location” ;))
- trying out different media and how they play with one another: what can be layered and what not
- experimenting with new compositions, colour palettes,…
- trying out different ideas for a bigger project
- as a reference for all the stencils, stamps or washi tape samples
- paint swatches
- doing artwork for a particular art challenge
- exploring a specific technique in detail and in many ways
- “memory-lane” book – where you jot down what happened on a particular day
- illustrated diary
- recipe collection / cookbook
- secret diary where you paint over what you’ve written underneath
- natural material collection (the flat material;) – like pressed leaves, feathers, stick, etc…
- doodling: Zen-tangles or just old fashioned doodling like during boring school lessons 😉
- slow drawing – similar but not the same as doodling (more on the differences in a later post – stay tuned;)
Of course, there are a lot of other ways to use an art journal but hopefully this gives you some ideas how to start and if you try them all, you just might find the one that you really like.
I’d love to know which one resonated the most with you and by all means, share your ideas in the comments – there are never too many art ideas, ain’t that right? 😉
Very Arty Fairy 