Art Crusade # 16, Journal Your Blog

This was a toughie. The Art Crusade # 16 assignment was to pick a blog post and (art) journal about it, then share the journal page on your blog. First, I wanted to pick a blog post about which I had something to say. It seems logical to pick one about art. But which one? Well, it turns out that once I've said something my art, I'm kind of done. Which left me with this post about some pieces I was painting for my cousin for Christmas. That is problematic because they are hardly more advanced than they were at the time I wrote the post. Now I'd have to admit to the world what a deadbeat non-finisher I can be. Ugh. Then, ironically, when I took the picture of the unfinished tryptich, I put the canvasses right in front of another unfinished painting! Sigh.

Another thing; usually my journal pages are not so nifty looking. I never pre-prep the pages with paint and ink and stuff(although this one did happen to have a coat of gesso on it - the only page in the journal that does). While I occasionally go all out on a journal page, I typically just grab the journal and scribble down ideas and lame sketches to remind myself of them later. I really wanted to prettify it for this. Make it more like the journal I wish I kept. Below are a couple of typical pages.

Look at that vast expanse of white. Yeesh. So I am not entirely shamed, I will share another couple of pages where I actually did make a little effort.

I was reading what Michele wrote about visual journals and feeling somewhat guilty; which naturally led to feeling whiny... I already have mountains of dishes, laundry, and household filing piling up around me. Taking more time to work on a journal just seems like it would take away from the time I use to make art and post on my blog. Plus, I'm already so solitary, I don't really want something to make me more solitary. Which is how journalling occurs for me. One reason I'm so drawn to art is that it is a way for me to communicate with people outside of myself. A way to say, "See? This is how I think, how I see." I feel like I'm writing something blasphemous here... Sorry, Michele.

Strangely, this is akin to a conversation I was having a couple nights ago at the Room 206 gathering (which I will blog about at another time). When I admitted that I hadn't owned a pair of jeans for the whole of the 1990s, I think there was kind of a jump in time or something. I know it seems strange, especially here in the States - and even more specifically, here in the Northwest - but for me it was very practical. I only made a certain amount of money and so I really couldn't afford to buy anything that I couldn't wear to work. Since my free time was spent holding cocktails rather than walking sticks or shovels, it was a choice that made sense.

How that story relates to visual journals is in the practicality argument. What with Rexy and her therapy and housekeeping (such as it is) and family stuff, I barely squeeze in time to work on artistic endeavors (including blogging - it's 1:07am right now) as it is. When faced with a limited amount of time, I choose to paint rather than journal. And every time I cut something out with the intention of using it in my journal I inevitably think to myself, "Why waste this (time and resource) on the journal when I could use it in a piece of art?" It's an easy decision for me. Maybe if I were a little more "type A" I would use my time more efficiently and I wouldn't have to make the choice. I don't know.

When Rexy goes to school for a full day rather than just 2 1/2 hours maybe I will be able to be a little more free with my time - able to journal and socialize. Until then, I'm pretty sure my journal will continue to be a collection of vast, white expanses dotted with notes, doodle-y sketches, and snippets of poems.

Hopefully no one hates me now for not being an avid art-journaler (hmm, I pretty sure that's not a word). Does anyone else feel this way?

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