Currently Browsing: journaling 253 articles
Don’t Let Perfectionism Keep You from Enjoying Your Art Practice
When you’ve spent decades teaching in-person classes in book binding, you’ve made a bunch of demo books! You work through a stage in the structure while students pay attention and ask questions. Then they complete the steps you just demonstrated, while you mingle and help those who are confused or struggling. Teaching, over time, presents […]
Journaling Tips to Get You Started
Last week I posted about making a pamphlet journal with a six-pocket cover. I promised to give you some tips on journaling. My main purpose in writing this post is to encourage adults to help any children (family, or students if they are teachers) begin a journaling habit. From the last post you’ll remember that […]
Six-Pocket Pamphlet Book for Journaling
Blog readers know I’ve been on a life-long crusade to get people to journal everyday. I think this habit of observation with visual and written documentation is a great way to stay focused in life, find gratitude, and keep your creative mind engaged. For children dealing with the upheaval of the past several months and […]
The Creature of Chronology Takes a Break
In my March 28, 2026 post “IFJM: Sometimes Projects Creep Up on You,” I discussed, in response to people asking about a public celebration of International Fake Journal Month, why there wouldn’t be one this year. Then I set about thinking how to encourage people who wanted to do one anyway. I ended up setting […]
In Context: Compliments from an Engineer
On the journal page in today’s post I’ve done a TV study (verso page) and a watercolor sketch of a man from a 19th Century photo (exaggerating his hair of course; recto page). But I’d like to call your attention to the top left corner of this spread when I jotted down the best compliment […]
What Makes an Artist an Artist?
Recently we had a power-outage in our area. (Dick later told me it involved 51 houses near us.) It’s never great when you have a power outage. The first thing that happens in our house is alarms go off. This is even more stressful now that I have permanent tinnitus. I have to run around […]
End-of-Year Journal Wrap Up
Blog readers know I like to do an end-of-year wrap up. I look back at my journal productivity. It helps me see an overview of my creative practice and formulate new goals and directions for the future. I also can see at a glance what is happening with my practice and how I might need […]
Color Chart Fun
The best way to learn your pigments is to put them to real-world tests painting subjects you might actually paint. Your mind has to work out how to adjust color temperature and value on the fly. You get to use up leftover paint that you already had out on your palette. Creating a color range […]
Finding Art Papers You Enjoy Working On
As we move into a new year I wanted to encourage people to find papers that support their visual journaling, painting, and sketching practices. If you write a lot in your journal you also want to find a paper that you enjoy writing on. So much of finding the right paper is also about having […]
Ink Only? Paint It? Or Let It Go?
Everyday we make choices in our journals. The simplest for me is stop at ink only? Paint over the ink (opaquely or transparently)? Or leave the texture alone all together? We get to make a different, individual decision every time we turn a page in our journal. Long ago I was more strict in my […]