Sandy Williams

Sometimes I just have to sit back and take a minute to wonder at today's communications and the internet. I'm so blessed to be living now when it's easy to reach out to people I'll probably never meet in person and still become friends. And look how it's changed our business communities! I am amazed!

How do you use your journal?

What do you want out of it?  What do hope it will do for you?  What goes into its pages?

Is there a difference between art journaling and keeping an artist's journal?

For me there is.  I am an artist, and I've kept a journal  for 40 years or so.  It IS my journal, in every sense of the word; a record of the journey of my days.

To me, art journaling is more about making the journal itself a work of art, and if that's what you enjoy, wonderful. Some people even sell their finished journals; I would as soon give away a piece of my soul--it would amount to about the same.  I go back to my old journals frequently...for a variety of reasons.

Just like the variety of reasons I keep one in the first place. They're reminders and learning tools!

Sometimes I just want to PAY ATTENTION to my life, to sketch the moments and days--whatever I see before me.  I don't wait for "inspiration" or for a grand subject...I just sketch.  It's who I am.

Sometimes I use it to reward myself, or take time to kick back, to get away, to create an oasis of calm in an often crazy life.

Joseph was undergoing tests to make sure he didn't have a blood clot developing in his leg.  Not a BIG deal, and he didn't, but it helped me to sketch him, and the technician and all those machines!

Sometimes I use my journal almost as meditation, or to calm myself in a stressful situation by getting outside of it.

As our friend and fellow journaler John Payne noted in this post, journaling helps us keep track of things.  If I don't remember when that medical test was, or what I used to create this or that effect, or when I tried that recipe or went to the Ozarks last, or saw godchild Molly Hammer in that play, or when Finn's birthday party was, my journals can tell me.  If I need to know what years we moved away from our old farm, it's there too, in my 30-year-old journal.  It's a wonderful memory enhancer.

Lapin remarked on one of his reasons for keeping a sketch journal in our recent interview #11--""I like the way sketching every day what I have in front of me keeps me curious and attentive to the most simple details of my life...  "

This is one of my recent writing journals...the pages may have sketches, they may not, but the paper has to take ink well!  I was using my watercolor journal for everything, but I discovered it was a bit frustrating to write on some pages with cold pressed paper...the nib wanted to skip.  When you're processing, musing, thinking on paper, you need to be able to write as easily as possible!

Sometimes I need to process...an event, a feeling, a project.  My journal's the perfect place to do that.  It's safe, it's non-judgmental (if I can silence that Inner Critic or Parent!), it's private, and it's a great sounding board, odd though that may sound.

Someone wrote "how do I know what I think until I see what I've written?"  I can understand this.  I've had some real insights, breakthroughs into my feelings or attitudes...or tendency to procrastinate...once I write things down.

This may be a list, or a chart.  I can graph these things, or just write, free-association, till I'm all written out.  I can do rough sketches that express what I feel--it doesn't have to be beautiful, it doesn't have to be good, it just needs to get down on paper and remind me!

I can choose to share, or not...if it's personal, very likely not.

Somehow sharing something you're working through with someone else may not have the effect you were hoping for.  They may not understand the background, and you can dissipate the energy without action.  (Authors often say they can't talk about a current project, even with other writers, because then they won't WRITE it!)

I've recently found an old journal of mine from the 1980s...and I'm very much enjoying seeing where I was, then.  Some things have changed a lot, some seem to be constants.  But it's such a good tool for growth and contemplation...and sometimes laughter!

One of my observations was  "If you truly want to be alone, you won't have much competition for available space!"  That made me laugh right out loud, 25 years later!

(This particular journal had perhaps two sketches in the whole book...it was still an artist's journal, because--wait for it!--I'm an artist.  I wrote a lot about what I was painting at the time, or what shows I'd entered, but at the time I had a separate sketchbook and just added a drawing if I REALLY felt the need.)

What I find myself doing more and more these days is working with my journal more like I did 20 years ago...as a tool for sorting things out, looking at my life, taking "compass readings," as our dear friend Laura Frankstone talked about in this post. 


The book we mentioned earlier, The New Diary by Tristine Rainer, has been a great help in this, but most of it is just doing it.

I'd shared that I felt overwhelmed by going off in too many directions, so I'm working through what IS important to me, what I need to do, have to do, want to do...and seeing it in black and white I am far more conscious of what I need to do.  And what I don't!  What works, and what doesn't.

Sooooo...how do you use YOUR journal.  What do you want it to do?  What do you give yourself permission to do?  Is it important to you?

Please comment, we fellow journal-keepers want to know!

Memories of Mom

I've noticed that one thing keeping a journal has done, lately, is make me feel close to my mother...it seems appropriate to share that, on Mother's Day.

She's been gone since I was 18; life's been full in the interim, and I'd not thought about some of these things for a glacial age.  But sitting in my little shed/studio lately, sketching the birds and the spring flowers, has made me feel so close to her!  She loved all of that, and yes, even painted in watercolor a bit...

I realized when I did this journal page how much it reminded me of some of her work, as well as the things she loved in nature; I tried to find the one that had dogwood in it to post (I still have a few of her paintings tucked away in a drawer) but couldn't turn it up.  My own, with this year's astoundingly lush dogwood and a tiny chipping sparrow, will have to do...

Our dear friend and journal correspondent Laura Frankstone wrote in this post about her journal taking her in a different direction...they'll DO that, if we don't impose rigid rules or expectations on them, and that's one of their greatest values.  We learn, we remember, we discover things about our lives and ourselves...

Laura recently recommended a book called The New Diary by Tristine Rainer (with a forward and many journal-keeping ideas from Anais Nin).  The book was originally written in the 1970s, but it is FULL of journaling concepts from many sources to explore...as Rainer says, there is no right way to journal, no right or wrong--she simply offers dozens of possibilities to find your own way.  Many of the suggestions I had done before--as I've said, I'm been journaling for at least 40 years!  But the reminder and the new slant and the hundreds of fresh ideas is energizing.

Some journal keepers do only text, some only art, and some combine the two...something about the dam bursting has made me need a LOT more words again, and lovely smooth paper to write on...so I tipped in some writing paper to give me more room.  A small tab turned up on one edge let me paste new papers into my existing book and I've been exploring them with abandon!

That's when I realized how close I felt to my mother these days...

Happy Mother's Day, mom, and to all the mothers out there...

Sketchbook Project....The beginning

I first heard about the Sketchbook Project
back in October from a friend and fellow blogger, Quiltin' Mama.  What fun, I thought! I signed up immediately.  The sketchbook showed up very timely with instructions that said it's a good idea to make the sketchbook sturdy as it will be looked at often. The sketchbook also contains the same type of paper that's in my only Moleskine journal that I really don't care for.... very thin and see through.

So, these are my excuses for not starting this project sooner... How to fortify the cover and shore up the thin weight of the paper pages, and I'm sticking to them :)

Given that I live in the lowcountry of SC and alligators love it here, and pink is the color used to celebrate breast cancer awareness, survivors and those that have passed ..... Well, what better material to use than faux pink alligator vinyl??  I'm multi-purposing an Estee Lauder zipper tote that would have otherwise gone into the trash.

Click all images to enlarge

I finished making the cover but have not attached it to the sketchbook. I was about to, got delayed, and am so grateful for the delay as I realized the book pages will be much easier to scan.

I decided sewing a few pages together would make them sturdier.  There are two benefits to this. Thicker pages and...... less pages to fill :) Good thing too, as I've just under 2 weeks to get it finished and postmarked by January 15th!  Nothing like a deadline :)

I love the design the zig-zag stitches made on the edges of the pages.

Outside of the cover and end pages, I now have 12 spreads to fill.

Another reason I'm happy I sewed the pages is that the back half of the book has perforated sheets!  It made for a bit of a challenge when sewing, as the pages started to tear out. I ended up using clear archival tape to secure the pages in the book. Okay.... ready to start filling this baby!

The theme is 'Down Your Street' - which I decided meant my street. I thought it would be fun to share the sights I see on my daily dog walks. Here's the start....

The thin paper has a slick finish that, to me, is difficult to use watercolor on. I do love how my Micron pen glides across the surface, though.

Given that I've waited until the last minute to complete this project, I made the executive decision to live dangerously free and sketch with the Micron pen. No time for careful planning.... just have at it!

That decision helped me choose the type of calligraphic marks to use for titles, etc..  By the by, I didn't plan for my maiden name to have such a downward twist - that's compliments of writing with pen and running out of room :)  See what fun you can have when your marks are committed? I don't know if I could have thought of making my name so fun if I tried to design it this way. Serendipity!  Love that word!

Eleven more spreads to go........ See ya!

Upcoming December 26--an interview with Danny Gregory

DO watch for it--as I said, there wasn't room in the book for all the wonderful interviews with 27 artists--it would have become encyclopedic!  So,I'll share them and expand on them here. 

I was able to use much more of Danny's work, plus links to his books, blogs, website and more.  It's fascinating...

The Artist's Network will also feature some of these interviews--4-5, I think--so most of this resource will be available ONLY here.  You'll love it!