Why do you Journal?

Cathy Johnson‘s Artist’s Journal Workshop makes you think about why you journal and what you hope for through this practice. It also presents the work of many inspiring journalers.
I totally agree with this quote from Cathy: Seeing and capturing things on the pages of a journal rescues them from the mundane.

When there’s cold rain and grey skies and most of all when the days are short, I’m happy with yet another warm coffee and a sketch. I’ll sometimes sketch at Creama on the Alameda while I wait for my Etsy prints to be done.

Or I’ll draw Babe the Muffler Man at 808, The Alameda.

This sketch is my only one from Thanksgiving weekend. And no, they’re not holding phones, they’re playing a card game called Crazy Eights. I used two water brushes for this piece: One with black ink, and the other with a dilute version of that same ink. Pack along a small sketchbook and this minimal kit can go almost anywhere.

Coming back to Cathy’s question, what do I hope to get from my sketch journals? Here are the first few things that come to mind:

I’d like my sketch journal to be
• Imperfect and freeing.
• A record of little bits of my day.
• A way to draw even on the busiest of days: I may not fill a page, but I can chip away at it over the day.
• A place to experiment with techniques and media and to find new and fresh ways to look at the same thing over and over.
• And always, a place to use observation and study to improve my drawing skills.

I’m teaching an 8-week journaling workshop starting in January 2019, and we will focus on a strong foundation in observation and drawing. The rest, style and content, you have that bit down already!