Do Everything You Know

A motto to consider.

As Lynn Krawczyk, aka Fibra Artysta, noted, interest has grown this year in art journals. I've been surveying the literature, gleefully bringing home armloads of picture books from the library.

 I love picture books.

A spare table became art journal central. I check in with my sketch book during my morning coffee. In the evening, I settle in again for a second round.

This is just for pen and pencil work. But the journal work at this table often leads to a messier idea, and I drift upstairs to my studio. The second wind carries me through until bedtime.

But just what do I do? My method seems quieter than much of what's  on-line. So I thought I'd post some pages and talk about how they came to be.

This page began out as notes on True Visions, by L.K. Ludwig. You can see the list of recommended journal artists in the corner. Later I added a pair of pears
So, in December, this was a nearly blank page:

But then came Christmas and the arrival of new stencils from ArtistCellar plus a new box of colored pencils. I took these and my trusty Koi watercolor set to the in-laws house. (They're used to me now.) After dinner, I doodled away. So the result was unplanned, and unexpected: the accretion of layers and colors, each answering or ignoring what came before. It's a meditative place to be. I have no idea what is coming next.