The story of my Stay at Home art journal starts like a lot of my other journals. I bought it used so I could pull out the illustrations use them as collage material. I was showing it off on an art journaling hangout (we zoomed before the pandemic made it cool!) and someone asked me if I would make the cover into a journal. Of course I thought this was a great idea!
But it’s a giant of a book and at the time, I was afraid I didn’t have enough mixed media or watercolor sheets to fill it up. Jessica came to this journal’s rescue though by asking a super important question. “Why don’t you use scraps?” Mind B L O W N. Of course! Use up old stuff. Fill up the book. Make it work.
Making the Book
Here’s where I posted on Instagram about making the book on August 10, 2019. Look how clean it was! So much potential for making a mess:
I made 4 spreads the end of 2019 and early 2020 before the pandemic hit. I was lackadaisical about using the book mostly because of its size. (It measures 13.5 inches tall by 18.5 inches wide open.) It’s a lot of area to cover! But then after the pandemic started, I had big feels I needed to get out and this seemed like the natural landing place.
Early Pandemic Spreads
Later Spreads
This book has been my constant companion during this season. I’ve processed so much of what happened in 2020 in this book and I’m so thankful to have it as a place to work those things our and then as a history of what I was going through.
The Flip Through
I painted and drew on the last page on Monday and then filmed this flip through yesterday. It’s rather bittersweet to be finished with this book. I don’t know if I’ve ever been as attached to a journal before as I am to this one. I don’t know if I ever will be again. Here’s the flip through of my stay at home art journal:
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