End of studio day journaling

I’m a big believer in journaling. I journal for self reflection and to process things going on with me. I use it as a morning ritual to get my day started. Recently I’ve added in some journaling after I finish art making for the day. And I’ve been really surprised by how much this kind of journaling has impacted my work.

I know I’ve talked about journaling to accompany art making here on the blog before. I’ve done it off and on but never with much consistency. I’ve made a very dedicated push for using in over the past few weeks. Journaling combined with a couple of recent classes where the instructors talked a lot about slowing down during the art making process has somehow made a fresh impact on me. Sometimes I’m a slow learner. This is clearly one of those times.

Go faster!

I always want to work fast. Part of it is I feel guilty for people to wait on me. Part of it is that my early job training was at Kinko’s and things move fast there. I want to finish what I’m working on to move on to the next thing, even if there isn’t a next thing. Learning to go slow in art making has taken me a long time and I’m still rubbish at it.

It’s even taken me forever to understand that art that looks like it was made quickly, likely wasn’t. So learning to slow down and breathe and enjoy but keep my hand moving is such a practice for me.

Following that up with any sort of introspection/reflection about the thing I just fought with myself to go slowly on even though I wanted to go fast, just seems like abuse! It feels like a sore muscle I don’t want to use. Is there a sports analogy I can throw in here too? Why is this so hard??!

Right now

I’ve been working on some smaller pieces lately. I tape off a piece of 18×24″ mixed media paper into six equal parts and then work with a limited set of colors inside those taped off areas. I rotate the sheet around as I work so things can dry. I’ve been looking at compositions from a lot of angles that way. I’ve been watching the play of color and layers. I take mental notes on what is working for me and why I think that is. Then at the end of my painting session I’m writing down that stuff I pondered while I worked. And thinking through what I want to try next.

My journal is full of sentence fragments and jumbled thoughts about the work. Sometimes wonky composition sketches. Also about a hundred question marks. Because I’m never exactly sure of what things are and why they are working. Writing about it helps solidify whatever thoughts I have about what is actually working. I think. Maybe.

Make work then write about it

I’d like to offer you some resources for this process other than: make work then write about it. Maybe The Artist’s Way talks about it but since it’s been about 120 years since I read that book, I can only remember Morning Pages. If you know of anyone talking about journaling about their artistic process fresh after their work, I’d love to hear about it! In the meantime, I’ll be over here trying to slow down and figure out my process by writing about it.

What about you? Are you journaling about your work? Is it working for you? Catch up with me on socials, email me, or go old school and leave a comment on this post to be immortalized for all of time.

---

If you liked this post and don’t want to miss any news from me, sign up for my PencilBooth micro-newsletter. It will only be 2-4 items! Things like: links to my recent posts, a pic or link I think you might like, and a pic of my studio dogs in your inbox once every so often. Sign Up here.