Jenny's Altered Journal

[JennyMK]

I started a new journal earlier this year, where I wanted to gather together all the small sketches, poems, quotes and other stuff that otherwise would get lost I'm my chaos of a studio. I had a lot of older small sketches and ideas from my art university days, and I had a lot of small ideas lying around my studio on different pieces of paper.
So I thought; as not to loose them I would put them all in a journal. This way I won't forget them or loose them, and it is so much nicer to have all these small bits and pieces in one place!

I had an old diary that I had no use for anymore, as I had copied all the stuff to a newer bigger diary, and that gave me an idea to use this old diary for my new journal. I like the Idea that the pages already are written upon and used, and so I can glue in pieces of paper and whatever I want without 'spoiling' otherwise good paper Also the writing gives quite a nice background to sketch upon...

Size is A5, the paper is of medium weight and soft. It was bought as a diary and not as a sketchbook, but it works rather well as a such anyway. The pages doesn't take too much wet handling, but that doesn't matter as I wanted it mostly to be a place where I glue in already made sketches anyway!

I thought that I would share this journal with you as well, maybe some of the quotes and stuff can inspire more people than just myself...


Here is the cover, a lovely retro soft canvas cover!


Here is just a random spread that I haven't reworked yet, just to show what it looks like before I start...


The 'title' page, with a picture of one of my own paintings.


Some bits and pieces that I have been collecting but never used, so they became a small collage with a song text.


This was a small sketch I did eons ago, and I always liked it too much to throw it away, even if I never used it for a painting. But every time I see it I think that 'maybe one day' I will...

The quote is by Marcel Proust:

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes."

C&C always welcome, and I hope you will enjoy what I have to share!

[Joan T]

This looks like a great place to incorporate everything you've been collecting! I like the idea of using the diary for this.

[DrDebby]

Brilliant idea. The little bits and pieces have a home. Nice collection.

[JennyMK]

Joan & Debby: thank you so much for replying! It feels good to get everything gathered in one place like this, because now I am not afraid anymore of loosing the items and ideas...

Here are the two following pages:



This was an old abstract painting I did years ago, an experiment with I think was charcoal, gouache colors and silver acrylic colors. I always saw seagulls flying among the clouds in this one, so I kept it. Now it finally found a home. The text is a swedish poem by Bo Bergman, and a loose translation goes like this:

"Outdoors the song of spring is rising,
and the universe is filled with a passion
that find the earth to cramped
and longs for wings."



This spread is just filled with small bits and pieces I did not want to loose, but didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with them either. So it became a collage.

C&C much appreciated!

[Joan T]

Both of these pages look great!!! I like the way you compose the pages!

[DrDebby]

Your composition of elements is wonderful.

[bookscorpion]

I like the two versions of feminity on the last page. And I, too, see seagulls in the abstract, sailing between the waves and the clouds.

[doug105]

Hi Jenny!

I like what you're doing with this!

DougN

[JennyMK]

Debby, Jennifer and Doug: Thank you so much for looking and for your kind feedback!

[eyepaint]

Cool work! I admire collages

[CandAlArt]

Beautiful collection! This is such a good way to gather & preserve random bits that start on loose paper. (Or perhaps the only great bits from a used up sketchbook!LOL) Putting them on pages already written on just adds that cool "art journal" feel! Good upcycling for the original diary.

[JTMB]

I'm really impressed with your creativity and the wonderfully artistic design of these pages! Great work!

[JennyMK]

Eyepaint, Candace and John: Thank you so much for your great feedback! I am a real mess when it comes to my studio working table. Bits of paper, cut outs, old and new sketches and ideas and so on. My first attempt to bring some order in them was to just put them in a folder, but I forgot them there, and scrolling through a folder with loose pictures isn't always that inspiring. And, often I forgot why I have collected one piece or another, or drawn... So I thought that putting them in a journal like this I would get down my idea for future use without forgetting about it...


The following spread is as follows: some paper copies of marble, cutouts from a photocopy of an old painting of mine, and the word 'Arbitrary'. English is not my native language, and always now and again I come across words that are new to me, and that we do not have any similar word for in swedish. Arbitrary is one of those, and I love the explanation for it:
-not seeming to be based on any reason, plan or system.
The other page is just a sketch of a long tailed tit that never made it to my inspirational journal.




This next spread is build up around the small sketch idea of the two ravens that I have had for years. The text is some very inspirational text about the creative process that I don't want to forget:

"Each worker must find his or her own way of being with their particular creative process and mode of expression. Clearly, it is not that one way is better than another,only that a certain way is suited to one's unique nature and temperament (which may change over time), and that one finds and follows and flows with their love and purpose.."

and

"Genuin art is communication, not duplication."

Both these quotes are from the book "Drinking lightning, Art, Creativity and Transformation" by Philip Rubinov-jacobson.
Especially the first quote was important to me in art university when my teachers all tried to steer me in a direction I did not want to go, and I kept this as a slogan for myself to remind me that I should follow my own dream/direction, and not try and please others...



Thank you all for looking, C&C much appreciated!

[Joan T]

Jenny - I enjoy your artwork and your writing too!! That long tailed tat is gorgeous!

[DrDebby]

Delightful pages. I like your quotations.