Remember doodling as a child when even if you couldn't spell all of the words you still could tell a story through pictures? They say "a picture is worth a thousand words," yet it seems once we master basic writing skills we forget that.
Guilty as charged.
I can remember as a young girl writing in my diaries and drawing little pictures to illustrate my deepest thoughts and "secrets." Eventually I stopped drawing pictures, but continued to keep journals well into adulthood. After Sophie was born, I took zillions of pictures and kept them in precious photo albums, pulling them out to wander visually through her first days with us. My journaling became sporadic. Then came Max, and there was less time for pictures and writing as I struggled to keep up with a busy toddler, a newborn and a full-time job. Add a third child to the mix, two new businesses, a cat and a messy household and I'm lucky to squeeze out a blog post every now and then.
And that's unfortunate.
I know there's going to come a day when I wake up and find that my kids are grown and I have but a few random blog entries to remind me of this special time in my life. But I have a dear friend who has inspired me to get back on track with my journaling.
Dawn Devries Sokol and I attended college at Arizona State University and worked on the school newspaper together. Dawn is the author of "1,000 Artist Journal Pages". Art journals are illustrated diaries that correspond with any theme. They can be a record of daily thoughts or dreams and are embellished with drawings, photographs or bits of memorabilia from a treasured or momentous occasion. This gorgeous book is a compilation of journal pages created by artists from around the world. Some are dark, some are sad, some are ethereal, some are funny, some illustrate trips, and some are odes to coffee, foods or a particularly enjoyable meal. All are different and fascinating in their own way and truly inspirational. After poring over this book for hours I found myself itching to journal again.
The holiday season is right around the corner, and it's the perfect time to start journaling or, in my case, to pick it up again. Dawn is offering a workshop titled {12.31} art journal project on her blog which will help you document the holiday season with less stress. As part of {12.31}, you will learn how to create an art journal cover, how to incorporate or "bind in" scraps of paper or poster board and how to prep your pages so they are ready for you to doodle or journal to your heart's content. Once your journal is complete, Dawn will provide a prompt a day to get your creative juices flowing and, since your journal already will be done, all you will have to do is create. The online workshop runs from Nov. 6 through Dec. 31. You can register by clicking here.
