Category Archives: Journaling

giant juicy masterpiece of randomness

giant juicy masterpiece of randomness

I’ve been in a strange state lately. One where I have all sorts of ideas and new projects I want to work on and old projects that I’ve been thinking about for months but haven’t had time to work on.  Yet, when I sit in the studio, I can’t see where to start, or I just find myself just fiddling with and rearranging the supplies around me.  I think this is caused by the sudden expanse of time I find on my hands after the holidays.  The last few months of the year are always jammed with work and a constant push to create enough product for my December shows.  Once those are over and I have time to create some personal art, my creativity stalls.

In an effort to get over this hump, I’m attempting to throw myself back into journaling.  I’m participating in the Art Journal Caravan again this year.  I got a lot of great inspiration out of this workshop last year (although, I wish I’d spent more time with it) and decided to join in again for the final year of the expedition.  So far, I’m having some trouble with the prompts.  Normally, they would be perfectly great journaling prompts and are right up my alley inspiration wise, but, well… see above again about the creative block.  So, while browsing around online, looking at pretty journal pictures on Pinterest, I came across Roben-Marie Smith’s blog and the Documented Life Project again.  I remember checking this out once before but not having time to get into it.  This time, however, the idea really seamed to resonate with me.

If you got though all that, here come the pretty pictures. 🙂

2014 Documented Life Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

I’ve thrown myself into this project.  I even took the mini workshop Plan.Journal.Play which is a great walk through for altering a planner or a great kick in the pants if you just need to get started. Ahem…

Instead of one of the Moleskine planners, I started with a composition notebook.   And, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I ended up taking the whole thing apart and rebinding it.

Tabs - 2014 Documented Life Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

Here’s a quick break down of my process:

I started with this:

composition booksand gessoed the cover.  Oops, the Plastic cover.

I should have tried to sand it first but I was too eager (read: impatient) to get started.  So, I broke out the watercolor paper and cut out a slightly oversized cover piece.

I based coated the watercolor paper with gesso to give it some texture and change how it would take the paint.

I pretty much followed along with the workshop instructions.  That was a big departure for me because I usually just use the workshop for inspiration and then go my own way.  This time, I really enjoyed not having to think about what to do next and just create.

full cover - 2014 Documented Life Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

When the cover was done, I layered it with the original plastic cover (for more structure) and another piece of watercolor paper for the inside and stitch them all together.  I have a short list of things to do differently next time and here is my #1:  Do all the stitching before sealing the layers with gel medium!  I actually planned to do a lot more stitching on the cover but after about the hundredth thread break, I just wanted it to be over! Maybe if the gel had a few days to cure but I couldn’t wait for that.  I do love all the thread ends all over but it was seriously a pain in the tookus!

pages - 2014 Documented Life Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

I added watercolor paper and a bunch of other random stuff to the book.  They call those pages ‘tip-ins’ but they are actually more like ‘tape-ons’ because they are added to the outside edge instead of in the spine.  I love all that pretty tape and my scrawny comp book is already a bug juicy journal and I haven’t even added any journaling yet.

Since I was building my own journal, I made space for adding monthly calendars in between all the weekly pages.

Month - 2014 Documented Life Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson Week - 2014 Documented Life Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

I love my new journal and can’t wait to turn it into a giant juicy masterpiece of randomness.  Documented Life!  🙂

Journal Play

Journal Play

My recent journal play has been a little different for me.  Here is a peek at what I’ve been up too.

First, some all digital work.  This is an interesting medium and I’d love to incorporate it into more of my work.

Titanic Family Story Digital Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

Titanic Family Story

Found Poetry Digital Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

Found Poetry

Found Poetry Digital Journal by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

Found Poetry

These were all created with the Art Journal Caravan by Tangie Baxter.  If you are interested in getting started with digital journaling, the Caravan is a great place to start.

I couldn’t stay away from my physical journal for too long so I pulled some of the Caravan elements out of the computer and into my studio.

Journal Page by Jessibel Designs - Jessica Dickerson

I definitely need to work more on my lettering but this quick and dirty page was a lot of fun to create.

Paper and Fabric are Interchangeable

Paper and Fabric are Interchangeable

Playing along with the SEWN class, I put together a new book to document my musings.

I love the quilty look to this book and I’m eying my neglected quilting books for other pattern ideas.  Maybe a New York Beauty or Lone Star Pattern.  I’ve always wanted to play with those patterns in fabric but never got around to it.  Perhaps paper is the answer.
In my studio, paper and fabric are interchangeable.

Time Machine

Time Machine

What happened to 2012.  It is speeding by me with not even a glance in my direction.  Major life events must be that time machine that every Sci-fi author and geek tries to invent in their basement or garage.  Should I tell them the secret? or just keep letting them create marvels of machinery and science?

Somewhere in the time travel, I found myself with brush in hand.  Bright, tropical colors appeared in my journal.

…Well, I had a great post going about the secret of life and time travel but the blog ate my post.  I guess the world is not ready for the secrets to be revealed so instead, here are gratuitous pictures of my journal.

 Until next time… fellow time travelers.

I posted the sneak peak and then forgot to come post the whole thing.

This is a spread I did for a collaborative project.  I created a few signatures and sent them to the host of the project.  She bound my signatures and all others that she received from the participants into a beautiful book.  This book was a gift for a very special lady and I am so honored that I was able to participate.  I wish I could have done more but I was knee deep in my goodie swap at the time.

The flap on the right opens and I added a little note in the library pocket.  This was a very fun spread once I was able to get started.  The flower and leaves are all hand drawn. My first attempt at the that and I’m really quite pleased with how it turned out.

The rest of the spreads were very simple with plenty of space left for the recipient to add her own special touch.  click to embiggen.

Someday my history will be blended.

Someday my history will be blended.

Merging old and new. This contrast speaks to me. I can’t help but build new journals with my old paper, old photo albums, and new pretty paper, new fabric, new inspiration.

A little ink and a little brush, brings some color to the cover.

Time worn areas are not covered.  They are celebrated and enhanced. I run my fingers over the flowers and feel the history.

 

Some day my history will be part of this book.  My thoughts, my art, my hand will be blended with that of those that created these papers, and albums, and inspiration.

Journaling Adventures

Journaling Adventures

I’ve been trying my hand at daily journaling and so far so good. What I have to do is keep reminding myself that visual journaling is basically my usual collage work plus some sort of written insight. Of course, the writing part is the hardest part for me. I’m trying not to pressure myself too much about it. If I can’t think of something to say, then I’ll just leave it blank.

Journaling

I’m doing the same with the collage work and turning off the second thoughts.  Whatever is on my table or nearby that speaks to me, I’ll use in the collage.

Journaling

And, I’m doing more doodling than I’ve ever done.  Bringing inspiration from Zentangles to add pattern and interest to the pages.

Journaling
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Number 3 Journal

Number 3 Journal

Here is my third journal for the Full Tilt Boogie class.  This one started as a funky photo album that i picked up at Goodwill years ago.  I used the hidden binding technique on this one and used a variety of different papers for the book block.  I love the chunky style of this journal.

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Back

There are more photos in my Flickr photostream here.

I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the photo album before i turned it into a journal.  I was one of those side bound albums with a stick and twine.  When I took it apart, I found I could refold the spine and make it super thick with out cutting the covers off.  I found this similar journal at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section yesterday.

This is destined to be recreated into a new chunky journal soon.