Welcome to the results of round one of my summer project, The Great Journal Experiment! Round one (of six) started June 1 and ends today, June 15.
I went into this project a bit uncertain of how it was going to operate, and I noticed several things immediately.
Lessons Learned
June 1 — I am completely OCD about planning. I’m so terrified of making a mistake with colored pencil, pen or glue that I almost always sketch out everything in pencil. This makes for excellently planned pages, but this could also be stifling my creativity. I guess I need to try and find a balance.
June 5 — Paint (even cheap watercolors) bleeds through.
June 10 — I attempted to divide the pages of my journal evenly six ways, so that I could have a page goal. This is another effect of my need to structure and plan everything (see June 1), and it fell flat. Perhaps if I had more free time/ideas, I would have been able to complete all 18-ish pages for this round. I think I’m going to scrap the page number goals; if I have lots of ideas, awesome, but if I only have one or two ideas, that’s better than doing those two and then forcing myself to think of sixteen other sub-standard ideas.
June 13 — Tried to do my first unplanned page today, and it didn’t go well. I now have a completely colored page with no real explanation or cohesion to it. I’m hoping that something comes to me in the next two days, but if doesn’t I’m still planning to include the page in my blog update.
The words I copy into the front of all my journals: “Don’t laugh when you look through this book. Its contents may be trash to you, but every bit of it reminds me of something or someone I want to remember.”
Title page
Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt, Protector of Girls and Women. I’ve always identified strongly with her.
My stomach condition captured on paper.
Me and Best Friend, if we were peas or puzzle pieces.
What movie am I quoting here?
This round’s guest artist, the fabulous Miss C. The caption reads, “How soon is now?”
Underneath the thin veneer of cheeriness, I am a sarcastic cynic, for better or worse.
The tradition of the ghost light.
“There is a custom in the theatre, this place that is the crossroads of custom and innovation, of the ghost light. The custom says no stage is ever left in total darkness. A light burns, always, to honor the memories, the ghosts of the moments that were made there. As this light shines alone in the darkness of an empty theatre, so theatre itself stands alone, a ritual in a time when rituals are dying. We invoke that light, that ritual, now. We come together in this oldest of ways, we make the living moment, the sacred circle, and within it we bring you tales, not of time nor place, but of humanity. We light this stage in honor of those who have gone before us. We honor them, and your presence honors us.”
Pages completed: 9
Keep Moving Forward
Despite not reaching my page goal–as well as not being remarkably talented in the drawing department–I am glad I embarked on this project. Art (in the drawing/coloring/visual sense) has never been my strong suit, so it’s been both fun and challenging to stretch myself and see what I’m capable of.
My goal in subsequent sections is to not worry about planning so much. I’d been planning (see what I mean?) to use as few words as possible, but let’s face it: words are what I’m good at. So why not include them when I want?
I’m still in the market for guest artists. If you’re interested in contributing a page to the Experiment, let me know and we’ll figure something out. Just a word of warning, though: don’t use paint.
Well, that’s it for round one of my Great Journal Experiment! The next update will happen on June 30, but in the meantime, stay tuned for plenty of book reviews and random ramblings. Happy reading!