What are your experiments?

Posted by Jenn Greenleaf Jun 21, 2007

I remember when there was a time when I wouldn't touch a sketchbook or an art journal unless I knew for sure I'd be able to produce something that was considered finished or fairly decent. If I thought it was going to come out wrong, it wouldn't happen. If I thought it might be something I'd have to tear out and throw away, it didn't happen.

My way of thinking when it comes to art journals has been evolving over the years. While I still do my best work in art journals I contribute to for sites like 1001journals.com and nervousness.org, I've been looking at the act of art journaling from a different point of view.

Before, I thought every page had to make a statement. I felt I was always working for an audience, for a potential critique or for a sort of portfolio presentation. I've slowly been shifting out of that polished piece sort of thinking into more of a experimental sort of mentality. I've found myself wanting to revisit the pages of my art journal more often as a result.

In the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to be creative on a daily basis. This has been a struggle, to be honest, and with that polished presentation way of thinking, I pretty much set myself up for failure. Now that I'm looking at my art journal with a fresh set of eyes, I'm not afraid to pick it up daily for experimenting, playing and doing whatever other creative idea that comes to mind.

Sharing these pages isn't a priority anymore because they're not really a finished product for presentation. They're for my own work, my own ideas and for my own creation of future projects. Don't get me wrong, I'll still be sharing a considerable number of pages from my art journal throughout the years. I won't, however, be stifling my creative juices by believing each page has to be just for an audience and not for me to learn from.