Facebook recently alerted me to an anniversary of 10 years using watercolors in a sketchbook.  As a result a friend asked me how many sketchbooks have I gone through in ten years.  After counting, I found it is between 6-8 /year!

I wrote about this in my last post:
How Many Sketchbooks in a Year?

(Left, the last pages in my sketchbook, where I place my ink list and notes.)

Remember, IMO you need to feel that your journal is a safe place to explore whatever is in your heart and mind.  You don’t want to have to edit!  If you have nosy people in your home who won’t respect your privacy find a good hiding spot!

I am reminded of a Raymond episode where he finds out his parents have gone through his journal every night!  He feels betrayed, of course.  He discusses this with his brother only to find out his brother knew they would invade their space, and kept his in a safety deposit box.  He had a fake journal for his mom to find.

Now I’ve been asked: “What do you write about?“

Everything, though a couple of my journals are dedicated to a particular subject:

• my recipes,
• two accordion journals filled with hearts,
• an accodeon journal filled with memories of my home, Laguna Beach, and
• two on books I am writing (nope, I won’t discuss!)

I sketch in all my journals.  I often create watercolors for my recipes, shown right.  Some writers might not think they can sketch, but they also may be surprised, and sketching just for you in your own journal might be a place to safely begin to play.  And if you don’t sketch, you can glue photos, notes, maps, stickers and receipts from your days.

When My Daily Journal Shifted

I began to hate having a separate journal.  I worked in my sketchbooks every night, and this is where I began to realize I should just journal in my sketchbook.  My Nostalgie Sketchbook is where I do 99% of my daily journalling.  I love that now I can see what I was walking through emotionally or what was on my mind during the approximate time I was choosing to sketch various images.

Most of the time I journal on the left-facing page and sketch on the right-facing page, shown below.  Once in a blue moon I journal for several pages using both sides!  There are no rules, only my needs at the time.  I love quotes, and place those on the left-facing edge of my “journal” page.  With 80 pages of blank 70 lb natural white sketch paper, I think Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook is the best.  I used to use a black lined paper underneath to make straight lines, but then I stopped caring, and now my  life and journals are a free-for-all!

I write about:

• my emotional day,
• what happened to me,
• happenings with Mitchell,
• things that are making me joy-full or pissing me off,

• neighborhood critters,
• the cats who own us,
• people who have come into my life,
• passages,
• heartbreak,

• interesting work I am doing,
• things that frighten me,
• injustices (this topic is getting a lot of attention recently),
• family, friends, and rarely, clients,
• happenings in the neighborhood,

• inks, pens, paper, or the medium involved in my art practice,
• artists who inspire,
• authors/books I am reading,
• a piece of art I am struggling with,
• how frustrated I am trying to find time to sketch!

We also have this great card packet — Angel Cards — which were a gift.  We don’t use them in any of the ways the creators talk about and we don’t associate them with angels or spiritual guides.  They have words on them, and we often draw one in the morning and we look for that word’s influence during the day, and talk about it at bedtime.  I write about it if it is interesting.

We made a few of our own because we thought they needed help. They say things like “Go make art!” or “Play hookee!”

Recently I made a discovery about myself.  I need to write more about how happy Mitchell makes me.  I came across an old box of journals from my previous marriage (he died).  I had a moving box filled with Cadic journals about how pissed off I was with him!  Difficult marriage to say the least, though I loved him a lot.  We were not compatible, and he lied and cheated on me.  I was actually thinking divorce when he died.  Looking down into a box of angry journals which is twice as much as I’ve written about my very good marriage of two decades, it occurred to me that it is easier or more compelling to write a lot about anger — for me at least — than it is to write about how happy I am.

The more I reflected on this I realized I write to work through issues.

Writing things down is cathartic.  If I have something swirling around in my psyche writing it down frees me of the repetitive nagging thoughts.  It is almost as if I feel I’ve heard myself, and can then move on to part two of the issue or to something else entirely.  Mitchell finds this to be true for him also.  How about you?

I have made many accordion heart journals and that is all about how happy I am.  Hard to paint a joyful heart when you are not happy!  How do you say you are in love without saying you are in love?   Make heart journals!

What do you journal about?
I’d love to hear your topics.  Give me ideas!

Hahnemühle 100# Cotton Watercolour Book or
Hahnemuhle Akademie Watercolor Paper Book, Hahnemühle‘s ZigZag books,
Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook, and Handbook Square journal.