Creative Journaling: first efforts

My good friend[info]cartazon introduced me to creative journaling a few weeks ago. She explained its usefulness for writers, which is all well and good. But lo, when I laid eyes on her splashy entries, I coveted them wanted to try it for myself.  

And still, I resisted, mainly because 
a) I’m not an artist (have I mentioned the ‘C’ grades I earned in elementary school?)
b) my perfectionist tendencies might make it more work than play

But when I kept coming back to the idea, I figured I’d might as well give it a try. I bought a spiral-bound sketchbook–small, so I won’t get intimidated by the broad expanse of blankness. And over the weekend, I emptied my bank account filled a shopping cart with art supplies. (Disclaimer: You don’t really need more than a few colored pens and pencils. See also: b, above.)

Long story made short: I’m in love. It’s another avenue for self expression, one that connects the right side of my brain with the left.  Plus, the very act of creation invites more inspiration, which has a spill-over effect on my writing. My enthusiasm far exceeds my skill level, I know that. But really and truly, I don’t think that matters. Whether or not the pages are beautiful, the process itself brings me joy.

Since it’s Teaser Tuesday, I’ve mustered up the courage to post my debut pages. The images you see here are representative of "His Eye is on the Sparrow,"  my chapter about Nana. They’re not perfect by any means, so I’m certainly open to suggestions. And if you haven’t already, I invite you to create an artistic journal of your very own.

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33 Comments

  1. you are an artist, it is in your soul, not your hand.

    A beautiful work of art! You are going to love this journal with all your beautiful, inspiring pages!

  2. It looks great! I love the idea of creative journaling. I think that it’s really good for writing if you have another creative outlet that lets you rest/fill the well/create without feeling the need for perfectionism. And visual arts use a different part of the brain than word creativity, so you can really stretch with the art, and yet feel warmed up and well-rested when it comes to the words.

  3. Oh Melodye, this is so lovely. What a cool idea. I’ve always admired people who had illustrated journals. Hope it helps you unlock lots of new byways for your writing. 🙂

  8. Lovely! Thanks for sharing this with us. I didn’t know what an artistic journal was. I’m so glad it’s helping spark your creativity. This looks like something I could do, and maybe I will.

  9. Those are beautiful pages. Really lovely. I especially love young Melodye in the corner with the heart thoughts floating in the space above her, connecting to the big heart.

    You are an artist, Melodye.

  14. Love it, love it, love it!!
    At a different computer so I can’t alter my icon from profile, so just picture my delighted little bald guy here instead of me…

  18. This is amazing, Melodye. Wow! I have wanted to do this for years, bought several “how to do it” books and never managed a single page. I’m so proud of you.

    • BEAUTIFUL!

      Melodye, I love the colors, the music incorporated (aren’t the simply lovely marks?)arrangement on the page, and your blue bird is lovely! Thanks for sharing and I’m happy you’re doing this! I hope you get ever so much more from it than you thought!

    • In a word, yes!

      I mentioned to Jennifer yesterday that artistic journaling soothing and energizing, all at once. It’s really helpful to open up a writing session with a few minutes of related imagery. Words or no, I’m discovering new ways of looking at/describing scenes.

      And when I’m sitting at the keyboard and the words won’t come, I allow myself time to tweak my page(s) or start something new in my sketchbook.

  21. Oh wow… Melodye, that is BEAUTIFUL. I can see so easily how you’d draw inspiration from that. It really is amazingly gorgeous. Thank you for sharing this!

    And wow… now I’m a little covetous!!! lol…

    • wow

      Melodye, I loved hearing about your venture into this, which would have been enough. But this is truly beautiful. Creativity is abounding in you. Thank you for being brave and showing this new side. Just lovely.

  25. It’s beautiful, Melodye. Don’t sell yourself short… you ARE an artist in every sense of the word!!

    I love the idea of creative journaling.

  26. Friday Five – Another random edition

    User referenced to your post from Friday Five – Another random edition saying: […] I’ll finish it next week. I was inspired after reading about Melodye’s creative journaling here and here. I have a vision in my head of doing one of my own but I’m not quite there yet. I wish I had a local coffeeshop to gather at with … […]

  27. Friday Five – Another random edition

    User referenced to your post from Friday Five – Another random edition saying: […] I’ll finish it next week. I was inspired after reading about Melodye’s creative journaling here and here. I have a vision in my head of doing one of my own but I’m not quite there yet. I wish I had a local coffeeshop to gather at with … […]

  28. My first writing vision board

    User referenced to your post from My first writing vision board saying: […] But I am trying. And I’m inspired by many posts about creative journaling from , like this and this and this. There’s also been a whole lot of "visioning" going on, such as talked about over here on Shrinking Violetsand … […]

  29. My first writing vision board

    User referenced to your post from My first writing vision board saying: […] But I am trying. And I’m inspired by many posts about creative journaling from , like this and this and this. There’s also been a whole lot of "visioning" going on, such as talked about over here on Shrinking Violetsand … […]

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