I just got back from two very full and terrifically fun days of teaching at CREATE in Somerset, New Jersey. This was the first year of offering this mixed media retreat at this location, and as far as I could tell it was - and still is (it goes through Sunday) - a super well attended event. I got only two photos, as I was too busy teaching and having conversations to stop and find my camera. Here is my Scribble Paint class, full of creative energy and output:
Other teachers I met include Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, who not only makes art and teaches workshops, but also designs stencils and stamps. I met Seth Apter, who is relatively new to teaching, but not to making mixed media art. And I met Cathy Taylor, whose work is just gorgeous! I hope you will check out these links and enjoy the tour.
OK, now back to the visual journal. What is a visual journal anyway? Everyone seems to be making them. Are they playgrounds or places to experiment like sketchbooks? Or documentary like scrapbooks? Are they artworks in themselves? Do they have to include text? What is your visual journal to you?
I keep sketchbooks, as you may know. These are my visual playgrounds, where I can do whatever I want, and share or not share as I please. Sometimes I work on loose sheets of paper as my sketchbooks, and sometimes I work in spiral-bound books. My sketchbook starts as a series of blank pages, bound or not bound.
This visual journal is something else. It starts out as a book of already-painted pages. The pages inspire further mark-making, as you'll see in this video:
Here are a few page spreads that did not make it into the video:
And a few the you see in progress in the video:
The process of making and then working in this kind of journal has a couple of benefits for freeing your creativity and putting your Inner Critic in her place:
First, you can be totally experimental in making the papers. They are not Art On The Wall, and they will not be seen as Compositions. They will be folded in half, nested together, and covered with more paint, collage, and drawing. So you can't get too precious about them.
Second, the journal itself is an ongoing work-in-progress. It gives you an opportunity to exercise your visual muscles without the pressure of Making Art. And this exercise, this practice, will hone your skills, strengthen your art, and expand your visual vocabulary.
Collage Journeys in Vermont will take place here in Rupert, August 14 - 18 (Tue. - Sat.). I will have the description and registration sometime in January - don't worry, I will certainly blog about it!
