A Colourful Journal Layout Share

Aaaaaaaah....Sunday.......

*Sigh*......Peace, quiet, relaxation.......HA! No chance this week. I don't know WHAT has been going on outside my flat today but it sounds like a 'Die Hard' movie out there! There've been idiots on motorbikes revving the damn things on and off throughout the day - I have the greatest of respect for bikers, but these aren't bikers...they're morons riding what sounds like amped-up sewing machines on wheels! The police helicopter's been swooping up and down accompanied by police car sirens, apparently  unrelated to idiots on sewing machine bikes, plus some genius decided to demolish a wall with a drill and a sledgehammer (though no Myley Cyrus wrecking balls, thankfully!) It's been VERY noisy! The Colonel is not amused and has forsaken his spot in the garden in favour of curling up and sulking under a blanket ...poor little fluff-bag.

Strangely though it's been quite a good day! With all the hubbub outside there's no relaxation option so I've been cleaning the flat and tidying up - something I've neglected for...ooo....a while....a looooong while!  Shelves are dusted, nik-naks and doodads are cleaned and polished and sparkling, I've re-organised SOME of my books and even made small inroads on fixing the armageddon that is the studio. Productive! Maybe next week a sinkhole will open up and a tornado will hit and I'll actually jump-start that vacuum cleaner.... or not!

Today I've decided to share some of the pages of my current journal with you. This one is a wonderful little leather-covered book , 5" x 6,5", from a company called 'Authentic Models'. I've had this for YEARS so I honestly don't know if they make these any more. The paper's GORGEOUS though and takes anything I throw at it.

I've mentioned before that every journal I keep seems to evolve differently and have its own style. It just seems to happen. It would appear that this little journal wants to look like an illustrated storybook, so that's what's happening! I'm going to share some pages so that you can see how I've set it all out. I'm hoping that the layouts might be helpful to prompt some ideas for those of you who want to have some journaling fun. It's very much intuitive rather than planned and the pictures don't always happen at the same time as the writing. (Obviously, because this is my personal journal I've removed most of the written entries 'cos they're all private an' stuff. )  So then, here we go with my intro page (all my journals have their own intro page!) -

A simple way to find illustration space is to leave a little gap at the top or bottom of the page. It's a small space to fill, not scary, and suits any kind of doodling, especially something like zetangling -

You can sort of see that I've turned the book so that on these pages my writing goes in a different direction to just plain old left to right. With other pages I've illustrated across the spine and open spread but kept my writing a little more traditional - it just adds interest both when I'm journaling and when I look back at pages I've finished. This is my St George's Day page, illustrated across the top (I'm on the side of the dragon! This one ATE St George!) -

 
 ...and this one is an illustration (across the MIDDLE of the page) of the banner my mum made for my last birthday with her -

On other pages I split the open spread into quarters - four blocks. I like to illustrate one or more of the blocks and write in the others - these are from one such page split -

Here are some close-ups - 

They're not uber-detailed, but it's the colour that makes me happy. I doodle in black indian ink with my favourite nib pen, then when I want to wind-down or switch off my brain I'll go back and colour them. I'm using a lot of Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints so the illustrations are bright and shimmery. These are from another page spread with the same layout -

(The scanner's flashed out the shimmer quite a lot but you kinda get the idea I hope. )

Some pages have panels on the left and right sides of the open spread and space for writing in-between -

This one is a similar idea but I chose a shape that reminded me of stained glass windows -

....not coloured-in yet, but then I think I like them as they are. I dunno..we'll see... The box-borders are wiggly ("organic" in art-speak!) but that's how I prefer them to be. I'm not a big fan of straight lines.  On the 'window' theme, I have a greedy little fox awaiting some blinging-up as well -

(I'm SO not good with text!! NOT my forte!)

The next two pages were inspired by some beautiful photos from Valerie's blog, Bastelmania. She shares the most wonderful images, not only of her own work, but of the wildlife, landscapes and scenery around her. (I did ask her a while ago if it was ok to borrow a couple of her images, don't worry!). I'll re-share her photos and the doodle that resulted from them -

I decided to add some of my favourite poems and verses into this book - something I have always loved to do. On a day when I WANT to journal but have a brain made of peas and cheese I make a page like this to kickstart some THINKIN'! Doesn't always work, but at least I have a pretty page with happy writing!

When you're playing with art in your book there's also nothing wrong with going 'full art journal' and just illustrating a whole page just for the sheer joy of 'arting'. This is the joy of keeping a diary - anything and everything you do is fine!

Equally, there's no need to place everything in a formal panel....just draw what feels right -

Beltane

Some of mum's favourite flowers

I also have pages with doodles, scribbles and splashes of colour still waiting for me to write on them.

I think what I want to do by showing you these pages is to support the idea that when you keep your own journal anything goes. You don't have to follow a prescribed format or style; you don't have to compare your journal with ANYTHING or ANYONE - it's yours and it's a part of you. It's the same as working with textiles, or beads, or felt, or clay, wire or wood...whatever you create is a part of you: the only difference is that with a journal, no one will see it unless you show them. It's a part of you, created BY you, FOR you. It's special, it's unique and it can look however you like.

I have some more thoughts on journaling (surprise! ahaha) so there'll be more rambing on the way (apologies in advance! Break out the gin and cd of whale-song for recovery!) For now that's it, as the cheesey peas are already taking over my brain. That's what happens after a 'Die Hard'/housework combo day! Back tomorrow, so 'til then, have a big ole bunch of  squooshy hugs from myself and the Colonel (the snoring lump in the blanket). We loves ya! xxxx