Artist and author Cathy Johnson has published another wonderful book, Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures. In this book Cathy sets out her approach to journaling along with peeks at the work of 27 artists.
While I'm very happy to have some of my journal pages included in this book, I'm even more happy to have a book in my hand bursting with inspiring art from journal keepers sketching around the world. I much prefer looking at a book, than a computer screen. Even if you don't read the text, just leafing through this book will give you a sense of the wide variety of journaling and sketching styles.You'll want to take your journal up and get to work.
But of course you're going to read the text and when you do you'll find helpful tips on getting starting and keeping your journal going. There are also step-by-step features such as Cathy's "Sketch of a bit of 'found' nature" in a "Try This" section (pages 84-85). I loved seeing the evolution of her painting of a rain gutter filled with tree sprouts. In these pages you see her skill as a watercolorist as well as the wonderful sense of humor and curiosity of her artist's eye. Pages like this always help us see the artist better and learn in the process.
Bottom line you'll find lots inspire you. Whether you want to see how other artists use or test drive media, what subjects catch their eyes, or you're looking for tips and encouragement you can apply to your own work, I think you'll find this a happy addition to your bookshelf.
You can also go to the eponymous blog Arist's Journal Workshop, and read interviews with the artists, as well as posts from them about their journaling approaches. (You can read Interview #8—Roz Stendahl, here, but just a bit of warning—it's long!)
