The Personal Journal: Daily Pages

During my Experimental Sketchbook Class

I kept a special journal with art notes

& anything related that came up. 

{By the way, I did not pose the shot: 

My new wooden mannequin, (who I think has arthritis)

happened to be there when I was snapping the page.}

Recently I read through my previous personal daily journal.

During the early days of stay-at-home, 

I spent a fair amount of time embellishing my personal book 

with color, borders, paste-ins, & stickers. 

I wondered if it was somehow a waste of my time. 

Looking back I see that it wasn't.

While releasing nervous energy about 

the new, unknown situation we were in,

I was allowing myself to play with color, layout, & content.

I'm now enjoying the record that I have of those days.

Here I recorded some notes from a book for young people

about artistic process: Neil Gaiman's Art Matters.

I usually record these types of art notes in a separate book,

but I liked incorporating them into the "master journal."

Currently my daily pages are fairly unadorned. 

My art energy is going to several projects 

that will be offered for public viewing. 

But they have their own journal pages where I am

working out my journey to finished products.

The Practice of Calligraphy

Sample sheets given to me by a master calligrapher/teacher.

The coloring and notes are mine.

Calligraphy.  

The practice can be calming & satisfying.

But it can be frustrating, for one who is not

naturally gifted at it.

Gaye Godfrey Nicholls writes in Mastering Calligraphy:

"Calligraphers revel in the sensual, sinuous 

& arch elegance of italic..."

"Calligraphy 

is about discovering the pleasure 

of watching pigments in water meet, 

fall in love, 

& create new colors on paper..."

"You watch your own hand take over & create the forms

for which you have striven for so long. "

It takes practice, she writes. Maybe 3 years, maybe 7...

It takes persistence & patience. (I say.) 

Here, perfection is sought, not just progress.

 They say to set up a center where you can leave 

your practice work out & practice everyday.

I do.

Still, I am not perfect.

I may never be. It takes acceptance.

Inbetween writing the letter "a" over & over

on lined paper,

trying to get it to be consistent,

one can play with some letter designs.

Even if the letters haven't been mastered.

It gives one something to look forward to.

Meanwhile, one can take a little break from the concentration

& precision, & play at making seasonal decorations.