Find Your Art Journaling Inspiration!
After stretching my limits at the last blog post, I felt the need to go back to basics. I picked my Moleskine Watercolor Notebook and made three spreads by just answering the question: what does continually inspire me?
The short answer is: I am constantly inspired by the history of decorative art. I believe that it’s important to respond to the question on a general level like this. If you only list specific artworks and other artists, there may be less room for personal interpretation. If you define yourself too tightly through others, you can find it hard to figure out what to create next and how to find your personal style.
My Art Journaling Inspiration Sources
I am constantly inspired by embroidered fabrics and wool rugs from the first half of the 20th century.
I am constantly inspired by art glass, fabric prints, and the way these characteristics are seen in today’s street fashion, especially Japanese street fashion.
I am constantly inspired by Russian decorative plates, European Art Nouveau and the way they combine drama with natural colors and shapes.
Even if I don’t have the ability to paint decorative plates or the looks to wear Japanese street fashion, I can use them as a constant source of inspiration. I can let them show in art journals and other artworks, often in a way that is less literal but still obvious for myself.
The history of decorative art fills my mind with values that I can resonate with. They are understanding nuances, focusing on details, telling stories that last time, uplifting people with beauty and spirituality and integrating production with technology. It may not be the whole big picture of the subject, but it is how I look at it. That in turn, inspires me to create art, to blog and to deliver new techniques and workshops.
Let art journaling make you happy – fill your pages with subjects that truly inspire you!
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Art Journaling for Organized Person
I wonder how many people have given up art journaling because they are not mess makers. Who says your art journal has to be a mess? Just draw a simple structure for a page and then have fun coloring and writing what ever comes to your mind! Don’t be afraid of starting art journaling, this page layout gets you going!
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Art Journal Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect
Every time I buy a new blank sketchbook, I get the feeling that I should not make a mess on it. But then, my art journals are meant for maintaining artistic inspiration, and messy making is part of that too. I often create pages in many phases and my art journals are never perfect in a way that they would have high-quality art all over. But I think that the imperfections make the books more approachable and more inspiring.
On this video, I show pages of my two Moleskine sketchbooks. If you are new to art journaling or would like to introduce this wonderful hobby to your friend or relative, share the video!
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Why Keep a Sketchbook?
This is a photo collage of the art journal pages that I have made. My art journals are also my sketchbooks: some of their pages document new ideas instead of expressing my current thoughts and feelings. When I draw sketches, I often pick a subject that I want to explore more closely. This time, I wanted to examine landscape paintings and mid-century modern ceramics.
My sketchbook pages also contain text. If I find an inspiring article or book, I write down the most useful quotes. This time, I found an interesting article about landscape paintings in the latest “Taide” magazine. It is a Finnish art magazine that I regularly read when visiting a local library.
Carrying Sketchbook and Pencils
I always take my art journal with me, when going to the library. Usually, I pick a Moleskine Sketchbook, thin-tipped drawing pens and some colored pencils. Cretacolor Aqua Monolith pencils are excellent for traveling (see this post for more information).
Drawing Sketches from Paintings
I also found a book about a Swedish painter Peter Frie who specializes in simplified landscape paintings. Some of his paintings are constructed so that the landscape only fills a part of the canvas. I found this concept really interesting and applicable for art journal pages too.
When I draw sketches, I don’t copy the paintings accurately. I focus on the construction and the details that I find especially interesting. I also add explanations to them so that I can remember later why I included those bright spots or other details to the sketch.
Now you may ask: why wouldn’t I just take a photo or be even more practical, browse Pinterest and pin images? It’s what many do, and it’s much quicker than create hand-drawn and hand-colored sketches. I believe that when you draw, you will get deeper on the subject. You have to:
… decide what’s most important, and what can be left out
… find out the main structural elements and their relations
… recreate the image in your personal drawing style
And while doing all that you will learn new shapes, ways, and structures so that you can later use them more freely in your artwork.
Random Page Order Increases Inspiration
I create pages in random order to my art journals, and I just love how new pages go with the old ones. The drawing on the left is a new one, and an older page on the right looks like another version of the same location!
It is also interesting to create spreads that deal with two very different subjects: the page on the right is about landscapes and the page on the left shows sketches about motifs from mid-century modern ceramics.
I found the idea of dividing the page fascinating, so I created a new one with watercolors, adding ideas from the ceramics in their sections.
Then I created a couple of pages that combine the ideas from landscapes and ceramics.
When you see inspiring things but find it difficult to remember them later when creating, it is helpful to keep a sketchbook! To fully process inspiration, we need to use both our heads and hands!
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