Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures

Cathy Johnson’s 35th (!) book is the product of her heartfelt, lifelong mission to introduce others to the value of journal keeping.Although many how-to art books are arranged so that the reader can dip and delve, this book has a graceful narrative arc and it’s really rewarding to follow it from first page to last. There’s a persuasive argument here about the benefits of developing the journal habit and you don’t want to miss a bit of it.Of course, there are lots of pictures and an abundance of stand-alone technical information and inspiration on each page, if reading a book cover-to-cover isn’t your thing!Johnson begins and ends with the point that journal keeping is for YOU, the journal keeper. YOU get to decide the whys and hows of your journal. YOU get to choose your tools and techniques... or choose to let them evolve as you do, with your journal as drawn and written evidence of that evolution. YOU can choose to share your pages or you can choose to keep them private.In her introduction, Johnson makes a distinction between ‘art journals’ and ‘artists’ journals.’ The former are often consciously created to look arty, to be finished art/ craft pieces in themselves. The latter are more often the repository of thoughts, ideas, sketches, technical experimentation, careful observations, laments, celebrations… whatever... of the practising artist, nature sketcher, urban sketcher, illustrator, or anyone wanting to develop their creative side in a kind of written/drawn/painted dialogue with the inner self.As you would expect given the author’s long career as teacher and writer of art books, there is an abundance of information about materials available to the visual journal-keeper. And there is a very well-chosen selection of journal pages from 27 artists from around the world, representing a huge range of both style and purpose.In Chapter 3, “ Exploring Journals”, Johnson writes about types of journals: the daily journal, travel journals, the memory journal, nature journals, dream journals, reportage journals and more. One person can keep several types of journals at once, or over a lifetime. And it is this last that is one of the main thrusts of the book: the exhortation to make journal keeping a life habit, a habit that has the potential to repay you over time in profound ways.Johnson’s book will be a rich addition to the library of those interested in living the creative, examined, image-filled life. There’s not a word or observation in it that isn’t graceful, informative, and fueled by the passion Johnson has for her subject.

This book gives any journal keeper or wanna be journal keeper some great ideas to help inspire you or figure out exactly what you want to do with your sketchbook journals. The book includes suggestions for travel journaling, daily journaling, nature journaling, spiritual etc and not just samples of what others have done, but questions for the reader to explore and think about to help develop individual journaling that means something to you. I especially love the "Try This" exercises the author included in each chapter such as "describe your day," "abstract the scene," "travel-record the details," "sketch family mementos," "map family moves" and lots of other fun ideas to explore.While showing some useful, beautiful and inspirational examples of ways other experienced and talented artists have kept journals, Ms. Johnson's book expands on the examples and gives tips for developing content as well as some guidance on materials that are easy to use and portable. She presents things very simply for beginners, in a completely non-intimidating way. However, those who have some art experience will appreciate the fact that she didn't over do the "how to paint with watercolors" section, but rather includes a discussion on how to use a variety of materials that work together and are easy just to throw in your purse or art bag. I haven't ever used colored pencils or acrylics because they seem too complicated of a medium to work properly for me, but after reading her suggestions I may experiment with some of these other mediums for fun in small sketches in my journal.Ms. Johnson's book is easy for anyone at any level to use, skim it for ideas or read it cover to cover. It's a beautiful book and one that is clearly going to be a new classic on the topic of sketchbook journaling. Others I highly recommend are any of the Danny Gregory books, Everyday Matters, The Creative License, and An Illustrated Life; The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn; Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles Roth. Also recommend DVD Beginning Watercolor Journaling by Gay Kraeger and Christina Lopp. Drawing from Life, the Journal as Art by Jennifer New has some interesting examples of how a variety of journal keepers approach and keep a journal. Highly recommend the Urbansketchers website and blog, [...] for excellent examples of art journaling from all corners of the world. Cathy Johnson is one of my favorite contributors to that website.

This is a beautiful book if you are interested in starting an artist's journal or if you already keep one. I'm a fan of Cathy Johnson and she doesn't disappoint in this book. There are a number of artists included in Artist's Journal Workshop. Pages from artist's journals are abundant and many styles are shown. One thing that I like is that the text is very readable and not a book of boring and tedious instructions. Johnson suggests that the artist or journalist (or both) ask three questions when beginning.1.What do you want from your journal?2.What will go into your journal?3.When or how do you see yourself journaling?By asking these questions, one can develop a plan and begin with something concrete instead of starting disorganized and unsure. However, these questions are not set in stone. Just about anything goes with Cathy Johnson's style of journaling and that could be a page of drawings that include your grocery list or something that you're angry about.Suggestions for working with different pens, pencils, watercolors, washes and ideas for how to keep what you want to keep private away from others' eyes if they take a look at your journal are throughout the book.Recommended for any journalist who wants to include art to decorating a daily journal or journaling around the world.

This is a great book for the beginning art journalist, however, it arrived missing 25 pages! The seller may not have realized they were gone, as they were at the end of the book.The rest of the book is fantastic.

Very good book, with a lot of tips, ideas, etc. I recommend!

Having had a very traumatic and sad couple of years, I stopped drawing and painting completely, just could't get motivated. I'd looked at this book before, and finally ordered it, and it really helped me to get going again. Full of enthusiasm and inspirational tips, it made me start small and gradually get back into drawing again. There are lots of pictures of other artist's work too, so it's not all about the author - there is something for everyone. It's helped me get back the enjoyment of creating art without the pressure of making large finished works, but celebrating the things in life which make it precious. The book doesn't try to teach you to draw, it assumes you have some skills already (and there are plenty of basic drawing books on the market), but does encourage you experiment with different art materials and explore your ideas.A lovely lovely book. Thank you Cathy Johnson

If in need of a stimulent to start journaling, this is it. I am lazzy and need certain environment to spurge me into sketching, but this book is so full of incredibly beautiful sketches, so many tips, ideas and exercises that I might just overpass my problems with journaling. The absolutely only thing that I wasn't 100% percent ok with it was her constant reminder that our own sketches have no need to be 'perfect'... If I would draw like her, I wouldn't care either - every one of them is gorgeous! Her sketches of her husband almost make me fall in love with him myself!! I would probably start journaling now if at the end on one sketch the result would be like hers. But again... she got there by drawing constantly. It's a wonderful book, I can't recommend it enough

This is a lovely book, full of ideas and brilliant artwork. Not I think for the beginner, but for those of us wanting to do something interesting and personal with our artistic skills, something of a keepsake for the family, this book gives you the confidence of where to start, that everything is ok, that if you make a mistake you can cover it, and that it still looks good! Everyone is always interested in my sketch books but this offers the ideas for creating a 'book'. Everyone is supposted to have a book in them, now I know how to make a 'watercolourist's story'.

An excellent, well-presented, practical book - it does what it says in the title. If you are interested in art jounral, this is areally good starting off point - and there are plenty of blogs and facebook groups to support this type of activity. It is, in the context of UK readers, US based.