Junk journal with me: Seasons of life

I started junk journaling in December last year, and I am IN LOVE! There is something so freeing about creating art in a junk journal — it invites experimentation and play, you don’t take yourself so seriously, and at the same time, you put more of yourself into the art. It’s — strange!

I never really thought I pressured myself in my art journal, but now I see that I approached my journals as Art. I took myself more seriously, by which I mean I was afraid to experiment, try new things, make messes, and play. I knew what worked, and I stuck to it.

Of course, sticking with something helps you build confidence and skills — until it doesn’t. At some point, if you become too afraid to take risks, you stagnate. That’s what I felt was happening with my art last year. Looking back at it now, I think that was one of the many factors that contributed my huge creative block last year, too.

Junk journal with me: Watch the process

The interesting thing is, some of my junk journaling is very similar to what I do in my art journals, as you can see in the video below.

But there’s a freshness to it, that comes from using collage, working with thinner papers {and different kinds of papers}, and the addition of words. I rarely add words to my art journal spreads, because I want the paintings to speak for themselves. But in my junk journals, I’ve been adding words — from found poetry to quotes to snippets of poems that I love or the feeling that the page evokes. And it’s rather refreshing!

I think there are other factors at play that make it so much more freeing to create in a junk journal. One of which is that I make my journals from literal junk — amazon envelopes, brown paper bags, printed bills, underpaper from my art table, random bits of painted scrappy paper. You can see all the bits and bobs that went into my junk journal here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shinjini💫Art Journaling | Tarot Reader (@moderngypsy.in)

I think working with junk, like this, really takes away any pressure to perform. All that I spent to make this journal is my own time and effort. So even if I “ruin” it, it doesn’t matter. And that freedom is liberating. It encourages experimentation, play, trying new things, and combining new ideas with old ones, which is what creates freshness in your practice, no?

Before you go, tell me this: How do you keep your creative practice fresh?