The Journal Craft Story
Hi I’m Gill
I have been keeping notebooks with ideas on and off for many years, but they had never been particularly ‘creative’. I had been quite good at drawing at school, but it was not something I had pursued as an adult.
Then recently, I read a few books that re-ignited my creativity…
- “Everyday Matters” by Danny Gregory
- “How To Make A Journal Of Your Life” by Dan Price, and
- “Art Escapes” by Dory Kanter
Together these books had a huge impact on me -
I realised that keeping a journal is
not about creating great art – it’s about creating memories
I also discovered a whole community of people who share their illustrated journals on the photo sharing website Flickr. Many of these are inspired by Danny Gregory’s book – to draw something ordinary everyday. It is amazing how many memories and emotions these little sketches evoke when you look back at them. Looking through these journals I was struck by how creative people can be – even with no journalistic or artistic experience. And also how touching and personal a journal can be.
I decided not only to start writing and illustrating my own journals, but to make the materials you need available on a website, together with inspiration to get you started. Hence the birth of Journal Craft.
I hope you you will be inspired and find what you want on the site. When you gain experience and confidence I hope you will consider sharing the results of your journaling with others on this site.
Meanwhile, my own journey continues, I hope yours will too…
6 responses so far ↓
1 Karen Blados // Feb 18, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Gill-
I’ve been meaning to contact you to tell you again how much I appreciate your interest in my work. I am so proud to have my interview on your site — I actually sound half-way intelligent. I’ve gotten more comments from friends and family, not to mention a few from people that are new to me.
Thank you so much. I wish you the best of luck with all of your endeavours.
Sincerely, Karen Blados
2 Ella // Mar 9, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Thank you for your sharing all this inspiration with us! I have discovered some great artists and very useful information through this site.
3 alison // Jul 21, 2008 at 11:34 pm
This is a useful site. I bought those books several years ago and was inspired to start journalling but a whole set of ‘memory paintings’ from my childhood started ‘falling onto the page’ – I’m still catching them, nearly 100 now. It was just so liberating to freed of the ‘good drawing’ rubbish.
4 GillM // Jul 22, 2008 at 11:29 am
Thank you all for your kind comments, if you would like to share some of your pages with us they can be sent to submissions @ journalcraft.co.uk
5 Ridge Walker // Aug 21, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Very cool site. Very inspirational. The thought that, “it’s not about creating great art,” was very liberating, because I have looked at far too many Moleskine masterpieces posted on the web and thought to myself, “I could never do that kind of thing,” and never picked up a pencil. Thanks!
6 Robert Sneed // Nov 5, 2009 at 2:21 am
I just recently found this site and subscribed to the rss feed. I’ve been looking for something new to try creatively and illustrated journals may be it. I’ve tried written journals but for me writing just doesn’t come naturally. I’m a visual person. This site is an excellent resource for someone new to illustrated journals. Thanks.
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