Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Alice's visual journal

The dining room at Stella Niagara's
Center of Renewal has an extensive
teapot collection, which are
displayed in cases along the wall
that is farthest from the kitchen.
There are many ways of documenting your own personal story. You could maintain a blog, much like this one. You could share photographs and commentary on social media.
I was at the fundraising
breakfast for the Family Justice
Center, held in Buffalo's
Convention Center. The hard
words "Domstic violence...
can occur anywhere" are
juxtaposed against the
peaceful images of tea and
a glass of water.





If you want more privacy, you could go low-tech, with a written diary, that's only for you. Or you could take the creative approach, with a mixed media art book, in which you draw, paint, or piece together little collages. 






Another approach is to document your story in a little portable book. I bought a small, green Moleskine book from the Island Ship Center.
Could this be... my future
bathroom????
The advantage of this book is that it can easily fit into a purse. Also, because it has a hard cover, the pages are not likely to rip. These books come in a lined or an unlined version. I chose the unlined version because I like to draw, paint, and write in my book. The media that I use are graphite pencils, colored pencils, markers, and watercolor brush pens.


On the left...Saint Martin-in-
the-Fields Episcopal Church,
and, on the ride, freedom in action.
So... what do I draw? Pretty much anything... cartoons, images from life, and interpretations of photographs. I combine them with a bit of storytelling to take it from being a sketchbook to being a visual journal.

For conversation: How do you like to document
your story?

4 comments:

Cerebrations.biz said...

Well, if I could draw as well as you, my choice might be different. But, I document via computer keyboard- in a document, on a blog, or in my journal.

Dipika said...

Yes, this is an interesting idea to create a journal for self. Like this handy book, which can be carried around easily. Lovely drawings.

Unknown said...

Ever since I read Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way, I've been devoted to writing my Morning Pages. I start my day with a cup of coffee and hand-write three pages in a spiral notebook. I've been doing it for years and now have several boxes of filled notebooks I'm saving for my grand and great-grand children.

Vinitha Dileep said...

Wow, did you draw all those? Fabulous, Alice! I blog, write in my journal, also have a private blog to declutter my mind. I would love to try out a visual journal like yours, but unfortunately, my drawing isn't exactly good like yours, not even anywhere close. :)