Making an art journal

This week I have been making an art journal, I watched a demonstration on YouTube by Laly Mille and followed her instructions. Why make your own you might ask, and that’s a good question because it is quite a lot of work. The reason is that it’s hard to find an art journal with good quality paper and I wanted something that wouldn’t bend under the weight of my creative process, something that would stand the test of time a legacy for my granddaughter.

I used 12 sheets of 300gm water colour paper one for each month of the year, it was so cathartic knowing I was binding my book the way books were made by hand for many centuries. This journal now feels very personal and I am excited, I’m looking forward to starting my painting, sticking and writing. That was this morning, all day I have walked around my journal but felt totally unable to put the first mark on those beautiful white pages, what if I make a mistake!! So tomorrow I have promised myself I will put on my first mark, not on the first page as you will see that as soon as you open the journal but I will randomly choose another page, how hard can it be I ask myself?