Prompts for a Wabi-Sabi Journal

Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that values the time-worn, the aged, the imperfect. It is a philosophy and a way of accepting and giving up control. Bringing wabi-sabi into your life allows you to make room for daydreams, for accepting a simpler life and for valuing the riches already in your life.

Pollen dust form a leaf shape as it gathers in sprinkler run-off.

A wabi sabi journal is one filled with authentic you, the one that hungers for simplicity, nature, the organic flow of life. Here are a few quotes to help you open your mind to Wabi-Sabi. They make great journal prompts.

You are the person you are when no one is looking.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.

No one can give you abilities. For example, an Olympic athlete works with a trainer to develop her abilities, but the trainer only helps manifest what was inherent all along. Likewise, no one can give you happiness. At most, others simply help manifest the joy that was always within you.

Happiness does not mean ‘absence of problems.’ There has never been a life free from problems. It is not the presence of problems, but how we tackle them that determines the quality of our lives.

A yellow dividing line wears away on a bike trail.

Blind faith is no faith

One does not win by making others lose.

–All quotes from “Open Your Mind, Open Your Life.” edited by Taro Gold

–Image from Still in the Stream, a site reflecting on Wabi-Sabi in nature.

--Quinn McDonald teaches “Wabi-Sabi Art Journaling” and is presently updating the course. She’s thinking about making ink from ashes of burned hope.

Favorite Journal Discoveries

Yellow pepper, on the way to red. Watercolor on paper. © Quinn McDonald

Yesterday’s post started a whole rush of good ideas about keeping multiple journals for different reasons.

• Cut up your old business calendars/notebooks for recycling in new journals
• Keep a journal online, in a different language, to give space for the different aspects of your personalities.
• Keep ideas in a small journal you carry everywhere. Expand them later.
• Fiber work can be a journal, too. So can quilts. Don’t be shy, experiment!
• Make your own journal–after you have completed some pages to get it started.
• Work in several journals at once so you can dry pages without having to stop creating.

Today, I thought it might be fun to add some tips I’ve discovered to make my journal more interesting or fun to work in.

Date every page of your journal. It’s better than numbering pages, it lets you track growth and changes.

Storm warning. Ink on paper. © Quinn McDonald

Leave the last few pages of your journal empty. When you are having a bored day, use the dates to create a list of interesting ideas you had in the book. It will make it easier to find that special page if you have an index to check.

Make a mistake? Don’t paint over it. Figure out how to fix it, then re-do it on the next page. You’ll create a problem-solving how-to and gain pride in your work, not anguish over mistakes.

Want to show your journal to someone but have some pages you’d rather not show? Punch holes in the outer edge and use a ribbon to tie the pages together. People won’t untie without asking.

Brass doors at old movie theater, Phoenix.

I’m a writer, so I keep writing journals. Every month or so, I “harvest” phrases, metaphors and ideas and “distill” them into separate pages. It keeps me from hunting aimlessly for that phrase I liked so much.

Keep one journal for color swatches, alternative uses for and reviews of products you use regularly and lists of color names (for markers, yarn and paint). Take the journal with you when you go shopping. You won’t keep buying your favorite color over and over again. Instead, you’ll see what you have already and what you need to add. Stick coupons in this journal.

Keep a bin with leftovers, scraps big enough to work with. When the bin threatens to get full, organize a round robin with your friends (or Facebook friends) and swap scraps. Instant inspiration!

What are some of your favorite tips for keeping your journaling fresh?

—Quinn McDonald is an art journaler. She is writing a book on inner heroes and inner critics.

 

Toy With Potential

A friend gave me an gift–a toy with potential. These word cards are made by Maruman, and have the wonderful name Mnemosyne–the Greek goddess of memory. The cards are sturdy paper (or light card stock) and blank. They measure about 4 inches long by 2 inches tall. There are 100 of them, fastened with a binder ring.

Their original use was for Japanese and Chinese language students to create their own  flash cards. Learning a language of symbols isn’t easy, as it requires memorization of hundreds of root words and building symbols.

What can I do with these wonderful cards? I’ve had some thoughts; they would make interesting tags for Art Abandonment. I could use them to catch my favorite quotes and short poems and have them all in one place.

But I’d like to add color. And making a collage on each one seems too small, even for me, who likes to work small.

Any suggestions? What would you do with these very interesting pages?
--Quinn McDonald is an art journaler and a certified creativity coach, who is running short on inventive ideas today.

Losing Control with Creative Play

This weekend I spent time tempting people into creative play at the Women’s Expo in Phoenix, doing make-and-takes for Arizona Art Supply. The (clever) theme at the booth was using art supplies in unexpected ways, and attracted a lot of curious would-be artists, DIY, and yes, people who got their hair chalked with pan pastels.

I love watching people approach creative play–some people jump right in, some people want detailed instructions. In each case, I explained that the techniques (and resulting postcards) would require giving up control.

Several people left. “If I give up control, who knows what will happen,” one said, walking quickly away. Aren’t you interesting in knowing? Something scary? Embarrassing? Shedding clothes and skipping down the expo? Because nothing like that happened to the people who stayed.

I had two favorite moments: One mother brought her son, and explained he has autism. I felt great empathy for the child, who was about eight, because the exhibition hall was a cacophony of sound, lights, movement, and I hoped he was not overwhelmed. After he chose his colors, I asked him if he would like to spray the water, or if he would like me to do it. He took the bottle, pointed it and sprayed me in the face. It was completely accidental, I’ve done this myself, not locating the nozzle direction. He looked curious, and then at his mother, who looked horrified. He then became agitated and I assured him it was fine with me. I then squirted myself and said, “This cools me off.” He looked dubious.

He applied the paint with great precision, made the paper sandwich, but stalled at the step where he rubbed the paper. Thinking the texture of the paper might be unpleasant, I handed him a paint bottle to use as a brayer. He loved this, meticulously rubbing the paper.

Then came the big reveal–peeling the two pieces of paper apart. His face was surprised, and a tiny smile crept across his face. I told him he could take them home and he checked with his mom. Once they were dry he picked up one in each hand. Later, as I crossed the hall, I saw him again, walking with his head down and his art clutched to his chest. It made my day. Art heals. Or at least, makes you happy.

The second happy-maker was a beautiful woman who sat down and asked where the brushes were. “There aren’t any,” I explained, “This is done with ink and water and a voluntary surrender of control.” Seriously, she nodded followed the few directions, and created the most controlled uncontrolled piece I’d seen. Turquoise and black ink in wonderful proportions, delicate and powerful. Before I could ask to photograph it, she said, softly, “Is this art?” I answered, “Only you can decide, but it looks like it to me.” She smiled, took the card and vanished into the crowd.

There were some rocky moments, I didn’t please everyone, but these two people, who let art into their lives and were delighted, made my day.

—Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who teaches what she knows.

Creative Prompt: Lawn Care

Book Winner: Carla Sonheim generously donated a book to the winner of today’s drawing so I could keep the book–I was so pleased! But there were so many comments, I decided to give away my copy, too, so there are TWO winners!   Joy Moore and  Leah Boulet–Congratulations!

* * *

Today we’re doing something different. If you are exploring your creativity, it’s always interesting to play with metaphors. Metaphors use one term to describe another, unrelated term. (Comparing a company to a ship and the financial futures as sailing on stormy seas, for example.) The kind of metaphor I’m talking about is an extended metaphor. (How the coming and going of tides affect the ship.)

Here’s your set-up: Phoenix is on the Sonoran Desert floor. We don’t have a lot of water to waste, and many people have xeriscaped yards–no grass, just crushed rock and desert plants. This is hard on some people who move here from someplace green and miss their lawns. Lawns really can’t be sustained in summer, so September is the time to replant your lawn, water it early in the morning, and hope for the best.

From greengardenaz.com

Creative Work: Think of your free time, and how you spend it. Are you fighting your inner geography and planting a lawn? Are you going with the ambient climate and keeping it simple? Report Back: Are you tempted to make changes in your creative time? Are you keeping it simple? Come back and tell us. If you have a blog, link back to it in your comment. (One link only).

Journal Keepers: Dive into your journals and work through a metaphor the lawn story suggests. For example,  Do you want to do work that is intense and may not fit the popular climate, or do you want to go with the flow and keep your work suited to an easy schedule? Or, do you want to create an environment that’s exotic for you or do you want to explore your nature as it is? Post a link to your journal page. (One link only, please).

Don’t want to post your blog? No pressure. It’s always interesting to see other people’s interpretations.

—Quinn McDonald is a writer and a journal keeper.

Multi-Media With Mad-Science Products

Multi-media usually means inks, paints, fabric, fiber and encaustic in various combinations. I wanted to try some things that were mad-science incredible, or, in this case, inventable.

The website Inventables, is a place that sells interesting scientific equipment, like aluminum foam bricks. Six inches by 10 inches, half an inch thick, under $30 each.

Aluminum foam bricks–look spongry, but are metal bricks.

There are lots of fascinating “what can I use this for?” ideas, so I began to comb the site for unusual journaling material.  Here’s what I found:

Radiant light film. Looks like chrome film, reflects light like a butterfly’s wings. Comes with adhesive backing, so it can be a journal cover or journal pages. Sheet measures 12 inches by 28 inches and costs $17.50.

Radiant light film.

It can be die-cut, embossed, cut and printed. Use adhesive to attach it to a substrate. It’s used in car decorations and interior decoration, but I’m thinking it would make a great journal cover.

If you don’t like shiny, and want more dimensional effects, you an go for multi-directional, shape-retaining plastic sheets.  Already used for casts that are lighter than plaster and visors you can bend into any shape, I think it would make an amazing journal page that looks crumpled but holds its shape.

Shape-retaining plastic sheet.

You can cut it with plastic-cutting devices.  Approximately 10 inches x 10 inches for $20.

There are also light-defusing sheets that are translucent white that break up light from behind and distribute it evenly. No photo, they look just like sheets of paper. An 8.5 x 11 sheet is about $23, and I could see it being used in an open-frame journal standing in front of a light, or as a shade for a strong LED.

Self-illuminating ribbon in green

Journaling at night? Sew this self-illuminating ribbon onto the cover and you’ll find your journal, even in the dark. Comes in both blue and bright green. A piece thats 10 feet by 2.75 inches is about $90, but a foot (still 2.75 inches wide) is about $10.00

You “charge” it by exposing it to sun for about 10 minutes and it glows for 8 hours. It can be machine washed and sewn on.  I can see it layered over folios as stubs (short pages) or, even better, edged onto the outside edge of a page for a book that won’t get lost at night. I’d probably add it to dog collars, back packs, hiking or biking jackets, too.

Temperature-sensitive sheets would let you hide your journal writing till your hands warmed up the page. Would also make a great postcard with a secret message. Made from a more sophisticated

Change the color of your journal page with your warm hands.

materials than mood rings, these  6″ x 6″ sheets would be a wonderful surprise in cards or as journal pages. About $28 each.

Make a slipcase for your journal or CDs and DVDs or even use these paper-thin sheets of wood veneer as journal pages. an 8″ x 12″page is about $5.00 and has interesting possibilities, from wood burning to painting to leaving it the way it is.

You can also find fabric that is woven from cotton and steel, which can be washed and dried like regular fabric. There is a silicone rubber that looks like glass and crumbles like glass, and makes great faux-ice and cracked glass. $44 for about four pounds.

Real copper fabric for garments.

Make your next project (quilt? journal?) out of copper fabric that won’t tarnish. You can cut it and sew it and expect it to get warm when the sun shines on it–it’s a great conductor of heat. It’s real copper, after all. One yard, 42.5 inches wide, is $32.85.

There is much more on this website to encourage you to experiment, putting “multi” back in multi-media in the best of all ways.  What I admire about this site, and encourage more websites to do, is that it puts the price right on the index page of photos. Each page has several items, or variations of items and each item has a photograph, a short description and a price. You click for details. No deceiving words, like “investment” and “wait, there’s more!”–just honest copy and a price.

Disclosure:  Inventables are not paying me in any way to mention them. I have just ordered some of the copper fabric, glow-in-the-dark ribbon and tape, and wood-veneer flexible sheeting.  Prices will vary over time, and products come and go.

-–Quinn McDonald is a secret science geek, has always loved the combining of science and art, and is writing a book on conversations with the inner critic.

 

Fading Out

Yesterday I mentioned re-writing your past in a way that lightens the darks and fades the shadows. Today I wanted to try to do the same thing visually.

Today was a day of too-saturated color, too much high dudgeon, too vivid emotions. Dramatic clients, fierce news, people shrilling for attention, credibility, everyone demanding to be heard and admired.

Poppies. Graphite, watercolor, pen on watercolor paper.

At the end of the day I was exhausted without having done any heavy lifting. So I decided to draw some cheerful flowers. Poppies are always cheerful, breezy. But the colors were too much, too bright, too assertive on my retina’s rods and cones. (Rods distinguish light; cones distinguish color. There are more rods, but they are not as sensitive as cones.)

In light of yesterday’s fading of memories, I did the equivalent with drawing. Using my new favorite Art Graf Stix, I drew the poppies, using shades of gray and black. I added very faint touches of red-orange and blue-red. Just a touch.

The final effect is light and airy without too much burden of color or detail. For right now, that suits me perfectly.

–Quinn McDonald is an art journaler whose art makes meaning.

Art Journaling, No Words

Working away from the usual is always interesting for me. Stretches creative muscles and brightens up the studio. Today’s challenge (I made this up) was to create a journal (lots of discretion about what a journal is) using no traditional art supplies. And, just to make it harder, no words.

I’ve always had trouble understanding art journals without words. I’m a word person. A writer. So the challenge was . . . well, tough.

I started by gathering materials at a hardware store. One of these days, I’m going to teach an art class using only materials from a hardware store. Today I used:

• six paint color samples
• one feather
• one piece of glittery wrapping paper
• one button from a sweater
• some twine
• a piece of discarded, painted watercolor paper

I’d been spending time watching Pete’s Pond–a watering hole in Southeast Botswana, Africa.  The site isn’t perfect–the lights go out at night, sometimes the whole site goes down, which, when you remember it’s on a game preserve far from the nearest decent-size town, isn’t that unusual. I was chatting with the other viewers, and heard people discussing how autumn was coming, the weather was turning chillier, and how it made them sad. Birds were beginning migration.

Here, of course, summer’s passing is what we celebrate. Days get bearable, and we enter the season we came here for–from now until the beginning of May, the weather is wonderful. Clear skies, sun, breezes, and warm days followed by crisp nights. The birds that leave other areas come here.

And here’s what I made, called “Migration.” I won’t explain it, because I’m hoping that each person who sees it will have a story about it. While the pages lift up, the have no words. They are ready for your story about the next season–what is that story for you?

Migration, feather, button, twine on paint samples and watercolor paper.

–-Quinn McDonald builds art journals and is a creativity coach.

The Confusing Lines We Draw

A good, meditative exercise is to load a watercolor brush with a primary color and then draw the thinnest, straightest line possible vertically on the page. After a few of those lines, start to add another primary color–yellow to blue, yellow to red, blue to red to get another color.The lines drift across the page, some really nice, some not.

After some straight ones, start to vary the thickness of the line by pushing the brush down, releasing more paint.  You don’t need a high-quality brush, you are not aiming for perfect, you are creating a space to listen.

We talk a lot in our heads. Stopping the talk to listen is the heart of creativity.

Anyone can do the painting, but the silence is a bit trickier. Because the Inner Critic shows up with one of the standard lines she uses.

Today while talking to a client, she told me about an experience that made me nod in recognition and laugh with her. The Inner Critic isn’t logical or reasonable, just always loud and threatening.

My client said the first thing the inner critic said was “these lines are crap.” And she believed it. Well, of course it was crap. Lines on a page. What else could it be? The client had a bit of a struggle, because she had enjoyed the exercise, liked the grounding and liked the simple pattern and colors.

“Well,” she thought, “then I’ll turn it into a journal page background.”

“NOOOOO!” screamed the Inner Critic. “Don’t ruin it! It’s ART!”

From crap to art, just like that. And she suddenly saw the purpose of the Inner Critic–that no matter what you do, no matter what you choose, to the Inner Critic, it’s wrong. You are wrong. Your Inner Critic will chase you in a circle, just to watch you get dizzy and fall over.

The Inner critic says both “it’s crap” and “don’t write over it, it’s art.” There is no appeasing the inner critic. It’s wise to listen, and also wise to choose a path that moves away from the voice of the Inner Critic. Choose a direction you can believe in, and get busy working on that direction. The Inner Critic is not you and is not your compass. You own that. Follow your own wisdom.

–Quinn McDonald is writing a book on conversations with the Inner Critic. She’s having a lot of them.

. . .Looking Forward

Note: The winners for the traveling journals have been drawn! Congratulations to Lisa “Salt and Light” Brown, Stephanie Hansen and Wendy from Late Start Studio!

This week, I will have written 1,500 blog posts for QuinnCreative on WordPress. the first month, January of 2007, I had 433 readers, about half of what I get per day now.

Illustration in one of the journals.

Smart readers have left clever, funny, thoughtful, interesting comments. Without those comment-leaving readers, I would have quit a long time ago. True, I do the blog for writing practice, and in a way it’s another journal I keep, but over six years, I have come to depend on my readers for insight and community.

To celebrate those 1,500 blog posts, there are going to be several give-aways this week. Today’s give away are the three traveling journals that have found their way back to me since 2009.

Illustration from one of the journals

New journalers, and sometimes experienced ones, tell me the biggest problem is starting a journal. What to put on that first page. . . how to fill up those first, blank pages. These three  journals all have the first several spreads finished. So you don’t have to worry about what to do with them. They have the registration stickers from 1001 journals still in them, and while each one of them has traveled over 5,000 miles (one went to the Philipeans and back), all are in excellent condition.

The journals are medium vermillion, cloth-bound 5.5 inches x 8.5 inches books by Hand-Made Journals with sturdy off-white,  acid-free, archival, unlined paper (130 gsm, about 90-pound paper).  Perfect for fountain pen, gel pens, roller balls, colored pencils, pastels, markers, acrylic paint and even light watercolor washes. Copic and other alcohol markers will bleed through, but Pitt Pens and water or dye-based markers won’t. They have an elastic closure and a pocket in the back.

So, if you’ve always been afraid of those blank pages, but have always wanted to

Illustration from one of the journals

keep a journal, leave a comment. I’m giving away all three of the journals on this one post, and I’ll choose the journals and people randomly. Because I have a large international audience, I’ll spring for overseas shipping, so everyone has an equal chance.

Names will be drawn on Tuesday, September 4  at 5 p.m. Phoenix time. Winners will be posted at the top of this post. We are going to be celebrating the 1,500 blog post all this week with various give-aways. The next one will be on Wednesday.

Thank you for reading, whether you have been here since 2007 or since last week. I’m grateful to every person who leaves comments–I know how hard that can be!

–Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who writes on creativity, does book reviews, and gives away journals. After 1,500 blog posts, she’s only scratched the surface. She is the author of Raw Art Journaling and is working on her second book, The Inner Hero’s Art Journal