I had another post planned for today, but this one begged to go first
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When I started art journaling 2 1/2 years ago, I came across a school of thought that said you shouldn’t use personal photography in art journaling because that makes it scrapbooking.
End of discussion. No grey area. That’s just how it is, so deal with it.
What?!?!
As you’ve probably noticed by now, I LOVE using personal photos in my journals, so that thought bombed big time!
I want my journal pages to be relevant to my life. I want them to reflect what’s going on in my head. Sometimes (often!) that means adding photos. Adding photos makes them even more personal to me.
I have noticed a couple of major differences in how people use personal pictures in scrapbooking and art journaling though:
In scrapbooking, the focus is often external. The page is about an event, a celebration, a memory. The aim is often to preserve a memory for future generations. So the photo, as proof of the event, takes centre stage, unaltered, with journaling, embellishments, etc supporting it.
In art journaling, on the other hand, the focus tends to be internal. Art journals are visual journals, so they’re more abstract. They’re a place for us to spill our thoughts and feelings. We may choose to share our pages on the web, but they are generally speaking made for us. Images and symbols support our thoughts, not the other way around. They don’t need to be prominent on the page, but can be buried under layers and experimented with to a much higher degree than those used in scrapbooking.
So I say you can use personal photography successfully in art journaling. And I’ll carry on using it. How about you?
Beautiful art journal pages Carin… you made me think… if I have used photos in my art journals… and although I tend to draw… or use collage or magazine pics… I do use photos printed onto paper as well… I love your thoughts on the internal and external aspects… and I love the way you incorporate your gorgeous pics into your pages…
Jenny ♥
Thank you Jenny!
Oh, I love that third page “finding my feet”. I personally think there shouldn’t be any rules concerning art journaling. It’s personal, and everybody should just do what feels right for them. You’re right: just keep on doing what you love.
Thanks Denthe! Exactly! And that’s what cracked me up at the time…”there are no rules in art journaling… except this one” lol. Duh! No!
That seems so funny to me, that someone would come up with a “rule” for art journalling! And I say, if it is YOUR journal, why NOT use personal photos??!! I love peeking at art journal spreads–I don’t keep one of my own, but seeing others do it as beautifully as you keeps it on my list of things to do “someday!”
Thanks for your enthusiastic comment about my winged heart on my blog today! 🙂
I know, it struck me as funny too. Clearly I didn’t heed the advice. I hope you start art journaling at some point. I’d love to see your pages!
Oooh, I see that it’s up in your Etsy shop now. I may just have to buy it!!!
Oh, what a great post and thought about pictures in journaling. I never thought about it like that, but yes, that does make sense. As a matter of fact, I just yesterday set aside some personal photos to use for journaling.
Beautiful shots here too – and I agree – our personal pictures lend a lot to anything we do, yours definitely included!
AND thank you for your comment – you cracked me up – I forgot to say about my opening date – NEXT week!! 😉 xoxoxo
Thanks Kristin! I love the way you use photos in art journaling too (Kendra on top of the bike is fab!!!). I can’t wait to see what you do with the new ones you’ve set aside.
Cool, I’ll keep some money back for your Etsy too then!
I don’t think art journaling should have any rules! It’s a place where we can just be ourselves so why not use photos if you want. Personally, I’ve never been into scrapbooking because it seems too “perfect” most of the time. Art journals are a place to play and experiment and have fun.
I always like your pages with or without personal photos. Keep doing it your way!
Exactly! Thank you Janet!
Your comment about scrapbooks being too perfect cracked me up. One of the reasons, I don’t do scrapbooks is because I don’t like my photo storage all bulky, which is hilarious considering I love bulky, dimensional art journals (yes, I know I could do digital scrapbooking, but there are a million reasons I don’t want to do them)
The thing I love about art journaling is that it can be all things to all people! My journals have some photos in them but you are right- it is something internal that motivates me for those. I am exploring a feeling or emotion in it. Love your Be Bold page! So true- we should all be bold!!
Who comes up with such weird rules and categories? It must be someone with very little imagination. I don’t know much about scrapbooking, but I agree on the internal focus of art journals. They are very personal, and using personal photos in them makes therefore perfect sense. The important thing is to create something that is meaningful to us, in whatever media we prefer, and not for it to fit into some category or other. Even an art journal can have different purposes. To me, it is as much a place to try out ideas and techniques, a future inspiration source for larger paintings, as it is about putting down on paper what’s going on in my head at the time. Until recently, I didn’t even know what an art journal or scrapbooking were – I just painted. I think your art journal pages are terrific, and I like how you use your photos to make them so personal.
I love that you use photographs in your art. I don’t see it as scrapbooking at all although there’s nothing wrong with scrapbooking:) Your work is beautiful!