Let your hook always be cast. In the pool where you least expect it will be fish
~Ovid
In the past I've written about essential tools for feral knitters: garment design, charts, yarn. But I've forgotten to talk about the resource I rely on just as often: my inspiration journal.
"Journaling" is a big business these days. I see glossy magazines on the newsstand and intimidating books on the Barnes & Noble shelves. Keeping a journal would seem to be a full-time job, to be tackled only by those with plenty of time, money, and god-given talent. Others need not apply.
A few years ago, I decided to ignore all that noise--I needed a way to store and access the many odd clippings and notes I'd accumulated along the way. A large, sturdy, hardcover, spiral-bound 9 x 12 sketchbook proved to be the perfect size (I can't remember who made the one I use or where I bought it, but this400 series Strathmore sketchbook sounds like the one). Like swatching, the goal is not a perfect journal--the goal is a useful tool. With that in mind, I just began pasting in clippings of anything that inspired me. These might be colors in ads or catalogs, postcards of artists I admire, sketches I've drawn while sitting in waiting rooms pondering garment shapes or log cabin square variants, quotes and poems that inspire me, and evocative phrases ("all that the rain promises"). I find material in many different places, but magazines and art catalogs are the best source--National Geographic, Oprah, Smithsonian. Library magazine exchanges or book sales are a wonderful source (I have a love of magazines that could bankrupt me if I didn't control it!). I tried not to get obsessive about making the page look good or even determining whether the particular image was "worth" keeping.
Random pages from my journal:
As time goes on, my journal becomes more and more valuable to me. What interests me most is the unconscious preferences that are revealed when I leaf through the pages: over and over again I am drawn to blue-green/orange combinations and photos of roses, for example.
My journal would not be the first thing I would save if the house were burning down, but I'd definitely grab it on the second dash into the flaming structure!
There are no right answers. But there is a right question. It's the one that rubs up against our self-righteousness, resistance, and fears.... When you ask yourself, "Why not?" you may find yourself in motion, across a vivid and unpredictable landscape, over impossible mountains and beyond the water's edge, where you surprise yourself, once and for all, by getting wet.
~Karen Maezen Miller, in Momma Zen
I keep telling myself I need to start doing this. Yours looks very handy and practical - not so intimidating, like the "art-y" journals they're pushing in the magazines. They make me feel inadequate before I even start...
Right now I have a big bulletin board in my sewing room that I pin inspirational pictures on. But the layers are starting to get a little deep - a journal like yours would let me be able to see everything again.
Cool. Thank you! This is exactly the bump I needed. 8)
Posted by: gayle | March 11, 2009 at 05:14 PM
Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: Celia | March 11, 2009 at 06:50 PM
YES!!!!! I do the same thing! I'm so glad you shared this! Sometimes I think when I look at all the 'art journal' stuff out there and my inspiration journal...how blah, but then I absoluetly love it and have never shared mine. So glad you did.
Posted by: PJ | March 12, 2009 at 06:25 PM
Love that last quote. It's just wonderful.
Posted by: Poppins | March 13, 2009 at 05:45 AM
I was inspired by your journal at your class. I went in search of a journal similar, spiral bound, 9x12 inches, sturdy cover. I couldn't find it at my regular haunts so I gave up on the whole idea. I think I need to go to an art supply store. It's such a great idea and gives a home to all of those ideas, plans, inspirations that I just don't have the storage space for in my brain. Thanks for reminding me.
Posted by: Stephanie | March 13, 2009 at 08:23 AM
Looks an awful lot like mine! But it probably gets quite a bit more attention these days. xo
Posted by: erika | March 13, 2009 at 12:32 PM
What a fantastic idea - you inspire me AGAIN Janine. ANd I already have a suitable book... This appeals to my gatherer nature greatly. Thanks!
Posted by: tutleymutley | March 14, 2009 at 05:42 AM
Posts like this are the reason I've nominated you for a Kreative Blogger Award. (See my blog for details.) Inspiring and thought-provoking.
Posted by: Thalia | March 14, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Your journal is beautiful--a work of art really. What a treasure. I loved your poem in memory of your friend's mother who died. My ex-husband's mother (my daughter's grandmother) recently died. I'm reminded of my own mortality and I'm struggling to climb out of insignificance.
Posted by: gail | March 29, 2009 at 09:48 PM
I keep saying I want to do an inspiration journal because they are so....inspirational! (duh) I've been hankering to do some of my own colorwork and just don't know where to start. Creating one of these would be a good start!
I've been reading...just not commenting. I was wowed by your caffeine comment and had to read it a few times to make sure I read it right! Wow!
Posted by: Naomi | March 30, 2009 at 09:15 AM
This is so odd....I have the same type journal that I started putting things in. I thought I was the only one who did things like this.
Posted by: Penny | March 30, 2009 at 08:10 PM
Everyone needs a muse of some sort. You made yours to inspire you and you alone!!
Posted by: Kay | April 01, 2009 at 10:28 AM