Rainy day reading

Well, it's not raining now but a new storm is set to begin at any moment. During the last one, which lasted several days, I read this wonderful book by Jennifer New, DRAWING FROM LIFE: The Journal as Art. It's a collection of journal pages with some introduction of each journaler. 

I like the subtitle: The Journal as Art. Now that I'm keeping my own journals my only goal is to maintain the habit and to strive to learn enough so that each completed journal is better than the last. So far I've only started sketchbooks and journals, I have yet to finish one.

I've kept written journals for decades and have filled about 50 or more of those. But when I made the switch to drawing, less than two years ago, it took me a while to find a format I liked, a sketchbook that I liked, and to develop the habit, not to mention to draw well enough to complete a single page.

I can't quite claim my journals as art, but that's my farthest goal. I just love looking at sketchbooks and journals and wondering how each page got created, what attracted the artist to the subject, what words were chosen to accompany the drawing. 

Blogging is as active form of art journaling. I can't hold someone's journal in my hand and turn the pages when I read a blog, but the rest is pretty much the same. I read lots of blog journal pages every day, one of life's innocent pleasures!