Sometime ago Pam RuBert, who has a new blog address BTW, recommended the Jennifer New book on journaling.
I probably went on and on about how I couldn’t find it at the library in a previous post, so I won’t bother here. I solved the problem by finally biting the bullet and buying it. While my flight was delayed I started to read it and it is a GREAT book. I almost like New’s words better than her illustrations, though the pictures of the journals are great, too. One of the quotes that I REALLY like is “journals are the working stiffs of creative life.” That phrase totally makes it ok to just mess around in a journal. I really like it.
Here is a brief review:
Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art by Jennifer New
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The best quote I have come across in this book is one that says “the journal is the working stiff of creative life.” This quote lends the journal (visual journal or art journal or text based journal) an air of humanity. It lends the feeling that it is ok to cross out bits and pieces, to rip pages out, to start over. It gives me the okay to just do whatever I need to in my journal and use it to work out ideas and improve my ideas. I finished this book and felt a sense of relief. Not relief that I had finished it, but a sense of excitement and a new beginning. Imagine letting out a huge sigh of contentment and that is how I felt. I was particularly enamored with the 1000 journals project and wished that New had had more of Denyse Schmidt’s journals. I loved reading about the various artists, especially in the creativity section and felt very inspired by their work. Read this book, it is fantastic!
Updated 20 August 2025
