Sometimes on the interweb you see how some people always work in the same type of book and it looks really neat too. They have this whole line of sketchbooks of the same type and size on their shelves and it's a thing of beauty. My journals aren't on a shelf, they are kept in boxes (although I am working on clearing some book cases so some may actually go on a shelf soon), but they are as mismatched as any set of books you could think of. I have worked in anything from packs of index cards to enormous altered atlases and everything and anything in between. I have worked in expensive handbound books purchased on specialty fairs and in cheap notebooks purchased in discount stores. I have made my own books and I have altered old books that I bought second hand.
My journaling practice is as scattered as my art practice. I crave variety and I crave challenges. A new book means new paper and new parameters to work with. I find this endlessly fascinating. I think to work in the same book all the time would be the death of my journaling practice.
There's another point to this too: there is no such thing as the perfect journal and to look for it while postponing your journaling until you find it is a waste of time. You can journal in and on anything, trust me, I've tried and I've succeeded. ;-)
Here are some recent spreads from the Canson Book:
The Canson Book has been a very pragmatic journal so far. It's not so much about pretty pages as it is about getting the journaling job done. If I have pictures to add, I add pictures. If I just want to write, I write. If I want to sketch something, I sketch something. That may seem obvious, but I've had journals that were very much about the lay out of the spread, for instance the altered atlases I did a few years back. The visual element was way more important in those books.
My journaling often seems to adapt itself to the book I'm working in. I like how that happens so automatically.
I find that in this book I'm adding a lot of my own photography, much more than in previous journals for instance. The only consistent thing in all my journals is the writing. That's the one thing I cannot seem to live without.
Hope you enjoyed this peek into my current journal and wishing you a wonderful and artsy weekend!