On Journaling
I've always kept a journal, ever since I was 9. But I lost the habit growing up. A few years ago, I started journaling again, I was taking a Biomimicry class where I had to keep a Nature Journal, and from there I picked it up again. Then I decided to learn how to make my own journals, and since 2018, I've been making my own journals and notebooks. I'm publishing this project because I realized that the way I document life and thoughts is taking a very interesting turn, it's developing, and so is my character and work as an artist and a writer.
Through journaling I learnt how to improvise and to trust my sense, and how to make something out of what may appear as nothing. I appreciate mundane ordinary things and celebrate their normality through journaling. Above all I became sure that inspiration comes as you start working, there is no such thing as waiting for the big idea to come. It helped me figure out the topics I care about most and what my next moves and projects are going to be. Through journaling, I was able to practically dig deeper into themes such as surrealism, abstract art and expressionism, using mixed media, and recycling other people's artwork/designs.
Here I'm going to show this development. It might not seem aesthetically perfect if you may say, but I'm happy to share and celebrate the tradition. I hope you find it useful and inspiring, and would appreciate your thoughts and comments. Thank you.
2017
My Biomimicry class Journal
2018
In 2018 I used leather as the cover, did a long stitch binding. This journal was more for organizing everyday events and scrapbooking, it was a very busy year, studying, work, and wedding preparations.
2019
Demonstrating my Whale obsession through the cover. Here it was more about organizing activities and note-taking during my martial arts and Chinese medicine classes, in addition to drying flowers for other artworks.
2020
The 2020 Journal has been the most interesting so far. My journaling took an artistic turn and was more for expressing thoughts and feelings. I was crazy about using gold and silver ink over the black paper, I was becoming more interested in making collages on black backgrounds. It was a very intense year with good and unfortunate incidents, the year of the pandemic and staying at home, so It was a great place to take advantage of all the frustration.
I started sky journaling again, but in black and white.
I came up with some exercises that helped me with my depression and anxiety, to help me understand the storms in my mind, one of these exercises was Making Lists: What makes a good day - What makes a bad day - What negative thoughts come to your mind - Recent realizations and conclusions - Things I would love to do soon . . . etc.
I loved making emotional and mind maps, another way to analyze how I feel.
I liked to do automatic writings with the illustrations, in a way they always complemented each other.
Accidentally, every now and then, I would come up with a good idea for work while sketching.
It was the only way I could honestly express how I felt about losing my brother that year.
I liked collecting poems and pictures from other artworks and flyers, and taking them out of their original context to make a new one, or to reflect on them, for example here this poem about Baghdad: A half-burnt page on Elmutanabbi street by Dunya Mikhail .
Here I posed some How to questions, reflecting on the Kayfa-ta publishing initiative:
How to wait for what you wish for?
How to become a flowing river?
How to embrace?
How to hide from yourself?
2021
This journal's theme was the Ocean. I didn't keep divisions according to months, but themes: The Ocean, The Everyday, The Illusions, The Hearts and the Minds. I was still interested in using dark backgrounds, so I added dark blue to the journal, in addition to off-white paper for writing and doodling, and transparent paper for experimentation. The 2021 Journal is half empty, because I paused journaling for a while after giving birth, so It will include year 2022 too.
Using black on dark blue was a great discovery.
More collages . . .
. . . and doodling
I loved keeping almost regular reflections on the experience of pregnancy and giving birth to my daughter, accompanied with maps and abstract illustrations.
I tried to include some color this time, but I'm still not that passionate about it.
In the black division, I loved to do collages, scrapbooking and to reorganize stories and poems from Akhbar ElAdab literary journal.
Finally I would like to end with this piece in one of the images:
"I sit to rest in the shadow of your mind trying to mimic the echo coming out of your movement. So slow, I drift, as the road takes a turn on its own, my words and your movement take a rhythm of their own, a life of their own, and my only gift to you is a bunch of dead flowers, all crumbled in one statement that I was too tired to repeat to myself. "
That's it . . . Thank you for going all the way.
