Art Journaling

By: Luke Galutia
Posted 2014-04-30
Galutia Gallery ( www.galutia.com )


In my last blog post, I talked about provenance and establishing an art history for yourself, and future followers of your works. In my last recommendation I brought up the quality of paper and writing implements for creating your sketches and journals.

In the past, I very rarely ever drew a preliminary sketch. One of my college art teachers just about wanted to strangle me, because I predominantly painted out of my head, and usually planned anywhere from 3 to 10 paintings in advance of what I was painting at the time. It wasn’t until this last few years that I decided to get a sketchbook specifically for writing sketches and designs of preliminary works that I had in mind. Only with in about the last month have I been faithfully working on sketches everyday. The problem has been, making it a habit.

Having a good sketchbook is a great tool for an artist. I cannot count how many ideas I come up with on a daily basis, but don’t write it down due to lack of time, or just plain laziness. Even though I will have thousands of images that come to mind, when I get the time to get in front of a canvas, my mind will sometimes go blank. Or sometimes I will get stuck on a painting and then put it up for a few months before coming back to it, as I can’t make the image work correctly in my head before putting it into paint. So recently I have taken to the practice of having a sketch journaling book. These are sketches of ideas that pop into my mind over the course of a day. It has helped me in working out the details of creating a new style for my art, which is something that I feel I have needed for a while.

The eventual goal is to create a multi volume work of sketches, from which I can have a library of imagery to choose from. This is to help prevent a writers block type situation. Many times, when I am stuck on a painting, I will look around the room at my other paintings. I will ask myself, “Ok what did I do on those other paintings?”. I use this as a way to work around the block. To better combat this situation, I now try to draw sketches whenever I get some free time. I also make sure to date the drawing as well. I use what I draw as a “design element”, similar to the way you would use clip art in photoshop. This can give you the ability to use and reuse the same design in different ways, and expand upon its original concept. Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect! Even if it is just there to be a mental reminder. In some of my sketches I will even write down what colors go in specific areas.

For choosing a sketch journal, go to the art store like Michaels and look around their drawing area. They have many options to choose from. Look for a size which is comfortable for you to accurately draw what you have in your mind. The book I use is about 11 X 9 inches. I made sure before I bought it, that it was acid free and museum grade paper. This ensures that over time the quality of the paper will last. Something that I also do is label each volume. Say like the one I am working on now will be Volume #1 2013-2014 or something like that. This way it will help future art historians looking over the provenance of my work to establish a timeline. Remember, the more you put down on paper and in notes about your work, the greater the provenance will be on your artwork in the future.

For writing implements you can also look in the same section and you will find professional pencils, pens and markers. These have high quality materials, such as the felt that is use in the marker tips, and the ink is acid free and based on india ink. India ink should last for quite a long time.

Another type of journal you might want to think about is a “Provenance Journal”. After completing a work of art, write down the time, date, name of the painting, medium, size and material (such as paper or canvas). Then write down your experience or thoughts on the work of art you have created. What were your feelings or moods while you created? Did the act of painting it take you to some place fantastic in your minds eye? Did it create a new experience for you, or a new revelation of an art style you wish to carry on and expand upon in your next work of art? Do you have any ideas for new paintings that are not fully formed yet, or specific subject matter which you want to try out? This might sound kind of tedious, but one of the reasons we know about the life of Van Gogh as an artist, is the fact that he wrote down what his experiences in art and life to his brother Theo. He even wrote about his frustration at the art galleries in France not taking or selling his art.

Something I have always maintained as an art history geek, is that more important than the painting, is the artist his / her self. Think about it, when people auction off famous paintings at someplace like christie's art auction, they are not just buying the painting, they are investing in the value, name, and history of that artist. For me, artist such as Juan Miro, Salvador Dali, or Frida Kahlo (whom my wife refers to as the “Selfy-Queen”), had very interesting, if not painful lives. They were REAL people, who had REAL problems. It shows in their artwork - the expression of who they were. By keeping a “Provenance Journal”, you are giving future art historians the ability to peer into your life, to better understand what is transpiring in your day to day activities. They can follow with you through the hills and valleys of your success. Art blogs like this are great things too, but I feel that it is best to also keep a written record as well. Technology such as the internet can be a very temporal beast. It is subject to hardware failure, upgrades, sites getting hacked, data loss, and natural disasters. Journals which are written on acid free Museum quality paper, last a lot longer historically. Its something to think about in our digital age.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke Galutia has been in the fine arts since 1989, and has won awards for
his art. His artwork has been recognized as being cutting-edge Optical
Illusion Art, and is hosted as part of a permanent collection in the
Washington State Governor's Art Collection in the Olympia Capitol
Building.

Email: lgalutia@gmail.com
Website portfolio: www.galutia.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/galutiagallery
Google+:https://google.com/+LukeGalutia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lgalutia
Linkedin: https:// www.linkedin.com/in/lukegalutia/
Tumblr: http://lgalutia.tumblr.com/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/LukeGalutia/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click Here for More Information