Journal Fodder 365: Daily Doses of Inspiration for the Art Addict
Title: Journal Fodder 365: Daily Doses of Inspiration for the Art Addict
Authors: Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler
Genre: Nonfiction, crafts
Publication: North Light Books, August 2012
My Star Summary: 4 stars out of 5 = I Like It
My Summary Statement: Focuses on You – Being Your Original Self – With Writing Prompts Too
When I read the title and cover I thought this book would have 365 inspirational tidbits to use, one a day for a year, but that is not the case. Instead this has twelve chapters about topics to journal about. The back cover says this book will lead you on a yearlong journey, so I assume we are to use one chapter with its one theme per month of the year.
The strength of this book is the authors push you to be yourself and to do what is right for you. So, this is not a book telling to create this image (i.e. a queen with wings) by copying the directions onto your journal page. There are no hard and fast rules here. You are told to play with lines and then make the lines YOU want and like with the art material YOU want to use and to go with the flow making this truly your own art journal.
The authors start off with simple materials asking the reader to open up and start journaling instead of focusing on buying this specific product and that craft material that wind up getting expensive. They want you to do the work of journaling (which is an internal thinking process then a writing down of ideas and art making exercise). They do not want you to focus on preparation and stockpiling expensive supplies.
About everyday bits of paper that come into our lives they write on page 55: “These everyday bits and pieces art part of your individual experience and help tell your story. They give significance to an idea, image or concept when integrated into your journal. Reconsider using the fairies, vintage photos, clocks and people with pointy hats that are commonly found in some journals, because those are not your images. Someone else developed the significance and meaning of these, so why adopt someone else’s concept when you have so much of your own to explore.”
Amen! I have felt that way for years! Make your own original art and do in your journal what you want to do! Finally someone said it!
This book is full of writing prompts, which I feel is the bulk of the book. Some topics are: accidents and imperfections, connections and relationships, facing doubts and letting go, and owning your shadow.
To help you envision how the book is laid out: each chapter has a topic with writing prompts. Art techniques are within every chapter (and of course are not married to being used just on those topic’s journal pages). The art techniques are easy and you don’t need a lot of expensive supplies. With that said, since I have been playing with art and crafting for years none of these techniques were new or innovative to me. They may be new to a beginner. Lastly, the book has advice and opinions peppered throughout, such as the quote I shared above.
This is an encouraging book that begs the artist to find themselves and to be themselves in their art journals. Discover who you are, document it in an art journal. Your ordinary life is worthwhile.
I rate this book 4 stars = I Like It. I love the attitude and the outlook and the writing prompts but as a non-newbie I didn’t find any new art techniques and I found the title a bit misleading as I thought it would have 365 art techniques or 365 writing prompts or 365 of something.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Amazon.com's Vine program for the purpose of reviewing it on Amazon.com. I was not paid to write this or to blog it. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.