Destination 02: Iceland - Journals
Iceland Week 1: Journals
Journals are such a great tool to work on your own art and get your kids/grandkids involved no matter what their age! Below are links to a few journals you could use for this project but if you don’t have a journal don’t worry you can work on scrap paper, computer paper or whatever you have available. If you get super ambitious, you can do a book binding project with your kids. Peg & Awl has a great bookbinding tutorial here and there are many more online as well!
We start by collecting travel ephemera from local estate/vintage stores, Etsy, or I have also created a Wanderlust Ephemera Pinterest board where you can print and glue images into your journals. Stamps, washi tape, and magazine cutouts are also great additions. We use little envelopes that adhere to the paper for the kids to use to collect stamps, plants, coins, little photos, or drawings. For the younger kids, I would recommend working on some loose drawings, mark making, writing words specific to the country, and drawing some plants and wildlife from photographs in my Pinterest board. The older kids can get more into detail with the local flora and fauna, write stories about the country, their thoughts about the country, and what they have learned. I would even teach some perspective and portrait techniques. Feel free to DM me if you need some more art technique ideas. Each month I stamp the kids book like a passport with this stamp that I purchased on Etsy…and add the name of the country. They ALWAYS get excited about this part! I love journalling for kids as it helps establish a good creative practice that helps build their confidence in both art and writing.
From an artist perspective, I love using my journal to select my color palette, storyboard the images from the country, and then draw some detailed images of flora and fauna, mark making, portraiture, patterns and mini abstracts. This is a great time to try new mediums and experiment with techniques. I am not really an artist that plans everything out in my journal, rather I use the journal as a tool to loosen up before larger pieces. I like to just dive right in once I have gathered inspiration and a color palette. Enjoy and email me with any input or questions!
Favorite Journal Supplies (Links)
Journals:
Kraft Sketch Notebooks for Kids
Fishrule Studios Book with Wood Cover
Favorite Art Journal Supplies for Kids:
Favorite Journal Supplies for Artists: