When Making Doesn't Need a Reason: Finding Creative Calm Through Art Journaling

Not everything we make has to have a purpose.

It doesn't have to be a card for someone's birthday, a project for work, a sample for a product, a piece of content or something we're going to share.

Sometimes we can simply make something because we feel like making. That sounds obvious, but for me, it has been quite an important realisation.

When making becomes content

I'm not much of a television person. Yes, I will happily binge-watch certain programmes, but most of the time the television is simply on in the background while I'm doing something else.

For a while, though, I'd find myself sitting on the sofa with that little voice in my head saying:

Shouldn't you be using this time to make something?

And then the pressure would increase.

• What should I make?
• Could I turn it into content?
• Should I photograph it?
• Could I make a reel?
• Should I write a blog post about it?

Before I knew it, I was sitting at my craft desk looking at a blank page - and the very thing I had wanted to do to relax had become another task. That had to stop.

So now, when I get that itch to make something but I don't actually have a project in mind, I sometimes grab a few supplies, sit back on the sofa and art journal. The television can stay on in the background.

And there is absolutely no expectation that what I'm making has to go anywhere.

The freedom of making for no reason

That's what I've been enjoying most about art journaling.

• There doesn't have to be a finished card.
• There doesn't have to be a particular occasion.
• It doesn't even have to be finished.
• And, perhaps most importantly, I don't have to show anyone.

For me, that's where the freedom comes from.

When I'm creating something for work or to share, there is always an element of thinking about the finished result. Will it photograph well? Does it explain something? Will someone find it useful?

Those things have their place - I enjoy creating content and sharing ideas - but making something purely for myself is different.

• There is no expectation to get it right.
• I can change my mind.
• I can add something and decide I don't like it.
• I can stop halfway through.
• I can come back to it another day.
• Or I can simply close the journal and never look at it again.

And that's okay.

A page without a plan

This particular page started without a plan.

I chose a warm-toned mixed media paper from Royal Talens rather than one of my usual black art journals. Even that small decision felt like part of the process.

Why this paper? Why not?

Sometimes choosing something simply because it feels different is enough of a reason.

I used my Bruynzeel pencils to add colour and really enjoyed how smoothly they worked on the paper. The colours can be built up gradually, which suited the relaxed way I was working.

I wasn't trying to create a project to demonstrate a particular product or technique. I was simply enjoying the act of colouring. And that distinction mattered.

Using what I already have

The stamped design is from one of my Shady Designs stamp sets, Bit On The Side.

I stamped the outlines in a soft grey ink and, once dry, went over parts of them with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. I added a few doodled details of my own because the page felt as though it needed them.

There wasn't a carefully planned reason for every decision. I was responding to what was happening on the page.

That's another thing I love about art journaling. You can start with something familiar and allow the page to take you somewhere else.

Letting the page develop

The idea behind the arrangement came from how crowded life can sometimes feel. There is a group of tags together on one side, while the other elements sit separately, connected and looking inwards.

I hadn't decided whether the page needed a quote or sentiment. And, at the time, I wasn't even sure whether I would add words at all. I think that's important too.

Not every page needs to be completed in the traditional sense. Sometimes the page is finished when you decide you're finished with it.

What if we stopped trying to make everything count?

Perhaps that's the real lesson I took from this page. As crafters, we can become very good at making our creative time productive.

• We make something for a reason.
• We buy supplies for a project.
• We learn a technique.
• We photograph the finished piece.
• We share it.
• We create content from it.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.

But I think we also need some creative time that doesn't have to count for anything.

A page made simply because you wanted to put pencil to paper counts.

Ten minutes of stamping counts.

Playing with colours without knowing what you're going to do with them counts.

Starting something and deciding not to finish it counts.

Even sitting on the sofa with a half-finished journal page and the television playing in the background counts.

It doesn't have to become content. It doesn't have to become anything. Sometimes the making itself is enough.

And perhaps that's why I've found art journaling such a useful creative escape.

• It gives me somewhere to make without an agenda.
• No deadline.
• No perfect result.
• No expectation.
• Just a page, some supplies and a little time to myself.

And sometimes, that's exactly what I need.

Until next time, take care,

Lou
xxx