Art Journal Pages As of Lately

I get a lot of questions about my art journal/sketchbook. Basically it comes down to this: I don't work with a plan, I map nothing out, I just cut and glue and paint and draw and make a mess. It's always interesting to me how pages turn out. Usually filled with flowers and stars, and often female faces. I guess I don't really know what it all means, but it comes from someplace deep within my mind.

One of the other questions I get it about what kind of sketchbook I use. I used to use a typical hardcover sketchbook, but since my pages are mixed media and consist of multiple layers, it got so thick that it burst from the spine. My current art journal is handmade by the amazing Helen from BadBooks on Etsy. I have one of her larger books; mine measures about 6" x 9." They aren't currently listed in her shop, but she does do custom orders. I also have one of her smaller journals. They are amazing, filled with different types of paper, different sizes, secret pockets, envelopes... I'll never get my sketchbooks anywhere else.

I want to do one of those sped up time lapse videos eventually, but don't quite know how all that works yet. Usually, the first layers consist of either maps or images of galaxies or graph paper. I love adding anything cut out from vintage books. Especially flowers and plants and planets. Faces from magazines. Words. Little doodles. 

It's my favorite way to end the day. It's a very intuitive and therapeutic process, and often a couple of hours will go by before I even realize it. Everyone should have something like this to get lost in, whether it's art or music or writing or even taking a walk. Something to let your mind spill out and organize itself a bit. It's beyond necessary.