Journal or sketchbook? what is the difference?

Wells next the Sea, blue blue day. oil on paper, (old painting)

What do you call your sketchbooks - journals? or sketchbooks?

For me they are definitely sketch books, gathering and recording information and working through ideas. Some rough and quick, some much more 'finished'. Even though I do often write in them about the day, the light, the history or interesting facts that add to the feel of the place and the memories for me. (not to mention shopping lists of art materials, artists quotes, information on exhibitions, things stuck in and lots more) They are a resource to draw on in the future.

Sometimes I take work out and frame it - that happened to the one above. If I remove it, then I do a scan and put a print in its place so the information and link to the work before and after isn't lost. Usually it remains in the sketchbook though.

Some make journals with text and image beautifully balanced - it's an ongoing diary, a stream of consciousness.

So what are yours? Journals? sketchbooks?

I'm taking a week off the blog to concentrate on painting. I've been so snowed under lately that painting took a backseat - but I'll be back in a week, hopefully with lots of sketches. Maybe links to interesting journals and sketchbooks as well.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm just getting started, so mine have been sketchbooks. I usually add the date, and maybe the place. The sketchbook for the art class is definitely for the class~ a sketchbook.

I think some artists are more like street/sketchbook artists. They don't use them as a preliminary to paintings or other media. They simply sketch either what they see, or from memory, imagination, etc.

Others use them as a 'drawing board' , a brainstorming, note taking that leads to a final product.
9:08 pm
Unknown said…
Mine are definitely sketchbooks. I rarely write anything apart from the date, the subject as appropriate, and which media I used. I fill them with sketches and doodles of various levels of detail. Sometimes for fun, sometimes for reference and sometimes just to see how a particular medium behaves on the paper. But definitely not a journal !
9:17 pm
Ann said…
That's a beautiful painting! I guess the best description for me would be a 'sketch journal'. I do have some pages that are more finished in a visual journal fashion, but mostly they are a quick visual record along with written notes that may or may not relate to the image. Most of those pages I don't share, however:-) My Flickr sketchbook set is the best place to see the pages I have shared all in one spot.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29216809@N08/sets/72157623081802732/
10:10 pm
vivien said…
those comments pretty much gel with how I use mine - a workbook, rather than something consciously laid out to be a finished and beautiful object in its own right throughout
10:28 am
Lisa Le Quelenec said…
Hi Vivien, this is interesting. Mine are definately sketch/workbooks I don't think anyone in their right mind would think any of them were beautiful objects. They're far to messy and scribbly on the whole and I don't think they'd make any sense to anyone but me :o) Some of the (ahem) neater pages are posted on my flickr account.

Have a great week painting.
6:07 pm
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