New Year, New Journal

   Hi everyone. Happy Friday. We're wrapping up the first partial week of 2025, and the first weekend of the new year is about here too. I need to work on taking down the holiday decorations and then I have some cleaning to do too, like my art space which is one giant disaster zone. I am  too embarrassed to share how it looks though. 😏

   However, the start of the new year means the start of a new daily journal. My journal is a combo of writing, doodling, lists, new words I've discovered, appointments, lists of books I've read and many other things. I like keeping a paper journal because if I ever need to go back and look for something, like say a paint color, the info would be recorded in my journal.

    By the end of the year my journal is pretty full. Here's my front and back covers and then the inner covers too from my now finished 2024 book.

                      

     You might have noticed that I used a Hobonichi journal. They're a bit on the expensive side, but since I only need to buy one a year, I splurge. I've tried many other journals, but they either don't have paper that holds up very well or strangely, when I used Moleskins for a couple of years, during the summer humidity the paper seemed to suddenly become transparent to both sides, like the ink leaked through without actually leaking through. There was a ghostly pinkish outline from my black pen on the opposite sides of each page, and since I use both sides, it became hard to read. I've been happy with how the Hobonichi holds up so for the past couple of years and the see through quality isn't  bad for such thin paper so that's what I used in 2024 and will use again in 2025.

    It''s Friday Face Off over at Nicole's blog and it's Friday's Lunch Break over at Gillena's blog so I thought this week since I'm writing about my journal I'd share a few faces I drew in it from 2024. 

 

      Let me first explain that I don't really have the patience or time to spend hours each day drawing something, so all of these are fast sketches mostly to remind me about something that happened on that day. Sometimes they come out great, and sometimes not so much. They are what they are, and I definitely learn from my mistakes. I've also learned to accept my drawing ability as it is. My journal is A5 size (about 5x8 inches or 148 x 210 mm) so all of these drawings are small, which can be more difficult sometimes. And yes, I have messy penmanship too. 😏

And finally, since it is now 2025, it's time for a fresh new journal. It's always exciting to start a new journal.

Have a great first weekend of 2025.