journal adventures

There's a secret side to all the adventures we have as wonder | wander | women. We love to share our pictures and mementoes of the places we've travelled as well as records of changing seasons in our neighbourhoods. At the same time we kept a more personal record - our journals.

Keeping a journal or diary, especially illustrated, gives us a little time to review our experiences. We organise the images and events of the day into a narrative, interpret it through our own eyes. 

We put down experiences we'd like to have someday, copy images that catch our eye, talk about process and technique. It's like therapy but also training. We fill our notebooks with ideas that will come in handy when we're less inspired.

One thing I love to do while riding public transport is 'drive-by drawing': drawing scenery as fast as I can as it passes by. 

It's excellent practice for several skills, especially speed and memory.

How many details can I capture in a minute or less? What was the shape of that tree and was it full of leaves or a little scraggly? Were those buildings really that close together?

Often I add colour or extra details later, as far as I can remember. I also write down impressions or note places I want to revisit.

A picture captures a moment as it passes, but our journals also preserve our emotions. The details stick in our memory because we looked harder, thought about it later, were more present in the moment. We took everyday streets or a place a million people photographed and made it ours. That made the memories live more fully for us, and we love reliving them together.