Illustrate your Life!

The illustrated journal

My illustrated journal is both a drawn diary and a collection of visual columns, so it's both a visualization of my personal life and that of the world I live in. It's a cliché that an image can say more than a thousand words, but it's true. The unspeakable lets itself be drawn rather easily and accurately when it does not let itself be readily expressed in words. In a sense, many diary illustrations are like a poem, poetic, metaphoric and to be read with your heart, rather than with an analytical mind.

For my art practice my illustrated journal is probably my most important source of inspiration and visual vocabulary building. From expressing the unspeakable, new images, lines and ideas arise that creep into my fine art.

Illustrated journals are very hard to pigeonhole. They are not Art with a capital 'a', they are not comics, nor illustrations. And yet, they are an intimate form of art that expresses and reflects on the world we live in. And therefore they deserve a special niche, which is what I intend to provide space for on this website.

Also, I'm offering avid journal illustrators a chance to join me in an Open Studio to illustrate our journal pages together. You can read about that here:

Illustrated Journal Open Studios (try-out)

I would like to work side-by-side with other avid diary illustrators. I’ve been in many online groups and some Open Studios, but have never fully fit the bill as the illustrated diary is a bit of a niche. Therefore, I decided to start an initiative to work-apart-together by setting up my own Open Studio specifically aimed at the illustrated diary.

The goal of such a group is to first of all team up with fellow visual artists who would like to build and expand their visual vocabulary. A little chat in the beginning and a sharing of what we worked on during the session at the end would be great for picking brains, sharing and good fun. And it would also be great to help artists and visual journalers to keep momentum as it is a fixed point in time where they show up with their journals.

What is it NOT?

The Open Studio sessions are NOT lessons. I facilitate the Open Studio, but I do not teach, instruct or demo anything. All participants, including myself, are equal, work on their own journal pages and share equally.

Who is it for?

The Illustrate your Life! Open Studio sessions are intended for the more ambitious visual journaler, diary illustrator and auto-biographic artist who is looking for a tribe. One does not need to be a (semi-) professional artist, but one should have some experience in visual storytelling and/or be motivated to build and further expand their visual vocabulary.

The structure of the Open Studio sessions

In my experience Open Studio sessions work best for all participants when structured, so here is what the 150-minute try-out sessions can look like:

The first 30-45 minutes we can check-in and chat. This would be the time to share recent illustrated journal pages, ask questions and perhaps spark one another with inspiration when needed. The first session we’d use this time to get to know one another.

The next 90 minutes everybody is muted and works on their own diary pages, leaving the camera and the chat on so that we’ll still be working “together” and are available to one another in the chat for those who like to continue a conversation. This is also a really great time to see other participants be raided by their cats, dogs and parrots!

The final 15-30 minutes we can share the work we did during the session and perhaps share our journal-related goals for the coming weeks, should we have any.

Want to join?

There are only 10 spaces available, so if you want to join, please fill out this form. If all spaces are taken, you will receive word of that + one e-mail late December to inform you whether I will continue the Open Studio sessions and if so, whether and how you can sign up. If I continue I might add new days and times, you see.

Please note that even though participation in the Open Studio sessions are free, my time is valuable. So please be sure you can join them on the mentioned days/times before signing up. If you cannot make it one day, please mention it in the comment section when signing up. Time is in Central European Time (CET). Please convert to your own time zone.

Dates & Times

Friday 1 December 2023 -19:30-22:00 CET
Friday 8 December 2023 -19:30-22:00 CET
Friday 15 December 2023 -19:30-22:00 CET
Friday 22 December 2023 -19:30-22:00 CET

To sign up

To sign up you can fill out the form you will findthe button below.