For years, my creative journey has been chronicled in notebooks filled with the bold strokes of markers. I have begun to project and paint these images onto my paintings as a way to include the meanderings of my mind and hand. However, several years ago an unexpected call from a bookseller introduced me to a new chapter in my journaling practice.
Sara Stites, notebook.
The bookseller had come across a three-volume set of textbooks entitled Poisonous and Venomous Sea Creatures. The pages of these textbooks became a journal which I have worked in alongside my regular notebook practice. Each page was a palimpsest, where my personal reflections intertwined with the world of poisonous and venomous creatures.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
The thought of repurposing a scholarly textbook into a personal journal filled me with a mischievous glee. The idea of “messing up” a giant serious text opened up a doorway to playful experimentation. The scientific illustrations created a structure for playful exploration. The structured columns of text and meticulous diagrams served as a foil for my freeform doodles and washes.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sometimes I enjoy mimicking the illustrations, and other times I twist them into new connections with line. When I use less color, the interaction between the black-and-white illustration and my marks seems to blend in a humorous, complicated way.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Other times, I deface the original form with color, and by cutting holes that show another page’s exploration. Once I start cutting the pages, I connect the front and back of the page and the fun can go on for several pages of peek-a-boo.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
Sara Stites, notebook.
The physical act of transforming these textbooks was liberating, a joyous rebellion against the rigidity of their original purpose. Although I hadn’t realized that I had rules for my everyday notebooks, I felt a freedom to paint, cut, and paste without a plan, and that was invigorating and experimental. I could see that I impose a plan of exploration in the everyday notebooks without realizing it!
Sara Stites, notebook.
In the end, my special journal is a celebration of the naughty joy of messing up, the thrill of experimentation, and the adventurous spirit I respect and seek in art.
Image at top: Sara Stites, notebook.