Today I’m including a week of journal pages to (try to) catch up. You can click twice on any image for a larger version. My favorite funny dream stories are on the last page below.
Wordles: MATEY and ELUDE and dream of a coyote podcast and ranch
Above, left: Wordle was MATEY. I drew an obituary photo for a Ms. Doris Matey and an “Ahoy Matey Dahlia.”
Dreams that day:
A guy took my spot at a shared art studio
Shopping for a water brush in an old car repair garage
My sister and my niece looking like each other
Above, right: Wordle was ELUDE so I drew a kitty eluding capture.
Dream: two guys had a podcast about coyotes at their coyote ranch (and some other stuff I didn’t draw–zoom in on text in photo if you care).
Wordle Opera, Pixie; Frog and Donkey Dreams (Click image and then click again to enlarge)
Such fun for these two days of Wordles and dreams. Above is the 2-page spread. Please don’t miss the close ups of the individual pages with the dreams, stories (and even music and dance) about the illustrations (Below).
Wordle LAYER and SLEEK and dreams of poodles, pens, bears and bats
Wordle LAYER and SLEEK and dreams of poodles, pens, bears and bats
Above is my journal spread with Wordles and Pictures and my dreams for January 4 and 5. Below are close-ups of each page and some easier-to-read stuff from the pages so if (big IF) you are interested in reading my weird dreams, you won’t have to squint at my scribbles on the page.
Here are my Wordles and dreams for January 1-3. Above is the two-day spread for January 2-3 and below are the individual pages for all three days with some comments.
Daily Dreams and Wordles Illustrated (Frock and Adopt)
When I started my blog, JanasJournal.com in 2006, it was an illustrated daily journal where I shared my world and my creative journeys through many different media. Now I’ve returned to my journaling roots and I’ve found inspiration from a surprising source: the daily Wordle puzzle, which I solve and then illustrate each day.
A view from my favorite park along the SF Bay, Point Isabel
While my journeys may have become more interior thanks to the pandemic, illustrating where my imagination and dreams take me keeps me entertained. But I’m also including sketches from places I go in real life, like Point Isabel above, a huge park along the SF Bay where dogs can run free, roll in the grass, splash in mud puddles and rinse off in the bay.
Wordle: Unlit and Dance
I’m using a page-a-day Hobonichi “Cousin” journal with weird, very thin, lightly-gridded paper along with fountain pens, drawing pens, watercolors and Tombow markers.
I will share more about the materials as I get the backlog of 3 months of journaling, dreams, Wordles and pictures posted.
LEFT: Girl with wildly matted hair on pretty deck off pretty kitchen. RIGHT: Old lady dancing for people while workmen powerwashing on a roof spray water that turns to hail. Ink and White Pitt pen in compact Moleskine, 5.5 x 7 inches.
I used to start my mornings by drawing images from my dreams but got out of the habit some years back. I got inspired to start again after seeing Nina Johansson’s project of drawing from imagination daily in a Moleskine daily planner. Her strangely beautiful pages are skillfully drawn scenes from a vivid imagination. I loved her idea of using a dated journal so I bought up a pocket-sized yellow Moleskine planner and started drawing my dreams again every morning.
Russian soldiers marching and big feet. Chinese vase with butterflies and lady bugs.
I was pretty rusty at first, but with each drawing I’m feeling more confident about mostly drawing without references or props, and without worrying about accuracy. I’m using a variety of pens including Pitt Artist Brush Pens and their new PITT Artist Pen – White pen that works really well. I’m throwing out all the other yucky white markers I tried before.
The big screen kiss and lots of goats. Visiting my secret hidden basement room again and bowl of M&Ms.
The paper in the journal is thin so there is a little show-through from previous pages but the Pitt pens are great at not bleeding.
Woke with a migraine: shipwreck and monkey. Eat on Time.
Sometimes if there are no visuals from the previous night’s dreams or I wake with a migraine, I draw what I’m feeling or something else related to life, like the two above, the migraine image on left and the reminder to eat on time (to help prevent stupid migraines).
Guy from Ace Hardware tried to take my dog and phone. Tall ships, bundt cake and a painting in progress.
Odd, the food items that appear in my dreams, mostly stuff I don’t eat.
No dream, just a sketch of a shitty migraine.
From time to time I’ll post my favorite dream sketches here, but if you’d like to see them as I draw them, visit Drawing My Dreams Daily on Tumbler or my Instagram page, which I’m using to keep daily posting simple (no computer, just iPhone shots of the sketch).
Jana Bouc, Artist 