Journaling with the Kids

Ledger drawing by Jennifer Judd-McGee

Flickr may be the source of my latest case of Inspiration Overload, but there are so many reasons to keep "drawing" from that particular well. One of them is mixed-media artist Jennifer Judd-McGee, aka swallowfield. She's an incredible artist whose drawings seem to flow from her pen like doodles. She's filled the pages of a vintage ledger with imaginary landscapes, such as the one shown above. I love the little hidden houses in the exuberant forest of oversized leaves and flowers. The ledger itself makes the drawings seem effortless and spontaneous, but the overlapping and meticulous designs seem like they have to be precisely planned.

You can see more of Judd-McGee's ledger drawings in her flickr photostream and purchase her prints through her Etsy shop. The ledger series of drawings will be exhibited (along with work of matte stephens!) at nahcotta (in Portsmouth, NH) in October. (I think I need to head out to Portsmouth--Elsa Mora's paper cutouts will be exhibited there at the Three Graces Gallery in September. It must be an artists' haven.)

After seeing Judd-McGee's drawings on Flickr, I remembered the collaborative journal I kept with my best friend Sara in junior high. We filled spiral-bound notebooks with doodles, song lyrics, pasted-in photos of our teen idols and fashion icons, and, of course, endless paragraphs filled with teen angst. I admit, not anywhere in the same ballpark as what Judd-McGee does, but that's just where her work led me.

And that happy memory of being young and exuberant and expressive inspired me to share that experience with my kids. We've started collaborative journals for a number of reasons. Foremost among them was the chance to connect with both kids in the midst of all of our work and other activities.

My daughter, who is a thoughtful middle schooler, often gets drowned out by her louder younger brothers, and we rarely get a chance to share our thoughts. The journal that we have started is a real dialogue. So far we've touched on how our writing has developed over the last few years and what inspires us.

My middle son has a tough time expressing his feelings. And the physical act of writing is really difficult for him. So I'm hoping that regular practice writing up a journal entry will help him improve in both areas.I have a tendency to go overboard with projects, so I'm hoping that I won't overwhelm him with my drawings and writing.

My youngest joined in the journaling action on a recent sunny afternoon. We sat under the oak tree and doodled for a while, before the boys decided to race around their reclining sister in their wagon.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone has tried a similar journaling experiment with their kids. If you have any tips to share to make the journals more successful, I'd love to hear them!