Solstice-inspired collage and doodles in the final pages of my journal. Hope you find time to pause and rest today.
I don’t actually feel ready this year to start returning to the light. I’d quite like to have gone a bit darker I think.
-
Rather than make a journal at the start of the year, I’ve made one at the end instead. Since January, I’ve been making small book sections for it out of folded scrap A4 paper. I fill each section with sketches, paintings collage, notes, magazine clippings, mundane observations, ephemera etc, etc. and then once it’s full I make another one. And now we have got to December I’ve bound them all together and made a cover.
I usually find empty sketchbooks and journals a bit intimidating; I never finish them, or I rip out loads of pages. But working on small sections at a time, with junk paper, felt relaxed and stressful-free instead and I ended up filling up page after page. It’s so good to have a record of my year to look back on. Definitely doing it this way again in 2026!
-
Handmade stockings I made three years ago still going strong. What a joy it is to hang these up each year.
-
A new piece I created using gelli-printed collage papers and acrylics in my Saturday art classes at Unity Art Studio.
Emery Smith Studio 