Chadstract's Beat

Five years ago, I embarked on an intriguing journey to create a journal. This would not be a place to keep mere words on a screen reflecting my thoughts and feelings, but a real, tangible, and in the modern patois, analogue, book of deeply personal writings. Most importantly, this would be a journal worthy of me.
I had taken a leather-bound blank journal someone had gifted me and begun work on this massive project. I cut and pasted in various bits of mementos, past journal entries, art, new writings and other ephemera. The deeper I delved into my journal, it seemed a greater story was emerging, a transcendental work that was at once bringing my past, present, and future together in some mysterious and amazing ways.
Through the years (and moving several times), I put the project on hold, always assuming that it would draw me back towards it like some sort of carpet-bagging comet heading towards the sun. The journal however, stayed neatly stored in my other art supply boxes and didn’t see the light of day since those early, intensive days in 2010.
I really had no idea back then that there was something called an art journal, a hybridization of classical art techniques, scrapbooking, journaling, and to some degree, paper engineering.
I learned of tried-and-true techniques others had pioneered with their journals, essentially turning them into magnificent works of art.
When I brought out my journal recently, I saw it with new eyes and once again understood its potential for becoming something far greater than a journal.
So I decided to rebuild it from scratch (even though I was 50 pages into the old one), employing some of these newly discovered techniques and experimenting with a few of my own. Here I will share some of my experiences of making my new journal. I will share the process, share my feelings about the experience, and of course, share some of the pages.
Instead of the book as a whole being one massive work of art, each page will be as well. Check back for updates to see the evolution of this truly unique vision in the works!