People Are Keeping Art Journals To Express Their Emotions And Record Experiences

A slipped disc kept Aarthi Sivaramakrishnan confined to her bed for a month. And that’s when she realized that making little sketches about what she felt and feared helped her cope with her pain and distress.

“The only part of my body I could move were my hands, and I began making little sketches every day. The Inktober challenge, where artists all over the world do one ink drawing every day during the whole of October, was on and I got accustomed to it,” says Aarthi, founder of The Colour Company. “For instance, I needed a scan but had a morbid fear of the MRI machine and I found that expressing my fear visually actually helped.”


Since then, she has been keeping an art journal, a visual diary of sorts where she captures the day’s experiences and emotions not through words but through art, using various mediums. Art journaling is getting popular in the city, with people using sketches, mixed media and even words to keep a visual record of their lives.

Bengaluru-based artist Shilpa Nagaonkar, for instance, has been teaching art journaling for the last five years. “When I work on it, I am expressing myself through art, and colours. It’s also a way to practise and perfect my art and try new techniques,” says Shilpa, who has been keeping an art journal since 2009.

You don’t need to be a skilled artist to keep an art journal, she explains. “Anyone can do it, and you can use acrylic or watercolour, crayons or even pens,” says Shilpa, who recently held a workshop in the city.

While some do it on a daily basis, others turn to it to record special experiences. Aditi Maithreya, creative director, The Phoenix Company, uses it to record her travels.

“When I went on a trip to Europe in 2016, I carried a sketch book, and started drawing places I visited. If I went to a monument, I made a quick sketch, with pen and ink. The idea was to keep a visual diary and capture my memory of the place so that years later it would be something I can remember,” says Aditi, who also posted it on Instagram and Facebook with detailed captions.

For many, it is a way to express their emotions. “It has become a routine. I spend five minutes on it every day at 5am. It’s a case of my hand following my heart,” says Aarthi. “I used to post my work on social media but now I keep it private.”

Magdalene Jeyarathnam, founder of the Centre for Counselling, says art journaling is an integral part of art therapy. “It’s a good way of keeping a record of your emotions and thoughts. I usually ask my clients to keep an art journal in between our sessions. So they make little sketches or drawings every day, date it and we discuss it when they bring it to the next session,” she says.

The drawings say a lot about the person’ state of mind. “Only the person doing it knows why they have used certain colours or symbols. It is a great way of recording what’s going on without words as it conveys the emotions they are dealing with, such as anger or anxiety,” says Magdalene.



MEMOIRS: (From top) Aarthi Sivaramakrishnan captures her day in sketches; Aditi Maithreya created a series, ‘Little things I see in Madras’