What's the Best Journal to Use?

I was on the tanglepattern.com website and ended up responding to an article about papers and pens.  I wrote so much that it seemed more like a blog entry, and I decided to include it here. Writing my thoughts made me realize that I need to get back to including my doodles, collages, figurework, etc. in my blog on a daily basis.  Practice is the doorway to personal magic.  Anyway, here's my response...
There are two differnt notebooks/journals that I use. The first is Miquelrius. It’s the Spanish version of Moleskine. The second is the GIANT JOURNNAL made by Michael Roger Press.


The Miquelrius that I use as a grid. It’s looks like it’s glued, but it opens fairly flat. When opened to a full spread, the journal is a little smaller than a full sheet of paper. The pages are thin, however the journal has 400 pages. I love this. I’m a writer, composer, and visual artist. I tend to be a magpie and use my journals as catch-alls. The small size lets me carry it everywhere.

The GIANT JOURNAL is spiral bound. It’s pages are 5.5″ x 8.5″. It comes lined or blank. The paper is typical sketchbook paper. It’s selling point–500 pages! The drawback is because the paper is thicker, the journal dimension a little bigger, and the addition of 100 more pages; it’s harder to carry in my purse. (Notice that I didn’t say impossible.)

If I could only have one I’d get the Miquelrius. I originally got it as a replacement for my GIANT JOURNAL. Barnes and Noble were out of the big one and didn’t know when another shipment was coming in. Apparently, I was one of a select few who appreciated its size. The Miquelrius came closer with the page count, so I decided to try it. Having that many pages and being able to fit it in my purse make it my number one choice. I get around the thin paper by glueing in a blank behind my tangle page. Then I use that sturdier blank page as a collage/gluebook page. When I’m in a waiting room or watching TV, I sometimes go back and tangle in the nooks and crannies of those pages. I like the layered effect.

Busy Drawing Away

I didn't forget my resolution to draw something everyday. I also wanted to start participating in Spartan Camp at ConceptArt.org. So here are a few of my drawings and doodles. I'm trying to make sure that I use up my notebooks COMPLETELY before I move on to a new one, so some of the picutres overlap a little.