Sketchbook vs Art Journal vs Visual Journal vs Artist's Journal

I've been asked this question several times and have had trouble really expressing my own thoughts or feelings on the subject....until now.

Is there really a difference between the terms?  Honestly, in my humble opinion, I think it's subjective and totally individual what each term might mean or if there is really any difference between them or not.

To me, I do tend to differentiate between the terms and this post shares my own personal thoughts in how I view each:

First off, what is a Journal?  To me it's a fancier term for what we used to call a Dairy.  A place we could freely express our feelings and thoughts in written form (hoping no one else ever saw the contents.....lol).  A private personal place not intended to be shared with other people.

How I view each term:

Sketchbook - Raw and less defined.  Something that may be more for one's own benefit that is either kept private or content of interest possibly shared that might be beneficial for another artist (technique, etc).  A book to practice ideas, play, doodle, experiment with various materials / techniques, a collection of roughly worked out illustrations with intent to use for more formal or professional work.

Sometimes the term "junk" journal comes to mind where there's no real concern about how something turns out and a place that gives people internal permission to just play and not care about the results.

A place to work where one's inner critic tends to stay quiet.

Art Journal - More defined works of art.  A collection or showcase of sketches, paintings, more fine-tuned, and is all about the art itself and its outcome.  Page after page of artistic expression that might include mixed media, collage, use of stencils, stamps, etc.  More in line with results and presentation subject to viewing, comparison, judging or critiquing.

Visual Journal - An illustrated diary.  More personal in nature and more about the act of doing or process for various reasons.  A place of healing.  A place to illustrate and write about events, places, people, feelings/emotions, day to day life of the individual working in the journal.  Often more private.  A form of stress relief, a quiet place one can lose themselves....an escape.  A nice haven in which one can focus on something positive rather than negative or getting negative feelings out and onto paper in an artistic or creative manner.

Artist's Journal - A collection of all of the above that relates to the individual artist's day to day life.  An overlapping of all three listed above under one cover.  Can be private or open to sharing.  All visually illustrated or a combination of visual and written word.  Formal or less formal.  Complete or incomplete.  A combination of process, personal healing/therapy, and product presentation.  A place where one can do anything they want and how they want.  No rules / no rights or wrongs!  Personal expression, experiences, memories, playtime, safe haven to escape to, and place for therapeutic healing.  It can be anything one wants it to be without fear of judgement (outside of one's self....ha ha).

So.........how do you interpret or distinguish between the terms we see and hear all the time?   Have you really given it much thought?

One of Those Days

Today I've been sketching how I feel......the battle I often fight as I try to retrain how I think and feel about various things. 

I've always been the pessimist thinking that if I expect the worse, it would help when things go wrong versus expecting the better and things not work out.  It's taken a lifetime to realize expecting the worse is not the way to deal with things opening one's self to an ongoing depressed state of mind.  So for the last almost five years I have been trying to counter all negative thoughts and feelings by trying to find positives.  Some days that battle is far more difficult to fight than others.

Our weather today is not helping matters as it's quite chilly and has been raining all day which plays havoc with my mental/emotional state of mind.  It reminds me of how I felt most days when living up north and very thankful we're now in the south where all day gray or rainy days are not the normal.  And feeling as I do, I thought I would lose myself in sketching those feelings out.