Half-Empty Art Journals I Should Fill Up

Last month, I went through my art supplies and wrote a post about the supplies I shouldn’t use anymore. After the post, I gave most of those useless-to-me supplies away. Now I have reviewed my art journals and have come to the conclusion that I have too many half-empty ones. I should fill these up and at the same time, end one era in my artistic journey.

I don’t mean I shouldn’t have any art journals or sketchbooks anymore, but I think I could do well with only one or two. I have grown my skills by drawing a lot, but now I feel I am more of a painter. Most of my creative energy nowadays goes into painting, and I mostly make either watercolor or canvas paintings. So, the books don’t serve me as much as they have in the early years.

Ten of my art journals are half-empty. I don’t think it’s realistic to fill them in a short time. On the other hand, I have small pieces and hand-drawn motifs that I could attach to the pages and make collage art. Anyway, I wanted to share my inventory. Time will tell how quickly these will be filled!

Art Journal #1 – Smash Book

Who remembers the Smash Books by K&Company? I have several, but only one of them is unfinished. This one has the best cover as I have attached my fabric drawing to it.

This journal has all kinds of pages, but I want to show you the spread that has slow stitching. I have just glued the hand-embroidered fabrics on the pages.

Maybe I could continue this journal with the fabric theme and search for other hand-embroidered pieces from my needlework stash?

Art Journal #2 – Accordion Book

This art journal is really fancy. It’s an accordion book with a separate casing. The paper holds watercolor well but it’s smooth enough for drawing and coloring too. I have got this as a gift from a student of my courses.

This journal has quite a many filled pages, but as it’s an accordion book, I could fill the rest of the pages with a watercolor painting that would continue from one page to another.

Art Journal #3 – Spiral Bound Sketchbook

I shared the process of making the collage cover in this blog post from 2020.

When I start making a new course, I often buy a new sketchbook, and that’s what happened here too. This book has mostly portrait drawings. They were drawn when practicing and gathering ideas for the course Innovative Portraits. Some portraits are very abstract like the one below.

This book has still many empty pages. Here, I could gather other face drawings that I have made over the years. I think that at some point, every artist wants to draw faces.

Art Journal #4 – Small Sketchbook

Most of my art journals are filled with colorful art and contain fairly little writing or black-and-white sketches. This little sketchbook has some interesting ideas and it’s more like a notebook about art-making.

This sketchbook is almost full, and could be filled very quickly with the ideas for the upcoming paintings and courses.

Art Journal #5 – Colored Pencil Diary

This journal is an Archer & Olive Notebook that I call my colored pencil diary. I have filled many pages already. For example, see the blog post about coloring without limits!

My favorite part of the book is the chapter that has fun plant-themed pages. I made them for the course Fun Botanicum.

Even if this journal has many filled pages, it still has a lot of blank pages. However, I feel the journal is ready to be called finished. Should I remove the blank pages? What do you suggest?

Art Journal #6 – Bullet Journal

I love bullet journals but don’t usually draw in them. However, in 2018-2019 I bought a dot-grid journal just for small drawings. These became inspiration pieces for the course Animal Inkdom.

The drawings leave room for writing, and there are many empty pages left. I think I should remove this journal from my art journal shelf and use it for bullet journaling once my current bullet journal gets full.

Art Journal # 7 – Tiny Sketchbook

My smallest art journal is still quite empty. It has some lovely drawings, though!

Should I continue this, or just take out the pages and glue them on another art journal? When I carry a journal with me, I prefer a bigger one.

Art Journal #8 – Dylusions Creative Journal Square with Black Pages

Dylusions Creative Journals are sturdy and their paper is quite thick. I like to practice painting by filling their page. Black is a nice background, especially when I use leftover paints from the palette.

This is the kind of journal I still want and need. It will get filled over the years and there’s no pressure to do it right away.

Art Journal #9 – Moleskine Watercolor Notebook

Moleskine watercolor notebook is a small journal, but it has lovely panorama spreads and nice paper. See this blog post for more inspiration!

I am going to continue this one, for sure!

Art Journal #10 – Dylusions Creative Journal Square with Cream Pages

Dylusions Creative Journal with cream-colored pages is my favorite art journal. This journal works well with colored pencils, for example, see this drawing tutorial of Vermeer Girl!

The inside cover is colored freely with felt-tipped pens. I used thin marker paper for the drawing and then glued the paper on the cover.

I started this journal about five years ago, and have almost filled it. But I like to keep working on the older pages, making them more beautiful. Like with the black journal, leftover paints find their way here.

The paper holds water fairly well, and I use watercolors, acrylics, and oils there. I only wish that the paper would be bright white, not cream-colored. When the journal is full, I will record a flip-through video of it.

Half-Empty Art Journals – Question!

I have a shelf that has many full art journals. I have now put the half-empty ones on the right, so that they don’t get mixed with the full ones.

How many half-empty art journals do you have? Leave a comment!

Wild Garden – Paint with Me!

In the upcoming course Wild Garden we will paint flowers freely, intuitively, and expressively in watercolor. Watch the video and sign up now!

Wild Garden will begin on September 22, 2025. Sign up here!