My journals have always been about words. In fact, when I look back over the years and years of words (I have about twenty years' worth of journals), I find small glimmers here and there of a more visual nature, but historically, it's been all about the words.

Still, there were always places where I'd paste in something I saw from the newspaper and draw borders around it. Or paste in family pictures and doodle. Or write those words in a spiral or backwards, or draw a picture of what I could see out my bedroom window. I'd embellish the words; emphasize the focus.

A couple years ago, I gave up the ghost. Having been introduced to the world of visual art via the internet and several mailing lists, I was keeping my journals in a digital format. The words were already taken care of, and my books were sitting blank. What would I put in them now, I thought...

Several volumes later, my visual journals are more raw than my journals with words ever hoped to be. There's something about art that gets to the heart of a matter with a minimum of effort. I still keep my journals with words, and my visual journals incorporate words, as well. But my pages are never naked.

• Click the butterfly to start looking through my books. It will always take you to the next page.
• The "Art of the Journal" logo at the top will always bring you back here.
• The "moderngypsy" link at the bottom will take you back to the main index
• "thumbnails" will take you to an index of all the pages
• "more" (if it is available) may lead you to a pop-up window of more information.

The butterfly awaits your command.