Customer Reviews

The True and the Questions: A Journal

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, let me say that I am a HUGE Sabrina fan - I have all three of her other books and love her work - her visuals and her words. I do a lot of visual journaling in my personal work and Spilling Open was a great success for this field of work.

That being said, I was thrilled to see she had another book out and while it is not in the stores yet I found it here and ordered it. I paid fo overnight delivery ($17!!!) so that I could take it with me on a trip I was leaving for. I do not think the description of this book is accurate. It is truly a journal for you to work in and less of a display of her journals, like her other 3 books. There are images in some of the pages most of which are recycles from her other three books. There are a few pages (5-8) that seem to be original artwork and words, otherwise it is recycled work and blank pages for you to work in yourself.

If you are looking for a little something more than a blank journal with some prompts to get you started in journaling and don't mind paying the 12 bucks then get this book. If you are looking for the next book in her series this is definately not the follow up to Messy Thrilling Life.

I love Sabrina's style and this book is just as inspiring as her others. We get a look into her thoughts, hopes, fears, etc... At the same time there's so much visual inspiration throughout!

One of the best aspects of this book is that the majority of the book is meant as a "fill in book" where the reader can jot down his or her own thoughts as well. I think this is perfect for anyone who is new to art journaling. It definitely takes some of the intimidation out of starting your own book. Sabrina has laid the perfect foundation for you. There are no blank pages staring at you, instead you'll find her amazing spilled paint backgrounds throughout as well as words and prompts to get you started. I personally prefer to share my thoughts in my own journals that I've created, but plan to use her prompts to create my own pages in my book. I definitely feel that this book would be useful to anyone interested in art journals no matter what their experience level is.

If you are looking for something to wake up that sleepy or vacationing muse - this is the ticket. I stumbled upon Sabrina and read some reviews here that were so good I gave this book a shot. I just ordered all the rest of her books - she is the real deal - so much so that her creativity will reach out and shake yours up. I only made it through the first three pages and I had to put the book down to run and get my journal which I had not seen in some time. You will not be sorry about making this purchase.

Sabrina's work takes on a whole new form in The True and the Questions: A Journal. This is Sabrina's art journal, but she does not limit it to herself. She invites the viewer to actively participate in this book by giving blanks for the reader to write in. It's like a fill-in book for grown-ups.

It wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I love Sabrina's work a lot, but I could have done better borrowing the book at the library or from a friend or something as opposed to buying it. The work shown in the book isn't very different or interesting. Nothing that actually stood out to inspire me. Although, she did leave blank spaces for the reader to fill out on their own, I've seen better books on this genre.

I'm the only guy thus far reviewing this book and I'm probably the only senior citizen here, too. What i've got to say is this book contains what I would describe as sentence-completion statements, a technique that I recall was first created and touted on all the self-help shelves back in the 1980s by Nathaniel Branden, the Prince of Pride or Self-Esteem. His sentence completion technique went something like this: "With my parents, I feel _____________." You were instructed to repeat this sentence completion maybe ten times in a one-minute session, doing it as quickly as you could. It was a technique that seemed to depend on the old Surrealistic school of automatic writing and the unconscious. Strange thing was, however, the technique actually worked and could create surprise for the trier of such a technique, useful therapeutic surprise.

Now Sabrina Ward Harrison's book provides similar and, at times, identical sentence-completion statements to Nathaniel Branden in that the wording or the idea in a given sentence-completion statement is similar or identical AND such sentences are to be repeated as much as ten or twelve times in a single diary session. The difference, however, between Ms. Harrison's technique and Mr. Branden's is that there is no time limit to the former. Sabrina allows the diarist to take her or his time to write however long and even however many sentence-completion statements she or he feels like doing.

Here's some examples from one of the five chapters entitled "A Handmade Life": "I carry with me _________." "I want to say yes to ___________."

Note: Not all the diary techniques used in Sabrina's book are sentence-completion statements. Most of them are. Occasionally she makes use of lists, such as "My worries today list:"

In another chapter called "Leaving Ripples," the reader finds these sentence-completion statements: "I crave ________. I am ready to __________." Her list technique in this chapter is: "Some brave dreams:"

In the chapter called "Trust the Mess," Sabrina offers these sentence-completion statements: "My head is thinking ________." "My heart carries __________." "Deep down I know __________."

Two more chapters are called "The Sweet Raw Here It Is" and "Backyard Porches and Dancing During Dinner." In these chapters we have "Loving bravely feels to me ____________." "I crave ___________." Her list technique consists of: "The top kisses of my life:" and "I wish I could get answers to these questions:"

The entire book is colorful, like a children's coloring book, and the writing examples are very loose and messy in that "authentic" look that has a certain appeal to young people in particular.

I think if you are older than 40, woman or man, some of the ideas or suggestions in this book will ring with a kind of self-absorbed silliness and outright fatuousness that only the less mature young person would be drawn to or capable of expressing. It also clearly has redundant or repetitive suggestions as well, so this 110 page book could easily have been half its size and still be good.

While the book does have its limited uses and its flaws, I do find that many of the sentence-completion statements and suggested lists are inspiring, seductive and helpful. I think if you are 29 or younger and female, this book would be the most appealing. You are the author's target audience.

This book is really just a journal with pages designed with Sabrina's artwork and suggested topics for you to journal about. I really love Sabrina's art but would not use this particular journal as a journal. Part of the fun of art journaling is making your own pages, not just writing over pages made by someone else.

This journal is fabulous. I am a daily journaler and I use this when I cannot think of a topic. The author has the beginning topics in it and then I can continue on the same path or I can go off on my own tangent. It makes me think about things I wouldn't normally think about and I like that. This is heavy duty paper, kind of like cardboard. Definitely worth a buy. I get tons of compliments on this. I have taken it with me on trips and home for the holidays.

Sabrina Ward Harrison's book is unlike almost any other book I've ever come across. It sort of a cross between a diary and a personal art journal. Unlike her other books, this one is a book you're supposed to write in, doodle in, color in. Except it's all in full color on heavy stock paper with her artwork and writing on the pages too. It's almost as if you and Sabrina are collaborating together on this book - she started it, and now you must finish it. I love it!!!

I carried this book around all summer when I first purchased it, and for about the first month was afraid to write in it. Why? Because I didn't want to mess up the pages. But that's exactly what the author is inviting you to do. Remember the diarys you used to get when you were little? Blank pages with lines: boring! Well, think of this as a funky, fun, diary/journal.

Sabrina gives you all kinds of journaling topics on very creative and funky pages. And she warms you up with her own short journaling prompts. Once I started writing in this book, I spent the rest of the summer filling in almost every page with my own little doodles, artwork, and thoughts.

This is a wonderful book, very unique and creative. Sabrina is asking you to collaborate with her, go for it.

I love Sabrina Ward Harrison's books already, and this one allows you to interact with her creativity to unlock yours. I get out my markers and pens and go to town journaling in a way that I wouldn't be able to do on my own. I recommend it for self-exploration. It's also a great tool before beginning other creative or artistic endeavors as a warm up.