Layers of Meaning: Elements of Visual Journaling

by Rakefet Hadar

Express yourself in a visual journal! With the ideas in this book, you will learn to create mixed media pages that express your soul and create a path to healing, internal freedom, and the sparking of passion.

“Visual Journey Journaling” is an innovative artistic method taught by Rakefet Hadar and made up of seven Intention, Magical Coincidence, Background, Images, Lines, Color, and Text. Visual Journey Journaling invites you to a fascinating world where you connect with your hidden inner artist to create "soul pages" using simple techniques and subtle guidelines to take a look inside yourself. Rakefet has taught these methods for many years, guiding even inexperienced artists to find and express the stories within themselves.

In the first chapter of the book you will learn how to master the seven elements in your journal. There are many fun exercises and a step-by-step tutorial of how to start a simple journal. Next you will learn how to make a soul page with the seven elements. You will explore a variety of materials and how to work with them to find and create your pages. You will learn to build your journal and how to bind it into a finished book. Throughout the book and in the final section, you'll see and find the meanings in Rakefet's stunning private art journal pages and read her stories behind them.

176 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2021

Reviews

[Andrew Wodzianski]

I am not the intended audience for this book.
I purchased Layers of Meaning, along with seven other journaling books, as reference material for the development of an undergraduate drawing/writing course.
I was in search of technical/practical guides, and volumes rich in references. Layers of Meaning is neither. The book is sub-categorized as 'Self Help,' and I should have taken heed at that label. The self-help moniker in this case allows the author questionable latitude with the social sciences.

On the positive, Hadar's illustrations are dense and provoking, more so after reading her autobiography toward books end.

The illustrations are the book's strength, and simultaneously - its limitation. Hadar has developed her own course, Visual Journey Journaling, but this book's articulation of the class only chronicles her own images. Including samples of her students' work would have strengthened the suggested exercises.

Oddly, the pages are low weight with a matte finish. That choice certainly diminishes many of the works' luster. Worse, the page layout is wildly inconsistent. That may be metaphorically fitting for a book that highlights layered journal imagery, but it's maddening as a reader. Changing font, color, size, and style every four-six sentences is an exhausting experience.

[Molly]

A beautifully composed book—very visually appealing and rich—but also very brief in terms of content. I read the entire thing in 25 minutes. So…it isn’t that it is a bad book or anything, but that there isn’t much to it in terms of nuts and bolts, rather it is a visual experience (much like the journaling process she describes, actually, which is heavy on imagery and light on text).

[Joann]

A very thoughtful, instructive book, especially for someone new to this medium of artistic expression, but also for anyone who has a working knowledge of the medium. Lots of prompts and visuals throughout the book; Hadar must be an excellent teacher.

[Paty]

Wonderful process for creating art that will reveal your inner self.

[Jaymes]

Beautiful both the words written and the example art. Encouraging for those who think they do not have "artistic talent" to discover that creativity is a birthright for all humans.