12 Art Journal Prompts for When You Don’t Know What to Put on the Page

Hey friend…

I was sitting with my journal last night, staring at a completely blank page, and my brain just… nothing. Not sad, not inspired, not creative — just blank. Which somehow feels worse than having too many thoughts.

So I started doing what I always do in that moment: I made a tiny mark. Then another. And eventually, a page happened.

This post is for those moments. When you want to journal but don’t know what to say or make. These are gentle starting points — not rules, not assignments. Just little doors you can walk through.

Pick one. Or ignore them all and just scribble. There’s no wrong way.

1. What color is today?

Not what color it should be. What color it feels like.

Start by picking 1–3 colors and covering the page however you want — wash, scribbles, patches, whatever your hands want to do.

If words come, write them over the color. If not, just let the color be enough.

2. Make a page with your non-dominant hand

This one always feels a little chaotic… in a good way.

Use your non-dominant hand to draw, write, glue, whatever. It slows you down and removes that pressure to “make it look good.”

It will be messy. That’s the point.

3. What are you carrying right now?

This one comes up a lot for me.

Think about what’s sitting in your chest or your shoulders lately. Not to solve it — just to notice it.

You can write it out, collage it, or even just represent it with shapes and colors.

4. Cover the page first, then respond to it

If starting feels hard, remove the blank page entirely.

Do a messy background first — paint, glue scraps, scribble — then look at it and ask: “What does this feel like?”

Respond to THAT instead of starting from nothing.

5. Use something from your day

A receipt, a coffee sleeve, a piece of packaging, a note.

Glue it into your journal and build around it. Write about the moment it came from… or don’t. Just let it exist there.

Your life is already full of materials.

6. Repeat one word over and over

Pick a word that feels relevant (or random) and write it across the page. Big, small, layered, overlapping.

It becomes texture. It becomes rhythm.

Sometimes meaning shows up halfway through.

7. Make the “ugliest” page you can

I mean it.

Clashing colors. Weird shapes. Scribbles. Glue things crooked.

This is one of my favorite resets when I feel stuck in “it has to look good.”

Because it doesn’t.

8. Draw your energy level

Not your mood — your energy.

Are you scattered? Heavy? Buzzing? Flat?

Translate that into marks: fast lines, slow shapes, dense areas, empty space.

No drawing skills required. Just movement.

9. Write a list you’d never show anyone

A list of things you’re afraid of. Or want. Or regret. Or don’t understand.

Then you can cover parts of it. Paint over it. Tear pieces. Let some words stay visible.

It doesn’t have to be readable to be real.

10. Use only one supply

Limit yourself on purpose.

One pen. One paint color. One material.

Constraints can actually make it easier to start because there are fewer decisions.

11. Make a page in 5 minutes

Set a timer. Don’t overthink it.

Quick marks, quick glue, quick writing.

Sometimes the best pages happen when you don’t give yourself time to hesitate.

12. Start with “Today I…”

Keep it simple.

“Today I felt…”

“Today I noticed…”

“Today I avoided…”

Then let the page grow from there — words, color, whatever comes next.

A small reminder before you go

If you try one of these and the page feels awkward or unfinished or messy… that’s not failure. That’s the practice.

I have so many pages that feel like nothing while I’m making them… and then a week later I flip back and think, oh. That was exactly what I needed.

You don’t have to make something good.

You just have to make something.

Even if it’s one line. Even if it’s just color.

That counts.

Hey — if you try one of these, I’d really love to see your page. Messy, simple, weird, quiet… all of it belongs here.

There’s no wrong way.