Why Your Messiest Journal Pages Are Your Most Important Ones

Can I show you something?

This is a page from my journal from last Tuesday. It looks like... well, it looks like a disaster. The watercolor is muddy, the collage piece is crooked, there's paint smeared where I didn't mean for it to be, and I spelled "thursday" wrong (on a Tuesday).

But here's the thing: this messy page is the reason I want to write to you today.

We've been lied to about what art should look like

Instagram will show you beautiful art journal spreads. Perfect watercolor gradients. Perfect handwriting. Perfect compositions that look like they belong in a gallery.

And those pages are real. I've made some of those too.

But they're not the WHOLE truth. They're the highlight reel. And if you're only seeing the polished pages, you start to believe that's what art journaling IS — this pursuit of pretty.

Let me tell you what art journaling actually is: it's putting paint on paper when your hands need something to do. It's collaging a receipt from a hard day because you don't want to forget what you survived. It's scribbling words you can't say out loud and covering them with gold paint because they're yours and you get to decide who sees them.

The messy pages? They're where the healing happens.

Why I post my messy pages on purpose

Every time I share a "perfect" spread, I get comments like "I wish I could do that" and "My pages never look this good." Those comments break my heart a little — not because people are being kind, but because they're measuring themselves against a finish line that doesn't exist.

But when I post the messy ones? The ones with the paint smudges and the crooked collage and the misspelled words?

I get messages like:

"I thought I was doing it wrong. Thank you for showing this."

"I made a page like this last night and I was going to tear it out. Now I think I'll keep it."

"I started journaling because of your messy pages. I finally believed I could do it too."

Those messages are why I'm writing this post. Because someone out there needs to see that the messy, ugly, doesn't-look-like-anything pages count. They count MORE, sometimes.

What makes a messy page "good"

I've been art journaling for almost eight years now. I've filled dozens of journals. And I can tell you with absolute certainty: the pages that helped me the most were rarely the pretty ones.

The page I made at 2am during a panic attack — smeared paint, illegible handwriting, coffee rings from the cup I was gripping too hard — that page helped me breathe again.

The page I covered entirely in black paint after a friend died, then scratched words into with a palette knife — there's no technique there. Just grief.

The page where I glued in a parking ticket and wrote "I don't know what I'm doing" and didn't even try to make it look nice — that's the page that started a conversation with myself about what I actually wanted from my life.

These pages aren't good because they're pretty. They're good because they're TRUE.

The permission slip you didn't know you needed

So here's what I want to say to you, especially if you're new to this and scrolling through Instagram feeling like you're somehow doing it wrong:

Your messy pages are valid.

The spread that looks like a toddler got into your supplies? Valid.

The page where you cried and the paper wrinkled? Valid.

The one where you tried a technique and it completely failed? Valid.

The page with one word on it because that's all you had in you today? Valid.

There is no wrong way to fill a page. There is no wrong way to art journal. The only wrong thing is believing that your honest expression isn't enough.

A challenge (if you want one)

If you've been art journaling for a while and you've been hiding your messy pages — even from yourself — I want to challenge you to do something.

Make an ugly page on purpose.

Use colors you don't like. Glue something down crooked. Write messy. Spill something and don't fix it.

And then... keep it. Don't tear it out. Let it exist in your journal alongside the pages you're proud of.

Because that ugly page? It might be the one that shows you what you were really feeling. It might be the one that reminds you that you're allowed to be imperfect. It might be the one that gives someone else permission to start.

What this looks like in practice

When I teach art journaling — when I sit on the floor with someone and show them my journals — I always flip to the messy pages first. I tell them the stories: "I made this when..." "I was feeling..." "This mistake turned into..."

Because art journaling isn't about making something for Instagram. It's about making something for YOU. And you deserve the space to be messy, imperfect, and honest.

Your journal doesn't need to be beautiful. It needs to be yours.

Share with me

I want to see your messy pages. The ones you almost didn't keep. The ones that felt too vulnerable or too ugly or too WRONG to show anyone.

Share them with me. Tag @artjournalblog or leave a comment. I promise: there's no judgment here. Only celebration. Only "me too." Only gratitude that you trusted us with your real, imperfect, beautiful work.

Because your messy pages? They're not mistakes. They're proof that you're showing up. And that matters more than any perfect gradient ever could.

There's no wrong way to fill a page. Not even close.

Now go make something messy. I'll be right here, paint under my fingernails, cheering you on.

— Renna