Home Page: written down

whew! i finally figured out how to get my pic here…was starting to stress..anyway, i pulled out my big honkin’ pad of watercolor paper, and as i prepared to pull out a sheet and tear it down to the size i thought i would work on, i stopped. yeah. the BIG pad just felt like home. the big pad, it is. (no idyllic small cafe trips with THIS baby.)

i need to be able to roll around in my journal. stretch. breathe. i need to kick the confines of a suburban sahm life and have a place to feel free. i want my hands to be able to roam across the page without being cut off too soon. give me space.

so here is what happened as i tried to answer the ‘why’ question.

Comment

Ok well here goes nothing! This is my intro page for my journal. It outlines why I am starting a journal. In case the scan is difficult to read the journalling reads (in various places and no particular order!)

“Why start this journal now? This journal is for ME! This is a really exciting time in my life and I’m loving it! BUT… I feel like I am LOSING MY IDENTITY. I am no longer a teacher but not yet a Mum.” “I hope this journal will help me cope with change” “So I am not a teacher anymore. Who am I? What am I? Why am I? LIFE IS CHANGING – Can I change with it?”

I read Shimelles prompt and what really struck me was that even though I truly am enjoying my life at the moment and I am so excited to become a Mum I am also feeling a little bit lost. I have started my maternity leave but as I am not a Mum yet I feel kind of in limbo. For this entry I took a photo of my pregnant belly in black and white, printed it onto canvas and used it as the background for my intro page! I used inks and oil pastels over the top of the image and journalled in plain black marker pen. I’m still thinking about some other ideas on Shimelles prompt sheet so may add to this weeks entry… or maybe not! Who knows?

Mel x

Comment

I created the page without looking at anyone else’s. Now as I go back I’m amazed how many people consider this an opportunity for rebirth and reinvention of themselves or their creativity. I certainly do. I’m 32 weeks in to a high-risk pregnancy, and having spent most of it in bed, I’ve begun to feel a sense of loss of my identity and purpose in the world. Maybe that’s why the page turned out all dark-greens and brown.
I am an avid scrapbooker, but I’ve never made a page about myself, let alone written down my thoughts about this time in my life. No wonder I have no identity, huh? This was scary in a couple of ways: First, it’s about me. Second, I really wanted this to be experimental and, you know, brave and artistic and stuff. I know lines. I can do lines. But DRAWING? Splattering paint? Now that is high-risk. But I did it. I can’t say I’m feeling anything towards it more than slightly embarrassed about sharing something more personal than I’ve ever shared, but there it is. Spring is here. Does this get easier the more often you do it?

This is the whole page. You can see the tag journal I tucked under the canvas picture of myself and my daughter.

This is a closeup of the tag book itself.

Comment

i have been reading the posts and a lot of people seem to be planning and making notes before doing anything. not that i think there is anything wrong with that but i guess i was just thinking of going for it – I guess i’ll get more mistakes that way but if i plan too much i wondered if i would be as honest as i hope to be. What does anyone else think?

Comment

I signed up for this class because I feel like I have a lot of crazy in my life right now and felt this would be a great way to release those crazy feelings that are swimming wildly inside of me. I was ready to be free and not worry. Well, guess what?? It’s not happening!! I’m trying to work on my cover and I have all the beautiful paper, charms, wonderful words, and wonderful colors. All I can see is what I’m doing wrong and how that won’t work and if I use that paper my cover will be boring. What was I thinking? Help!!! I need to get rid of my inner critic!! Any suggestions to take that first step?

Comment

I’m doing this Art Journal challenge with my six year old daughter. I am always so inspired by children’s art and I thought you might be as well. She made the image in the center with one of those spinning discs and you drip paint on the paper.
NOW, I think I can tackle my first page! LOL!

Jane Swanson

Comment

Your ‘inner critic’ that is.. You know the one… she sits on your shoulder while you stare at a blank page feeling inadequate and untalented and dares you to try, while telling you all the while that you’ll never be good enough, arty enough, clever enough, anything enough…
Personally, I like lists. As per a previous comment, when I make or create something and find Little Miss Critical breathing down my neck, I give her free reign. I let her write a list of everything that’s wrong with it and why I should never ever have considered trying in the first palce.
When it finally goes quiet and she runs out of things to say I tell her very firmly” tough – I made it and I’m damned proud of it. So There.” (occassionally I poke my tongue out at her as well, just for emphasis)
Then I chuck the list in the bin and move on.

What about you?

Comment

I arrived home from work late tonight – approx 8:30pm – exhausted – I had my notes from the art journal challenge in my handbag and really wanted to give it a go tonight – after the kids were in bed – I thought I would just paint the foundation – but just kept going and this is the result – feeling very energetic and excited about this “journey” (not so thrilled about getting up in 5 hours) – VERY impressed with the posts so far! Enjoy!

Comment

Sarah, I wanted to comment on your thoughts, but I couldn’t link to it. I wonder if it because it has no title.

Sarah, I know exactly what you mean about the usual process of keeping a diary – it ends up being more of a narration and a description of the surface of the day, not a reflection of my experience of it.

After I published my page on here last night, I found that I wanted to do another page. It turned out very random, sort of free verse, with dark and light areas of colour. It was an odd feeling, I think it came from my experiences over the past three years, positive and negative.

I think by using colour and art in our pages, we are able to explore deeper feelings through imagery than we may be comfortable exposing in ‘stark’ words.

Kel x

Comment

Feeling totally overwhelmed – I have tried to keep a “REGULAR” journal before but feel kind of false writing my feelings, my diary usually is a dull rundown of what we did not what I felt….....after a week or so of that I give up…...

I kept a better journal whilst I was a patient in The Priory (for my anxiety/phobia) early last year and included doodlings and poetry (bad poetry!!) – but it vanished shortly after I came home – can’t find it anywhere – strange….

I can write, have even written a chapter of a book, but its writing about me, about who i am that i am going to find difficult. Also am really bad at art and although i would love to think of myself as an artist (I’m a scrapbooker) – it doesn’t feel comfortable…..

How do I know how to decorate my pages?.......Do i just get my paints/glitter/pens/stamps out and just go mad with them? Should I plan?......This is all so overwhelming!!

Comment