The Element of Water

Week four of the Elements of Art Journaling workshop!  I am so far behind, between health and life issues, but glad to have finished my art journal spread.  I've been dealing with a major flare for the past week.  This one included major pain in both arms, making it almost impossible to move or lift them.  I'm so happy that the pain levels are ebbing and allowing me to do so many things that are usually taken for granted!

Being a water baby, I thought that this portion of the workshop would be a breeze but instead found it one of the most challenging.  The writing portion was easy, but processing what came up during the writing - well, not so much!

Still, I had fun experimenting with background techniques for the spread and used my white gelly roll pen for the first time.  I also used some sequin waste for the first time - gifted to me by a wonderful Wild.Precious friend.

The images that kept on coming up for me were rivers, mermaids and sea horses.  I played with drawing a mermaid, but then moved to simply drawing a face.  I hopped on over to Willowing's first lesson from her free Art, Heart and Healing workshop for a refresher.

 

The message "Be Gentle With Yourself" flowed out from the writing exercise.  Perhaps because of the intensity of my health and pain issues lately, I had a lot of self-judgement and frustration pop into my writing and my awareness.  Issues related to living with chronic disease and pain; with the changes and need for adaptation; with the grieving that they bring. 

Working through all of those emotions, I realized that this will be an on-going process.  It's not a one time, fix all kind of thing.  That judgment and frustration will visit me again, yet I have new tools with which to process them.  And, as I always told my kids, practice makes perfect - or as close to it as we can get.  

Oh, and part of the meaning of Seahorse as a totem?  

"When seahorses come to visit it means consider all the possibilities! Don't limit your perceptions based on preconceived notions because things are not always as they seem. Seahorses can also bring a message to not overdo or work yourself to the point of exhaustion. You should be sure that you are meeting all of your own needs before taking on too many other responsibilities."  (found at totemwisdom.com).


How perfect is that??

 

Elements of Art Journaling - Earth/Body

I can't believe that it's been almost a month since my last post - or that I've been ill for almost that long!  I've been trying to 'tough it out' since I don't currently have medical insurance, and it's definitely been tough dealing with whatever it is I have in addition to the fibromyalgia.

The focus for the second week of The Elements of Art Journaling is the element of earth and our bodies.  Being ill, the biggest concept I found in my mind for this was "My body is a betrayer!" followed by phrases such as bones, death, caverns, pain and mud.  Every inch of my body seemed to be hurting, so I definitely wasn't in a good place when thinking of my body and its multitude of relationships to the Earth element.

I decided to do a two part journal page.  One page to express my initial feelings, which I then covered over to make way for more positive perspectives.  This was a technique that I learned last year while taking a workshop on Willowing's site called "Art, Heart & Healing".

The image that kept coming to mind as I worked on the original page was a painting done by Frida Kahlo which showed a multitude of nails being driven into her body.   It just seemed a perfect representation of what I was experiencing!  After scanning that first page, I journaled about the negativity, the pain, the frustrations of being ill and of dealing with chronic illness and disabilities too. 

It took quite a bit of introspection, getting myself centered and grounded, before I could start work on the second half of my project.   I love that I felt so supported and encouraged to do that work - simply by watching the videos and following the suggestions given in the workshop materials and by popping into the group on better days to get my 'fix' of positivity, glitter and warm fuzzies!  I only had the energy to briefly lurk, but that didn't diminish any of the things that I've so come to love about Wild.Precious.  

It's Elemental, My Dear

The Elements of Art Journaling class has officially started and I've made the cover to my EOAJ journal.  I'm transforming a simple composition book and started out with a layer of gesso, then built up layers over that.  I intended to do more layering but loved the splatter look enough to use it as the background.

Delving into my stash of papers and graphics I noticed that the things that I was drawn to were related to the elements of water and air.  Not surprising since I'm a Pisces with lots of water and air signs in my horoscope and very little earth or fire.  I have always felt a strong connection to the Earth though, and so a representation of a tree found its way onto the cover too.

I loved the whole process - there was a flow, a rightness, a deep, deep contentment all infused with a sense of fun and joy!  After watching the videos I just totally lost myself in creating.  I didn't have anything planned in advance, so was able to let my intuition out to play. 

I used various scrapbooking and wrapping papers, candy wrappers, homemade alcohol ink sprays, and a feather for the cover.  To reinforce the binding, I added two ribbons and two two fuzzy, delicate yarns (braided to give more strength) and then attached a gold leaf charm and several beads.  The perfect journal cover for this water baby, lol!

A super fun bonus was that my daughter and 2 year old grandson joined me in my creativity!  When Marta saw my journal, she left and came back with her own composition book and asked me to show her how to make her own cover.  I loved being able to share some of what I've learned!  Her cover is still a work in progress, but she gave me permission to share it.  It's her first try at art journaling, and I love the result!

 Even little Anthony got excited about making art!  He had a blast creating masterpieces on paper (and skin, lol!) with acrylics and glitter.  He took home two of his creations, but I kept this one:

I love participating in EOAJ and feel so blessed that it was given to me as a gift by a very special lady with a very huge, loving heart - and knowing that it has inspired my family to play and create along with me just adds to the joy and pure deliciousness! 

And it's not to late to jump in!  Registration will be open through July 15th, and you can get all the info at The Elements of Art Journaling

We're Having A Par-tay!

Yes!  Over at Wild.Precious things are gearing up for Effy's upcoming Elements of Art Journaling class and we're having a par-tay in anticipation.  People flinging glitter, sipping virtual cocktails, beating drums, flinging glitter, tooting horns, making new friends - and flinging some more glitter!

You should come along and join in the fun!  Effy is a totally wonderful Wild Woman; our fantastically creative, big hearted, supportive "den mother" and she's growing a great place for us to be, to gather, to connect and to learn.

I'm excited to be able to be a part of her class - thanks (and a few hugs & kisses too - mwaaah!) to the angel who paid my tuition.  It's going to be full of awesomeness and I'd love for you to join me there! You might even win the pre-party contest and get 50% of your tuition refunded ;)

Effy's also released two videos in advance of the July 1st start - a really wonderful one covering the basics of making backgrounds (which I really, really needed!).  And a newly released video with an example of a cover page for the journal we'll be making during the first week.  The first is only available to those of us who've signed on for the class, but the second can be seen below (yup, I have Effy's permission to share!). 

                                                   
Where do you go to register for the class?  Right here:  The Elements of Art Journaling 

If you do sign up, let me know so that I can fling some glitter your way - and I'll see you at the par-tay!!