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??

 

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

The Beauty of Sorrow...and Me

I'm excited, tickled fuschia, so happy - and feeling hugely vulnerable too!  I saw mention of a new blog on willowing.ning.com, called The Beauty of Sorrow, being started by an amazing woman named Regina Hong.  After watching her video and visiting the blog, I took a few deep, deep breaths, gathered my courage and submitted some of my art and a bit of writing.  And, my submission is up on the blog today!!!  Woohoo!

So, I invite you to visit The Beauty of Sorrow.  Read, leave some comment love - and keep on reading!  There are some amazing, inspiring and uplifting stories there that will leave you in awe of the human spirit!  And, if you are someone who lives with the beauty of sorrow; who embraces or is learning to embrace and transform the broken places that shelter within us all, then I invite you to take part and seriously consider adding your own story.  I'd love to read it!!

http://beautyofsorrow.blogspot.com

"My soul has grown deep like the rivers"  ~ Langston Hughes