I love art journaling!
Yet I have to admit that I was petrified of trying it in the beginning because:
- I didn't think I could do it.
- I thought of art journaling as regular journaling; lots of writing where all of my private thoughts and feelings could be exposed for the whole world to see.
- I didn't have anything valuable to say that people would really be interested in seeing. After all, I am just a normal person; not complicated or all the "deep" with unbounded knowledge to share.
But I have found that art journaling really is so much fun and nothing like I had envisioned it to be. It is a wonderful form of self expression. It can be "deep" and thought provoking or it can just be whimsical and fun ... because it is YOUR ART and therefore it can be whatever you want it to be.
Once you get past those roadblocks, a whole new creative adventure awaits!
Through Wanderlust 2016's biweekly word prompt journal (as a part of their yearlong online classes), I am discovering things about myself and where my art takes me that have really been eye opening.
A recent word prompt was "My Past". Just reading those words made me so reflective of my life's story; where I came from, who helped mold me along the way, my life today and where I'm heading on this journey called "life".
So these two art journal pages were created to tell my story in pictures. From my actual birth announcement to just this past week at my first grandson's first flag football game; my life has been rich and full of blessings.
I decided to create puzzle pieces out of my photographs as if my life where a big jigsaw puzzle with all of the pieces interconnecting and fitting perfectly together once arranged.
The background was created using DecoArt Media gesso first as a base. Then I added cardstock with time pieces on it to emphasize the passage of time along with some floral napkins on the outsides to give these pages a sweet, feminine quality. I covered the pages with DecoArt Media Matte Medium to seal them and then added DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide to give them an aged, sepia tone. I added DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Paynes Grey around the edges to sort of frame the pages.
The first page begins with my birth certificate and the puzzle pieces wind around from my 1st birthday picture, a spring day with my older brother when I was barely 2, Kindergarten Western Day to cherished family photographs.
The second page begins as a Junior in high school where I was on the dance team and met my future husband. We dated and married and were blessed with two beautiful children. They brought so much joy to our lives and now that joy has been multiplied with four beautiful grandchildren.
I am a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason" and I know that the people who have been placed in my life's path have also been placed there for a reason. God is so good and I trust Him completely as I continue on this wonderful journey.
If you don't art journal, I encourage you to give it a try. It's a wonderful way to explore your own creativity and maybe even allow yourself to open up a whole lot of wonderful memories.
Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!
