Some people do resolutions or pick a word for the year or maybe a theme or a theme song. Since I am playing with art now I decided to go one step beyond my vision board I created and try a vision journal, well, what I am calling visual affirmations.
You know, I could have really picked an easier first art journal project. But this was a good way for me to learn about the various materials, what I like and don’t like about the different ones and just try things out. I learned a lot in the process. Like backgrounds for these things are hard for me. Mine kept going dark which wasn’t the look I wanted and made it hard to paint over it with anything but black or my trusty white watercolor pencil. I learned there’s a reason that Golden gel medium is the most popular and am only going to use the other brands I have as glue, not top coat. I learned that you can write on mulberry paper with a Sharpie but not a watercolor marker. Oops. I learned that sometimes the vision in your head for a page never quite makes it down on the page in the same way. (hmmm…that sounds a lot like writing.) I learned that I can think outside the box but that it doesn’t come easily for me. (Which means, of course, I just need to do more of it.) I learned that I am not a natural doodler and those little swirly things that look so simple and easy AREN’T! There are some pages I like a lot and some that are just so so but I love the book as a whole.
My intention is to keep it next to my bed and look through each night before bed and first thing each morning. I learned a lot about myself as I worked on the book, thinking about the pictures and words I chose and why they had meaning for me. By the time I got to the end, I had my theme for 2010 worked out. For years my friends and family tell me how talented I am, how wonderful I am, how much I am loved but when it goes through the translator in my head, the message gets screwed up. I want to stop that. I want to align the person I see in the mirror with the person the rest of the world sees.
I want to see the me that everyone else in the world sees. So that’s my theme for the year 2010. Here are the pages from the journal. You can click through to see the larger ones or go to my Flickr page and see the whole album in a larger size.
Edited to add: based on the wise advice of my dear friend Eileen aka hulabunny I am going back through these pictures to tell you something I love about each one.
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From Vision Journal |
Front cover. I picked these pictures for the front because they all make me feel happy about myself. I can remember where I was and what I was doing when each of these was taken and I can recover those wonderful feelings by looking at the pictures. I love the way the border came out here.
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From Vision Journal |
Torn paper collage that was too glossy. I was going for a mountain but it came out too much like a triangle. Tissue paper over the torn paper to tone down the glossy. I had so much fun doing the torn paper collage and I love the row of pics of me down each side border.
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From Vision Journal |
I really wanted to try the punchiella effect but didn’t have any of that kind of paper yet. So I found a mesh bag that had garlic in it and colored on it with the watercolors then stamped the page. I love how that turned out. I also challenged myself to use a color I don’t normally go toward, a peach, and ended up loving it.
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From Vision Journal |
I was really happy with the border on this page.
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From Vision Journal |
I adore this page. Love the colors. Love the mesh of beautiful things. One of my favorite pages.
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From Vision Journal |
I love my zentangle on this page. It’s a fun and easy one to do.
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From Vision Journal |
This page looked so different in my head. š I love being surrounded by the word CONTENT. This was an experiment in printing on tracing paper. I love the transparent effect without having to wait to do a transfer technique.
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From Vision Journal |
I like the placement of the food on these pages, especially the one on the right.
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From Vision Journal |
I adore this page. I love the words on the left and I love the me peekint out from behind the plants.
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From Vision Journal |
On this page I love the pens pointing to the typing fingers. It came out just like I hoped it would.
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From Vision Journal |
I love this page! At first it was just a place to play with my new stamps and I figured if I didn’t like the look I could just paint over them. Then I went looking for images that spoke to me and it all came together.
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From Vision Journal |
Although you might not see the detail, the big heart is all torn paper and I love it. It adds a depth and strength to the heart, much like my marriage adds to my life.
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From Vision Journal |
This page makes me smile.
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From Vision Journal |
I had fun with this page.
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From Vision Journal |
I love the kind of hazy feeling this page has.
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From Vision Journal |
The energy on this page makes me feel happy, like the way you feel after a good workout.
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From Vision Journal |
Another favorite page of mine. I love the hummingbird. I love the dog fairy. I love the wishbone "hat"
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From Vision Journal |
I love the intentions on this page and the way the yellow outlines call attention to the words.
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From Vision Journal |
This page absolutely captures how I feel about my marriage and how it has enriched my life. I love the quote from Pat Schneider that says, "You can write as powerfully as you want, if you feel safe enough." My marriage has made me feel safe enough to write to the depths of my emotions. I love the wings on the girl jumping.
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From Vision Journal |
I love seeing all the smiling faces of my friends staring back at me here.
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From Vision Journal |
I love the crowns…and what you can’t see well in the picture is that the pic of me, on the page on the right at the top of the page, has a little bit of clear glitter around it, as though I have that reflection bouncing back from the world.
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From Vision Journal |
Back cover. I love how the border came out….amazing what you can do with the letter "C"
Happy 2010. These are beautiful. I have an exercise for you, missy, in keeping with your goal for the year. Go back and edit those comments with the pics and take out every negative thing you said about your own art. Now find something you like about each image. Put that down instead.
Because that’s how we see your art: it’s beautiful, like you. Let the year of learning to see yourself like I see you begin!
Thank you, Eileen, and that was a great suggestion. I chose to go back on this entry and add my positives here.
Yay! I love the new comments you have added. Enjoy this new way of expressing your creativity. The work is beautiful, and I hope it gives you as much joy creating it as it gives me to be able to see it. Thanks for sharing!!
I had tons of fun creating the art pieces and I can already feel my brain starting to look at things differently. So it’s all good. Of course poor hubby now is afraid to throw any papery stuff away because I keep saying, “I can use that!”
Oh, wow! How I wish I could convey my thoughts and feelings into pictures that clearly show my emotions of the moment as beautifully as you do.
Your vision journal is so much more than exquisite.
Being willing to share such intimate thoughts with others elevates you to one of the truly courageous.
Amazing!
Susan, this is so cool! I love it. A couple of my favorite parts are the mugs of you up and down the sides of the page telling yourself, “I am!” And I love the sumo wrestler dancing. Many beautiful and funny and wonderful things captured here–brava!
Re: Amazing!
Thanks, Laura. It was really empowering for me to do this exercise. I love being a rank beginning at something again. It’s not like I feel I’m an expert writer, but I know most of the rules and how to play the game. This is a brand new dance.
Very inspirational and beautiful, Susan.
Thank you!
Susan, these are wonderful! You have definitely picked a great direction!
Laurie from the Art Journal list
http://slowlysheturned.net
Thank you for coming by Laurie, and for the kind words.
Great First Art Journal
For being new to art journaling you are off to a grand beginning . . .
Looks like you had a lot of fun and that is the most important thing to me!!
Love it!
Deb
SoulJournaling group
Susan, what an amazing and truly beautiful project. May it lead you into the glittering future you deserve.
Thanks, Jeannine. I hope it opens my mind which will in turn inform my writing. That’s the plan.
great work!
Fantastic Susan. Keep up the thoughtful, inspiring pages you are doing wonderful. š
*SOUL HUGS*
Sarah
Re: great work!
Ah Sarah, it means a lot that you came by. Thank you.
These are glorious, Susan!
I believe in magic, too, and I believe creative journaling allows us to explore its (our) powers.
Thank you, Melodye. We are doing great things for ourselves with this.
You’ve created a lovely path to lead you and help you relax before falling asleep; this vision journal is sure to seed beautiful dreams! ~Tammy Freiborg
Wow! They’re fantastic! My favorite (right this moment š is the hummingbird, but each one is breath-taking. What an awesome project!
Yeah, that hummingbird one is one of my favorites too. I love the little dog with wings in that picture…and the wishbone “hat” and well, most of that page.
Your project is lovely! Now I’m inspired to begin my own art journal. I’ve had supplies waiting for three years. Every year I say I’m going to do it. Every year I get cold feet because my own self is in the way. You’ve shown me how to leap in!
Go for it, Candice! I swear I am more afraid of these art blank pages than any writing blank pages. I keep telling myself to just glue a piece of paper down….I can always cover it up later.
Holy cow, those are gorgeous! I’ve long wanted to get into that kind of collaging. Do you have any web sites you can recommend?
I do Lara. Let me take a look at my list and I’ll do a post on it later tonight. Man, I wish we were closer and we could do this together. Wouldn’t that be fun?
That is so cool. Go you!
The art theme is excellent, Susan, and I particularly like the medium you’ve chosen to capture yourself.
I’ll enjoy dropping to see your year of self-discovery and expression.
Absolutely fabulous!!
These are really beautiful! Your blog is inspiring.
excellent
I love these journal pages. They are just lively and wonderful. Thank you for posting them and letting us know!
Wow!
Thanks!
what you have done here is an artist statement, something I spend a long time trying to get my middle schoolers to do. They have a very hard time talking about what they were trying to do, what they like or why they like something. You’ve done this very well. You should always be able to talk about your art, what your idea was or your process. These kids think art is just something you do, and they don’t realize that they are making choices for every thing they add to the page.
Nice job.
journal
This is wonderful. I think we all need to look down deep inside ourselves so we can learn who we are and what we can become. I found your art work to throughout your pages so full of hope and joy. Excellent project! Have a happy new year!
Elizabeth
This is a wonderful journal. I think the advice Eileen gave you was just what you needed. To think of yourself as others tell you you are, you have to say so yourself, preferably out loud so you hear it! Really. Try it. Writing it is second best.
I hope you plan to keep making journals as this is just a super one.