(a) Love all messy art and craft play - the messier the better
(b) Want to preserve a legacy of memories, just in case I start losing my memory in my latter years, and also so future generations can get a glimpse into our lives in this time. Now I am a scrapbooker, which is an ideal way of preserving and showcasing memories and photos, but I also love art journalling. It allows different channels to scrapbooking. It's more personal in a different kind of way......it's often more about 'what makes us tick' as an individual rather than capturing a memory or a moment in time. It has proved to be therapy over the years. For example, we were in a bad car accident some years ago, and even though the physical 'scars' had healed in time, a year later, the psychological scars were still very strong. It was almost as if I wasn't allowing myself to forget how lucky we were to have survived, that I was re living the trauma over and over again. Once I had journaled it, thus have a written record should I ever forget, I felt an enormous sense of relief and was able to move on. I haven't shared any photos of these, or other personal pages. We don't necessarily have traumas in life, or even wish to remember them. But I wanted to say that journaling can be about anything. It could be a quote or a saying...as in the two photos above, or, as
in the photos to the left something that makes you...YOU. These particular pages are things I love and things I hate (in other words things that make me 'tick'). This could be your favourite things, why you don't drink coffee or cringe at brussel sprouts. It could be some jounaling about being taken for granted by those around you - feeling like a slave, or perhaps the trials and tribulations of motherhood. Maybe you could journal about a star that you are in awe of (Marylin Monroe, Brad Pitt) or how a particular colour makes you feel.
The possibilities are endless !! Have fun playing and creating backgrounds, with acrylics, watercolours, spray paints, watersoluble, crayons/pencils. There is no right or wrong and there aren't the usual constraints when producing pieces for cards etc. It is for your own purpose and pleasure. Once you've explored and created your background, start collaging on top. You could, if you are very artistic, paint your pictures in. If you don't have stamps that relate to what you are journaling about, look through magazines and incorporate them into your pages, even if you 'alter' them to add pizazz.The photos below are a few from a FaceBook group I posted on each month, until two months ago when I simply was too busy to keep up with this. It's called Art journaling Calendar challenge 2013. It was started by Kate Crane of the Kathyrn Wheel some years before and moved to Facebook in 2013, but has not changed it's name due to FB regulations. Anyway, if you are new to journaling, this is a great way of getting into it, as it gives you a purpose and only requires you to produce a page once a month. There is lots of inspiration from the other contributors that will give you ideas. The idea is you produce a background and can theme it if you wish, to correspond with a particular month and year, and incorporate the correct number of sections where you can journal something that has happened on each of the days of that month. It's lovely to look back and read what you were doing 2, 3 , 4 or even 5 years before...even amusing at times, as it's surprising what you forget you've been up to and how quickly time has passed.
Just a few of mine, playing with different background mediums, and collaging with digital images, magazine clippings, rubber stamps and even some painting and drawing. A variety of layouts, some themed for that month, others not. The main thing is to have a go and enjoy what you are doing. It is meant to be a pleasure after all.
Christine
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