I’ve recently discovered a new way to express my thoughts, inspirations, feelings and creativity, it’s called Art Journaling. For those of you who are real artists and are familiar with expressing yourself using paints, pencils, charcoals and other mediums this certainly is not a new concept for you. However, in my world of limited artistic ability, yet loving it just the same, it never occurred to me to start a journal just to express myself in such a way.
I recall often walking around Presscraft, our local art store, as an 11 year old and oogling over the beautiful paints and products that were on display. Finally after saving my allowance I was able to buy some Craypas. That was living high off the hog in my world and I was so excited. I drew and played around with those coveted crayons for quite awhile but eventually lost interest. Years, and I mean many years, passed and I never pursued anything remotely artistic until I discovered stamping, paper crafting and card making about 10 years ago. I never thought to actually draw or collage anything but did discover I still had a love for paints and art supplies. Quite by accident I saw a tutorial on art journling which peaked my interest. I knew I wanted to give it a try even with my lack of artistic ability so I purchased a spiral bound blank book and jumped in with both feet.
I sat looking at the first blank page of my brand new book and didn’t know what to do next. Finally the idea of a tree popped in my head, so that was my starting point. I painted a pink background, why pink I have no idea, and then went onto sketching a tree. Next I used acrylic paint and oil pastels along with some collage and glitter to form the first page. I don’t think much of it except for the fact that I took action and discovered I enjoyed the process, it was fun. I felt good that I made something all by myself even cutting each leaf individually. My next thought was to add a bible verse and Genesis 1 8-9 came to mind. I hadn’t seen anyone add bible verses on their pages but I felt it was something I wanted to do.
It seemed I was in a much different world than the other art journalers because I didn’t see anyone else drawing things to praise God or talk about their family. As usual, I was taking the road less traveled and felt I was the odd one out. I continued to watch the talented artists create their journals and thoroughly enjoyed learning about drawing, colors and painting. I stumbled upon a tutorial from Diane Marra and immediately felt a kinship to her because she was creating art that I could relate to, she spoke of God, faith and her family. Her blog is called Adore Him Creations and 2 topics peaked my interest immediately. The first concept was something she called Faith Journaling and the other called My One Word. Through Diane’s blog I discovered I was making a Faith Journal and there there were others like me. Well maybe not quite like me as they have artistic ability, yet I still felt I belonged somehow. I love the idea of “My One Word” and I’ve been thinking and praying about what that word will be for me. Several words have crossed my mind and I believe the word for me will be “Humble”. I’ll share the story about why I chose that word on a later post.
In the meantime, I would highly recommend visiting Diane’s blog . In addition, you may want to check out an Art Journaling/Faith Journaling group called “Create By Faith” if you are like me and have an interest in Faith Journaling.
At 61 I have discovered something that apparently has been there all along, no it’s not artistic ability, it’s the ability to have fun being creative . I have learned that I don’t need to please anyone except myself with what I create. I can paint a pink sky if I want or collage bits of paper just because it’s relaxing and I can thank God at the same time. So with all of that being said, I’m sharing the first page of my Faith Journal not for recognition but just because I want to.
I want to thank Diane for sharing her talents, you are truly an inspiration!
Thanks for visiting and have a blessed day!!!
Craft on Cue 