it's a start

Art journaling. A few months ago I bought the book Journal Spilling and have been looking through it since. I tried to convince myself I didn't need another journal to start this. I tried using some I had already started. But as I mentioned in an early entry I love starting journals. Something about all the new pages. New possibilities. So in honor of the end of the academic year and a lighter work week during the summer, I picked up a few things at Blick yesterday. Mainly I went in for these...

I had a 30% off coupon and so I splurged on the set of 30. I LOVE them! I love trying new materials. My first art love was charcoal. Black and white landscapes. I did those in college and still enjoy them. But it has been awhile since I have done a lot of drawing from life - or realistic. Later in grad school I loved NuPastels. I still enjoy those...along with my Prismacolor pencils. But only when I'm journaling or doing abstract stuff. Recently I have been enjoying watercolor pencils, my little set of travel watercolors and my waterbrush. If you have never tried a waterbrush I highly recommend the Yasutomo brand. I started with the medium brush. They work great for doing art while traveling.They are easy to bring to work with me and in between group sessions I can do a little thinking and painting. But they are so neat. I'm a perfectionist. But I have always wanted to have a big, overgrown, messy journal. I am not sure I can do it but I will try. It is a goal in life too. To let myself just try things and not worry about how it will look, etc. I am always hesitant about making "mistakes", getting messy, looking stupid, etc. All those insecurities. And being that I'm an art therapist...I want a dose of my own medicine. So I'm going to try it. Here's what I worked on today...

Started with a page of journaling about all the things on my mind. Then I let myself play around with gesso over my words and then my new Neocolors. Still a little neat for what I am trying to do. But it's a start.

Note: after writing this entry I noticed that Donna Downey's blog for her Inspiration Wednesday this week shows how she uses these watercolor crayons and her waterbrush in her art journal.

Happy Saturday!