Get Messy Art Journal Blog Hop

I joined the get messy art journal group to learn about art journaling, learn how to art     journal, be inspired by other art journalers and challenge myself. Well  so far I am certainly doing all of that, and probably a little bit more too.

In the beginning I was so overwhelmed with the prompts. I’d finding myself thinking, what on earth will I do with that, or I can’t do that, that’s just not me. The season was based on love and I think that did make it challenging, because it is very personal and sharing things close to my heart, online feels a little bit weird. Along the way though I’m learning a little bit how to make the prompts my own, modifying them slightly and only sharing what I feel comfortable with. If I can manage a double page spread, incorporating two of the prompts, then at this stage I am happy with that, and I have managed that for six weeks.

I’m making sure I find time for the tutorials which I’m learning from and of course some blog  hopping and instagram liking. I feel a bit like I am in an immersion program for art journaling. I have also started a pinterest board for inspiration and borrowed some books from the library.

I haven’t done art since I was about 14 (except for this year doing a watercolour class and taking some online classes in the last year), so apart from struggling with the term art journal ( because I don’t consider that I make art yet) I do have to remind myself of that when I see beautiful drawings and pages. I may be a late starter, but that’s ok, I’m really enjoying myself now.

I’ve learnt lots of new techniques, I’ve discovered that I prefer off white pages and that sometimes loose pages are less intimidating. That I love water colour . That doing page backgrounds ahead can be useful, but not always because they may not suit the mood I’m in. That I like time to think about the prompts and see where I can take them. That if I’m in the zone with music and tea and all my bits and pieces around me, time goes really fast. And that art journaling gives me a way to combine lots of the things I’m enjoying learning about, like painting, collage, doodling, hand lettering and creativity.

But I read this the other day in an art journaling book and I think it sums up for me:

” collecting and storing your creativity and inspirations along your journey to self expression” Margaret Peot.

Yep that’s me, on a journey to self expression. Don’t you think that’s a great quote?  I’m so happy to be on this journey or exploration, and yes some days are harder than others and I wonder what I’m doing. But mostly I’m just keeping on going, because I can’t imagine stopping now.

So on this first ever blog hop for me, I’m in a group with 7 other get messy art journalers, Vanessa, Zinia, Dawn, Lauren, Elizabeth, Lauren and Tanyalee. I’ve visited all of their blogs and there are some great art journaling pages to see and other creative things too, so if you have time, pop over and have a look. ( I know blog hopping can be time consuming, but sometimes you stumble on something lovely and unexpected, don’t you agree?).

Thanks for reading!

Emily x

p.s here are some bits of my favourite pages from this season of get messy.