On looking back and moving forward : Get Messy Creative Team Blog Hop

We’re celebrating diversity in art and giving away one annual membership with a hop through the Get Messy Creative Team. To enter, just leave a comment on the blogs in the hop. The more blog comments you leave, the higher your chance of winning! Winner will be announced on Saturday. At the end of this post just leave a comment and then follow the link to the next person on the hop.  My blog hop post is about looking back to see how my art journaling has developed and how doing that has given me a real boost to keep going.

Sometimes looking back helps you work out where you want to go next or find some extra energy to get you moving forward again. Well anyway that’s what happened to me when I was writing this blog post for the Get Messy Creative Team Blog Hop . I got the idea to look back at my old pages from my creative team member friend Tanyalee Kahler who has been inspiring me since I very first started checking out  Get Messy way back before it was open to new members.

 

One of my very first pages. Learning about making acrylic backgrounds and adding doodling.

I started by collecting images I wanted to use to tell my art journaling story so far and as I looked at them I could remember making them, remember tutorials I’d watched, art supplies I suddenly “needed” to have and prompts I had tried. I can remember how I felt, what inspired me and even which room of the house I was in when I was creating. It’s like each page has it’s own little story which is hidden to everyone except me. Oh my goodness this was like a major a-hah moment ! I’m creating memories in a whole new to me way!

This is kind of paint meets doodling, journal and my creative wishing list.

I don’t know if I have a style yet, but I can see myself in all of these pages and I can see how by trying new things and persevering that I have become a more comfortable art journaler. Maybe it’s the mindfulness that comes with creating that infuses the pages  with memory. Maybe it’s just something that happens, but looking back has given me new insights and a renewed excitement to keep going on this creative journey. Yay!

 

 

Joining Get Messy, I found this image in a magazine and it just seemed perfect! I still love it.

Love this song, don’t love the page but it was at my beginning so it belongs here.

This was me starting to use images and words to express a feeling.

The art journaling game by Vanessa  Oliver-Lloyd (@dansmoncrane). We added a new layer or element each day and this was such a new process/ discovery for me.

Gosh trying lots of new things here! Collage, stencils doodling and mists. Printed out words were part of the prompt by Nina. (@imapapernerd)

One of most favourite pages ever, inspired by what I’d learnt in the art journal game and adding some personal meaning relating to the prompts about if I am a nomad or like to put down deep roots.

 

Altered book meets Jackson Pollock prompt plus colour, sunshine and inspiration!

This was just for the joy of creating in my altered book. Visually pleasing to me.

Being playful in my journal ( and celebrating finding out I made it onto the Get Messy team for 2016 – YAY)

My first Get Messy blog inspiration post –  all about colour.

Season of lists – Lists an art journals get along so well, and this image still makes me want to go and have a massage.

Anything goes in my art journal and this shows me being pretty happy playing with paint and collage and letting the words come to me. ( with my new Gouache obsession)

 

Do you ever do this ? Maybe flick back through a sketchbook, read past blog posts or look at projects you’ve finished ( or started ) and feel more motivated to keep pursuing your hobby/craft/art ?  Do find your journals hold memories that you didn’t even know they did ?  Please leave a comment in the comments section for a chance to win a Get Messy Art journal membership ( or just so I can read your thoughts on this). I hope you have a chance to visit a few other perhaps new to you blogs as well on this blog hop. FYI if you are keen to win, each comment goes in the draw ! Next person in the hop is the super creative Julia at JulesTea and you can check out her inspiring art on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/jules_tea/

Thanks for stopping ( or hopping) by !

Emily 🙂