Hi Everyone! Crystal here to share this super awesome chat recap with AnneofAlamo! She said a lot people in the chat mentioned seeing this all as a blog post so I am here to make that happen! Here are some common fears and myths about art journaling.
- 1. YOU MUST BE AN ARTIST to do it!
This is wrong, so not true! I am or was very smart in school, and University was my path.
I took foreign language and typing (back in the day before puters..gasp). for YEARS. but I so wanted to be in art class with the real artist!
This is one of my first pages done for Tangie’s very first ART journal Caravan…me peeking into the art class, that I could not go to.
I found and had access to the key with art journaling….many years later:
ART JOURNALING is the KEY to being an artist EVERYone has inside!!!YOU get a key to play, create and be an artist….EVERY artist wants you to play and join in!!!An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only. - You have to have pure inspiration…before you start!
NO NO NO NO NO you do not!!!you don’t have to.
these next words are the backbone to art journaling….
the process of making the page the journey is a HUGE part of the journalingthe fun of just playing…not having to get the memory across to a reader…but just playing in the paint!
and as dear Lili aka @misslovescraps said
“sometimes inspiration comes by just doing it”
it sounds so zen and such..but you open a kit, and love an element…say a bucket. but should you search for a photo of your kids with a bucket? or fill it with all the other elements? or just try to wrap a quote about buckets around itBut………………until you start you will look at others and go I CAN NEVER DO THAT!you don’t have to do what others are doing…but you can if you want!!
my hero Teesha Moore:
Monica aka @dailydwelling asked does she do those digitally?
I responded NO, but WE can! lolOne thing that Teesha Moore says, Is ART is PLAY Dont worry what others THINK, this is FOR YOU, by YOU and PLAYno shadows to worry about…lol unless you want to use shadows..you can…it is up to you!
another who inspires is Effie Wild-her name invokes fun!
She went thru a really hard time, One of her kids had bad drug addiction…and she just couldn’t tell their story,
but her heart was heavy.
She began art journaling to get out the emotionsSome times, I have a whole lot of crapola happening in my outside of the Lily Pad happy happy Anne of Alamo…
and taking a photo of my children’s rebellion, or a shot of one child in pure hatred towards me or my husband,
because they are adult and doing dumb things, I can’t pop on a template, and add a cluster. But I can art journal. - YOU can only art journal bad horrible things…no happy thoughts
and I love how Sharon aka @sbpoet added
“Ha! the reverse of the scrapbooking myth!” YOU can and should art journal JOY!!JOY, sadness, despair, and everything inbetween! lol
Monica added:
“I think that has been my biggest misconception. That is has to be hugely emotional.”WHENEVER Abraham Lincoln felt the urge to tell someone off, he would compose what he called a “hot letter.” He’d pile all of his anger into a note, “put it aside until his emotions cooled down,” Doris Kearns Goodwin once explained on NPR, “and then write: ‘Never sent. Never signed.’ ” Which meant that Gen. George G. Meade, for one, would never hear from his commander in chief that Lincoln blamed him for letting Robert E. Lee escape after Gettysburg.
many people do POUR out their emotions on a page…but it really can be…learning a new technique…
and just play with it…think of it as a scratch pad
@BevG asked a great question:
So what do all of you do with the art you create? Do you print it? just keep it? Never look at it again?
sometimes I upload. but most of the time I am playing and it goes in a folder for just me to peruse. I pop some in my year books and my kids are like what is this mom..and I smile…
This is totally up to you!Then to a woman who is here and is gonna gasp outloud as I say her name Our dear LILI She is too me the metamorphisis of an art journaler. @misslovescraps
SHE fought the hardest critic Herself And is Winning!Here is a quote from dear Lili
“I love exploring any style, any techniques.. and more importantly
PLAY AND HAVE FUN LEARNING AND DISCOVERING!!”
I read again and again from digital scrapbookers. I don’t even like AJing it doesn’t speak to me.
I say, there is no right way or must do style for art journaling. AJ is personal. It is a time to play, and try.
if you think you are gonna totally bomb it ………….find a bomb and start the page as a bomb!
Any of you ever keep a diary? Or doodle when on the phone or at school?ARt journaling is just that, but you can play longer with it
Tangie is HERE at the Lily Pad as a permanent designer!
Then to my mentor
Tangie Baxter…I want to share a free welcome to aj by her
What is Art Journaling?
I have a little challenge for you…I hope you will give it a whirl….
it is to create a page….not a memory page but create a page for a simple everyday task. But have fun with it.
you can make it with inspiration from Teesha, Effy, Pinterest or your very own heart!
think of something you do everyday…and illustrate (by hand or with elements) and play with the fonts…heck grab a brush and try to hand write on your page
I think your pages will be so fun…please pop it in the gallery…I would love to see it…this is for fun, but I bet I can find a coupon somewhere!
don’t try to wow me, or anyone, just play
play with stroke, push buttons, control Z is your friend in digi
the challenge is the actual process of making the page
and the end results is just proof to me you played.
DEADLINE: Monday midnight EDT! lolPLEASE…If you have questions, fears or Myths I didn’t cover…ask away, or add fun. I so hope you play!
I loved that so much! Thank you Anne for the recap! I think there are many who are going to really find this all super helpful!! Let us know if you have any comments or questions below or find us in the forum (First image linked to forum post!) with any thoughts you had!
Rae Clevett says
I missed the chat so enjoyed reading this!