cultivating joy in the

Secret Garden

Nature and art both have this magical power of making me feel so truly and completely alive. It's all in the little things, the fleeting moments of joy and wonder, a few seconds here, a few minutes there, if we just pay attention, if we look at life with the eyes of the child that still lives in our heart. This is what this new art journal page is all about!

This page is inspired by my largest painting to date (see below). I’ve had so many requests to create a lesson about it, and I felt like this time I wanted to recreate this “garden” in the intimacy of an art journal, instead of a large canvas.

Both the painting and the journal page are inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden”, which is one of my absolute favorite books.

The page started with plenty of sunshine and messy layers of imaginary flowers blooming all over the place, wild, free and colorful! I selected collage materials that reminded me of my childhood and even scanned the end papers of a favorite illustrated book from when I was little. I used plenty of patterned papers and floral papers, and even a few pieces of fabric. I loved this stage of the process so much! Such a wonderful way to reconnect with the little girl inside of me.

Then I simply built upon what had emerged spontaneously, adding more and more layers of collage and translucent colors, more light, more contrast and a bit of structure (any beautiful garden needs some of that!).

Something else that made this journey so special is that I started the whole process by a guided visualization that took me straight into my own inner secret garden… I’ll share it all in the lesson I have prepared for next month! I also gathered plenty of inspiration to refer back to along the way (illustrations, photos…).

As the garden was growing and blooming, a few butterflies showed up, and then the sweetest little birdie perched itself on a leafy stem, singing its happy song and inviting me to play. It felt like life was bursting from the page and filling my heart to the brim.

This is probably the happiest art journal page I have ever created but it didn’t just happen by surprise: it happened because that was my deliberate intention before I even started. With everything that has been going on this year for most of us, it could be so easy to forget our joy, forget that our world is so incredibly beautiful, and that we hold the magic of the whole Universe within our seemingly little selves.

The thing is, we have to choose joy, invite it into our lives and make it a priority if we want it to grow. Just like in the Secret Garden, where the tulips and bluebells and snowdrops and roses were suffocating under the weeds and the ivy, we must tend to our own inner garden and make sure that we give our dreams enough light and room to breathe. Because what we focus on, grows. And when we focus on what truly matter to us, when we cultivate and appreciate the little and bigger things that make life beautiful, then we plant seeds that will grow and blossom into our new reality.

To me, that’s the magic of art, and especially of art journaling: it allows us to practice this “inner gardening” in a very real way, putting our hands and our imagination at work to create something tangible, visible, right there on the page or on the canvas. Not only does it feel good in the moment, but by doing so we create and practice new paths of abundance, joy and confidence right within our minds, which can’t help but ripple out into the rest of our lives. If that’s not magic then I don’t know what is.

The journal spread from start to finish:

I do hope this brings some sunshine into your life today. Please keep nurturing that magical garden that I know lives within your soul. Make it lush and vibrant and safe for your dreams to grow and bloom.

And I would love for you to come paint your garden with me! This project is be part of a new set of 3 “Art Journal Journeys”.

To get started with art journaling or re-inspire your existing practice, make sure to check out THIS PAGE where I share plenty of free resources. And I sincerely hope to see you in class soon!

I wish you a beautiful, delightful and magical day with plenty of sunshine in your heart.

light and love,

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