Art journal challenge
An Art Journaling Challenge
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I have some exciting (and slightly scary) news today, because I’m about to start a personal artistic challenge… and of course you’re invited to follow along!
At the moment I'm taking the time to really dive back into my art journaling practice and for a while I’ve been feeling the nudge to start a brand new journal on January 1st... which means I need to finish my current journal by the end of the year!!
Here are all the pages I have published so far. I’ll keep updating this list as I go!
I am a slooooow journaler: I’m still working in my first journal that I started almost 3 years ago! So this is definitely going to be a challenge for me, but I’m sure I’m not the only one with an unfinished journal out there, and I would love for you to join me!
I will share each new page here on the blog, which will give me some accountability. It’s scary and exciting at the same time to think of all these pages that do not yet exist, but are going to reveal themselves to me very soon…
For those of you who might wonder: Yes I was supposed to reopen enrollment for The Artist & the Journal this November. That was the plan… but this is not what my soul is telling me to do. If you know me a little (especially if you’ve already taken some classes with me) you know that I always try to pay attention to the way things feel, because our emotions are the best compass ever.
And the truth is that it’s been a very busy, beautiful but sometimes challenging year: moving into our true home, creating my biggest class ever and selling more art than I ever thought possible… but also losing my two grandpas a few months apart and battling with debilitating chronic migraine (from which I have finally found some relief a few weeks ago, thank goodness!). So now I really feel that I need to slow down, turn within and pay attention to the little whispers that will lead me to new adventures next year…
If you’ve been waiting for The Artist & the Journal to open again, think of the coming two months as the perfect time to warm up, feel inspired and get your creative juices flowing before diving into the course in January! And if you are already part of the class, take this as an invitation to dive deeper, find new ideas and dedicate some well-deserved time to your creative practice.
OK, let’s get this challenge started!
So… I have some half-finished pages and I've decided to start with those, then I have a whole bunch of empty pages to fill (which is way more scary!)
The page I’m sharing today started as a demo in The Artist & the Journal, in a lesson where I share 10 ways to start a journal page. This one started with just a layer of collage, and then, month after month, I added some paint leftovers, a few scribbles, some more pieces of collage that were lying on my table … it was all very random and for a long time it didn’t lead anywhere, yet there were parts of it that I really liked.
Then, a few days ago I decided to work on this page for real, for a whole blissful morning. There was already a very light and feminine vibe going on and I decided to start bringing things together with a layer of white gesso, which is one of my favorite techniques to blur the edges of the papers and give the page some unity, all the while keeping my favorite bits visible.
I kept going for some time, adding more collage elements, blending them with white. I started using my palette knife to create different effects with the gesso and make some marks. I also splattered a few drops of alcohol inks in matching colors (another of my favorite ways to build up layers).
I was starting to really love this page, its atmosphere, its serenity. It didn’t have a story yet and very few words had shown themselves at this stage, which is kind of unusual as I tend to journal a lot on my pages (it is a journal after all). But I never try to force it and I would have been perfectly happy with the page as it was. Yet I could feel that a part of me wanted to play some more and see if something might come up.
So I did what I very often do: I took out my box of cut-out words and started picking a few, letting serendipity an intuition guide me.
The moment I found it, the question “How do you feel right now?” really called to me. It was just the little nudge I needed and it seemed to be telling me:
“Keep it simple, don’t start overthinking. You’re only just getting started again with this practice. Take it slow. Tune back in to your body, your heart, your soul. And be fully present. How do you feel, right now in this very moment?…”
I’m always amazed at the simple but powerful magic and wisdom of the journal. It never fails to give me, or show me, exactly what I need in the moment.
From there I started journaling about the way I was feeling. Grateful for sure. Joyful and excited too. And very peaceful, knowing that I could trust the process completely, let go and let myself be guided. Then the page kept unfolding with ease and joy until this unmistakeable moment when it felt complete.
So here it is: the first of about a dozen pages that will soon be coming to life… hopefully!
And that’s the other important thing about setting this challenge for myself: I’m doing it for me, for my soul, for fun. It’s not about pressuring myself or finding another way to stay busy as a bee, running to reach the finish line on December 31st. Definitely not. If needed, I will have no problem ripping out a few empty pages to keep this doable. That journal will be finished at the end of the year, no matter what.
The whole idea is to get back into a practice that I know from experience is good for me. It’s an act of creative self-care, and self-love. An act of devotion to my inner Artist, my Higher Self, that bigger part of me and of the whole Universe who knows there is so much more to explore, create and delight in. I would love for you to join me!
If you would like to stay in the loop and be notified when I post a new journal page, sign up to my newsletter list:
And if you would like to be first to know when I reopen The Artist & the Journal, click below and put your name on the waitlist:
You will also find plenty of free art journaling resources, blog posts and more pages from my journal HERE.
I’ve never completed a whole art journal before and it gives me goosebumps to imagine myself holding this treasured book in my hands. And of course, I’ll share a flip-through video when I’m done!
Stay tuned and see you here on the blog very soon. I wish you a lovely, joyful and creative week!
Light & Love,
THE ARTIST & THE JOURNAL
A unique art journaling and mixed media painting journey to grow your artist wings and take the leap from page to canvas...