Art journaling... Haven't done it for a while, but have begun again.. I like it!
It's a great way of becoming unstuck with creativity and in all sorts of other ways. It's a great way of playing with paint, glue, paper cut outs and all the other things that kids love. It's also nice to know that there is no right or wrong, because the finished product is whatever you want it to be on any given day.
My oldest daughter turned 11 recently and we've been talking about girly things and coming of age things. I thought it would be nice to work on an art journal with her, something she could look back on when she's all grown. So last Sunday, I sent her to the shops on her own (eek!! her first ever outing on her own!) to choose and purchase a journal that she liked. She came home with a beautiful one covered in butterflies, and we have been creating ever since. The idea is that she makes pages of her own and I also make pages and add to the journal.
This one is a journal entry I made using a photo of when she was about one and a half, she's so cute!
This is another page I made using a photo of her, paint stencilling and cut out butterflies. I love this one because it really celebrates her personality. She truly is like a butterfly, free spirited and bringing beauty into every life that she touches..
Another creative idea I've had, is to have a 'family theme of the month'. We wrote lots of ideas like love, joy, peace, honour, patience, etc, on bits of paper and put them in hat, (a red sparkly one of course). The idea is that each month we pick a theme out of the hat and create art, write, make music, think about, that theme for the whole month. The theme this month is joy, and it's been so wonderful to see the children make time most days to create art. My eight year old daughter made these pictures based on the theme of joy..
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| I love this picture. My daughter explained that there is a girl (far right of the picture), who has created a world of colour (and butterflies!) around her. |
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| Joyous swirls! I love the simplicity of this one. |
For me joy is not the absence of sorrow. It is much deeper than that. As I write this, I have sorrow in my heart , a dear uncle of mine passed away a few days ago, and as a family we feel sad. Yet our theme of the month is Joy.
Perhaps joy and sorrow walk either side of a very fine line.
Much love, and here's to more creativity - joy and journaling! xx
