Art Journaling

I was introduced to art journaling a few years ago while taking a writing class. Art journaling to me is a cross between scrapbooking and keeping a diary.  It’s a place where you write your thoughts, ideas and wishes and then embellish the writing with color.  People who are truly artists tend to experiment with artistic styles and then add a little text to their art work.  The FB group, Daisy Yellow (at daisyyellow.com) has some fantastic contributors. My art journaling is much more simplistic.

Like the new rage, coloring books for adults, art journaling can be stress relieving. I have also tried Zentangles.  As its name implies, one can reach a zen-like state while creating a repetitive pattern. The brain likes repetitive motion, such as knitting or crocheting or doodling, but I found drawing was not really relaxing for me.  Coloring is.

And since I’m a girl who loves words and quotes, my art journals are just that. Words and quotes in living color. I use fine line markers to create the words and colored pencils to finish the work. 

First, I make an oblong “bubble”, and then I plan how many words per line. I decide how many lines I’ll need to get the words in. Then I draw wavy lines for the text to rest on. Finally, I color. Ahh…  Creative and relaxing.

Try it. You’ll like it.  All you need is a piece of paper and something to write with.

Here are a few of my art journal entries.

"Surround yourself with people who make you a better person."

 "Go out and be fishers of men."

 And just for fun:

"It isn't easy being green...
Green is the color of ordinary things."

Never forget:

"One nation under God"

Until next time,

Be Good To Yourself

~Nadine