Art journaling sounds like a big fancy thing that only people ‘blessed with talent’ should take on. I can’t believe how many times I’ve heard that.
Don’t believe the hype!
I’m going to debunk that, and some other common art-based myths once and for all.
Myth One: Not Everyone is Creative
I will fight this myth to my grave!
Everyone absolutely is creative–you’ve just either forgotten what it looks like, or you’ve suppressed it.
Don’t believe me?
This is how you can tell that you're creative:
- When was the last time you had to come up with a way to make dinner with just four ingredients because you forgot to grocery shop?
- Have you ever come up with a solution that made your baby or toddler stop crying? Or to get them to eat their vegetables? Or anything to get any kid to do something that they didn’t want to?
- What about at work? Have you ever had to persuade a boss, but have them believe it was their idea?
- Ever plan a fun event or a surprise for someone?
- Have you ever negotiated, and felt like you came out on top?
I could go on, but you get the point.
All of those things require creativity.
Making art is the same way. It’s really just making one decision after another. It’s problem solving, and solution finding, and as soon as you start to recognize that, the world looks a whole lot different. You start believing you can, rather than saying you can’t.
If you can relate to any of those things above, or similar instances, you can rest assured that you are creative.
How to start rediscovering your creativity:
If you’re someone who has lost touch with your natural state of being creative, here are two things you can do to start to get it back:
1. OBSERVE:
Pay more attention to what you see in your everyday life. Be deliberate and use all five of your senses.
Have you ever wondered how painters make such inspiring works, or how photographers capture such great images? Their eyes are trained to see the world differently, and that is what you need to do.
You can do this exercise anywhere, anytime. Do it as often as you can remember.
- When you look at something notice the color. Go even deeper to see if you can see more than one color. Is it more blue-purple, red-purple?
- When you hear something take a moment to really hear it. Is it high pitched and shrill, or deep and booming. Is it pulsating, or smooth?
- When you feel something, what are you really feeling? Is the soap just slippery, or is it creamy? Astringent? Does it feel soothing?
- When eating, try to distinguish individual spices (beyond salty, sweet, etc.)
- And smelling…notice smells around you on a different level. If it’s a bad smell, is it sour? Weirdly sweet? Pungent?
We use all five senses every day, but rarely do we really examine them. The more in touch with this type of perception you are, the more in touch with your creativity you will become.
2. NOTE:
Take some time to write (maybe even in an art journal) about what that experience is like for you. Take notice of how you feel, and any awarenesses that arise because of it.
- Does it make you feel anxious, or calm?
- Is it hard? Does it get easier? Does it come to you naturally?
- How distracted do you get? Can you come back to it?
- Did you notice any changes in your thoughts or actions?
- Note anything else.
- Do mindful exercises like noticing how your bare feet feel as you walk, or how the pen feels as it drags across the paper.
Do this for at least a week. Longer is better, until you start noticing yourself doing it without having to think about it. Ideally, you will start to see the world this way all the time, effortlessly.
Myth Two: You Need Expensive Supplies
Nope. Totally a myth.
Have you ever heard of junk journaling? It’s where you take all kinds of stuff that would normally end up in the landfill and turn it into a cool book that you can either use for a daily journal, or just as an art piece to work on.
When my great-aunt died we found stacks of old wallpaper sample books stacked in her farmhouse attic. She had used them to collage in newspaper clippings, photos, and foldouts of detailed family trees that she’d maintained, that dated back to the 1800s. Even though that was all she had to work with, ohmygosh, they were amazing! Art journaling can be done the same way.
Here are examples of free materials and supplies you can use:
- Old books, as with the wallpaper sample books, can be used as art journals. Just work on top of the pages.
- Discarded paper grocery bags or paper shopping bags can be used for inner pages.
- Coffee, tea, dirt, or any other colored liquid can be used as a stain for aging, weathering, and colorizing pages or portions of pages.
- Discarded food boxes, like cereal boxes can be used as the base for covers.
- Any tape or glue you already have on hand can work for attaching collage.
- Old magazines, catalogs, greeting cards, business cards, postcards, junk mail, etc, can be used in various ways for collage or other elements.
- Any supplies you already have on hand from previous projects, including school and office supplies. You’d be amazed at what you can do with pencils, pens, and markers that you have lying around.
When I use my Jumble Journal Method I regularly turn to these free materials. I feel satisfaction that I’m saving a little bit from the landfill, and saving money that I can use on other things that can’t be found free.
If you start looking at things around you differently (as suggested in myth number one) you’ll see all kinds of things around you that can be incorporated into your journaling.
Myth Three: It Has to Be Perfect
Now, you know where I’m going to go with this myth, right?
There is no such thing as perfect when it comes to journaling, or art. Or anything, for that matter.
Think about it: Art JOURNALING.
Journaling is meant to be a personal process to write out your thoughts–a diary. I don’t know many people that would say that a diary needs to be perfect. WE are not perfect, so the expression of ourselves therefore, should not be perfect.
The problem comes in when we add that dirty little word, “art” to the journaling process. Those three letters throw us right back to Myth Number One, where we start judging our product, and ourselves, and our abilities.
Remember: art journaling is a place to explore and experiment.
To try new things, and to express yourself. No one needs to see it. Heck, you don’t ever have to go back and look if you don’t want to.
What to do if you find yourself overwhelmed by perfectionism:
- Just say no.
Seriously. Have a literal conversation with your inner critic and tell it to hit the road. Maybe even write it out in your journal. I totally do that in my warm-up journal. You can let it come back later, but there is no room for it while you’re in your journal. - Just do it.
Remind yourself that you have every other minute of the day to be perfect. Dip your toe into the pool of uncertainty and push yourself to break through the desire, even just a little bit, in this moment, right now. - Think different.
Do the opposite of what you’re feeling compelled to do. You may not like the outcome at first, but the more you practice stepping outside of your box, the sooner you will start to feel more free Once you get comfortable with that, precision will be a choice, and not as much of a compulsion. - So easy a caveman can do it.
Simplify. Stop trying to be so fancy and comphrehensive, having to know and do all the things. Go back to basics. Sometimes we make things more complicated that they need to be. Rather than looking too far ahead at what you want it to be, take a step back and focus on what is in front of you…the next line or small section.
Myth Four: You Must Finish Before Starting a New One
Do you fret that you have so many projects going but never seem to finish any?
Not finishing is totally OK when it comes to art journaling. In fact, it’s encouraged.
If you feel like you have to finish one journal before starting a new one you will inevitably come up against a wall where you feel like you’re forcing yourself to do something that you don’t want to.
Ask yourself why something unfinished is so uncomfortable for you. Then take some time to drill deeper into that belief.
- Was it a family value you learned?
- Do you feel inadequate in some way if you leave something open-ended?
- Does this belief help to serve or hinder you, or both?
- What would your life look like if you could leave an art project on-going and unfinished indefinitely?
As my fourth grader teacher used to say, “P-shaw!”
Life’s too short to keep yourself in limiting boxes! Jump around and have all the journals you want going at the same time. They look pretty cool when they’re all stacked up, and fun to flip through while you decide which one to work in next.
Benefits of multiple ongoing, unfinished journals:
- You always have something ready to work on.
- You don’t have to plan and start a new project.
- You can work for a small amount of time and not feel like you have to finish an entire project.
- Pressure to get to a certain state of doneness is removed because you know you can come back to it at any time.
- You can move from journal to journal depending on your mood.
- You can have different journals for different reasons, such as:
- Warm-up journal, where it’s just jotting small things or trying out things that you might not want in your “good” journal.
- Travel-based journal.
- Pet themed journal.
- Inspiration and affirmation journal, etc.
- By keeping open ended journals you continually go back and flip through the work you’ve done previously. Looking at art makes you happy, especially when it’s yours.
I could so go on with reasons why not finishing while art journaling holds benefit.
So, there you go...
Everyone is creative, you don’t need a lot of expensive, fancy, tools or supplies, you absolutely do NOT need to be even close to perfect and, you do not have to complete what you start.
What’s stopping you from giving it a try?
I’d love you show you how, through Jumble Journaling, my favorite way of art journaling. I have about six of them going right now, and I could probably do with a few more.
Wanna try?