Art Journal Inspiration

A few years ago when I started painting on a regular basis and following art blogs, I saw many artists creating in art journals.  I just couldn't do it at first.  I felt like I was wasting paper and paint and time. Then I took an online class with Mindy Lacefield called True Free Spirit and she suggested we paint many of our lessons in a journal. Since then, I've been hooked.  I truly feel like "playing" with colors and shapes and creating things I never did before (like painting girls) has opened me up to new things as well as painting more freely.  It helped me focus on being right there in the moment instead of thinking about other things or wondering if this painting was "good enough."  It is like having a little therapist right there with me, one who doesn't respond but kind of pushes me to find the answers myself by just exploring with my words or paints and trusting that I can handle things or they will eventually work the way they are supposed to.

I now love painting and writing in my art journal. It takes me to a calmer place.  Sometimes I share it with others on-line and even make prints out of my creations, and other times, it's just for me to try new art techniques or to work through things I'm worried about.  

I own the book Art Saves by Jenny Doh and I've come to believe that little phrase.  No, my lupus is not healed in the sense that I'm physically healthy like I dream of being, but I truly feel that creating art whether for myself or customers has saved me in so many ways.

I'd like to start sharing some of these pages here weekly in the hopes that maybe you can take some encouragement and inspiration from them too!

February LOVE...Art Books

All my life I've been a reader...I started with the sweet Disney books that had a little record player reading the book to me and "dinging" every time I had to read the page.  My mom still has my big box of all those stories...I love looking at them.  I then worked my way up to bigger books that had no "ding" to signal the turn of the page.  Three of my favorites as a grade-schooler were The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, A Wrinkle in Time and Charlotte's Web.  As I got older I read every one of my mom's Danielle Steele books and yes, even her Jackie Collins--she could NOT have known how inappropriate the Collins' books were.  Yikes.

A few years ago I found another kind to add to my love of "regular" books...ART Books!  They're beautiful, interesting, and inspirational.  I have quite a collection growing and I love re-reading them, looking at their amazing pictures and seeing the parts I've highlighted to encourage me over and over.

Some of my favorites are...

• Daring Adventures in Paint by Mati Rose McDonough...she seems to be drawn to vibrant colors, just like me!  

• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron...this is probably one of the original books that really made me realize that I NEED to create.  I have reread this book so many times.  It truly is motivating and really affirms how important honoring my creative self is.  

• Art Saves by Jenny Doh...I was instantly intrigued by the title because I truly believe that I have been saved (emotionally and physically) when I starting committing myself to living a more creative life and taking risks by putting myself out in the world artistically like applying to juried art shows, opening an online shop and submitting my work to be licensed with some companies.  The book is great because it features many different artists and what they do to share their art with the world and how it healed them or how they help to heal others through their creations.

Now I know I said I have quite a collection growing, and I do, but I'm just going to share these three with you today.  I'm wondering, what is your favorite art book?  Maybe I already have it, and if not maybe I "need" to add it to my inspirational collection.  Thanks for visiting today.  I'm looking forward to hearing about some of your favorites.

Looking Forward to Reading...

I'm really looking forward to reading Art Saves: Stories, Inspiration and Prompts Sharing the Power of Art by Jenny Doh.  It features at least 20 artists who share their how and WHY of creating.  It looks full of inspiration from these great artists which always gets me more excited to create something myself.  I"ll be ordering it from Amazon soon and will be waiting very impatiently for it to come like I was for Patti Digh's and Kelly Rae Roberts' books. 



I love these types of art books because they show such unique images as well as a peek into the lives of creative people who are so inspiring.   It's the kind of book that shows the fun mess of real creating.  Can't Wait!!!!