Embrace Joy
OMG! Just realized that my last random page post was in May!
I joined a glue book party last night, here are my pages and the prompts. I haven’t done much art journaling recently, so this party came in hand to boost my creativity. Hope you are having a lovely Sunday and enjoy my pages.
Pieces and bits! I felt all over the place this weekend. Many things to do and the time going by fast. I managed to squeeze a little bit of journaling and art journaling to my busy schedule. These little things helped me to stay focus and keep me grounded.
Creativity involves breaking out of expected patterns in order to look at things in a different way.
Edward de Bono
I joined an Instagram art party on Saturday evening, the prompts were about spring.
Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.
Mary Lou Co
Hoping you had a creative weekend and have a great week ahead!
Noticing how much I like to rip pages of magazines, it’s calming! I made these 4 pages during the weekend using the prompts from @createwithmethursdays, an Instagram challenge on Thursdays. I had a busy Thursday and didn’t have time to join the challenge, so I saved the prompts (Green, Love, Hope, and Faith) for the weekend.
Have a great week! Hoping for some sunshine here!
Noticing how difficult it is to listen to our own voice, that voice that tells us secrets, wishes, and passions. This month, The Phoenix Soul magazine is all about it. It’s nice to read that many women have the same trouble, we don’t give permission and/or time to ourselves to check within; how we are doing, if we are in the place and moment we need to be…
One of my photos is in there!!! So happy to see my photo in this issue, really a connection to my moment right now.
Good day to you!
It’s a long weekend here in my part of the world. It’s a hot one as well, almost 40C with the humidex! We’ve got the AC on and I’m planning to spend most of this weekend indoors and I won’t get bored! I’ve many things to do, not pleasurable things, but stuff that needs to be done. One of them is to clean up my art room or studio as I like to call it. Now it’s more a messy room! I’ve already filled up one large box with items for recycling and a bag with nonrecyclable items.
My focus is on simplicity and minimalism. I’m working hard on them for many years, but still, lots of things pill up over the years. I’m getting rid of almost everything in that room. I’m saving my journaling notebooks, of course, and few tubes of paintings, only my favourite colours.
I’m debating if I should keep my large art journal notebooks, I’ve lots of them, they are heavy and take lots of space. I keep them because just in case, I wanted to look at them in the future. But I never look back at the pages I’ve created.
I need emptiness, space to feel free and create, I don’t want to carry the past and things on my back.
Another reason to clean up is that I’m playing to exchange rooms with my older son. Right now my studio is downstairs, and since I’m still recovering it isn’t easy to go down as much as I wish. My son’s room is beside my bedroom so it will be much easier to keep up with my creativity.
Hoping you have a wonderful weekend!
E.
Can you believe today is the last day of June and the half-year is gone by?
Being at home has proportioned me with tiny pleasures that before were reserved only for the weekends.
ENJOYING – I’m spending lots of time in my backyard. I enjoy looking at the flowers and the insects that visit them, like butterflies and dragonflies. Lots of birds visiting my yard as well. We have a birdbath and I love watching them playing in the water.
CREATING – My creativity is low right now, I’m not sure what is going on, but I don’t have any enthusiasm to be in my art room. I managed to make a notebook and few art cards this month.
BAKING – I’m testing new recipes for both baking and cooking. Up to know they have been a success, like this apple cake.
READING – I’m reading a lot, all kinds of books. The library in my city has a great collection of books: old and new. I like to read 2 books at the same time, one fiction and another one non-fiction or poetry.
FOCUSING – On tiny things. Observing details that generally we are too busy to see and be grateful that I have the opportunity to be a witness of the magical nature around me.
Wishing you a lovely July!
“Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” Buddha
Hello,
I’ve been away from this space for several months because of health issues. I’m back now, I miss this space where I can share my thoughts with you. I’m still recovering, so I’m planning to post once a week and I wish my posts can inspire you. My posts will be about my journaling practice, art journal, books I’m reading, my garden…, beautiful things around me.
Why do I journal?
I’ve been journaling, almost every day, since 2013. Generally, I write 2 to 3 pages in the morning before starting the daily chores. I need to lay down my thoughts on the pages of my notebook to understand my feelings, to answer questions that are floating in my mind and to discern between what is really important to me and the other stuff that I must let go.
I didn’t start to journal without any guidance, I read lots of books about journaling and writing until I settle down with my journaling style. Here, here and here are three books that I keep on my desk as a reference and inspiration for my journaling.
My Journaling style
It isn’t easy to transform our thoughts into written words, at least for me. I need silence and a pleasant environment, so I go down to my studio taking with me a cup of tea. I light one or two candles and I warm my wrists with essential oil. I take few deep breaths and I’m ready to open my notebook and decorate the pages. I use lots of washi tape and clips from magazines.
As inspiration, I use Oracle/Tarot cards or poems/quotes, generally from Rumi and Hafiz or any book I’ve close by.
I believe that our minds keep secret messages from us and writing is a way to discover these messages. I’m always surprised with the messages that come up while I’m writing.
Hope you enjoyed to know a little bit of my journaling practice.
Elizabeth
