Artful Musings
7 Reasons Why Making Art is Good for You
I’ve been thinking a lot about why I do what I do and how to describe it better, it’s so tricky sometimes to find the words. What I can tell you right now is that I am passionate about using creative process as a form of radical self-care. I also thought about all the reasons…
Two Words to Avoid for Deep Connection
“I’m fine” are two words to avoid if you want to create a deep connection to yourself, to others and to Spirit. I distinctly remember a day in grad school in Austin, TX where I was working on my Masters in Latin American Studies. I was walking to class when I passed my friend Luke…
Me, Mary Oliver and Positive Self-Talk
I have always loved Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day” and her now famous lines “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Today I am sitting with this line from the perspective of what will I do with this one precious day? Today is the only…
Inspired by a Gloria Steinem quote
Gloria Steinem has a lot of great quotes but this was one I hadn’t seen before. Do you ever read something and feel like you’ve been gobsmacked over the head with a nerf bat? No? Yes? It seems to happen to me A LOT! It could be because of how much I read or it…
Visual Journaling Page Inspired by rupi kuar
I love the poet rupi kaur. Her short poems are full of depth and insights that often make me catch my breath. This is one of those poems: it was when i stopped searching for home within others and lifted the foundations of home within myself I found there were no roots more intimate than…
Now I become myself by May Sarton
Hooray, it’s National Poetry Month! Well every month is poetry month in my home. You may not care about poetry as much as I do and that’s okay. I’m not here to change your mind. Well, maybe I might change your mind a little bit. Especially when there are such magical poems and brilliant poets…
How to Choose a Word of the Year 2022
I’m cleaning up my studio and getting ready to change out my big wall calendar to the 2022 version. And I need to choose a new word of the year for 2022. The dream catcher featured above with the word Enchanted has been hanging on the corner of the calendar since last January. My word…
5 Keys to Following Your Heart’s Desire
I taught my last biz planning retreat last week. It was a bittersweet and affirming moment. One of the reoccurring themes of the women on the call was the desire to “follow your bliss.” I’ve been thinking more along similar lines of following your heart’s desire. Using Mind maps in your Visual Journal In fact,…
Learn to love visual journaling
In our slow meandering through the ABCs of visual journaling, we have arrived at the letter L. Love was the first thing that popped into my mind, followed closely by lettering. I might do a second post on types of lettering you can use in your visual journal but today I want to share why…
M is for Making Marks in Your Visual Journal
In today’s post on the ABCs of visual journaling, I talk about one of my most favorite elements, making marks. Mark making with lines, dots, dashes in colors, black and white or with different shapes and sizes of brushes is such a fun and unique way to personalize your visual journal pages. Rather than talking…
What to do when you don’t like your visual journal page
Wondering what to do when you don’t like your art or you feel like you’ve made a mistake? Have fun with the mantra “Oops, Now what?” This mantra covers the o and the n in the ABCs of visual journaling. I was traveling home from Colorado yesterday and am a day behind in my posts…
Q is for questions: Visual Journal Prompts
Q is for questions in our ABCs of visual journaling. Questions help us to get over the dreaded lack of ideas when we look at a blank page. Perhaps this is why I love writing on my pages first before approaching the page. If you do a Google search for visual journaling prompts you will…
5 Steps to Bring Passion to the Visual Journal Page
Do you have those moments when you look at Instagram or Pinterest and see someone’s visual journal page and think, wow, that is incredible. How did they convey so much passion and meaning on the page? The visual journal page is the perfect space to explore your passion, your dreams and desires. Today we are…
R is for Round: Circles and Mandalas in your Visual Journal
Coloring and creating mandalas was the one thing that brought me back to my art over a decade ago. I remember sitting on the couch with my two young kids, a mandala coloring book and a box of colored pencils. We would watch Emeril on the food network and color together. Over the years my…
Stitching, Stamps and Stencils, Oh My!
Three of my favorite techniques to use in my visual journals are stitching, stamps and stencils. As you can guess, today is letter S of the ABCs of visual journaling. Part of the fun of visual journaling is trying out new techniques and practicing them on the pages of a personal journal. This playful experimentation…
5 easy ways to incorporate text into your visual journal
T is for Text in your visual journal. This might be one of my favorite letters on our journey through the ABCs of visual journaling. I love incorporating text into my pages and want to show you a few of the ways you can incorporate text into your visual journal. The art I’m sharing today…
U is for Underpapers: The Alphabet of Visual Journaling
Today’s alphabet of visual journaling features one of my favorite things: underpapers. Underpaper is the paper that you put on your workspace to protect it from paint drippings or to wipe off brushes and brayers. It often ends up making the most divine collage papers for use in visual journaling, junk journals and book making.…
V is for Variety in your Visual Journals
From handmade visual journals to pre-bought sketchbooks, junk journals and gorgeous bound journals, variety is the spice in my creative life. As we work our way from Z to A with what I love about visual journaling, we land on V. V is for Variety of course! I use my visual journals as a way…