Feelings is Not A Dirty Word

Welcome to my new blog. This blog will be part art and part thought.. I will endeavor to explain how I made my art and what I was feeling. I hope you'll want to play along with me on this journey in how we feel and express those feelings through art.  

This is the first page in my new feelings art journal. The background is a coat of heavy body Liquitex blue paint. I used a bar-b-q rack as a stencil.  The white was made by removing some of the blue paint with a baby wipe.  The other colors were stenciled on using a child's paint brush as a stipple brush.

The blocks are pieces of background paper and the person was drawn with a black sharpie and cut out.

Off Center is how I've felt emotionally at different times in my life. Yesterday I actually felt off center physically.  I woke up ... almost dizzy, almost queasy... physically off center. Food and caffeine didn't help so I stayed at home and it took all day before it passed. I don't know what caused it. Maybe vertigo..maybe I was just tired and needed a day at home. The why is not as important to me as the fact that I listened to my body and spent a day doing nothing but reading and sleeping.  I let myself rest and today I'm feeling much better.

Why This Blog?
Many people think feelings is a dirty word. Ignore how I feel. Pretend I'm not sad or lonely. Pretend I'm someone I'm not. Don't be too happy or too unhappy... that makes me too much or not enough.  I did that for many years and now I say NO MORE. I'm not saying I tell everyone I meet exactly how I feel because I don't. I have learned to choose safe, caring people to talk to when I have something I really need to sort out.

I won't tell you I have all the answers because I don't.  I am not a therapist. I have gone to therapy and it was the best thing I ever did for myself. I do know that acknowledging my feelings has helped me become healthier physically, mentally and spiritually. 

Feeling my feelings is very important. Stuffing my feelings in the past has lead to me being sad, depressed and very down on myself. Stuffed feelings are like a festering wound. Ignore them and they grow and get ugly inside of me. I have read that depression is anger turned inward. I found that to be true for me. Finding constructive ways to express my feelings has been a tremendous help.

One of ways I've learned to express myself is through Art Journaling. I have gained confidence in myself as a person and as an artist.The purpose of this blog will be to express and explore how we are feeling through visual art. That art might be painting, art journaling,water color, sculpture etc. I hope that you will share your art and your thoughts with me as we go along. 

Please feel free to post your art and thoughts on our Facebook page: Art Journal Feel