If you've been reading my blog you know that I've made friends who a wonderful lady and her grandson who live in Scotland.
The Wee Man and Mo, his grandmother, really liked my journal page using a Word Search. I decided that I would make Wee Man one on his favorite subject... Transportation.. especially Trains and Buses.
You see the results on the left. He found those so fast I made the next one longer. I also figured out how to make the next one shaped like a train.
I am having so much fun sending things to Wee Man and his grandmother. I have a feeling he is smarter than I am and I'm going to run out of words for the searches soon.
Again, I'm amazed that I'm making friends with people who lives across the ocean through art and word puzzles. I am also very careful to send Wee Man's email to his grandmother because I want him to be safe. Children can meet dangerous people on the internet and so we must be very careful. He is too young for an adult to contact directly. His grandmother is very good at keeping him safe. He is very lucky to have such a great grandmother.
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
