Making my first visual journal entry and self-discovery
Remember how I wanted to make a visual journal?
Well, I finally got myself a box of colored pencils and made my first visual journal entry.
It reminded me of kindergarten art class when I was just learning how to use colored pencils and other art materials.
Even when I was a kid, I was intimidated by art. I never considered myself artistic because I was only capable of flat, stick drawings.
I didn’t know how to draw things with dimension. I can’t even draw a proper face other than a circle for a head, black dots for eyes and arches for a nose, mouth and ears.
Then I came across this great article by artist Violet, “Visual Journaling by the Seat of Your Pants” and it changed my perspective about creating art.
In the article, Violet said:
Visual Journaling need not be daunting or inaccessible to the novice visual journaler. The way I like to approach it is in an intuitive manner or by the seat of my pants! This manner of journaling is exciting because you never know where you’re going to end up. Often the journal page has some incredible insights for you which lay hidden in the recesses of your subconscious mind only to be set free by allowing yourself the luxury of being in the flow.
I thought I didn’t have to follow anybody’s standard for what is artistic or not, I just had to be true to what I felt.
Well, the past days have been pretty challenging and less than sunshiny happy. So drawing these images felt liberating and somehow helped to ease my blues.
Two pieces of advice I gave myself through this entry:
Write.
Keep the emotions flowing.
When the going gets tough, writing really helps to release my emotions and to put some perspective.
I also remind myself to “keep the emotions flowing” because I think that’s the best way to handle them.
I take pride in being a very optimistic person but it doesn’t mean that pessimistic thoughts don’t mess with my head. They do.
But when the negative thoughts creep into my mind, I simply accept them and then, I let them go.
There’s no point in pretending to be sappy happy when you really are feeling crappy.
Denial never helps. Acceptance does.
I found out that when I kept the feelings locked inside me, it only gets worse. But when I let my emotions freely flow through me — whether it’s through blogging, writing, or drawing — the feelings eventually just slip away.
Making my first visual journal entry was more than just an exercise in drawing and coloring, it became a discovery in self-expression.
I think setting your creative self free is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
You may be amazed at the wonders that lie within you.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Blogging, Just Jayme, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
and a Happy New year...
iriss...
