I tried something a bit different with this journal spread. I put down images from my collage stash first and then added my paint.  I really liked something about each image, and as usual feel like I should have stopped at the fourth image. When creating I often feel like I need to add more, then realize I like having open blank spots. I may go back and rework part of it, but I am going to live with it for a time...sometimes, as I continue to look at it I see new things.

I began this spread about 6 months ago and did not feel the pull to finish it. I was flipping through my journal this morning and when I landed on it and knew it was time. I really liked working on a spread that had something on it, I may do this some more...add color and image and then walk away to come back at a later time. 

Have you ordered Orly Avineri's "The (art) Journaling Game yet?  

You should! Such wonderful ideas. Little bits of things to do...things that will change how you view and work in your books. You can order it directly from Orly's webpage.

Below is my first spread using her cards.

journal page

from Saturday's workshop

New

I began this spread at a workshop and added to it over several days. 

I am seeing a new doctor, and though my pain is not gone, I see/feel an improvement after three weeks. Friends, I gotta tell ya, food is our enemy and food is our friend!! When we give our bodies what it needs, it's amazing to see it begin to heal. 

I finally hit that wall, where I am willing to give up what I crave (and that changes when one begins to eat healthy) for food that will heal me and give me strength and energy. And you gotta hit that wall. No amount of others telling you will work. You have to be ready and willing. It has to come from inside. It comes when you are ready to say, I want to be healthy, I want to feel better more than I want __________ (you fill on the blank). 

My doc said we going to work from the inside out. I said, "yeah, you and God!" He smiled, he knew what I was saying. 

So, I am learning a new way to eat, a new way to be. I am shedding those extra pounds too. I mean those that keep me from wearing that pair of jeans I love, and that keep me from being all God created me to be. 

new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new 

It's a good time for new 

Spring

Easter

Resurrection

Shedding the old

Putting on the new

Wishing you a happy Easter, wishing you begin to experience a newness, a blossoming where there has been pain and deadness. We all need a good shedding of the old to make room for the new from time to time.

xo

Made use of a torn page in my journal

"I am no longer just passing through the world, but digging deep and collecting moments."

-Joan Anderson, A Year By The Sea

part of the journey...

Some beginning marks in my journal

another spread

journal page progression

Last year was one of the hardest years of my life. Physically, emotionally, spiritually.  I am struggling with health, personal, and spiritual issues.  I know the struggle will, is birthing something, I'm just not sure what and I don't like it one bit!!

I was working through thoughts yesterday in my journal.  Above is the progression of one journal page. I am a little sad I do not have the originals of each stage. I liked something about each one, but I knew I had to continue on. 

Though I did not reach any conclusions, it helped to get out on paper with word and image, feelings that were trapped inside. They need to be given a voice, even if they are not nice, happy, words. Or even the real truth of it all. Sometimes we can get to the truth by sifting through thoughts that are floating around that are not truth, but colored by pain and sadness. Sometimes in the pain and sadness truth gets distorted. It needs to be unearth, pondered, turned around, sorted through.  

It's easy to get stagnant and numb.  I have been there....I don't want to stay there. 

each new day is a fresh start...

It's a new year. A whole new year stretched out in front of us. Many of us may have made New Years resolutions, those challenging resolutions that usually fall by the wayside before January has even ended. 

I have been asking myself some questions about making resolutions. I wonder why we wait for a new year to make them. 

Most new year resolutions are about beginning something, or stopping something. 

Like loosing weight, 

getting healthy, 

spending more time with family and loved ones, 

exploring our creativity, 

more time to ponder and read, 

having more fun. 

If these things are important to us, why do we wait for a new year to begin?

Each new day is a brand new beginning. Each new day is a fresh start. We can begin anytime; we do not need to wait till a new year to begin.

From personal experience most new year resolutions don't last.  Usually sheer will power will not sustain us for long. I believe there needs to be something stronger that keeps us moving forward.

I think we need to look a little deeper. We need to ask ourselves why we choose to not do what we want, because folks it is a choice. There could be an array of things that keep us from moving forward, (I think some may be buried so deep we have no clue) and unless we discover the real reason change won't happen. 

So, I am going to be taking some time to really look at my heart, my desires, the things I want to change but don't. The things I want to learn and do but don't. And ask why?

I have found lately, I do not like to be quiet, to sit still for long. I want my moments filled with outside noise so I don't have to look inside.  That is something I am going to have to choose to do, and I suspect it will not be an easy task. But I must begin if I want to move from where I am. 

Sometimes it's easier to live where we are, even if that is not the place we want to be. But I believe we must ask ourselves why that is so. 

Take small steps

Then 

Let yourself celebrate

Their significance.

We must do the thing we think we cannot do.

It's in the doing that the strength comes.

journaling

I like very much the direction my visual journaling is heading.  More image, more heart and soul as I work through the more messy parts of my life.

today...