Creative Energy Journaling

Collections: Color & Color/Mixing | Creative Energy Journaling | Postcard Paint-Alongs | Second Sunday Live Demos | Sketching and Plein Air | Supplies & Materials | Technical How-to | The Other How-to | Studio (Behind the Scenes) | New Artwork

What is Creative Energy Journaling?

What is Creative Energy Journaling?

So many of us are over-busy, stressed and fully occupied with just getting a few more things crossed off our to-do lists. Deep down, we know we need a way to keep our thinking creative and flexible. We need a way to recharge and get back in touch with our dreams. But we get stuck on the “not enough time/space/skill” stumbling blocks. Creative Energy Journaling is a collection of the activities and practices I use and share with my students to keep my creative energy flowing even when life is biting me in the butt!

How Do I Get Started?

How Do I Get Started?

Welcome to Creative Energy Journaling! You can have a look at What is Creative Energy Journaling? and the Resources page for more background, but probably the best way to get a feel for it is to just jump in and try a few of the many activities that can be done as...

Line and Wash – Watercolor Painting Anyone Can Do

Line and Wash – Watercolor Painting Anyone Can Do

Line and wash is a combination of line drawing with watercolor washes to suggest a scene. It’s a great way to get started with watercolor, or with travel sketching, even if you “can’t draw” and have never tried watercolor before!

“No Mistakes” Art-Making

“No Mistakes” Art-Making

Do you ever make mistakes when you're working in your journal? Or doodling? Ever put down a wobbly line? Smear some ink? Drip watercolor where you didn't mean to? How does it make you feel? Perhaps a bit aggravated or disappointed? Do you ever want to tear a page out...

Digital Doodles

Digital Doodles

I know many of you have iPads (or other tablets) or smartphones. Have you ever thought of using them to make art? There are many, many fun apps that allow you to draw, doodle, "paint" and modify your photos—and a lot of them are free, have free versions, or cost only...

Get Out of the Moment

Get Out of the Moment

Huh? Everything you read these days seems to extol the virtues of being "in the present moment". I'm not questioning the value of being attentive, appreciative and aware. In fact, a few weeks ago, I suggested some ways to use art-making to deepen your appreciation for...

Spiral In, Spiral Out

Spiral In, Spiral Out

The 30-Doodles-in-30-Days Challenge is drawing to a close, but one thing I have discovered is that everyone has enjoyed having a daily doodling suggestion (a "prompt") as a creative springboard. Since I've been on a spiral kick myself lately, I invite you to create a...

The Sound (and Look) of Music

Last week, I talked about the power of "doodling" or art-making to focus your full attention on a sensation or experience. This is one of the main reasons I make art. Not to hang something on the wall, but to enhance my experience of life. Sketches while traveling or...

The “Mindfulness” Craze—What’s It Got to Do with Art?

The “Mindfulness” Craze—What’s It Got to Do with Art?

I want to talk to you for a minute about mindfulness. Wait! Before you hit "delete", please hang in with me for just a little bit. I promise I will get back to art and creativity in a minute. Mindfulness is trendy. Everywhere you look there are articles on the health...

New Year’s Permissions

New Year’s Permissions

What would you do, if only . . . ? New Year's resolutions . . . we love to hate them, but we make them. Even when we resolve not to make resolutions, there's still that feeling that now that the holidays are over, we'll get our lives in hand again, and this year do...

Celebrate Light!

Celebrate Light!

Isn't it a wonderful quirk of nature that just as the coldest months are about to begin, the days also begin to lengthen? The winter solstice is this Sunday night. After that, the days start lengthening toward spring. Why not take a little time from the rush and...

Explore and Inspire Yourself with Word Clouds

Explore and Inspire Yourself with Word Clouds

Have you ever noticed the cluster of words that sit in the sidebar of some websites, some of them bigger, some smaller, sometimes in multiple colors? Bloggers often "tag" articles with keywords to help readers search for topics of interest. The bigger the word in this...

Drawing on Gratitude

Drawing on Gratitude

It's Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. as I write this post, and it seems everyone in America is writing about gratitude in some way or another. I'm going to write about gratitude, too, even though you won't see this post until Friday or Saturday, when the dominant theme...

Pattern Play

Pattern Play

Do you love intricate patterns? The wild popularity of Zentangle tells me a lot of us do! What is the fascination? The soothing repetition? The almost-magical emergence of form from a few simple shapes? The need to pay close attention that blocks out cares and...

Please Print

Please Print

I got a new art toy recently. It's called a Gelli plate, and it makes gelatin monoprints sooooo much easier than in the past. Instead of explaining how to make a gelatin plate for printing, I'm going to point you to a great tutorial on The Sketchbook Challenge site,...

What If I Don’t Feel Artistic Today?

What If I Don’t Feel Artistic Today?

Some days, I wake up feeling the pressure of everything that has to be done that day, and taking time out to work in my journal seems like a luxury I can't afford. Some days, I am so exhausted at the end of the day, I just want to crawl in bed and sleep. Some days,...

Empty Your Backpack

Empty Your Backpack

A couple of weekends ago, we had a beautiful 70-degree day with this year’s glorious fall colors just hitting their peak. On the spur of the moment, I grabbed my backpack and headed out to paint with a friend. I had forgotten to bring masking tape, so I couldn’t tape...

Plein Air Painting for Everyone

Plein Air Painting for Everyone

For those who aren't familiar with the phrase, painting en plein air is just a fancy way of referring to painting on location, usually outdoors. It's a challenge! In addition to all the usual problems a painter has to solve (composition, color mixing, brush handling,...

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