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…
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 down my paper to keep…
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, etc.), there is the constantly changing light, the sun, rain and wind,…
Get out the Crayolas with no apologies! A report in this week’s Huffington Post on coloring as a great stress-buster for adults is making a splash on Facebook and other media outlets. It seems coloring—for adults—is all the rage in Europe, and just starting to be trendy in the U.S. Well, ha! We’re on the cutting…
Who is that mysterious woman peering out of the headline of this week’s post? Read to the end to find out—she has a little magical treat for you! In this week’s post, I invite you to try your hand at cartooning. Wait! Keep reading! I promise anyone can do this kind of cartooning! This activity…
I keep finding myself telling followers of this blog about these fun little how-to videos I’m making for my beginning watercolor classes. Three in particular—on brush-drawing—just seem perfect for journallers. Brush drawing is a great way to try to see and capture the essence of something—both how it looks and how it feels. In a brush…
I’ve heard the lament from quite a number of you: you bought a lovely journal, and you think the activities I’ve been posting look really fun and interesting, but you are too busy to journal right now. Maybe later, when life calms down a bit . . . I feel your pain! I don’t know about…
The biggest benefit of drawing is that drawing changes how you see. Drawing is a form of active meditation, a mindfulness practice, and a wonderful stress-reliever. That all sounds great. But what if you can’t draw? I have good news: the worse your drawing skills are, the easier today’s “drawing” activities will be for you! Back when I…
In Creative Energy Journaling, as in any creative activity, there is the possibility of interference from your inner critic. The received wisdom is that inner critics should be silenced. Or banished. I disagree. In this post I hope to persuade you that your inner critic can help you go deeper into your creativity and be more comfortable taking creative risks.
It seems we’re all busy these days. Often, too busy to take time for things that we know would really enhance and enrich our lives—like journaling or art-making. We long for a creative outlet, and every day we wind up scrambling just to get through the necessary tasks of the day before falling into bed…
Oh, my! This was a hard post to write! I had a really hard time staying down off my soapbox on the subject of our cultural attitude towards drawing, and art-making in general. If you are one of those who thinks you “can’t draw” I hope in a later post to give you enough insight…
Here you are with a lovely new journal. Maybe you’ve decorated the cover, or done a ritual to honor your materials. Now it’s time to start putting something on the pages—aaak! Some demons lurk here. Even with many years of experience, I sometimes get hung up on feeling I’m not going to be able to…
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