ROOT Art Journal, Part 1

The cover of my first art journal for this year

For the month of January, I participated in Lisa Sonora Beam's free online journaling course entitled Root.  While she intended it as a journaling experience, I could tell from the Facebook community that a lot of us were making it an art journaling experience as well. 

Title page

Because I have a tendency to sign up and start things, then watch my commitment peter out sometime after the first week or so, I am happy to announce that I stuck with her prompts and almost completely filled an art journal for the month of January.  (My February additions have since filled up the remaining pages!) 

Ahh, love that art journal side view!

The highlight of the experience for me was the fact that I really focused, probably for the first time, on the act of creating pages rather than on the outcome. 

Paint, stencils, and journaling.  I thought the stencils--a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law--suited the root theme.

I didn't worry about creating anything complex.  I brought out paint, rubber stamps, stencils, and even stickers to make my pages. 

Some mind-mapping, a little journaling, some bright colors.  A simple spread.

I seldom spent a lot of time crafting what I would call "an artful page."  Sometimes I responded to her prompt with my own thinking, and sometimes I recorded her inspiring thoughts to mull over later. 

"Go gently."  I thought Lisa's important advice could stand alone for this spread.

Lisa chose really inspiring quotations to use with each of her prompts, and I enjoyed that she included several different questions or sentence starters so that we could "run with" whichever one caught our fancy.  It's good to have options! 

Not a favorite page, but I liked adding a little pocket for more journaling in the lower right corner.  And I always love Buddha imagery on my art journaling pages!

And each prompt linked to a blog post in which she shared her own journal pages and reflections on the prompt, which provided a further creative jump start for our own responses. 

A color palate and collage imagery that suited Lisa's root theme

I followed along with the Facebook page, but didn't participate very much in that community.  Lisa has an interesting policy, in which she asks participants not to offer any comment on the pages that are posted.  She doesn't even want people to say, "I like your page!" though she consented to allow people to use the Facebook "Like" button.

Collaged music papers, gesso, paint, and tape.  The background became an incidental backdrop to my journaling.

It's amazing how hard it was for me to think of something to say to build relationships in a social forum without offering compliments and affirmations; I guess I just didn't know what to say!  An "opportunity for future growth" for me.

Sometimes I have to respectfully disagree with a quotation, as with this one from Audrey Hepburn, whom I adore!

I looked back over my pages, and was pleased to see some substantial journaling throughout.  Sometimes when I focus more on the visual aspect of my spreads, my writing is incidental and, frankly, a bit inane.

This was one of my favorite techniques I used.  I had a stencil that I created from a magazine image, so I used the negative space and filled it in with wild pen lines to fit the theme of "chaos," which the quotation tells us is what gives birth to a dancing star.  Very poetic words from Nietzsche!

I appreciate all the work that Lisa did to create this course for us, and her generosity in sharing it with us free of charge.  She put me back on the track of an almost-daily art journaling practice, and for that I am very grateful!

I am well-armed to face the day when I'm armed with a full night of rest!

I'll share with you several pages and spreads from the second half of the journal next time I check in!