It can be difficult to recognize your value, can't it? You don't have an objective point of view when it comes to what you put out into the world.
But I think a good place to start is to LOVE YOURSELF just as you are, wherever you are, no matter what your circumstances are or where you've come from. Start with where you are. Verbally affirm how you love yourself. Self talk is so vitally important in how you see yourself, and if you're not affirming yourself, you will feel the difference. And when you ARE affirming yourself, you can feel a difference and it can help make you feel fabulous! Appreciate yourself for who you are right now. With all your perceived "flaws" and quirks that separate you from the rest. When you start from a place within where you support and love yourself, you will feel greater confidence in your value personally, creatively and even professionally. Another nurturing way you can recognize your value is by building a creative practice that lifts your spirit and leaves you feeling fabulous and committing to that practice every day. When you commit to doing something you enjoy (and who doesn't want to do that?) without guilt or obligation (don't do it because someone else suggested it unless you WANT to), you are giving yourself and your Creative Voice space to express what is in your heart, and to spend time doing something that fills your creative well and honors Who You Are and keeps you aligned. This will only enhance your value even further as you use that creative energy to enhance everything else you do. With Valentine's Day coming up, take the initiative to LOVE YOURSELF no holds barred and build a creative practice that you can't say no to. BE YOUR OWN VALENTINE. Affirm yourself. Appreciate yourself for Who You Are. And Nurture yourself by building an authentic creative practice. YOU DESERVE THIS. TODAY. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. WHATEVER THAT LOOKS LIKE TO YOU. Start today. Now. Get Your Spirit Lifted and Feel Fabulous. Journaling Prompt: Write a list of all the ways you are loving yourself right now. Keep it simple and intuitive. Pick 3 of those things that really hit the spot for you and circle them. Now record why those things work for you and leave you feeling fabulous. Then pick your top activity and makes plans to go do it! Put it on your schedule. Then follow up with an entry sharing the details of why you loved doing it again. Art Journal Prompt: Create a visual showing how you have loved yourself in the past week. Use colors that are authentically aligned with how you feel about this activity. Doodle some words that capture the essence of how you made yourself feel fabulous. (Send me an email at refreshwithdawnherring@gmail.com to let me know what you're doing to refresh and love yourself and find joy, and I may share it (with your permission) on a live social media broadcast! Copyright 2016 by Dawn Herring Copyright 2016 Header by Dawn Herring
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I want to ask you a question now that we're already in the month of February in this delightful year of 2016. Are you investing at least 5 minutes of time in yourself? How is that going? I've been doing Live Periscope broadcasts and one of the issues I've been addressing is taking just 5 minutes daily to invest in yourself and do something that lifts your spirit and makes you feel fabulous! Then someone said to me, but you can't really get anything done in five minutes. That can sound like a true fact. But, I am on a mission to show YOU that you can refresh yourself in five minutes. And, what I've recognized, is that, some activities don't require physical exertion on your part. We're talking relaxation and enjoyment on tap. Are you puzzled? Wonder, what is this all about? Well, here are a few ideas! I thought about different ways I refresh myself that don't take very much time but really refresh and inspire me. So, here is my list (and I'm sure I'll be adding more as I continue to experience refreshment and may not even be actively looking for it! That can happen, you know. What you focus on grows!). Call these my Five Minute Refresh ideas. My ways to refresh: bird watching and listening (one of my favorites!) squirrel watching right outside my window (super cute!) watching a vocal audition (I see these linked on Yahoo or in YouTube emails or in my FB feed) (totally inspiring most of the time) listening to a great song on my Spotify list talking to my grandson watching some Periscope broadcasts (some are short enough) (inspiring or informative or both) reading a magazine article doodling (although most of my doodles take longer than five minutes but you can doodle something in five minutes, right?) adding one element to an art journal spread adding another watercolor layer to an area of a watercolor painting choosing an outfit that makes me feel fabulous ad infinitum! Quite the list, huh? I'm sure if you really give it some thought, you could come up with things you love you can do in five minutes and you might not even realize what you are already doing (and what you want more of!). Of course, the goal is the find something simple that refreshes you that is easy to incorporate into your daily experience and expand on it...in whatever way suits you. Once you get started, you'll be amazed how to how easy it is to get refreshed and no longer have any excuse not to...or have any guilt with it whatsoever. And It's all good!! Take five minutes and enjoy...to the full! PS. I am looking for 5 Minute Refresh Ideas from you, my dear readers! You can either leave a comment below with what you do to refresh in 5 minutes or email me direct at refreshwithdawnherring@gmail.com. I plan to share these ideas on a Live Periscope broadcast in the near future, giving YOU a shout out! Do join me at @DawnHerring on Periscope and be a part of the refreshing fun! Journaling Prompt: Write a list of things you already do or that you want to do that only takes five minutes. You can choose to categorize them to get even more ideas. You can also do a mind map to expand your ideas and see what comes up naturally. Then go do one! :) Art Journal Prompt: Take one or two 5 minute refresh ideas and create a visual to showcases how they refresh you and why you enjoy these activities so much. Honor your value and your desire to refresh yourself and love yourself from the inside out. I've been wanting to share with you something I've been experiencing in my creative practice that has given me some serious food for thought. My Creative Practice consists of journaling, art journaling, doodling, intuitive watercolor painting, walks, and reading inspiring books as well as a deep spiritual practice that directly impacts all the other elements. I've been keeping an art journal for five years (since 2011). I started with collage elements and watercolor, moved into stamping and a bit of stenciling, a dabble in transfers, then mostly just layering with watercolor and bit of collage to create fun, vibrant pages that speak directly to my heart. In January of 2014, I started doodling a word or phrase that summarized my day in my evening journal entry and in November of that year, I started filling my doodles with watercolor markers. I'm still trying to determine a shift I have felt in the frequency of my art journal time versus my daily doodling. I've tried to figure out if the energy I put in to my night doodles is "taking away" from my time at my art journal table. I have noticed that my art journal spreads have been taking a lot longer to come together. Sometimes I'm simply not sure what the next step is or I don't have the energy/time to sit and do. I do still love to art journal, but I have noted this change in the frequency of my spreads. But another thought also occurred to me that the change I'm noticing in my art journal practice may simply be a reflection of how I am Processing what I am learning As I Create and that's why I'm not doing it as quickly. Some of my spreads have taken 3-6 weeks to complete, which has really surprised me. I still find my art journaling practice enjoyable and a great way to listen to my heart, so that's not the issue. But why the spread in time frames and lack of frequency? So that's why I started looking at my daily doodle in the evening and how I've been making that a priority rather than my art journal practice being in its usual prominent space. I have wondered and pondered about this for the past several months, have journaled about my thoughts on this matter, and thought I would share was seems like an apparent shift taking place in my creative practice. So, it has given me some food for thought about the possible Shifts that can take place in our creative practice without our even realizing it at first. And how we might respond to such changes. Do we question it? Do we wonder, is this not working for me as well as it used to? Am I overloading myself? Expecting too much of myself? What's the deal? Yes, I have asked all of these questions. And I think I've determined that it doesn't really matter how frequently I do any of my creative practices. (Although I did create a goal to paint with watercolor daily.) As long as I'm honoring Who I Am creatively every day, I'd doing good. As long as I'm listening to my heart, I'm on the right track. These shifts may even reflect changes deep down on the inside of us, in the core of our being, showing us how we are growing and what is working for us. And that IT'S OKAY to let something we've been doing for a while not be as prominent as it once was while something else we are enjoying takes more center stage. It's funny: I actually thought about my art journaling and my doodling competing with each other and vying for my attention. So, I suppose that's why it was sort of bothering me once I saw the change taking place. But, again, I realized, IT'S OKAY. Our creative practice will have shifts that we create simply by following what interests us the most and what is speaking to our heart Right Now. And as we go deeper with what we are experiencing as we activate our creative center, we will notice growth and change naturally. So, if you experience a shift in how you choose to be creative, simply see it as a reflection of Who You Are right now and just enjoy every minute of creating. Journaling Prompt: Have you ever experienced a creative shift and saw yourself doing less of one thing and more of another? How did that shift feel to you? Did it disturb or were you simply delighted with how you were spending your time? Why do you think this change took place, and were you happy with the shift? Art Journal Prompt: Using the words, Creative Shift, create a visual that shows any changes you have experienced in your creative practice and honor those stages to show what they have meant to you over time. You can also make a spread that showcases your favorite creative practice element right now and why you love it so much. Copyright 2016 by Dawn Herring Copyright 2016 Header by Dawn Herring I am excited to share with you my contribution to our January/February #JournalChat Live OPEN HOUSE (see link for details!) with our focused topic, Your Journaling: The Greatest Investment. I will share with you why journaling and art journaling have been 2 of the greatest investments in my life and what these practices have led me to as one of the Greatest Investments in my life, especially in the past five years. As an avid written journal keeper, I have found numerous benefits in my daily entries as I've discovered more about myself, my life, my world. But one of the biggest Investments my journaling practice has been for me is in direct connection with my creativity: It has been directly influential in giving me creative clarity and direction (combined with prayer/meditation) toward building my creative practice, which is essentially regularly engaging in journaling, art journaling, doodling, intuitive watercolor painting and other creativity-based activities that keep me connected with my creative flow and light. Journaling has enabled me to hash out what works for me creatively and what doesn't. I can be honest with myself and determine what I love and what doesn't float my boat. One of the Greatest Investments I have discovered as a RESULT of my journaling practice has been my Intuitive Watercolor Painting. I decided to start using watercolor 5 years ago when I first began working in a sketchbook/mixed media book to create visuals with paint, image and text, what I now call my Art Journaling practice. Watercolor and Art Journaling came into my life at the same time and both of those practices have become essential in my creative life. With both activities, I can listen carefully to my intuition and to my heart, which enables me to understand myself better, on a deeper subconscious level, which is incredibly powerful. I have been amazed with what comes out sometimes. My watercolor painting that I do daily has become a way to play with color and apply it in my own artistic approach, both using the stippling method (essentially, dots of color in layers) as well as other paintbrush applications. This process for me is relaxing, refreshing, revitalizing and FUN. I have found my artistic style using the watercolor medium and that makes me very happy. Journaling, both written and visual, have been conduits of wisdom, deep understanding, insight, and help with making decisions, including investing time in myself every day, even if it's just 5 minutes. I highly recommend a written journal keeping practice as well as a visual one to invest time in yourself this year. But one of my greatest wishes is for you to discover what makes you happy and practice it every day. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID. Journaling Prompt: How has your journaling practice been a wise and beneficial investment in your life? Detail how your life has changed for the better as a result of keeping a written journal. Also, detail how your journaling practice has led you to the greatest benefit of your life. How did you discover it and how often do you engage in it? How do you feel about it afterwards? Art Journaling Prompt: Using the Greatest Investment as a prompt, create an authentic visual that honors what you love about art journaling or another activity that lifts your spirit and leaves you feeling fabulous. What do you love about it so much? Relish the process! At the tail-end of autumn, I was out for a walk on my usual block in my neighborhood. It was bright sunshine with lots of wind, blowing the leaves from one end of the sidewalk to the other. As I began my cross over, a thought occurred to me that as the wind drives the leaves away, they will never be seen again in their beauty in the exact same spot. Once they're gone, that's it. So I became compelled to capture the beauty of leaves exactly as they were At That Moment in Time. I was totally in the moment as a result. I must have taken over 30 pictures in the space of 10 minutes. I felt blown away by the beauty and yet felt the overt transience of the moment, the position of my subject matter, and the great realization that I would not be the same after this moment. LIFE is Transient. In all of its dimensions. From one moment to another. In our way of life, our day to day existence, our relationships, our routines, our work, our health. Everything changes from one moment to the next, and you can never know quite what to expect. So I must make the best of each moment. Seize the moment while you have it. Slow down long enough to take it all in. Like I did on this day. This moment and time really spoke to me. Sometimes it surprises me what comes to me during these times on my walk when I'm truly open to what nature has to share.
As I took one snapshot after another, I became mesmerized by the variety of shapes, the varying colors, the brilliance of sunshine on the leaves in contrast to the sidewalk colors, stone-looks, and background nuances that caused the leaves to really pop out at me. I felt as if I didn't want to pass any up since they all seemed frozen in time just for my camera! Leaves have truly been a fascinating subject matter for me visually, both as an image taker and as an artist, and that day just put them even more in the spotlight. And when I was finished and satisfied with my time, my adventure, and the gift those leaves gave me, I returned home to view my images and was amazed as to the color and variety of treasure I now contained and planned for future enjoyment. I would say that Autumn 2015 truly left its mark on me; it had a lot to say and my heart is full. Journaling Prompt: Have you ever had an experience that truly made you realize how transient life is? How did this experience alert you to this? What impact did it have on you? Did you feel changed by this realization, and if you did, did you change anything about the way you do life as a result? Art Journal Prompt: Using the word, Transience, create a visual that shows your understanding of how being in the moment can change the way you experience life. Use images that are transient in subject matter. Use colors that remind you of the changeability of every day life. As you can see by the title to this post, I'm starting a new series of doodle/art related posts in association with an Art Journal Challenge I signed up for called Color Me Positive. :) They post a new challenge each week, and our first one had the theme, Gratitude. As I have already noted, this is an art journal challenge. But I did not choose to use my current art journal as my substrate of choice. No, instead I decided to go the Doodle route and use a page in my art sketchbook where I take notes, make headers for my blog and experiment. With the challenge having a focus on gratitude, I decided right away that I didn't want to use the word, Gratitude, in my visual. Instead, I came up with a way of expressing gratitude using different terms, so I decided to use: Thank You Very Much. Once I determined what words I would start with, I then considered what I would include for the items I am thankful for. The three (good number!) I considered and used are: Creativity (but, of course, right?), Love, and Connection with Spirit. Of course, creativity includes all of my Creative Practice Elements: Art Journaling, Journaling, Doodling, Watercolor Painting, Collage, Walking, Reading, etc. My creative practice has had such a positive impact on my life that I want to encourage every person to build one of their own. It can be simply life-changing. Why? Because it gives you a way to express yourself, go deeper with yourself and understand yourself better. Plus, it's FUN. It's a way to Play. And we ALL need more PLAY in our lives!
The second one is focused on Love, which includes my relationship with my husband, my daughters, and my grandson, as well as others who are dear to me, both relationally and based in quality friendships. Love makes everything more meaningful and purposeful. Love never fails. The third, yet most important, in my list is my Connection with Spirit. I wouldn't have anything at all without it. And it is the basis for everything I do. It's where my Intuition and Inner Wisdom come from, it's where my creativity finds its greatest strength, and how I keep the LIGHT ON in my life so I can see the next step on my journey. As far as process goes, I determined I would use wavy lines as my framework, and then I drew in letters for my message, determining spacing and design as I worked my way through. Then I determined what sort of embellishments I would use to create visual interest as well as what colors I would incorporate to help express what I was feeling the most authentic way possible. I really enjoyed the idea of bright sunshine where my Connection with Spirit was located since this is the Light that shows me the way with every step. The rest of the embellishments are focused on geometrics, with squares and diamonds and circles, molding to the shapes around them. I had a lot of fun with this design creation. Journaling Prompt: What would be your focus with the words: Thank You Very Much? What top three dimensions of your life would you include if you made such a visual? Why would you choose those elements over others? What do these choices say about what's most important to you? Art Journal Prompt: Using the words, Thank You, create a visual spread that incorporates what you valued the most in the past year and why it was priority in your life. Use images and text that show the most heartfelt message that comes to you in this creation to honor your heart and process as you play in your journal. It has been a tradition of sorts for me to take a look back on my year and see what has changed, what has stayed the same and how I've grown in different dimensions of my life.
So, with 2015 almost gone, I thought I'd continue the tradition here at Refresh Daily to share my thoughts, my perspective and my anticipation for the future. I wanted to start by talking about this blog, Refresh Daily. I have had an interesting, fun and adventuresome time as a blogger since 2007. (Yes, I've been around in the blog sphere for 8 years now.) A little background: I started on Blogger with my personal blog, JournalWriter Freelance. I then changed it up with Refresh with Dawn Herring: For a Fresh Perspective. I also added the blog with a focus on #JournalChat and journaling related info. Then I added Your Authentic Refreshment with interviews about folks who have found what refreshes them. Since then, I started creating a blog here at www.dawnherring.net and decided to call it Refresh Daily. But as of this year, I've made Refresh Daily my primary creativity-focused blog where I share my artistic point of view concerning all of my adventures, and I have had SUCH a BLAST sharing with you my art journal spreads, my Doodle Dynamics, my book reviews, Creative Conversations, plus other great stuff like what inspires me, my wardrobe finds and my Refresh Daily YouTube Videos! With so much to share, Refresh Daily has become my favorite place to reveal my artistic process, my life insights and some inspiration for you, my dear readers, to keep a journal and to activate Your Creative Center. This Refresh Daily place has truly refreshed me! So it's a win-win. I have also launched Refresh Daily Video, where I share creativity tips, including journaling and art journaling prompts, to encourage the simplicity of being creative without feeling overwhelmed or guilty. I also include refreshing clips from my creative walks, from birds and nature-based visuals. I've had so much fun with that! I also joined a new Social Media Platform called Periscope, an app-based live video broadcast you use from your phone or other devise to record anything you like! Of course, my focus is on creativity and giving you an inside view of my creative practice. (Follow me at @DawnHerring) Plus, I've joined Instagram, sharing my visual art and photos I take on my walks. I still continue hosting #JournalChat Live for all things journaling on Social Media, posting links on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook where we have a thriving membership of journal and art journal keepers, as well as launching the new format of the OPEN HOUSE, where journal keeping enthusiasts write blog posts to a specific topic which I share on Social Media and on my website, bringing you more great journaling content for your journaling inspiration! You can read my Thank You Post for this past year of 2015 for those who have been a part of our #JournalChat Live activities! Refresh Journal was my newsletter that I published for 4 years, and I chose to Retire it back in the spring. You can read my post about my decision here. I so appreciate those who were regular readers of Refresh Journal and I appreciate your interest in Refresh Daily, where I post all of my content now. :) On the personal side of things, I continue my creative practice with keeping a personal written journal, which I record in twice per day, sometimes more, which also includes my evening doodle, where I look back on my day, create a word or phrase that describes it best, and doodle with black Uniball pen and Winsor Newton Watercolor markers, which is such a refreshing, relaxing creative practice. I've had so much FUN with this! I also continue to keep an art journal, as Refresh Daily attests, which combines watercolor, mixed media, collage, text, stamping, stenciling, image, and experimentation, that brings the subconscious to the fore. Art journaling continues to be a very powerful practice for me. I continue strong with my commitment to paint with watercolor daily, a decision I made back in the summer of 2014. I enjoy putting dots of paint on the canvas, watercolor paper, etc, using an intuitive approach so I can express myself from the heart. I never regret the time invested in my watercolor practice; it truly refreshes me. I would be remiss not to mention my spiritual practice which directly inspires my creative practice as I study spiritual texts, keep spiritual journals, and pray/meditate and stay connected to Spirit to keep the Light On. I am looking forward sharing new content here at Refresh Daily in 2016, including my Periscope broadcasts and Refresh Daily Video, my newest additions to my creative content. I simply love connecting with many journal and art journal keepers, writers, artists, and other creatives on social media and look forward to connecting with YOU in 2016. I plan more OPEN HOUSES for #JournalChat Live in 2016, so I am looking forward to YOUR Contribution as journal keeping enthusiasts so we can share with the world the great benefits of keeping a journal and what a powerful tool it is in every day life! I want to especially thank YOU, my dear Refresh Daily readers, for making my time on Social Media and on my blog such a rewarding experience. I have received such fabulous feedback on the insight and care I put into what I share and how many have been inspired to get more creative and keep a journal, initiating self care and positive change that leads to personal empowerment. Here at Refresh with Dawn Herring my goal is to show you how the Creative Spirit can come to LIFE in your every day experience as well as in your business. Through finding what your creative practice can look like, which can give you fantastic benefits in every dimension of your life, as well as how to infuse your business with your creativity, and showcasing that creativity on Social Media, your creative practice can help you stand out in your areas of expertise. My programs, Your Business Refreshed! and Your Life Refreshed!, can help you do that, with my creative experience and my social media marketing direction. I look forward to working with you as your Creative and Social Media Consultant both personally and professionally in 2016! So, that's my review of 2015. Thanks so much for your interest at Refresh with Dawn Herring, at my Refresh Daily blog, and connecting with me on Social Media. I look forward to continuing our creative conversation in 2016. Of course, I won't forget to remind you to refresh yourself in 2016. And I mean that! <3 Journaling Prompt: Take time to look back on your year of 2015. Be sure to recognize your accomplishments no matter how small, what you let go of, and what you made more time for. Assess if there's is anything you should release as you head into 2016. Art Journal Prompt: Using 2015 as your prompt, express your emotions and recognize how far you've come in your journey toward aligning with Who You Are and honor that process visually, with images, text, or simply color. Relish the moment. Copyright 2015 by Dawn Herring Copyright 2015 Header by Dawn Herring As I decided to write a blog post for this week of Christmas, the first thing that came to mind was something we may not necessarily see as a gift, since it doesn't come in a box.
No, it resides in the heart. It's called...(drum roll...) Creativity! And I'm not just talking about art-focused stuff like painting, etc. I'm talking about anything you do that inspires you in some way. Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes and approaches...and the fun part is discovering what parts you like the most and doing them as much as possible. You know, when creativity isn't seen as a gift, we sort of either take it for granted or don't bother paying attention to it at all. And that is so very, very sad. Why do we ignore it? Because we're too busy. Or we think we are. And I'm not saying we don't all have loads of responsibilities. I know we all do. But we do have, say, 5 minutes? Take five minutes to do something you've been creatively craving. So, how about it? Are you going to open up that GIFT of Creativity now that it's been brought to your attention? Creativity really loves attention, because when you give Creativity its rightful place, it has lots of fun. And it wants YOU to HAVE LOTS OF FUN. When was the last time you had lots of FUN? Yea, that's what I thought. So, five minutes. GO do something you really love to do. Get lost in it. Forget all sense of time. (That's what happens when you take creativity for a spin.) Then write about it in your journal. Or tell a friend. Or both. Or write a blog post about it. Or simply relish the moment, again and again. Oh, and then take it out for another spin...and another. (It really is addicting once you get started; but that's a good thing.) Now, doesn't that feel better? Now Creativity doesn't feel neglected anymore. And neither do you. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Journaling Prompt: Record the last time you did something creative, anything at all that made you happy, inspired, lost all sense of time. How did you feel afterwards? Guilty? Refreshed? Wanted to do it again? Reflect on Creativity as Your Inner Gift. Art Journal Prompt: Using a Gift with a bow on it as a visual, give honor to Your Creativity and show using your favorite creative colors why your Creativity means so much to you. Enjoy. Copyright 2015 by Dawn Herring Copyright 2015 Header by Dawn Herring The thing about Life is we are always growing. (Well, not physically once we reach the age of maturity...) We never stay the same. Even from day to day. Our life experiences change us based on how we react to what happens and the decisions we make based on what we experience. Growth can be a measuring stick of how we are changing for the better. I have a certain path I often walk in the mornings for my time of exercise and getting a bit of fresh air. As I walk, I pass a certain floral bush (not sure if it's a rose bush or not) that I have observed in various stages of bloom. There was a time in the spring, when it was full of floral delight. After it began to lose its petals, I noticed the change in the color as it decidedly turned brown with a bit of green leaves. But recently, as I walked past it, I noted a few new flowers appear in a section on the bush. This came as a surprise to me, since it's wasn't all over the bush, just in one area. And it was New Growth in what appeared to me an unlikely place. After all, its autumn, not a time to grow, but lose. This got me thinking about unlikely areas in our lives that may sprout new changes, like ideas you've never had before, a new color you're attracted to, or perhaps, an experience that changes you on a deeper level that you know you won't forget. It's important to recognize that new growth; it may be easily overlooked since you're not expecting it. But when you see it, it's a pleasant surprise.
Life is full of surprises; when we take the time to really pay attention to areas in our lives where we sense change, we can gain a clearer vision of actual Growth in our lives and celebrate it! It's important to Honor these changes and areas of growth so we can recognize who we were and Who We Are Now. And even still, we can actually look for ways to grow: perhaps breaking out of our comfort zones to try something new or do something we haven't done in a while but would really like to make time for. When we step out in this manner, we may see new growth, like rose buds, popping up and showing itself in all of its beauty. Grow and Enjoy! Journaling Prompt: Note an area in your life where you have recognized new growth, whether in your relationships, in your emotions, in your work life, or in your spirit. Why do you suppose this new growth has appeared; what is it telling you about yourself and who you have become as a result? Art Journaling Prompt: Use an image of something that is showing areas of growth or use the words New Growth as a prompt for a visual, honoring an area of your life where you are growing and becoming more of Who You Are on a deeper level. Hello, Art Journal Friends. Today's featured spread, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, had an interesting start. I recently got my hands on a different kind of bubble wrap from a package containing a book that I used. I applied watercolor to one side and then applied the paint on the wrap to the page with a brayer. And--whalla! Lovely, colorful texture! I applied this on repeat with several colors: red violet, yellow, and violet. Once I had those layers down, I found some magazine pages with yellow and violet colors, tore them in bits and adhered them with matte medium. Once I had that down, I had to give this beginning some serious thought. I didn't have a "message" come to me right away. But once I came back to it, I eyed the "path of yellow" created by the torn bits of collage and it reminded me of the Yellow Brick Road in the Wizard of Oz. Aha! I now had my message: Follow the Yellow Brick Road! Once I knew this, I went to work/play on how I would display each word. The words, Follow and Yellow, I cut out free hand from colored construction paper. I love the long, exaggerated letters. I then adhered them with matte medium in a random fashion. Once the letters were down, I used oil pastel to bring out the edges and highlight them. I also cut out rectangles of purple and stamped each one with a letter to spell "the." I also highlighted the letters with pen. Then I got to work on the words Brick Road, and I knew I wanted to do my own lettering with Uniball Pen. I love doodling in my evening journal entry, so I applied my same lettering techniques here, adding lines to each letter and alternating the colors. I added black dots to every other space to create bricks in the letters. I also accented the letters with a black brush pen to give them a bit of shadow for more pop on the page. I added musical notes and other stamped words to enhance to purpose of the spread. I did want to say a word about the message behind, Follow the Yellow Brick Road. The thing that stood out to me the most about it was the difference between when being able to recognize when the road you are traveling leads to HOME or if it's a situation where you feel you've been confused by an illusion. And when you realize it was an illusion, it's as if you've seen behind the "curtain" to what's really there, and it's a true disappointment. Yet, the silver lining is what Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy, "You've had what you needed all along." What I say is this: The Truth Comes From Within. And you will always find the Truth if you are seeking it, even if you have to get past Illusion to find it. Journaling Prompt:
Can you remember a time where you felt like you were on a yellow brick road and how what you thought it would lead you to was an Illusion? How did you reckon with this discovery? Were you disappointed? Where you relieved to discover it when you did so you could get past it? How has it impacted you in your life today? Art Journal Prompt: Create Your Own Yellow Brick Road and show where it led you and where you are now. Honor your path by validating how you felt at that time and how you have responded to the Truth you have discovered since. You can use map pieces to create a travel perspective as a background visual. |
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Dawn HerringDawn engages in many roles: As Writer/Blogger and Artist/Creative and Founder of Refresh with Dawn Herring: Where Art and JOY Align, She enjoys sharing from her vast experience as award-winning, life-long artist and leader in the field of written journaling, offering encouragement and proven tips to other journal keepers. Dawn's focus is on written journal keeping, artistic expression and finding your Creative Voice, and positive change that leads personal empowerment, encouraging you to leave your authentic and positive mark in the world. Dawn is a Commercial artist, hand letterer/illustrator and writer/blogger and enjoys sharing insights, humor, and encouragement as she shares from her life experiences as a woman, wife, mother of two grown daughters and as a Grandparent to a special needs grandson. She enjoys keeping a journal and reading spiritual texts to help keep the light on. May JOY Align with Your Creative Heart. Archives
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