Just Doodle it!

Just Doodle It!

So I just want to jump in here and invite you to join me in this crazy 'art thing'!  I hope by posting my journal pages...the good, the bad and the "way ugly"...that you will be inspired to pick up a pen, a pencil, a crayon or a tube of lip gloss and just take a deep breathe and begin!

The best thing about having an Art Journal is that I am free to just BE.  I don't have to ever show another soul the page if I don't want to.  I can be as crazy or as quiet as I want.

My first "Art Journal" was a spiral notebook that I bought at one of my absolute favorite events....School Supply Sales Week at Wallmart.  Many of you know of my addiction to all things School Supply.  Even though one of my boys is in college and the other is almost a Senior, I still am there... blissfully walking up and down the aisles...loading up my cart with white board markers in colors I'll never use, buying spiral notebooks for 20 cents by the hundred and of course, anything Hello Kitty.

At 20 cents, the investment was tiny and I didn't feel the pressure of having to "make something great".  I have always done a lot of  "journal writing", but I have to tell you that my ADD/ADHD brain would often spit out pages and pages of journaling and yet I didn't feel the emotional release or clarity that I was after.  I was very suprised that just the act of "Doodling" was soothing and that if I included a picture of some kind, I could get away with a lot less writing and still feel like paid tribute to the issue I was trying to work out. 

After picking up a copy of  "Art Journaling" magazine by Someset Studio and finding out that there actually was a THING called "Art Journaling" I took the plunge and actually bought a small sketch book that would fit in my purse. I think it was 40% off at Hobby Lobby so I was out $6.00 if I 'messed it up'.  I had read somewhere in the magazine that if you found yourself hyperventilating over that first blank page to skip to the middle.  Worked like a charm!! It didn't have to be a Masterpiece because certainly no one would ever take the time to look through more than one page!  My 'first starts' were safe from view!

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and looking back...it was some of my best times:)  I had no idea  who the heck "Mod Podge" was or where to find Gesso and what to do with it.  I just used what I had at hand and started. 

This is one of my first pages...I had actually bought a Pitt Artist Pen...I'm sure I found out about it during my hours of "research" on Pinterest:)  At the time we were at Ronald Mc Donald House in Phoenix while my son was in the hospital doing chemotherapy.  I remember that one of the companies that brought in dinner to feed everyone laid out little packs of crayons...4 crayons: red, blue, yellow and green.  I stuffed 3 packs in my purse and ran!!!!

All of these pages were done with 4 crayons.  After a year of blissful dabbling in almost anything I can get my hands on, I find that keeping it simple, using what you have at hand and starting where your at are still the best techniques:)

My first Pitt Pen!  I nearly passed out going into the actual 'Artist' section of Hobby Lobby. I kept waiting for the guy to come up and point me to the Poster Paint and Pipe Cleaners!

I love, love, love little houses!  It was like being 5 again using crayons!

Just Doodling away...

Having this new play-thing to focus  on really helped during the long days at the Hospital....I also found that if I sneaked into the play room...I could steal a box of crayons for the afternoon...Child Life would eventually find me and confiscate them, but I was good for at least an hour!  This was long before I could even THINK about markers or stickers!!!  The five year olds using those were pretty advanced....

  Sometimes I just sat in the playroom doodling while my son played the Xbox....just me and lots of little bald 3-9 year olds blissfully coloring away....you really couldn't tell my "work" from theirs...and that was fine with me:)  I was able to be 'peaceful' in a 'not so peaceful' place:)

So next time you find a few stolen moments, grab one of your kid's half used spiral notebooks, flip to one of the unused pages, grab that pencil with the chewed erasor and just BEGIN. 

Just Doodle it!