And so the journey begins - Week 1

I have FINALLY begun a class I signed up for almost a year ago & am thoroughly enjoying it! I have forgotten how much fun it is to play & learn at the same time!!!

The class is called Your Living Canvas & it's being taught by Christy Tomlinson in conjuction with a life coach, Art McCracken (Link to his Facebook page). Each week we journal with prompts from Art & then Christy gives us her interpretation of the prompts as well as a "freebie" project to try a new technique.

I signed up for the class shortly after another of Christy's classes. It was at a time when I was feeling very lost & vulnerable in my life. My circle of friends was shrinking; my hubby & I weren't communicating & I needed more in my creative life & didn't know what that was. I thought this class was going to be my saving grace! Fast forward almost a year later & things have changed quite a bit! My friendship circles are still not large, but I've come to terms with that (mostly); hubby & I are in a much better place these days & my artistic self is much more content! Fixed? Nah, but working at it! Even though I am not in the same place I was almost a year ago, I know there is still room for improvement! So I am diving head first in to this class!

This week we were to explore 3 trials/heartaches/mistakes; 3 accomplishments/moments of joy/clarity; 3 relationships that shifted your life; 3 experiences that brought change...I only scratched the surface with these pages & hope to add more in the coming days, but I only have until June to finish this class before it expires! So I am trying to work through it rather quickly! :)

I'm not a journaler! When I was younger & tried to keep a diary, I was too afraid of someone finding it & what they might think when they read it! So I would inevitably rip out any pages I wrote & finally gave up altogether! But, the nice thing about art journaling is that you can always COVER up what you write & no one is the wiser! :) On the following pages, I pretty much followed along with what Christy did in class (except the emotions & writing are my own thoughts). I hope that as I work through the class, the pages become more my own process!

Here's a peek...

Page 1 - Loss

This page was my first because it bears a lot of meaning for me. We've all had loss in our lives, from family to relationships to jobs & more. I've had my share too, but my focus was on a friendship I lost over the past few years. This woman was the first friend I'd had outside of family that shared a love of art & scrapbooking. We became very fast friends. When she was going through some tough times, I may have been a little too blunt with my advice & consequently, pushed her away. We had talked in one form or another every day until that fateful "unwanted advice" day...then it became more infrequent & I started to get insecure & began questioning things. It hurt me deeply that she would just pull away without talking things through & because of that, I have become guarded in my friendships & constantly second guess myself or feelings. I tend to hold back or simply not put myself out there with new people & stick with what I know, mainly my sister, who has been nothing short of amazing! I don't know what I would do without her! She's my rock! What I believe I have learned from this experience? To just listen & keep my mouth shut for the most part & enjoy the moment, I suppose, cuz nothing lasts forever. Kinda sad, I know, because if you can't be honest with your friends, what's the point in having them? Why can I have friends that I have known forever, but as an adult, it's so hard to connect? Have to keep contemplating on that one!

Page 2 - Love

This page is pretty straight forward...the love lessons I have learned from being married for almost 15 yrs & the love for my 7 yo daughter. As many know, marriage is not always easy & raising a child can be tough at times too. I am grateful for my relationship with both my hubby & daughter & cannot even imagine my life without either! Trust in your heart...a good motto to live by!

Page 3 - Art

My third page is simply about the freedom, fulfillment & joy that making art gives me! From sharing images here & other ways, to learning new things, fulfilling dreams of being published or gaining recognition for my work...art makes me happy! I am more content on the days that I get to be creative & I know that to keep my life balanced, there has to be some form of art in my days!

Page 4 - "Do what makes you come ALIVE!"

The final page I did today was not a planned one & of course, it's my favorite! Art McCracken left us with a quote from Harold Whitman at the end of this week's journey:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs;

ask yourself what makes you come alive,

and then go do that,

because what the world needs

is people who have come alive."

So, I paraphrased it onto my last page..."Do what makes you come alive." That definitely speaks to me right now! As you can see, some of the class will be raw & soul searching while other parts will just flow. Sorry if I made anyone uncomfortable with my revelations. It's the nature of things to come...I can't wait to see where this journey takes me...I hope you'll stop back in to find out as well!

Cheers!