Journaling with art

In my google-ing this week I came across the site of Judi Russell (judirussell.com) in which she describes an art therapy exercise that I found helpful in two ways -- more understanding of my inner life in the moment and a way to break through the resistance to starting on a "real" art project. She has you CLOSE YOUR EYES and scribble, then find something within the scribbled lines that you might want to develop. Then color in the lines you need, erase and add on as needed. My first attempt turned out like this - and since the dog was in such a head-down position it looked like it was searching for something. That helped me to understand that the retail therapy I had engaged in earlier that day was about looking for .... what? Certainly not more stuff! So I pondered that for a while.



A few days later I tried the exercise again. This time I saw fish.



The words that bubbled up were a play on a well-known nursery rhyme. My family had just left for the day -- off to the city, off to work, off into the world.....and I was staying home. So I had lots to ponder about what that meant to me.

I encourage you to check out Judi's site, read her art journaling directions and try it as a way to explore what's up and current for you. And then tell me how it went!