What Will the New Year Bring?

Oh my goodness, the year has just flown by and we are 7 weeks away from the end of the year. And what a fun ride this has been for all of us!   But it is time to look forward to a new year with fresh, new ideas, new challenges and lots of excitement as we bring 2015 to a close.


The admin team is furiously working on your visual art prompts for the coming year and we want to challenge you to get outside the box this coming year; get out of your rut and try new things, experiment more and learn new techniques.  The art world is always changing, sometimes faster than some of us can keep up with.  Some of us like the comfort that our own personal ruts get us into, but where is the fun in that?  Those ruts can quickly become boring and routine, and unless we push ourselves and you, we cannot grow as people, as artists, or as expressive people. 

We are going to add in a whole new feature at Artful Journeys this coming year -- maybe more than one, but for sure, we are going to be adding in daily journaling prompts!  Our thought process is to give you a week's worth of real, writing / journaling prompts each Sunday for you to think about and write about during the week as an adjunct to your journaling.  Writing is healing for all sorts of things and reasons. Getting your thoughts, desires, wishes, demons, anger, frustrations and every emotion in between out on paper helps release stress, tension, anxiety from within your soul and spirit, freeing up more room for you to actually put your creative juices and positive influences into motion in your lives.  We all have stuff buried way deep inside. We wouldn't be human if we didn't.  We're going to work on some of that, but we are going to start out getting you into the practice of routine journaling, to face that blank page and WHAT to write, how to write and how to move forward.  Writing--every.single.day.  Maybe just 15 minutes. Maybe you have several pages to get out of you to free up some positive space inside.  Whatever is there, we want you to get it out.  And no sharing is required.


Journaling is intrinsically a very private activity, generally not to be shared with a single soul.  It is a special "just-for-me" activity.  Some of our journaling (writing) prompts are going to be designed just to get you to start writing, to put pen to paper and get you in the habit.  Find a writing journal that you love.  One where you love the feel and weight of the paper. You love the exterior, the weight of it, the lightness of it, the portability of it.  Use a journal that speaks to you, and most especially a pen or pens that you LOVE writing with.  I use a real, old-timey fountain pen and occasionally dip pens in my writing journal, so the paper is especially important to me.  I love the nib on the paper, the flow of the ink, the whole process of actually writing on paper.  I rarely "tart up" my writing journals, (except for the covers--I love tarting them up), but will occasionally add washi tape to the outer edges or some small paper "something" just to break up the pages a little.  But rarely more than that.  It is a space for me to be free and honest with myself.  My journal is a place to really explore the true inner "me", a place to be honest with myself about my personal problems and issues, my anxieties, my frustrations, questions I seek answers to and a place to heal from years and years of nasty 'ole stuff that has been buried wayyyy deep.  And I am healing from many of these things and am proud of myself for actually addressing some of these things and my ability to relive some heartache and pain, but find solutions to them. To find forgiveness. To find that real emotion and honesty that can only bring healing.  A problem unspoken is still a problem, but a problem addressed is the first step to a solution.  Don't we all need solutions rather than problems?  I'm telling ya -- writing is a great step to some profound solutions in your lives.  So we're going there this coming year. Come along. You won't regret it, I promise.

As we progress into the year through our journaling, you may feel the need and desire to then express some of that real emotion onto a visual page, with cues only you know what they mean.  Those pages, we would love for you to share with us at Artful Journeys.  Put those into your creative art journal. Leave the real, hard-core journaling in your writing journal.  But express your day or your week's journaling visually. Share it.  Own it.  Be real with it!  This creative artwork isn't supposed to be a masterpiece.  Use the supplies you have on hand.  Be the master of cut and paste, scissors and glue. Sketch if you can, paint if you are so inclined.  Your journaling will show you the way. This type of art will happen organically, and ultimately will become some of your most loved art ... because it expresses real emotion and the real you.  This whole process is going to be separate and apart from our regular, weekly visual art prompts.  You will want to take the cues from your writing and express it visually because you will be making personal progress, not only through the cathartic writings, but wholly as a person. You will feel freer, more complete, and just more "alive." 

So get out there, find you a new writing journal. Tart up the cover if you want to.  Gather up your favorite writing instruments and get ready for a fresh start, a new year...and a new you!  And stay turned for more details as the new year approaches!

As always, keep it artful!

ARTFUL CHICKS
Betty

#2016  #Getting Ready  #NewYou