Tag: art journaling

What Inspires Me

Weekly inspiration

Jen Morris

Each week I share links to the posts and pages that have most inspired me. Feel free to share anything that has inspired you in the comments below.

wellington waterLoving this idea of being deliberate with our words by Jamie Ridler.

This post is a bit old, but the message is timeless. Wise words for anyone struggling at the moment.

This is such a simple question to ask ourselves each day. A good journal prompt to get you thinking.

This fantastic list of art journal prompts.

A simple journal prompt that could lead to big change.

Have a lovely and inspiring week!

Creativity

Journaling: Traveling within

Jen Morris

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about travel. I love traveling.

There’s something so inspiring about seeing new places and cultures, being out of your ordinary routine and, sometimes, out of your comfort zone.

exploreWhenever I travel, I learn so much about myself simply from being in new environments and out of my normal realm. In fact, there’s this fantastic quote by Danny Kaye:

To travel is to take a journey into yourself.

This is so very true. When I explored Europe and parts of North America last year, I returned to my home country of little old New Zealand as a different person. I had a stronger sense of who I was, a greater confidence in myself, and I was bursting at the seams with inspiration and creative ideas.

Looking back on my travel journal, I can see the growth I experienced as I ventured out into the big wide world. Once back home though, it wasn’t long before my feet were itching to get back on a plane and off to a new location.

Unfortunately, traveling far and wide as often as we might like is not always possible. But do we need to? Rilke said,

The only journey is the one within.

I can’t help but wonder if that is true. As much as I love seeing new places and exploring the world, the things that are most truly valuable for me from traveling are the lessons I learn about myself, the growth I experience and the inspiration that fills me.

traveling within

What if I could capture even a fraction of that, without stepping foot in an airport?

That is exactly what journaling gives me. Now – let’s be honest – it doesn’t give me quite the same rush of excitement as boarding a plane and landing somewhere new, but it does allow me to journey inwards and learn more about myself.

discover yourselfI was recently asked to describe myself, and found myself saying I am an ‘intrepid explorer of the wild within’. And you know what? I am.

There exists inside us a wild and undiscovered realm, an untouched landscape, a history waiting to be explored. We have within us whole worlds, both new and familiar. We are rich and layered beings with stories of our own to share. There is so much to be explored when we journey within.

I find that every day when I sit down to journal, I venture further into myself. I don’t always like what I find and I don’t always unearth treasures. If I get stuck I use journal prompts or switch over to my art journal. But I keep exploring and learning, and that is what’s important. Because, at the end of the day, the main reason I venture out into the world is, really, to venture into myself.

And that should keep me happy until I can next board a plane.

How does your journaling help you venture within?

What Inspires Me

Weekly inspiration

Jen Morris

Every week I share the posts and blogs that have most inspired me. Feel free to share anything that has inspired you in the comments below. Enjoy!

lovely flower

I love this post that suggests lots of different female poets to enjoy. I’m going to work my way through the list!

Speaking of poetry, this post which includes a Mary Oliver poem (and a cute picture of a dog) is gorgeous! I can’t help but think about how right it is, too.

How have I not been to this website before? I’ll definitely be printing out some of these planner pages.

Really love this artist’s approach to collage.

This awesome post on what it means to be an artist (of any kind, really).

Lovely art journal page with some step-by-step photos.

Creativity

Overcoming my creative wall: Peek inside my new journal

Jen Morris

I’ll be honest – I haven’t been feeling all that creative lately. I’ve been in a bit of a creativity rut.

As the school year wraps up and I’m slowing down, the tiredness from three and a half full terms has hit.

I’m still journaling most days, but creatively, I’ve hit a bit of a wall.

But you see, I want to create. I keep browsing instagram and looking at all these amazing art journals (I’m always inspired when looking at work by Samie Harding, Lisa Sonora, Mary Wangerin and Nichole Rae, to name a few) but I can’t bring myself to pick up my paintbrush.

The solution? Create a new journal (this seems to be a pattern with me…)

space for creativityBut this journal is all about using magazine images with words I find, and words I add, to create my own images. A kind of visioning/collage process. It takes away my inertia because there are ready-made images to work with.

I love looking through magazines to find images that inspire me. I’m careful about what I read, and I tend to be drawn to the same sorts of images time and again:

  • Landscapes, trees, gardens, nature – green
  • Water, sky – blue
  • Beds and pillows
  • Cups or tea or coffee, teapots
  • Books, handwriting, journals
  • Deskscapes
  • Bright colours
  • Crafty things like knitting, sewing, painting
  • Images of families
  • Simple, rustic houses – wood, stone, exposed beams, cosy fireplaces etc

At first I felt like this didn’t count as ‘creativity’ – but then I had a wee chuckle. Creativity is anything really. And besides, I’m taking images and arranging them in unique ways, with my own words and ideas. The images are really just a building block.

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I want to get back into painting and I will when I’m rested and open to it. For now, playing with these words and images is soothing my creative urges.

How do you break out of a creativity rut?

Creativity

Keeping your creative focus

Jen Morris

 

Sometimes I get so many ideas that I can’t focus on just one. I get really inspired and feel myself being pulled in a hundred different directions.

I start new journals, come up with new blog ideas, buy new art supplies, sign up for new courses… only to find those initial feelings of inspiration giving way to feelings of overwhelm.

When I finally get a moment to myself to spend doing my own thing, I feel paralysed by indecision. Do I finally start writing the novel I’ve been planning? Or do I break out my new stencils? Or maybe I should be planning the e-book for my new blog? Or art journaling in one of my many art journals? Or journaling in my written journal? Or blogging on this blog? Or, or or…

It all becomes a bit much.

As much as I love feeling inspired and creative, I find myself with 15 different projects that are unfinished, abandoned for the next thing. This is no way to make progress!

In her book Renaissance Souls, Margaret Lobenstine explores people like me – what she calls, ‘people who have too many passions to pick just one’. I am so one of these people! I quickly move from one thing to the next, easily bored and distracted by something new that’s caught my eye.

The thing is, I would really like to finish something that I start. I want to finish writing my novel. I want to develop a blog to the point that it’s financially successful (which is not likely to happen if I keep getting distracted by coming up with ideas for new blogs).

In other words, I want to focus my attention and get results on the few things that are really important to me.

Lobenstine suggests picking three or four ‘focal points’ – these are the areas of interest that you choose to focus your attention. I think this is especially helpful advice for someone like me who, without limits, could easily have 10-15 different projects on the go at once. Four sounds good. Four sounds like I will actually have time and energy to focus and achieve something!

So right now I’m working on eliminating distractions and choosing the areas that are most important for my attention.

Journaling is an extremely helpful tool to remind ourselves of what is important, what we most want to focus on. It can also be a good way to remind ourselves by reading back through past entries. I’ve found that while sometimes my priorities have changed, often I’ve just gotten distracted and not followed through on what really mattered to me.

How do you remain focused on the things that are important to you?

Creativity

Journal prompt: Happiness is

Jen Morris

I wanted to write a simple journal entry today following a prompt, but often the journal prompts I use are quite big and require you to dig quite deep.

Then I came across this one, which suited me just fine. A simple list worked for me, but really got me thinking about the lovely things in life.happiness-isI hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

>>> Prompt:

Take a fresh page in your journal. Create the heading ‘Happiness Is…’ at the top of the page.

Write whatever comes to mind, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. If it brings a smile to your face, or a feeling of joy, then add it to the list.

You could write this as a list or do it as a mindmap. You could also do this as a visual prompt and create a collage of images from magazines, or draw pictures.

Here are some of mine:

  • A hot cup of coffee
  • New stationery
  • Sleeping in late
  • Laughing with friends
  • A good book
  • Traveling
  • Playing with art supplies
  • Journaling
  • Being in nature
  • Puppy cuddles
  • Good music
  • Butterflies
  • Afternoon naps

I could easily fill a page with all the little things I love in life. I like this because it makes me think of the tiny things that bring me joy, and whenever I’m feeling low I can look back at this list and do one of the little things to pick me up. Even just reading what I have written makes me smile.

What is happiness for you?

What Inspires Me

Weekly inspiration

Jen Morris

Each week I share a few of the pages and posts that have inspired me the most… lame rhyme intended! Feel free to share anything that has inspired you in the comments.

yellow-flower

I came across this really cool course that runs throughout all of 2015 and I think I might do it!

I know I often share posts from Courtney’s page, but that’s because she inspires me so much! I loved this post about how to get up early and make the most of your mornings

This gorgeous poem by Cynthia made me smile and think more about my own big dreams

I love this practice of Jessica’s to write out ten things you accomplish each day in order to remind yourself of what you’ve achieved, no matter how small

As a washi tape addict I really enjoyed the eye candy in this post! Be sure to click on the links inside the post to see more gorgeous pics. Just when I thought my washi tape collection was complete… I think I feel a tape spend coming on!

Creativity

Journal prompt: Letter to your son or daughter

Jen Morris

Last weekend when I was playing around in my altered book journal, I made a two page spread that looked a little like old paper. I didn’t want to put lots of images and colours on there like I usually do, so I decided to do a bit of writing.

altered-book-07As it’s not my normal written journal (but rather a place that is a little more playful) I decided to do something a little bit different: a letter to my (future) daughter.

I don’t have kids yet, but my partner and I talk about how we want to raise our kids when we do have them. I think a lot about the things I value in my life and some of the more conscious decisions I’ve made for myself over the past year (to avoid mainstream media/advertising, quit dieting, downsize and focus on what’s really important, etc). I often think about what I want to teach my kids, when I have them, and especially my daughter(s), because I think it is so hard growing up in this day and age for young women.

So that is what I did – I wrote a letter to my future daughter, with all the lessons I’ve learned so far. The funny thing is, all the advice I seemed to be offering was indeed advice I needed to hear too!

>>> Prompt:

Take a fresh page in your journal. If you like you could do this in an art journal and include images and colour too.

Now, from the heart and as honestly as you can, write a letter to your future (or current!) children. If you don’t have children or don’t plan to/want to have children, write the letter to a niece or nephew, or someone younger you care about.

Your letter may take the form of advice, as mine has, or it may be about your story, something personal you want to share. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

travel

I just wanted to share with my future daughter the lessons that most stand out to me at this stage in my life. I’m sure if I wrote the same letter in 5 years time, some lessons would be the same and there would hopefully be others to add!

Some of my advice included the following:

  • Trust your intuition
  • Be bold – have courage
  • Dream big and don’t listen to those who say you can’t
  • Travel and see the world
  • Find a creative outlet you love and create often
  • Love yourself unconditionally. You’re good enough – imperfections and all
  • Find others you love and cherish them

What would you write to your (future) son or daughter?

Creativity

Back from a weekend break: Art journal peeks

Jen Morris

I’ve just come back from a lovely weekend away with my best friend. We spent the entire weekend talking about our exciting new business venture, drinking wine, art journaling, walking on the beach and resting. Not to mention (she is an avid journaler too) we stole a few quiet hours away alone each day to journal.

I am finally starting to feel like myself again after what has possibly been the most difficult term of my teaching career.

Journaling in my lined written journal has been great, just getting back to basics. As I had the time this weekend to just write as much as I wanted to, I found myself exploring issues that have been bubbling away below the surface for a while now. unsurprisingly, solutions came to me as I wrote.

All in all, a very healing weekend.

I worked quite a lot with my paints in my altered book, too. Below are a few peeks of my favourite bits.

altered book 03

altered book 05

altered book 06

altered book 04

I didn’t really realise quite how much blue and turquoise I had used until I looked back through these pictures! I guess I was using those lovely colours to invoke a sense of calm and peace after a hectic few months at work.

I also notice now that the theme of travel, journeys and freedom came up a few times. I think I’m feeling the need to go out into the world and take a break from stress!

I’m lucky to now have two weeks away from work to unwind. People always joke that teachers have it so easy with ‘all the holidays’ but boy, do we need them.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and took some time out to journal.

What Inspires Me

Weekly inspiration

Jen Morris

Each week I publish a series of the most inspiring links and posts I’ve enjoyed. Feel free to share any of your own in the comments!

shoes-and-flowers

I love, love, LOVE seeing into other people’s journals and hearing about how they use their journal, so I really enjoyed this post by Nairobi Nicole

I love this idea for a daily affirmations project by Nicole

I have only just discovered Cynthia’s blog (it’s awesome!), and I love the look of these journals she creates. But she is going to stop making them soon! She has a really good offer on them here

As my partner and I begin preparing for our tiny house build, we are starting a very slow and steady downsizing process. I really loved Courtney’s post about downsizing

I am getting back into written journaling at the moment, and yesterday posted about using simple prompts to help you journal when you’re short on time. I came across this great post which uses a list style prompt to get to know yourself a little better. Will definitely be using these as writing prompts when I take some time out for myself over the next couple weeks.