Get Messy Introspection - Week 1

We're back with a new season of Get Messy Art Journal: Introspection. I'll admit it, I struggled through Season of Lists. It was great to try it but it was not my thing. Now I'm buzzing with excitement for something new.

After making these pages I feel this may become an emotionally heavy season for me. But I'm actually looking forward to it. I can hide my feelings all I want from others but I don't want to in my art journals and that makes this liberating.

I'm staying with the handmade journal format. I have a grand plan to combine all these booklets into one at the end of the year and we'll see how that goes.

I struggle with self portraits. It's an emotional thing. So I'd like to think this spread deals more with what makes us unique. What makes up my personality? Is it ok if it changes? What is my true self? When am I my true self? Was it only when I was the always smiling and laughing and carefree girl my mom keeps reminding me I was at 5? Or the more subdued but still laughing woman at 31?

I had left over magazine strips from a previous project and decided to use them to make the background of the self portrait. I then sketched out my outline and gessoed over the magazines. I then added some simple details to the face with a paint pen. I wrote my journaling around the face to help connect it to the background. 

I've been neglecting my body. It stresses me out, so I shove all body/health issues in the far corners of my mind. But as they say it can't stay there forever and it seems like 2016 will be the year I am confronted with these issues. So this page is a reminder to nourish myself. Especially my heart, stomach and intestines, and my mental health.

This spread started out the inkblot. There are actually three colors, but the magenta overpowered the others. I used acyclic ink which created enough texture for me. I then added the model, since I wanted any drawings to overlap. She by no means reflects how I look or want to look, I choose her more the slight bohemian feeling she gives me. I then added the anatomical drawings with a bright light green paint pen to compliment the magenta. I love this color combo! A more modern take on red and green. I then stamped a large constellation stamp in gold and stenciled the word nourish in the lower corner to help balance the dark hair of the model. 

This is a bit of journaling I jotted down on March 2, 2015. My life seemed so stagnant then and I was struggling with my self worth. I'm not consistent with written journaling but I do have little bits from throughout the years. This seems like the perfect Season to get them out and hopefully resolved within myself.

The longest part of creating this spread was waiting for the watercolor to dry between all the layers. I was lucky that there was some soccer on tv and just enjoyed the process of mixing colors and creating shapes. I started with lighter colors and worker my way darker. I'm really happy with how this turned out and can definitely see myself using this technique again. I stamped the large sentence and hand wrote my journaling. It was a little challenging to figure out where to put the journaling and I was a little disappointed the the writing came out crocked, but this isn't about perfection. It's about getting the emotions out.