Going With The Flow In Your Art Journal

We have all heard that old adage "going with the flow", sometimes we know what it means and other times we do not. How does that relate to Art Journaling? Does it means to just follow your intuition? What happens when we are stuck?  Its hard to go with the flow then. All we can think of is not flowing. I think it has a lot to do with letting go of expectations and to just keep at it.  If a page is frustrating just let it be for awhile.  That is how both of these pages came to be.

In this particular page the beginning of what the page was is shown in her dress, everything else is covered in layers of paint. They were all the result of leftover colors on my palette. They were not particularly lovely colors either. I kept layering new colors whenever I had them. Then I saw the figure in the background and brought her to life. I painted over the entire background once more.     When we add layers its like excavation in reverse, instead of digging through them we are laying them down. That makes the content richer.  That is something I need to remember when I get stuck on a particular page.

This background was created the same, it was black with all these brown and pinks and I really hated it. It only took covering the whole thing up, to adding stamps for texture to make me happy with it. I haven't done very many self portraits lately and really do like adding them to journal pages.  I took this one the other day to show my new curls. My hair is as straight as it can be. Always thought I would go and get a perm when it is long like this. I finally did it and I am really liking the look.

Remember when I shared the link about the woman who does post on benches.  Her new post on for Worlds Ocean Day is up and features this photo I took in Cannon Beach, Oregon last year. Its a fun post.