Art Journaling: Clear Negative Thinking

Art Journaling is an amazing way to move through feelings using your creative mind rather than rational thought process. There is no judgement you are simply expressing and releasing. Negative thinking rarely comes from external situations; we call that worry. but when we dive into a realm of self-criticism this sets an energy that can act like glue for drawing damaging experiences. This can be done as often as necessary and best done when you are spiraling down into the quagmire of weighty self-criticism.

Preparation:

I Gesso my paper, as this is a grimoire not an art journal it is important that healing pages don’t leak or damage other pages. Gesso strengthens the page and holds paint well, it can be used as a semi absorbent paint and is cheaper than actual paint in general.

Place newspaper or something for over spray, paint or glue to ensure you don’t stick two pages together.

You will need any or all of these: water colour, inks, acrylics, pencil, markers, crayons (water soluble is best as you can smudge and spread them like paint)

magazines or any items that take your fancy for collaging pictures. favourite sayings, I don’t use fancy craft project stencils or stamps but you may wish to.

Step 1: Write in pencil, everything you don’t like about yourself right now, and i do mean everything, it can be harsh, angry or a pity party, but it must only be about you. If you need to fill more than a pair of facing pages, then write over what you have already written until you are done.  If you gesso the page first, let it dry overnight before you try to write on it or you will indent the paint.

Step 2:

put a thin film of gesso (you can see this above) or white mixing paint over your writing to create a barrier between the writing and the colours you are about to add, you can stick down base pictures or collage items at this point, these are the base structure for your overall picture. (the pink is tissue from a purchased item so wee, recycling rocks)

Step 3:

The idea here is not to hide the core or base negativity of the picture but to use it as a base structure for something that you love, enjoy and find beautiful, it can have meaning or just be pretty, entirely up to you. just keep drawing, painting collaging and adding to your picture. use colours you enjoy, pictures that make you happy or represent something you like about yourself. Just keep building upon what you have, if you don’t like something, no worries, just paint or stick something you do like over it. Make sure your picture is dry at each stage before you try to draw or paint over something or you could end up with a bit of a mess.

Step 4:

Complete any bits you like. I treated this like an evening project over 4 days, which was pleasant as a time filler and allows you to become totally focused on creating something purely enjoyable. I hope you give this a go as it is cathartic and in itself helps to shift a mind stuck on the slippery slope of past behaviours.