Mixed media art journals are extremely popular, offering busy people an opportunity to get in touch with their creative selves. Many art journalists gain satisfaction in using scrapbooking papers, collage ephemera, and other techniques to find respite from their busy lives.
Several years ago, Rakefet Hadar, the founder of SoulPages, discovered a way to bring even greater meaning to the process of mixed media and visual art journals by opening up the psyche to access messages from the heart. Here are a few guidelines Hadar regularly uses in teaching her SoulPages method.
- Give permission to play in the visual art journal. Many people get caught up in comparing their work and lives with others, leading to an abundance of unnecessary stress. When approaching the mixed media art journal, it is important to allow yourself the freedom to play and try new things. Getting caught in the constriction of trying to make “art” with all the mental baggage that may hold can inhibit you from freely opening to the subtle voice of your soul. The visual art journal is your safe place to be a young child again.
- Set a heart-centered intention. Hadar says, “Intention is the heart of the artistic process, and it plays an especially important role in the visual journal.” Often intentions stem from a desire for insight for personal growth. These intentions may be set by asking yourself a question, e.g. What does feeling safe mean to me? Or What has supported me throughout my life?
Other types of intentions might include the desire to express an idea. Perhaps you may want to express joy, gratitude, grief or other emotional experiences that add richness and beauty to your life.
Intention works hand in hand with intuition. The very act of creating opens communication with your higher self to your cognitive and embodied mind. Allow freedom to hold the intention as your soul creates a visual communication—a new and unique language—for your personal growth.
- Invite mixed media to create a deeper connection. Hadar typically includes meditation or guided visualization prior to working in her SoulPages visual art journal . This meditation helps connect the intention with the listening ear of the intuitive, creative response. Sometimes this connection may be supported by reflecting on your intention and inviting awareness and meaningful reflection. Other times, guided visualization helps to open up access to what is often buried deep in our psyche.
After the meditation or visualization, begin to create in your art journal. Use collage images that reflect what came to you in the meditation or for some reason seem to be “calling” to you, without overthinking it. Allow yourself to move into the creative process freely and uninhibited, letting the soul express itself visually on your journal spread.
By implementing these heart-centered techniques as part of the mixed media art journal process, you can experience a powerful, inner transformation in your relationship with yourself and your experience in the world.
Would you like to help others gain more from their visual art journals? Consider signing up for the next SoulPages Mentor Training program. This program will provide a deep foundation for your own mixed media art journal experience as well as equip you to bring life-changing insight to others.
https://soul-pages.com/courses/soulpages-facilitator-training-22-23/
Image Credit: soul-pages.com
