get started | art journaling

Each month this year, I'm taking on a creative challenge. I originally intended to pursue something that I was already doing in more depth, but here we are in month two and I'm deviating from my plan. I followed along last year as Caylee and Lauren started the Get Messy art journal movement online, but I didn't participate. Honestly, I was pretty intimidated. I thought for sure this was something I couldn't do. And now that I've gotten started, I think the whole point of art journaling is that anyone can do it.

So, what is art journaling? Technically, it's whatever you want it to be. More narrowly, an art journal is a notebook filled with creative expression. Here's a visual representation. I did a form of this in my early 20s, filling a sketchbook with collages of magazine clippings. This time around, I'm taking a different approach.

I bought a really simple, spiral-bound, blank journal and picked a theme that will hopefully help keep me creating (I have a hard time with things that are completely open-ended). I joined the Get Messy art journal challenge online, which will provide prompts and a creative community. I'm hopeful that this will help me think outside the box, learn new creative techniques, and push me beyond what I think I can do. Think that sounds like a lot? Well I think it's already working.

I've been going through a bit of a creative identity crisis since having baby #2 last year - and I mean that in the best way possible. I have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head, but I've been struggling to hone in, get them organized and make decisions. I wonder if this will be a way to get them out of my head and on paper. We'll soon find out. Also, it was surprisingly relaxing putting this together. I think it's because I wasn't really going for any kind of outcome. I had no idea what I'd create when I started - and that was really fun. I do have one rule for this experiment: I'm only using what I already own to put this together. Can't wait to see what I can dig up (in addition, of course, to this stellar neon washi tape)!

Have you ever tried art journaling? Or are you experimenting with anything new these days?