Everything becomes an art journal

"Air" - Spirit Doll

My children loved a book called "A House is a House For Me" by Mary Ann Hoberman. As the book goes, everything is a house for something. I feel that way about art journaling. Everything becomes a journal, a piece of me is in everything I write, I collect, I create. 

I never really liked dolls, yet I played with trolls, Baribie, various ceramic animal sets. My sister and I made houses, clothes and furniture for them, but did not really play with the dolls...the dolls were just an excuse to create. 

But now I find myself drawn to dolls, art dolls, rag dolls, monsters, animals, Junker Jane style dolls and spirit art dolls. As long as they do not look to lifelike, I am happy. A bit of me goes into each. A story is told for each doll. They take charge and become what they want to become. Many journal pages do the same thing...just take over and become. 

So I am opening up a gallery of art dolls here in this blog. Who knew this is where I would journey?

Spring has sprung and how do I journal when I am digging in the garden?

Early Crocus

Time speeds up in the spring. We wait for so impatiently for the first crocus and then so quickly the trees are all green. Still fresh light green, but they are thickening up so fast. A spring thunderstorm is passing over right now and I relish the thunder. No matter how fast it moves, I love spring.

I am looking for inspiration in the garden. seedlings curling up, the first true leaf on the cucumbers, rich dark earth and fat earthworms. Flowers everywhere. Not hard to find some inspiration, just hard to find the time to journal.

Notice the air, the angle of the sun. Draw something small. Sketch something big. Can you capture the perfume of the lilacs or the air after a rain? Do some fast line drawings of a robin or sparrow. Trace the line of a hawk's wing. 

Spring is fleeting, capture it in quick lines and refine later. Let the season inspire you.