I've been playing this week. I just signed up for 21 Secrets over at Dirty Footprints Studio. 21 Secrets is an online journalling playground consisting of 21 art journal classes with some really inspiring teachers and I dived in to my first class last week - Tracie Hansen's 'Journal Quest'.
So, the premise of this class is that a 'quest' is to 'search or seek for hidden treasures and that the adventure of the artful spirit is 'a quest'.
Tracie invites us to splurge the paint around our journal page and then 'excavate the hidden treasure' within.
I found the process fascinating and quite humbling as I watched these little tribes of people appearing on my journal pages. Only the day before, I had been talking about the need to have my own tribe of like minded, kindred spirits and here were my own tribes!
I could write a story for each of these people, and maybe I will as part of my journalling process, but for the time being, I am enjoying making the images. I see each of the little people as part of myself and it occurs to me that perhaps I am painting my soul group in different dimensions or realities. How you see them is up to you...
Without giving away too much of the process (you need to sign up for that!!), we are urged to set our intention then HAVE FUN! PLAY! EXPLORE! Does it get any better than that?
Well, yes, it did get better than that! I realised as I was playing, having fun and exploring that I had made similar images before. I was half way through my second page and decided I couldn't go on any longer without looking for some old sketchbooks (and I mean old - 30 years old!).
What I found was striking...images I made just about 30 years ago, were very very similar to the ones I had been making using this technique
If you've read my story, you will know I abandoned my creative self for the longest time. so it is reassuring to know that the subconscious thread is now re-surfacing. For me, this was the real buried treasure...the real excavation...
(I posted an album of these 'old' images on my Facebook page. For some reason my blog won't let me add any more links today, so if you want to visit, just click on the Facebook link at the top of the right hand column.)
I've had so much fun with this class and this process; I'm not finished with it yet. If you want to sign up for 21 Secrets, you've got until the 1st October and the classes stay open until the 1st January 2013. Hop over to Dirty Footprints Studio and sign up, I guarantee you won't regret it.
How have you been playing in your art journals this week? Have you found any buried treasure? What have you been excavating?
From my tribal heart to yours
Rachel x