From faces to art journaling...

A journey into the unknown and learning to let go.

I’m a perfectionist, a planner and an organizer; quite the type A personality. Perfectionism began very early and extends into all areas of my life. From folding clothes like they do in the stores to organizing my spice cupboard. Everything must be well thought out and planned in advance. This leaves little room for spontaneity. I’m also very technically wired. I change the oil in my car, do the plumbing in the house, and program CNC machines in my day job. This leaves little room for mistakes.

My approach to art was challenged from the get go! Well I certainly didn’t see it like that. I had researched all the supplies, figured out what classes to take, and prepared a space to do my art. I was in control!

Back in high school the only thing I was good at in art class was sketching faces. After not doing art for 33 years I returned to sketching first and faces is where I felt most comfortable. This is where I got side tracked when I discovered YouTube! There was so much more out there than pencils and erasers. Heck they had invented a blending stump called a tortillon, and I wanted to try everything! Inside the world of YouTube I met Tamara Laporte and her year long course called Lifebook. At the time I was dealing with anxiety of going back to a stressful work environment after a yearlong sickness. This is probably what attracted me to her course. It wasn’t just about art, it was a healing experience. In hindsight, it was exactly what I needed and now I’m still grateful for this life-changing event.

After 2 years, I had learned many skills and had the confidence to branch out. My perfectionism needed satisfying and so I took 2 one-year courses called Let’s Face run by artist Kara Bullock. I was in my glory studying and painting faces until late in the 2nd year when I became so sick I could not do any art for about 6 months. I had pretty much given up on finishing the course and somehow painting pretty perfect faces was not in the cards for me. How could I go back and finish? It was too late, I felt defeated and embarrassed, and the year was coming to a close. I could not control what happened and there was no time to catch up. I became resentful and really upset.

It’s funny how one door closes and another opens. I tried to do some art but could not physically do more than 30 minutes and that was pushing it. What I could do was something that I had absolutely no experience with and yet whenever I did it I felt absolutely free and happy. It’s called art journaling but I didn’t know there was a name for it. I had done a couple of lessons and enjoyed it thoroughly. I found that whenever I felt frustrated, all it took was a quick 20 minutes of gluing down collage and laying down some color that made me feel really great. I’m now aware that it was the “not knowing” how it would turn out that was appealing to me.

So, with the New Year approaching and my health improving I wanted to do some art again. Then it hit me, I had tucked away an email many years ago about a year-long course in mixed-media and art journaling called Wanderlust. This was what I wanted! A new path, a journey into the unknown and I was ecstatic to join.