Monday 11 August 2008

Soul Journal .....

I found Sarah Whitmire and her Soul Journalling Project last week, through my friend, Ed's Blog and was absolutely hooked as soon as I started reading about the Soul Journal.
The Project takes shape through a series of daily prompts. Needless to say, I found the Project on Day 14 !!! On Day 18, Sarah went on a week's trip to New York - great I thought - catch up time. I did try - despite the interferences of daily life like going to work, housework, going to bed and the like - and even to the point where I took a couple of days off work but you know how it is - the best laid plans and all that ..... But despite that, I would like to share with you what I have been doing on this Project so far ......
Page 1 - Claiming Your Journal ....
Page 2 is your Soul Armour .... what you need to shield you from outside criticism and your inner critic; and what you need to protect and nourish your inner spirit ......
Pages 3 and 4 are based on Pictures of specific items from Magazines and following Sarah's journalling prompts, these are they ..... I loved doing this as it is so totally different to other things I have done - in fact it took me back to being a little girl again, cutting pictures out of magazines and sticking them in those sugar paper scrap books.
Pages 5 and 6 I had great difficulty getting my head around. The prompt was to fill the two pages with small writing starting "I Forgot To Tell You ...." Deep, dark, confessional secrets, things never said, an imaginery conversation, talking to yourself - wierd. Wierd, because when you finished your writing you were asked to cover it all up with tape - any kind of tape, parcel tape, electrical tape, duct tape, masking tape - and then apply gesso and wipe it off, and then paint and wipe that off too. I have to say though, despite the wierdness, the end result is beautiful - I have two almost fabric like pages. As I am using loose paper for the pages at the moment, I might make two more of these pages for the covers, or even use these two ....
In Pages 7 and 8 we Recreate Our Home complete with our Paper Doll Family ..... These two pages are still 'under construction' and if they look like Sarah's then I apologise. I can't draw to save my life - not even a wavy line - but I do have some original ideas now that I have the basic layout! ....
Pages 9 to 14 are three double page spread Collage Pot Pourris. Each double spread has a number of prompts as to what is to be included in each spread but they have to be done in a random order. For a relative novice at this sort of abstract thing, initially this was quite difficult but once I got into it, I just went with it, so much so that for someone who is a bit of a conformist, I found myself breaking some of the 'rules' ....
Pages 9 and 10 are complete (?) ......Here are a couple more of this batch of six pages - all still 'under construction' ....
Sadly, the Project is at an end now. There are still a number of other pages to do but I will continue working on them until my Soul Journal is complete, but then will it ever be complete .... you can always change and add stuff to it.
So there you have it - one very messy kitchen (I worked there because there was space to spread out), one tub of gesso down, one set of Sharpie markers acquired, glue and acrylic paint everywhere, a pile of torn and ripped magazines - but one very happy lady !!!!
Congratulations to all who have read through this very long post and I hope you enjoyed it ....

10 comments:

Ed said...

Oooooo Sue - you surpassed yourself this time - I absolutely love it !!! It's starting to show the inner you - post the rest when it it finished please..luv Ed.

Linda Vincent said...

Wow, Sue, I don't know how you did all this in such a short space of time! That's dedication!
Your pages are great - I particularly like your soul armour and your taped pages (I loved doing those pages).
I'll put a link to you on my blog.
Love Linda

Kathryn Costa said...

Wow, You've been super busy! I plan on continuing to add to my soul journal. It will not likely be daily but I will definitely have weekly posts on about my Soul Journal entries. I think you are going to blow past me! I've skipped some of the assignments like the paper dolls and will go back to them when I have more time. It is great to see you jump in and see where the adventure takes you!

papel1 said...

You soul journal is great. You really get involved with your projects. Great work.
Judy

Unknown said...

Fantastic work Sue - love the soul armour - truly stunning and inspiring work XXX

Gail Is This Mutton? said...

Amazing achievement! It's great to find a really motivating challemnge to get your teeth stuck into.

Cindy said...

Wow! You are catching up fast! And such beautiful work, too. Isn't it a fun project? I joined late (and am VERY slow attending to the prompts), but the creativity and challenge of the prompts keep me going. I can't wait to see the rest of your work!

Kate T said...

what a fab set of work, im amazed, well done hun!
Kate sbs 19 xx

Minxy said...

wow looks like you've been super busy, hope you manage to finish it x

Anonymous said...

This is amazing Sue, I love it! x