I’m still busy with my short story today, as well as trying to do a few articles for a quick bit of cash, but I thought I could spare a moment to share some more recent journal pages, all within the pages of my January “Create Your Own Reality” book. I didn’t really plan on this journal’s theme being change (I wasn’t really planning on a theme at all) but it just sort of happened. These pages all reflect change (growth, transformation, enchantment) in one way or another, but they also reflect something that was on my mind when I created them. They evolved piece by piece, without any final vision in mind when I began. They may yet evolve still. You can never tell with this sort of thing.

I want to point out the face on the page above, which is one of those happy accidents that happen when you let creativity free. I wanted a male profile there on the page, intending to simply trace it and fill it with color and/or words. When I couldn’t find any in the magazines I have, I turned to the Internet. Easy enough to find what I wanted there, except that our printer happened to be out of black ink. What printed out was the melange of color you see above—pinks and peach and a hint of blue—which was a perfect blend for the background of the page. How could I not use it, hm? You always have to be prepared for the unexpected in creative journaling.

By the time I made this page, I was firmly entrenched in the theme of change. I had also just gotten my new camera lens, and so it seemed natural to do a page about it. I could have printed a picture from the internet, sure (we had blank ink again by this time) but I decided to stretch myself and sketch it myself. Most of the drawing I’ve done has been faces, and I haven’t even really done that for a while. But I figured why not give it a whirl? And you know what, it didn’t turn out that bad. You can tell what it is, anyway! So there’s today’s lesson #2: always stretch your limits.

I like the colors on this page a lot; I added to the background with the new pastels I showed you the other day (they are a unique product, with a fixative blended into the chalk, so that you don’t have to worry about smearing). Unfortunately the glitter on the letters doesn’t show up much in the scan…it’s really a much more “enchanting” image (snrk).

The thing I want to point out about this page is the two coppery blobs on the door of the castle. I tried using stamps and Palette glue to put down some copper foil that I’ve had for ages but never used, but clearly it didn’t work. I don’t know if it was that stamp design or the glue or whatever else might have caused a problem, but I ended up with blobs. A little disappointing, but I can live with it. I’m just glad I remembered I had the foil, and I’m looking forward to experimenting more on future pages. Which, yes, brings us to lesson three: try new things—even failed experiments are worthwhile.

I swear, I didn’t intend to make this into a lesson when I started. I just wanted to show off these pages. But, you know, once you get in the creative flow, you never know where it’s going to go.