{"id":1790,"date":"2014-09-16T11:43:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T11:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foxboroarttherapy.com\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2017-03-02T11:40:49","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T16:40:49","slug":"art-journaling-flip-through-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindfulartstudio.com\/art-journaling-flip-through-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Imperfection: My Ugly Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Embracing<\/a>By: Amy Maricle
\nLast week I\u00a0spoke with a young woman\u00a0who said she had been inspired by some of my blog posts to start an art journal. She bought special supplies, put on her favorite music,\u00a0and got to work.\u00a0After\u00a0about an hour and a half, she said that she felt thoroughly frustrated and disappointed. None of her pages\u00a0were pretty, fun, or even interesting to look at.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Finding Your Inner Artist<\/h2>\n

I spend a lot of my time trying to help people find their inner artist.<\/strong>\u00a0Everyone has it. No, not everyone can transfer the image in their mind to the page, or incorporate some clever humor into their art, but everyone who wants to express something can. \u00a0Your art is for you. If you want to share it, you can, but art making is a time for you to explore you inner landscape on the page.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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You don’t have\u00a0to take advanced drawing or painting classes in order to make art, but\u00a0I have found that\u00a0because\u00a0art takes some training and practice,\u00a0knowing\u00a0a few tricks will help you feel more successful. You can read about that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“Mistakes” Make Great Art<\/h2>\n

When teens or adults start making art again (after that long hiatus since childhood) usually the hardest part\u00a0is getting past the idea that you\u00a0shouldn’t do art because you\u00a0don’t have “talent,” or that it’s just for kids. \u00a0Art is a great teacher.<\/strong> If you pay attention to the process, it will speak to you about your life. Part of making art is making mistakes. It’s what we do with them that counts. <\/strong>Who said that? If you know, please tell me in the comments!<\/p>\n

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Let’s Get Real<\/h2>\n

Listening to this young woman, it occurred to me that in my efforts to inspire you to create, I haven’t shown you my\u00a0mistakes.\u00a0Seeing mistakes is important.<\/strong> When you only see the pages that I or other artists deem “finished,” or “pretty,” it doesn’t give a lot of permission for your learning curve or for those pages that are just not working, does it? So, I bring you the\u00a0awkward, unattractive, lost, and perpetually “in process” pages. \u00a0And in the spirit of embracing imperfection, I am sharing them in a very low-tech video.<\/p>\n

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After the video, I have included a list of ways that I deal with my imperfect pages. Would you read them over and tell me what you would do? You can help me out with my imperfect art journal pages<\/strong>\u00a0or tell me what you like to do with yours!<\/p>\n

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My Imperfect Pages, Art Journal Flip Through<\/h2>\n

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