Soul Journaling: Days 1-4

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I've taken an interest in Sarah Whitmire's Soul Journaling project. I finally sat down and took some photos!

Here's how my first page looked at the end of day 2's assignment:

I think I was most excited to use my "this book belongs to" stamp. I made a few stickers with it that I sent out to some random people via sendsomething.net, but this is the first time I used it for me!

I was also pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed using my watercolor pencils. The pink, orange, and purple versions of my name, as well as the blue outline around my name, were done with watercolor pencil. I originally used the pencils as substitute colored pencils, but decided to break out the water brush just to see if I liked it. Those pencils are addicting!

Anyway, here's a photo of my second journal page after day 4 of the project:

There was a very long story that led me to the "soul armor" image I chose. I did initially find a nice traditional armor line drawing in one of my Dover books. I decided that, while I scanned it, I would see if any other pages of my Dover books needed scanning.

Out of the many images I looked at, the Art Nouveau artist stood out to me. I love how her back is turned away from the viewer - she's so involved in what she's doing that she doesn't care about the criticism and distractions from the outside world. She also seems to stand without hesitation - she looks confident while also maintaining her feminism.

I printed her out with the intention of using her for another project, but my friend Jane pointed out the obvious - she is a perfect image of "soul armor" for me. I colored her with colored pencil and added in "her writing" down the side of the page.

I actually felt a little uncomfortable finishing this page. I had read through Day 3 of Sarah's instructions, and then worked on the page until I felt it was done. As with most of my work, the composition is very, very simple. But then I looked at Sarah's Day 4 and felt like maybe I hadn't done enough. Did it need more alteration? More words? So I went back to my journal, looked at my soul armor and decided... I just need to let my art be what it wants to be. If I didn't feel rushed and I felt it was complete, then that's what it is. The only person that can tell me if my art is correct is me. I just really need to get comfortable in my soul armor so my inner critic loosens up!

Thank you, Sarah, for hosting such a fantastic project! I look forward to each assignment!

And thank you, Jane, for recommending the Soul Journaling project!