Tuesday, February 17, 2009

More Than Words...

So lately I have been doing little else in the studio but play in my art journals. I think this is part of my healing stuff and part of that oh so long hibernation period that I seem to be slowly emerging from. Anyway, the prompts and themes offered up by some of my favorite Blogland artists have been great jumping off points for this healing play.

The Creative Every Day Challenge that the marvelous Leah organizes now has an optional theme for each month. The theme for February is "Words" ! Yay, my favorite !!! I don't know if you are aware of my other title, Kim, Queen of Words, but you can ask the hubby about it ! I see words everywhere and often read them aloud much to my husband's annoyance ! I am a champion at games like "Bookworm", "Scrabble" and "Balderdash", etc because besides art, words are my thing, baby !

I found a new way to play with words in my art journal which I really like. It is a mix of writing, kind of stream on consciousness stuff and art journaling. Here's a little prompt you can try to add to your own word play.

First, grab a wordy magazine. Find an article in it that has "interesting" or "inspiring" words in it. Don't think too much when you do this. Just use your instinctive eye and scan the article for words that may jump out at you. This sample was an article by Martha Beck in an old Oprah mag. I think it appealed to me because of the size of the print and the words "release" "freedom" and "surrender" that jumped out when I first glanced at it :


Then, cut up your article. I sort of used instinct here again, trying not to cut words in half too much but not worrying about where I was cutting too much either. (There is no wrong way to do this !!!! Don't think - do !) It is kind of appropriate too, that the article I chose for my sample here was about "letting go" don't you think ???

Now comes the play part. Choose a piece from the article you cut. Glue it down somewhere in your journal. Grab your favorite pen or as I did here, a pen that kind of matches the font in the article. Now without too much thinking (The only hard part of this whole exercise, right ?), re-compose the text with whatever words flow out of you....

(click on the photo to enlarge if you need to)

It may make sense... it may not...that is okay ! Just play with the words. What do the words in your "piece" evoke in your inner writer ? Nonsense ? Deep profound messages ? Dr.Seuss rhymes ? Whatever ! I tend to try and make sentences that at least kind of make sense structurally. I will finish words that have been cut in half. Just see what comes to you.

Then I decorated the page a bit using some stamps and pens to go with the new "article" I composed. For me in this piece, it was more about the writing than the art but it could be different for you less "word lover" people ;-).

Here is the first page I did with this exercise. I didn't take before pictures of the article but you can see the piece I cut in the nice font beside my messy handwriting.

I love this page ! Talk about a message from my inner artist ! Where did this talk of angels come from ? Not sure but when I let go of the tight control, let the words "speak" to me and just let myself play, I definitely got a message from the universe. Will it happen every time ? Probably not... but I like to be open to the possibility.

I like to "Trust the Angels" ! ;-)

Hey, if you try out this word play exercise, let me know ! I would love to see what another player discovers !

Just to finish off this post, here is a song that plays with words and has some beautiful harmony. Reminds me of an old friend who saved my life along the way. Enjoy !

Happy Wordy Tuesday !



14 comments:

Sherry said...

I'm going back to finish listening to the music...that's one of my all time favourites!!

I love the freedom of this project Kim -- and I love the "inner voice" starting to "take over" once you begin...something on my "to do" list for this week!!

Back to the music...

Commuter's Journal said...

I like how the video began with them unplugging. Very apropos! It was lovely.

So you're a word gal, too? I love Scrabble. I have a mental list of crazy words I'd like to play someday. How are you at Boggle?

I think your stream of consciousness projects are intriguing. Definitely art therapy of the deepest and most intuitive kind. Thanks for the great idea, Kim!

Jennifer said...

This sounds awesome. I love your complered page. I like the idea of trusting the angels! I love what you share miss Queen. Thank you...

I can't wait to listen to Extreme later. That was a favorite of mine back in the day :)

Lynn said...

I am new to collaging and using words as art. But I've been inspired to try this by all those lovely posts on Creative Every Day. Your post is very helpful in getting me started. Thanks for sharing your techniques!

Odd Chick said...

Thanks to you I've spent the last two hours cutting out words from old magazines - can't wait to create - again, thanks to you!!

Melissa said...

Me likey this Kim! I adore what you came up with. Gotta try this sometime very very soon!

Ah, Extreme. I love their song "Whole Hearted." It jams!

~Magickal Kissy Wissies~
Melissa

Sophie said...

That's a great prompt. I love your idea. Might have to try that this week.

I love words too. Whenever I'm in a car, I look at the license plates of other cars and try to find words and phrases with their letters!

Sophie

carolyn said...

kim you did it again! i love how free you are with your journal pages. the magazine prompt is a great idea.
i have two journals that i haven't touched in ages...i just don't know where to start and perhaps using a prompt would be helpful.
have you checked out words clouds?
http://www.wordle.net/
it might be of interest to you.
btw, i love extreme although i think they are a one-hit wonder cuz i don't know any other songs besides more than words!

Anonymous said...

Once again, we're in sync. Both our posts today are to do with words...in mine they're scrambled, and in yours they're to be scrambled! Seriously though, I LOVED what you did with that exercise - I do believe that was a channeled message from your angels! Lots of meaty juicy information in there. I do love words also. I've got a thing for Scrabble and crossword puzzles. And aside from word games, I seriously believe that words hold power, or maybe the keys to power - sometimes we've used a certain word or term forever and never really heard it's meaning, then one day it just jumps out at you and hits you with something of an epiphany...I've got a list of words that have had that effect on me. Gotta go dig that list out before February's gone. Maybe I can do something with it for the month's GPP challenge. Big Hugs, my dear!

P.S. 3 cheers for "Childishness"!

Genie Sea said...

Very cool and fun project. I like your play with words. I might very well try it myself! :)

Anonymous said...

thanks for stopping by my blog & leaving a comment...it means a lot! this post about your journaling is wonderful...I have trouble using words in my art sometimes...so cool that you shared the process...and really loved your Valentine post! you are a lucky girl!
Dianne

Carmen said...

Love your journal page Kim.

Janie said...

Kim, I just wanted to say thank you again for the Love magnets that I won in your OWOH giveaway. I received my package in the mail today, and was so surprised and pleased to find two "Rock my World" rocks in there, too!

Thanky you so much for your generosity!

Julie said...

Kim,

Thank you so much for your kind words and words of wisdom on my blog. I came here immediately to see what your word prompt was! I love your little piece of blogland and will definately have a go with your word exercise! It seems to be just what I am looking for to start getting those words on the page!