3 Hearts

Monday I started Christy Tomlinson's "She Had 3 Hearts" art journaling workshop HERE. This is the very first art journaling class I have taken and even though I have been around awhile (when it comes to art journaling), it has been nice to learn a few new things and be reminded of some things that I already knew but forgot about. It's easy to get into a rut in art journaling sometimes and just reach for the paints and supplies that you "know". Know how they will behave, know how they will turn out, etc., which is nice but art journaling is about the experiments too. I always have to remind myself while working in an art journal of my "art journal motto", which is "you win some, you lose some". Sometimes you end up with something you really love and sometimes you end up with a complete disaster but it's all about the process. At least that's what I have to tell myself. I once saw a blog by someone (I wish I could remember who) that she called "mostly nothing, but sometimes something". I loved that and it is exactly how my art journal could be described.
I wouldn't call this first page an absolute disaster but I also can't call it a stunning success. But the process was fun, which is all that matters. It is almost entirely done in acrylics (fluid and heavy body) with some Pitt pens, gel pen, charcoal, stamps, and a teeny bit of collage thrown in.
Christy's class is based on an old Chinese Proverb that says: "a woman has three hearts, one she shares with the world, one she shares with her family, and one she shares only with herself." Isn't that a great thought?
Well, since I was starting a new class, I decided that I needed to start a journal just for this class (because the 6 others I already have going is just not enough). I bought a book at my local thrift store to alter. I chose one with good paper and a good spine and, since Christy told me to, I gessoed my pages which has helped with the stability of the paper, which I already knew (Isn't that was gesso is for anyway?) but being impatient, I usually skip. So that's been my biggest reminder...DON'T SKIP THE GESSO, especially when working with book paper.
And so I'm off to work on my "3 Hearts" journal some more. There is an enormous amount of videos to watch in week one (like 28). If you, too, would like to join the "3 Hearts" workshop, it is still open to sign ups. I'd love to see you there!