1.4 The Heroine Feels DifferentOur heroine, regardless of the word we chose, often has an inkling that something is about to go down. We feel a certain pull before the journey starts. It’s just that we are not always aware of that little voice or that little tug...
Now we enter the thick lushness of the Underground Forest. Our heroine makes her way through the Road of Trials and she meets all kinds of monsters and dragons that she has to fight along the way. The Underground Forest This may seem a bit dramatic but navigating the...
5.1 Meeting the GoddessMeeting a goddess is no small feat, don’t you agree? Before making spread about the encounter, we will use the idea of imagery under imagery. We will create doors that open unto the goddess herself. We will be using all the sequins, confetti and...
6.4 Walking Back through the ThresholdOur heroine makes the conscious decision to return to the Known World. She is stronger and more complete for having traversed the trials held within the journey. We will be using the same interactive technique as for the first...
2.1 The CatalystTo mark the arrival of the catalyst, we will be using the idea of the door. The catalyst comes knocking and once our heroine opens that door, she cannot close it easily! In the video below, I walk you through the process, including how I chose some...
3.3 Boss MonsterWhat happens after our heroine has been on this road for a while? As with any good video game, there comes the meeting with the Boss Monster. This meeting can be an actual moment with a person or it can be a situation where things came to a head. It is...
5.4 Taming the Inner FireOur Heroine has come a long way. Meeting the divine - whether it’s the divine within or without - has allowed her to tame the uncontrollable urgent burn-everything-down fire that was consuming her. Now, our heroine is better equipped to go...
7.2 The GiftThe gift of putting the words in my Inner Heroine journal was really special to me. This journal was started at the end of 2019 and finished in mid-2020. So you can imagine how much transformation happened in between those dates. Adding in the words,...
1.2 A Simple wordFor this second spread, we will choose a word that speaks to how our heroine is feeling at the start of this journey. Kind of like when we choose a word for the year, this will represent what will guide our heroine at the start of this journey. We...
2.4 Getting Ready to GoNo one sets off willingly on a journey without properly packing. Even when the journey is not of our choosing, we can have agency by taking a moment to gather our tools (even if these are truly just metaphorical tools). For this spread, we will...
4.2 dOWN TO THE cOREThis realisation that something has to change within is one that the heroine feels down to her core. To illustrate this we will be doing a “peel and reveal” spread. This term I first heard from Orly Avineri. You may remember a similar tutorial that...
4.5 rEBIRTHAfter letting go of what no longer serves, our heroine is reborn. She is reshaped into a new way of being, of seeing, of doing. This is a grand moment that deserves two spreads! In the first video, we add an interactive element to our page using a brad,...
6.2 Through the Happy ForestOur heroine now walks freely through the Underground Forest - it no longer feels oppressive or intimidating. To show this we will be using collage to fill the background and then using a pop-up pull tab to show our heroine walking through...
1.5 Mapping Out the JourneyBefore she leaves for her journey, the heroine needs a map! The one I put in my spread is a compendium of a few Heroine’s Journeys, which you can see and download below.Feel free to use the same steps as the ones I did in the following video...
3.1 In the Dark ForestNow that our heroine has crossed the threshold and followed the passage into the Unknown World, we will mark her arrival. We will start by creating flaps that open up into this new landscape. We will also bring in a visual reminder of our...
5.2 The Divine WithinThe goddess doesn’t necessarily have to be an actual entity, she can also be part of the heroine herself. This was how I came to integrate this part of the journey: the divine within the self. We will make a dimensional collage with pieces that...
Congratulations, our heroine has made it out of the Unknown World and nas returned home, which is to say she has returned to herself. Congratulations, you have come so far! This journey is almost done. It won’t be the last journey that our heroine will undertake and...
2.2 The Call to ActionThe call to action happens when the heroine has integrated the message from the catalyst. When she realises that life can’t just go back to normal or to how it was before. That is when the heroine comes to grips with the fact that she has to...
When our heroine comes face to face with the monster within herself, after having walked through the road of trials, it creates a big shift within her. This lesson feels like a pause in the whole journey, but there is a lot of inner work happening here. The Descent...
Our heroine has come to terms with some pretty fundamental changes and now it is time to leave the Underground Forest and return to the Known World, armed with her new knowledge. Healing the Split When you are whole, you heal. When all parts of you are integrated, you...
7.3 Signing offAs a very final gesture, I invite you to add your name to the end of your journal. I used a photo and some little bits that represent me at the end of this particular journey to complete this very moving art journal.
1.3 Coat of ArmsAs a way of illustrating our heroine’s values and ideals, we will make a coat of arms for her. Like the symbols we used in the title page, this is a way of reminding our heroine of what is important to her and what will help carry her through this...
2.5 The ThresholdNow the heroine sets off and she has to cross from the Known World into the Unknown one. This is a big deal and she has to cross a threshold, to leave behind the world that has always made sense to her into one that needs to be explored to be...
4.3 sHIFTBefore we delve into what shifts for our heroine, I go down a little tangent and invite you to carve your own stamps. This technique is one that you probably know already but in case you have never carved your own stamps, I wanted to show you an easy way to...
0.2 Choosing Your BookChoosing the book that you will alter is super important. The book must support your storytelling. The ideal book gives you lots of fodder to work with: it has images, a font or words that inspire you, that make you want to interact with it....
1.1 Title PageFor this first spread in our altered book, we will make a title page. In the video below, I show which supplies to gather and how to go about this. Have in mind which archetypes you associate your heroine with, as well as some symbols that may help to...
Welcome, welcome! I am so glad you are here. This class has been a long time coming and I am full of all the emotions at the thought of sharing it with you. The point of this class is to document a journey. It may not be the first that your heroine undergoes. She may...
0.3 SuppliesIn terms of supplies, you need to go for whatever supports your storytelling. Just because I am using this or that doesn’t mean that that is the supply that works for you. Always adapt my lessons to what works. The important thing is not that it looks like...
0.1 Inspiration Flip & Other JourneysThe next two videos are meant to serve as inspiration. I looked through my previously completed altered book journals to see what kind of spreads I like to do and how I best use the images that are already present in the books...
In this first lesson in our Inner Heroine’s journey, we are setting the scene before the journey begins. We will take a look at which heroine we are, using archetypes and storytelling tropes, and we will also figure out the best way to tell our story using the...
Move past your inner critic and embark on a journey exploring your Inner Hero(ine) through art. In the Inner Heroine, Vanessa Oliver-Llyod will lead you through using the storytelling trope, the Inner Hero(ine), to tell your complicated, messy, true story. With this trope, you can go beyond your inner critic to express yourself uncensored in your art. The class includes 42 lessons with 50 videos. With techniques based in collage, you can complete an entire altered book with this class and return to these techniques again and again when you need them. Come back to yourself, look within yourself, dig deep into your creativity, and reveal your inner hero/ine because your story is worth telling.
Part of Get Messy’s job is to help cultivate the magic in you. For the Season of Spark, we’re going to harness your magic, turn it into a little spark, and allow it to burst into flames. Guest artist Katrina (or Mercurial Milk as she is known on Instagram) shows you how to create a ‘scene’ or a full painting spanning two pages or a spread in your art journal. She then shares her magic with you so that you can spark your own art journaling magic.
Spark#gmseasonofsparkOk so let’s get started! The goal is to create a ‘scene’ or a full painting spanning 2 pages or a spread in your art journal. Use whatever paint you like best....
Spark#gmseasonofsparkDownload the season sidekick Save this PDF to your computer, print it out, and let it accompany you on your artistic journey this season. This PDF is curvy in...
Spark#gmseasonofsparkLet’s go back in time! This gave me a great excuse to look through my old art journals and reference photos and match them up. I’ve realized that sometimes I...
Spark#gmseasonofsparkMy name is Kay or Katerina or just Milk, which comes from my instagram handle: MercurialMilk! I discovered Art Journaling in 2015 after reading an interview...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenHere's a page through of what Steven looks like for me at the end of the season. What does yours look like? Share it in the Gallery. Action Steps finish (or...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenI've put a bunch of extra ideas for making your journal writing a bit more interesting... Split cursive and print and your different lettering styles. Use...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenI know a lot of us are going to be using Austin Kleon for our muse this season. We're going to be taking further instruction from him and stealing like an...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenI love scissors and I love words and I love bringing them together. Here is another collection of inspir-action for your Season of Steven, with a list of...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenOne thing that I brought with me from my scrapbooking days are the gorgeous alpha stickers that I had accumulated. After using one too many 3s for an "E",...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenThe inspir-action for this lesson is a bit shorter. As much as I love using my alphabet stamp set, I don't use it as much. But stamping is great. Stamping...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenThere's no denying that I love my vintage typewriter. I put it for €30 on eBay, it jams all the time, and I keep pushing the "z" instead of the "y". But I...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenHere is another technique for your Season of Steven journal (or really, any journal that you'd like to put text in). You know those old school plastic...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenA selection of brush lettering from my journal archives...Action Steps be inspired to actionImperfect brush letteringStencils + Script
Steven#gmseasonofstevenGetting an entire book into a journal I am not going to teach you exactly how to script letters and how to combine them. Please use my own messy lettering...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenGetting an entire book into a journal Before we get into the techniques, let's talk a bit about how to process your book.Steps for processing Read the book...
The focus of my life currently is this:
PRODUCE MORE. CONSUME LESS.
It’s a bold statement. With so much great stuff on the internet, and with it being so easy to be sucked into Pinterest, Instagram, blogs, and galleries, I’m needing to step back all the more. We consume so many things every day that actively trying to produce more than that is a big feat. There are two ways of doing it: either producing more than a hundred things per day, or drastically reducing how much you consume and making more than that number. I don’t want what I make to be influenced by someone else’s. I don’t want to be comparing how much I make. I don’t want to be making less because I’m too busy staring in awe at someone else’s stuff. I want my Ideas book to be a to do list and I want to get. shit. done.
There are a million reasons why I want to consume less and the number one reason is to produce more. I want to make a lot of stuff. I want to make up for lost time. I want to record all my memories before I lose them. I want to make a whole bunch of rubbish stuff so that I can get to making the good stuff.
And so I made an action plan. Here are the ways that I’m shifting my default to producing instead of consuming.
Join the kookiest Get Messy season yet – the Season of Steven where guest artist and Get Messy founder Caylee shows you how to transform inspiration into action. Using the words of writer Steven Pressfield, Caylee shows you how to fill an entire art journal. Follow along by choosing your own “Steven,” then selecting, prepping, and processing an altered book. Fill it up with inspiring quotes and words with Caylee’s lettering tips and tricks, including “imperfect brush lettering,” stencils and script, typewriter fonts, stamping, alpha stickers (even when you run out of those important vowels), and more.
Steven#gmseasonofstevenIn this lesson I'm sharing a Steven Pressfield journal that I created for The Minimalist Art Journal 2. MAJ2 is a premium class here at Get Messy that isn't...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenA Season of Literal Steven If you'd like to join me in digging into Steven's words for the season, here are my three favourite books of his: Do The Work:...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenDownload the season sidekick Save this PDF to your computer, print it out, and let it accompany you on your artistic journey this season. This PDF is curvy...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenPrep Your Journal In the video I'll go through the initial prep for an altered book journal. Remember that your journal is a work in process and that...
Steven#gmseasonofstevenThat's Steven. Still have no idea? I'm so excited to tell you...Action Steps get excited!head on over to the next lesson to choose your...
One of the biggest things that art journalers struggle with in their creative practice is the journaling part of art journaling. It’s weird. I know. A while back, I invited a journaling expert to help the Get Messy community with how to find the words. Elaine Kiziah...
What is it about art journaling that makes it actual magic? Out of all the different ways to be creative, why do we choose art journaling? Why is this the one thing we have stuck with over time, and the one thing that we are constantly falling in love with? In order to answer this question with Wendy Solganik, we need to dissect her entire creative story.
Collage through the seasons with Frane Crane.
Soulful approaches to creating a beautiful life through journaling with Elaine Kiziah.
This is a snippet of our Season of Bloom hangout with Francisca. This is an unstructured hangout and the only invitation was to bring collage papers with.
The Season of Bloom invites you to let go of ideas of perfection and deconstruct conceptions of beauty. Our wonderful guest for the season is Francisca Nunes of heArt makes who combines colour and nature to explore intuitive expression. For this season, you will create a Bloom Book that is testimony to the passage of time. Learn how to boil paper to create texture and play with colours, shades, and lines to create paper that you will use as collage elements inside your Bloom Book.
Bloom#gmseasonofbloomLet's get messy with color and bloom the cover of the Bloom Book. Using collage elements, lines and color, create a happy, shining...
X#gmseasonofXDownload the season sidekick Save this PDF to your computer, print it out, and let it accompany you on your artistic journey this season. This PDF is...
Bloom#gmseasonofbloomAfter a severe winter full of rain, snow and wind, nature is reborn and shines for us in a stunning beauty. Blooming in spring and...
You are going to love this episode. I’m chatting with Tara and Sandra from Kick in the Creatives. And if you don’t know them yet, by the end of this episode, you’re going to fall just as in love with them as I have. And good news for you because they’ve got their own podcast and you can binge listen to them and just take in everything that they have.
Today I chatted with the incredible Barbara J Graham. She is the guest artist for Get Messy’s Season of Less. We spoke a lot about how she creates, how she puts her emotions into her paintings, and how she is able to express the intangible in something tangible. Barbara has a beautiful story about how she came to art and how art was there all along. How art kept knocking at the door no matter how many times she tried to ignore it.
I think that you’ll find that the summary is this episode’s title: don’t compromise. Don’t compromise on your art. Tell the stories of your soul, tell your life, tell your life through moments and moments with art and just show up to the page. Even if you think that it’s not your time, I mean, Barbara was 37 when she went to art school, and that is incredible. That’s an incredible story of resilience and strength and courage. Her art is beautiful and expressive and if Barbara can can do it, you can too. I hope that’s what you take from this episode.
Barbara’s lessons from her own creative story. Going to art school at 37. Exploring mediums like a child, how the inner critic shouldn’t exist, resourcefulness and restraint, and never compromising.
CancellationFeedbackPlease note: Your cancellation will only be processed when you confirm on the next page. Thank you for filling out this form. I take all Get Messy feedback to heart, and I use it to help create a better home for messy artists. Thank you for...
Get Messy is made up of YOU. You are what makes Get Messy, and this season is all about your personal art journey. What is X? It’s the independent variable, the Great Unknown, the thing that you need to find. The Season of X invites you to find your very own X. We reverse engineered the seasons, threw structure out of the window, and leaned on each other to build a season that reflected our imperfect, messy community. Download and follow along with the Sidekick and follow along to find your X.
Oh, Messy artist, I have a treat for you this week on the podcast. Today I spoke with Hannah Fitzgibbon, and let me tell you… I feel like my whole world has changed. My creativity has been rocked, everything… You are going to love Hannah as much as I love her because she is amazing, articulate, and wise. The stuff that we spoke about today has revolutionised everything I know about creativity. All I’ve been doing for the past 6 years is creating, listening to people talk about creating, listening to people’s views on creating, helping others create, helping myself create more. And this is the first time that I’ve heard someone speak about creativity in this way.
In our episode, we talk about joy and flow in our creativity. There’s just so much more to it, and so much more depth to this conversation. We speak about a lot, we cover a lot, and a lot of new ideas or different ways of thinking, but I hope you spend time meditating on each point.
Play us, listen to us while you’re creating, but also write down Hannah’s words and spend some time reflecting on the way she sees things and the way she can help you things. I don’t know exactly what kind of creating you do but I know that Hannah is going to be great for it.
A discussion about the power of challenges for your creative life with the ladies from Kick in the Creatives.
Hannah Fitzgibbon on being a curator of ideas and following your curiosity.
Week 4 of the Expressive Arts Quest
Beyond the Expressive Arts Quest
Week 2 of the Expressive Arts Quest
Week 5 of the Expressive Arts Quest
Week 3 of the Expressive Arts Quest
Week 6 of the Expressive Arts Quest
Week 1 of the Expressive Arts Quest
Week 0 of the Expressive Arts Quest
X #gmseasonofX Why do I art journal? Because it’s my creative outlet and there are no rules, no perfection, just expression! Art journaling gives me the...
X#gmseasonofXWhy do you art journal? I have always been a creative person, from as long as I can remember, and I discovered art journaling right back in the early...
X#gmseasonofXWhy do you art journal? I art journal to keep myself sane. I have struggled with depression, anxiety and insomnia since I was a teenager. I have a...
X #gmseasonofX Why do you art journal? Because I feel like I'd go insane if I didn't. It helps me process my thoughts and make time for myself. How do you live a...
X#gmseasonofXHow do you live a creative life? I didn’t enjoy school at all unless I was either cooking or doing needlework and left as soon as I could after my...
X#gmseasonofXWhy do you art journal? Art journaling is a beautiful form of expression; a way to tell your story through various forms of art. Art journaling has...
X#gmseasonofX Why do you art journal? Art journaling is one of my avenues where I can freely express myself. I love the idea of having snippets of how I felt, what...
X #gmseasonofX Why do you art journal? I art journal because it makes me feel good. It gives me a place to process feelings, make something aesthetically...
Educator. Feminist. Creator. Activist. Writer. New Mama to William, not so new mama to four furbabies.
X#gmseasonofXHow do you live a creative life? I think I try to weave a little bit of creativity into almost all aspects of my life. I am definitely a collector of...
An adventurous 6 week journey focused on art journaling your personal creativity, expressive arts style.
I recently received an email from Kate, who had a problem. I could relate and wanted to help. Maybe you need to hear this too.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with how many options you have, if you’re feeling stuck creatively, or if you’re a perfectionist and you’re super hard on yourself…. this episode is my letter to you. Here’s what to do.
And of course it’s actionable.
A natural partner to the Season of More is the Season of Less. There is space for both of these seasons in our lives, whether we are art minimalists or art maximalists. Guest artist, Barbara J. Graham, is a full time abstract expressionist painter who draws inspiration from the joy of the present moment. With Graham as your guide, you will learn how to use colour and mark making to convey emotion and create massive impact with minimal resources. Explore the full possible range of a limited colour palette and experiment with mark making. Then learn how to pull it all together in your art journal.
Sometimes, your creativity needs a catalyst, and Messy Recipes includes a bunch of catalysts for creating an endless amount of art journal pages. Get Messy Fairy Artmother Caylee Grey has designed 12 recipes that include a list of “ingredients” (or supplies), a method with step-by-step directions, and pictures for guidance and inspiration. Guests artists have shared their favourite recipes too. Following the recipes exactly or using them as a guide, you can create endless variations. Perfect for beginners and experienced artists alike, Messy Recipes provides the catalysts for creativity that you can return to again and again.
X#gmseasonofXDownload the season sidekick Save this PDF to your computer, print it out, and let it accompany you on your artistic journey this season. This PDF is...
Get uncomfortable, nudge your creative process, think and feel about your art making…
Bust out of your creative personal process. Yikes!
Lauren Hooper returns for the Season of More. With Lauren as your guide, you will identify what you need more of in your life and create artful reminders that encourage you to keep seeking what you need more of. Lauren also shows you how to create depth in your art journal pages with layered watercolours. Whether you want to explore art maximalism or more in your life in a broader sense, the Season of More gives you the space to do so.
More#gmseasonofmoreWe're going to take our art to the next, deeper, level today. Grab a journal and pen and spend some time answering these four questions: What was the process of...
More#gmseasonofmoreFor this workshop we are going to focus on adding more depth into our art process. Whatever that means for you, take your time, in these crazy times, and go deep...