Moriah is an American transplant living in Madrid, Spain. Her favourite part of art journaling is being able to experiment with different techniques and styles and not having to care about making mistakes or if it doesn’t look good. The worst part of art journaling for her is having a great idea when she’s at work and having to wait until she gets home to start creating. Her favorite dinosaur is the Argentinosaurus.

WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE STORY?

I’ve always been creative, mostly because my mom was an artist I guess. I started art journaling when I was about 12, then started making themed books and altered books. My high school literature teacher used to let me make altered books for my final instead of writing papers. My first handmade book was an artistic retelling of “Sir Gwain and the Green Knight.” I also wrote a series of love letters as I imagined Cosette from Les Miserables would have written and made an art “album” of the letters between Cosette and Marius. I left most of my art supplies at home when I went to college but would still find time to paint here and there and was even in an art show. I didn’t really start creating regularly until I graduated and got my first full-time job. In September 2015 I bought a Dylusions art journal as a travel journal to document a trip to Spain and France. When I got back, I tried to keep journaling but didn’t start creating on a regular basis until I found Get Messy through Misty Granade, who had started following me on Instagram. I figured I would join for a month to see what it was about and half a year later, here I am.

WHY DO YOU LOVE ART JOURNALING?

I love art journaling because I get to create for me, on my own time. I used to always think that I had to have these elaborate plans and projects to be an artist, but being part of Get Messy has taught me that anyone can be an artist. I also love it because it allows me to express myself when I sometimes don’t know how to use the right words to describe what I’m feeling or why something upsets me. I am able to dig deeper and understand not just myself, but how I view the world. I moved to London from the U.S. in September for my Masters and art journaling has helped me navigate the more difficult aspects of moving to a foreign country.

DESCRIBE YOUR ART JOURNALING PROCESS.

I tend to think about prompts for a few days or try to let my ideas simmer before putting them on paper. Sometimes ideas will just come to me, which is great, but often I don’t have time to make art the second I think of something. I will write it down in my bullet journal or on a post it note. I usually then start with painting the background, or a collage, depending on what I am making at the time. I usually journal last, and try to write either a quote or what the piece means to me, then stamp the date so I can remember that moment when I look back at it. Of course, I will sometimes just create in the spur of the moment, usually if I have a strong emotion that I need to get out.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TECHNIQUE TO USE AND HOW DO YOU USE IT? ANY TIPS?

I like collage, especially with vintage images and pages from books. Even if I use paint, I will almost always glue down a vintage music sheet or book page to add some depth. My best tip for collage is to always work in threes or odd numbers and to create one focal point that is off center. It’s the same type of principle that is taught in photography classes about the rule of thirds: align your subject with a grid or guide line and the intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line or allowing linear features to flow from section to section.

HOW DO YOU USE THE GET MESSY PROMPTS?

I use them to create at least one to three spreads in my journal a week. I don’t make something right away. I like to read the prompts and think about which ones stand out to me the most. Sometimes I might combine some of them or sometimes I will only use parts of the prompt.

WHO INSPIRES YOU?

My mom. She is an artist and art professor at a university in Arizona and taught me everything I know about art. Whenever I got bored growing up, my mom would hand me a paintbrush or some other art tool and tell me to go make art. She is the one who introduced me to art journaling and collage when I was 12, when she saw how much I loved books and old photographs. She thought I would like making altered books and journals and she was right!

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Moriah Costa

Moriah is an American transplant living in Madrid, Spain. Her favourite part of art journaling is being able to experiment with different techniques and styles and not having to care about making mistakes or if it doesn’t look good. The worst part of art journaling for her is having a great idea when she’s at work and having to wait until she gets home to start creating. Her favorite dinosaur is the Argentinosaurus.