 Drawing. Painting. Laughing. Sharing. Drinking.... tea for an afternoon of healing. Go to Art Classes for more details.
What is Box Journaling? Basically, it is a method that involves drawing and writing our emotions, feelings and visualizations in separate boxes. All together they come together to help you process difficult events or feelings in a meaningful way that won't leave you bogged down with heavy words and memories. It is about identifying automatic thoughts - the ones that drive us mad. The ones that can sometimes rule our emotions. How do we counter these thoughts with positive ones? How can journalling help our healling process rather than hinder it? I used to journal a lot about difficult situations and traumatic events. I would write all the dirty details and my emotions around the event. They were usually heavy, confused, anxious or sad emotions. I was told this is the best way to work through difficulties. This writing often left me feeling heavier and kind of depressed; especially when I would go back and read through my past journals. Reading back or remembering my journals, left me feeling disappointed in my life and my choices. I thought that I viewed my life in a dark or immature way. But, I didn't feel that way day to day. So why did my journal about my life seem so sad? The trouble wasn't my life, the trouble way how I was reflecting on my life. How I was processing, was leaving me feeling drained and without answers or positive perspectives. So I stopped journaling. I stopped opening up my sketchbook. That outlet became lost to me, and as an artist, I really felt something was missing. I left sketching and journaling alone for quite a few years. In 2020, I started my Masters in Counselling Psychology and through my education, I began exploring different healing practices. Studies have shown how journaling can build self-awareness, resiliency and a sense of well-being. Writing about disturbing events can (Ulrich & Lutgendorf, 2002):
The process I have come up with is to write about my feelings and thoughts in different boxes. This I learned through my studies of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a popular therapy practice that works on restructuring thoughts through new perspectives. I have also incorporated my love of the visual aspect to expressing feelings. Images stand on their own and don’t need to be explained. They communicate through different thought processes and they can be different than the words that you write. The small drawings/paintings can be related to the words. For me they usually reflect a different processing of the event and my emotions. I am interested in getting people together in a room to work through this process with others. Let’s work through our questions on the process. Box journaling works to process daily events, special events, difficult situations, complicated feelings, dilemmas or choices to be made. You can use it to express gratitude or to work through trauma. There is nothing your journal can’t handle and there is a kind, compassionate way to journal that will work for you. Although this is not an afternoon of therapy - this practice is therapeutic and can be used at home in your daily routine. GROUP + SELF-CARE = COMMUNITY CARE. Reference: Ulrich, P. M., & Lutgendorf, S. K. (2002). Journaling About Stressful Events: Effects of Cognitive Processing and Emotional Expression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(3), 244. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2403_10
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Recently, I facilitated a private workshop for a new client. She expressed a desire to learn encaustics, but this was just our medium of delivery. What we were really exploring was the act of creative processing. How do you take some seed of inspiration and create an artistic outcome? How do you bear fruit from this seed? That is what we truly explored.
Figuring out how to take an idea and build momentum on that idea, is the most difficult part of the creative process. Something inspires you, but you have no idea to put it into some communicable language. Visual art is a language like any other. Music, food, a business plan, a poem, a delicious meal, a book, a manuscript, a letter, a home.... they all are possible from that first seed of an idea. Rita had the colour grey in mind. She had sent me some photos of grey walls, subtle lighting. Then she showed me a picture of a broken wasps nest. The interwoven folds of delicate wasp-made paper, was a beatiful thing. She had these photos, but then she mentioned that she still had the nest. I asked her if she could bring it to the studio. Then I showed her how I take photos of branches in nature. I highlight them by placing a board behind so I can clearly see the shape of the plant. This sparked her desire to do the same with the nest. She started taking these beautiful compositional photos of rocks with the nest. She saw the whole composition including the negative space and the shadows. This was so inspiring for her. They were beautiful photos. Have you ever sat staring at a blank page, canvas, garden, fridge… and felt yourself tremble with anxiety? How they heck and I going to go from this jumble of supplies to something beautiful and recognizable that resonates with someone else?? This is my favorite place to work with people. Right at the beginning when someone is holding a precious seed and they need some guidance, a nudge, nurturing words, motivational talk, instructional suggestion - in order for their seed to become a seedling. Then we printed out some of the photos and she did some sketching. She saw new images with the line work. She took the idea into new directions. Charcoal, ink, transparent paper. Wax, resin - all was layered and experimented with. There are so many directions to go once the initial seed is planted. Especially in the beginning when all you know is something sparks your interest. You don't have a vision of a need to fill, or a completion time. You want to explore, play, develop something inspiring, motivating and engaging. Often you will find yourself travelling down a road for a bit and then back tracking and trying a different road. Ah no, but I liked that thing I did back there. Can we relook at things from that point? We are going to work on part two of the creative process in April. Here is what my beautiful, talented, open and curious client said about our time together: "Jake is a very intuitive and attuned instructor with a gentle and sensitive hand. She is able to guide you in a subtle and yet tapped in way, drawing out what you want to create while also nudging you in directions you haven’t considered. I booked a 6 hour private session with her to learn encaustics and I gained far more than I had expected. Not only did I acquire insight into smart techniques but I got seriously inspired to adventure into this realm of art, though I am not a practiced visual artist. Jake held the kind, patient and attentive space I needed to explore with confidence. What a fantastic and life changing day! Thank you!” - Rita Bozi #art #artist #inspiration #creative #workshop This Cafe seems to be called 'Coffee'. I can't see any other name! The image on the left is one I took while visiting Toronto in 2019. I love the colours in this image - the cool with the splash of warm colours! I couldn't help make a painting out of this image. I included signs to make this feel more like Toronto. The photo on the right is one I took off of Google Street View. It looks like this cafe has closed down! I hope that was just temporary. I changed the painting to an evening scene to add a little more drama and enjoy the variety of colours.
  It was a rainy/misty day in Toronto when I walked the steets, jumped on the cable cars, visited cafes and restaurants, visited shops and downtown. Being from Calgary, I rarely get out East. I was amazed at how beautiful I found Toronto to be. There were so many varieties of trees, bushes and flowers and they crowded in on the sidewalks and streets. The mist softened everything, the houses were alive with character and the businesses were eclectic. I loved the old electric cable cars that were fixed up that would only slow down enough for passangers to hop on and off. "The day that the world changed" - has so many references and it can change with what is going on in your world or the big world. The world is always change and often it looks the same - unless we go away for a long while and then come back. Then we notice the changes. But everyday, we don't notice. This painting was created with ink and had a resin coating over it. The original is on birchwood canvas and is 24"x18". You can order smaller or larger size prints. For now, the original is still available. Please send me a message if you have questions.    Special gifts for someone special! $265 each or 3 for $500. Purchase on Etsy! ETSY - BURST AND BLOOM GALLERYwww.etsy.com/shop/BurstAndBloomGallery?ref=l2-about-shopname Ready to hang. Signed and wrapped for Christmas.
Many clients have asked me about adding my paintings to their collections, but not being able to afford the original work. I almost never do prints of my work because the quality is important to me. I chose to print onto wood so I could go in and add more detail and paint after they were printed. It is like an artist who sings a song at each concert - it sounds a little different every time! :-). Once I sell out of these prints, I will not be making any more available. You will just have to wait until more originals are created. ;-) (Print sizes are approximately 9"x12") SALE PRICE: 5 prints for $525! Individually: $165 each. I'm super excited! I am going to be working out of Sparrow Artspace for the month of October! I will be creating, teaching, sharing and selling my work out of this beautiful gallery in Bridgeland! SPARROW ARTSPACE OPEN Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10am-6pm or by appointment We are located in the historic DeWaal Building in Bridgeland in Mohkínstsis on Treaty 7 Land 36 4th St NE, Calgary, AB, T2E 3R7 Come and see NEW WORK in my BIG CITY LIVING SERIES. I have new limited edition prints available! These days, I am also immersed in the studies of my Master’s in Psychology. I have been exploring more in abstracted imagery. I am in the process of studying mark-making, layering and textures with encaustic and other mixed media to communicate my emotions and thoughts in abstracted form. In the residency I will be further exploring mark-making through journaling. I am combining my physical experience of being in the city along with a layer of abstracted emotions and thoughts that interplay with my physical world. I will also be collaborating with Vicki Myers on a set of sculptures and drawings that go with the sculptures. WORKSHOP: SATURDAY OCTOBER 23 - SIGN UP!
I am slowly starting to build up an online gallery where artwork remains digital and is purchased with Etherum - digital coins. It has been a huge learning curve and I am still figuring so much out. I wanted to share my beginning process here with you. You can view my collection on OpenSea - you do not have to have an account to view items. FREE ETHEREUM EARNINGS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS PURCHASED MY ORIGINAL ARTWORK. YOU WILL receive royalties every time your painting sells as an NFT or can purchase the NFT for greatly reduced price and resell it on OpenSea. This gives your original piece more monetary value. It gives you something to trade without losing your original artwork. I will have more details in upcoming emails. What is an NFT?NFTs are tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. They let us tokenise things like art, collectibles, even real estate. They can only have one official owner at a time and they're secured by the Ethereum blockchain – no one can modify the record of ownership or copy/paste a new NFT into existence.
NFT stands for non-fungible token. Non-fungible is an economic term that you could use to describe things like your furniture, a song file, or your computer. These things are not interchangeable for other items because they have unique properties. Read more... My work was purchased for a series called Joe Pickett. I hope to see them up on the wall on my TV one day :-). I will be making limited edition shirts with one or a couple of these images. Let me know if you are interested!
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Art is the...great connector of people, places and dreams. It speaks the language of the heart when it is authentic and created from an open and non-judgemental space. It is passionate pursuit of creation with a playful mind. Categories
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