For the month of September, I am the featured PenScrapper and had the honor of designing a digital kit. I love art journals and could not think of anything more appropriate than a digital art journal kit. Head over to the site, download and enter the contest for the month. My challenge is to create a page about yourself that inspires and encourages you to be your most authentic self.

My live chat has been rescheduled for today at 10pm EST. I am kicking off the month long celebration at reneepearson.com and a new Pen Scrapper every week  for the rest of the month. Make sure you stop by and help me crush the record for the most attendees at one of Renee’s live chats. It is sure to be a good time and I hope to give you some insight into how I use my Wacom tablet for my journaling.

I am humbled anytime someone contacts me to do an interview.  You can read my latest at the Empty Easel. It is always a blessing and my pleasure to share my love of words and art.

So, suggest away. I am completely open to just about anything.

Andrea, I love coming to your blog for all the creativity and inspiration you share. Can you tell me more about your prayer dolls? How did you come up with the concept for them?
the prayer dolls came from my desire to create some art that was positive and inspiring but not fluffy.  i wanted to express the depth of the emotional connection and commitment to authenticity that i feel in living positively and purposefully.

with that as my intention, and having arranged an art show for this new work to give myself a solid deadline, i started playing and the little faces starting being born.  magic and inspiration took over and it became pure joy and play, allowing the little beings to come to life.

that whole time i thought they were collage elements for larger pieces.  but each time i tried to stick them onto a surface it felt wrong.  finally i saw that they were complete as they were.  so i hung colourful sparkly yarn in the art gallery, painted and glittered old wooden clothespins and used them to attach the dolls to it and had a fantastic show.

what surprised me most about the show is how many people said to me “they all look like you”.  i really love my prayer dolls and how well they, and their messages, have been received in the world.

You have a section on your site with meditations. Are meditations something you do daily? How do they help you be your best creative self?

i do meditate on my own daily and also lead regular guided healing meditations at the centre for conscious living in winnipeg.  my style of guided meditation is extremely positive and uplifting.  the meditations take the meditator deep into themselves to find the magic, possibility and power that lives within them.  they are sprinkled with positive affirmatives and reminders what we are unlimited beings.  i love how meditation can bring us back to ourselves, remind of us our power and help us stay connected to that magic throughout the day.

meditation helps me be my best creative self by opening up the space for a deep connection with all aspects of my being.  i believe that life, at its core, is creativity.  and so meditation brings me in place of conscious connection to infinite flow, infinite creativity, infinite inspiration.  i can see in a huge difference in my work, when i am creating from my ego-self as compared to when i am creating from my infinite-self.  it feels differently, it flows differently and i believe that the audience can also tell that it looks and feels different to them, too.  we just know when something is authentic and true because it resonates with our souls.

a huge aspect of this is being willing to dive into the mystery.  when i am willing to not know, to not control how it looks – that’s when i make the best art.

Who or what inspires you and why?
i feel most inspired by my feelings, my dreams and life itself.  for me, inspiration means “being in spirit” so it is my aim to live my life in inspiration.

What would be your ideal day? What do you see yourself doing or not doing?
this is something i have played and experimented with a lot in my life.  what i have found is that my ideal life contains a certain balance of different kinds of days and ultimately what i need to be doing is checking in with my heart and finding out what best supports me in any given moment.

so my ideal life includes: structure, freedom, creative time, luxury, relaxation, travel, spiritual community, glitter makeup, abundance, connection, self care, adventure, long walks, love, daily spiritual practice and lots of play.  i feel fairly balanced in these now but also always moving towards more of the things that fuel me.  this is really key for me – i don’t think i could create the kind of art i create if i wasn’t living a life that felt true for me.  it’s all connected.

Hands down, my favorite color of all time is blue. It represents depth and stability, the sky and the sea, trust, confidence and faith. All things that resonate with me now more than ever before. Blue is a calming color, associated with tranquility and peace. While red, yellow and orange are usually seen as warm, emotional colors, blue is associated with intellect and consciousness. How I love this color blue.

One of my most popular post here on the Art Slam is Tools Art Journalers Should Have in Their Arsenal. I am most often asked what tools someone needs to start art jouranling. The reason I started the Art Slam was to walk people thourgh the process of beginning their own journals. It can seem intimidating when you only see the finished journal. My art journals are not perfect by any means, but they are uniquely me.

One of my favorite adhesives (the other is Duck Tape Runner) to use in my journals and on my canvases is Modge Podge. Modge Podge is an all-in-one glue, sealer and finish. It can be used on wood, fabric and just about any porous material. I like it because it dries clear, is non-toxic, it is a great value and comes in a variety of formulas and finishes. Personally, I prefer the Matte finish.

This year, I introduced spray inks to my art journaling arsenal. Adirondack Color Wash inks by Ranger are insanely awesome. The color is so rich and a little bit goes a long way. Be warned, it stains. So, I wear rubber gloves and cover up the area I am working in. I also like using Ranger’s UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). It is a dimensional medium that I use to add texture to certain areas of my journal pages.

Recently, I learned about Zentangle, extra fancy doodling using textures and shapes. These are going to add all kinds of new dimension and interest to my artwork. Most of the tangles look best using a black pen. My favorite is Prismacolor Premier fine line markers.

Art journaling really is not about the stuff you use. I keep it pretty basic using paint, inks, pens and colored pencils. I find my images from magazines and I use my own photography as inspiration for my pages. I love using prompts to help me get started creating an art journal page. You can find quite a few here by visiting the Art Journaling tab in the menu above. There is lots of scope for the imagination.

To start 2010 off, I will be offering online art journaling classes. My goal is to open registration in December for a January class. Make sure you sign up for my newsletter so you will be among the first to hear the details.

Related Posts:

• Spark Your Creativity on Demand
• Quoted Photography
• Resources for Right Brain Creatives

This year, I made a commitment to myself to be a more eco-friendly artist. Part of that commitment was to not purchase anything new unless I absolutely needed it. I love pretty paper. LOVE IT, but I have not purchased any new decorative paper in well over three years. Honestly, I don’t need it. I still have a small stash of scrapbook papers I sometimes use in my art journals. As of late, acrylic paint or watercolors have been my chosen medium for my backgrounds.

I also do not purchase new sketchbooks when I start a new  journal. I like to repurpose previously used journals or books from discount bookstores. Altering books is a lot easier than it seems, plus the finished product has just the look and feel I like in a good art journal. Often times, we get too caught up in the things we use instead of being caught up in the process of making art. It should be enjoyable and not about whose product you are using or the latest trends. Honestly, no one really cares whose stuff you are using. It is the main reason I love art journaling. I don’t have to keep track of every single scrap of paper or embellishment I use in my art. That gets real old real quick.

One of the many benefits of working digitally is you can use the same elements repeatedly. If you have a  favorite piece of digital paper you like, you simply open up the file and use it again. There is no mess and no waste. How is that for using eco-friendly art supplies? Digital scrapbooking or collage is also a forgiving medium. You can move things around until it is just like you want it. You can change the colors of your elements and you can start over if you like.

Use what you have on hand to art journal. Art journals are meant to be perfectly imperfect. They are a place to experiment and explore. So, explore with what you have and enjoy the process.