Creative Soul Juice

Creative Soul Juice began as a newsletter and eventually grew a into blog as a greater way to share the projects I use as a coach and art instructor with my readers. I enjoy sharing creative ways to create a vision, reach inside and explore the dark and tangled corners as well as the light and energy that seeps through the cracks. Small daily creative actions over time allow us to think and ponder, as the lines, forms, colors and shapes dance across the pages of our imagination. I share my art with my readers and hope it inspires and brings some light into your days and evenings.  The message I want to share with you is that you don't have to define yourself as an artist to enjoy being creative and experience the growth and awarenss that working with pens, pencils, paint and brushes brings to our daily routines. I find that art, music, dance, and words gives each of us an opportunity to explore what we are inside and perhaps see ourselves from a different perspective. Busines...

A board book is a fun and creative way to repurpose a children's board book with art journaling techniques. I like to use them to keep quotes and affirmations close by.  Attention After reading The Passion Test ,  by Janet Attwood & Chris Attwood, I wanted to find a way to easily read and meditate on some of the key points in the book. I found some board books at a thrift store and this particular one with cascading pages caught my eye.  In the book I wanted to collage the seven keys to life purpose: attention, clarity, staying open, integrity, following your heart, persistence, and commitment to be the main words of each page, with a short description of each term. Stay Open To start, I prepped each page and the covers with gesso and let them dry completely. I chose a few favorite magazine images and origami papers to collage onto each of the pages of the book and added a medium weight white drawing paper as space for the words.  ...

A new painting is being born... again. I started this months ago for my daughter. She was going through a very difficult time and I felt the need to paint something to give her encouragement and support. I bought this painted canvas from a local thrift store since it was the right size I wanted to work with.  I started by writing as many positive and affirming statements as the canvas would hold in permanent markers. I especially like Florence Scovel Shinn 's declarations, so I used many of those in the first layer. I wanted the energy of good, strong, powerful words to live on the wall in her home and be a source of comfort and strength when she is feeling stressed and vulnerable. Although that layer of words is no longer visible, they are there as a protective layer of Source.  A layer of black gesso was applied to cover the affirmations and lay a base for the pigments of color to follow. I have been preparing this painting in my mind for a long while. I've studied the...