Prayers of the Women

The art reflection to write prayers emerged out of previous visits working with women inside a family detention center. The goal of the mixed media exercise was was to help the women identify their prayers and then make the art as a way of releasing their anxiety over to God, trusting that God would make the way clear and answer their prayers.
 I always have slips of printed scripture verses that the women can include in their collage if desired. Some will use only one; others find creative ways to include several.

Visiting Art Journalist: An Overview of Ideas

Visiting art journalist Sabrina got her jumpstart in mixed media art journaling when she was a ministry intern three summers ago at the church where I am senior pastor. She quickly became immersed in the Christian education and outreach activities, many of which involved mixed media art.

We also did art journaling as part of the supervised practice of ministry debriefing sessions, and she later went on a mission trip to Mexico with me which involved more mixed media as well as art journaling.

Now she teaches what she's learned to high school students in an after school program. The reflections featured here are some of her examples from her teaching experiences or her reflections on her own learning journey.

Thinking Time

Art journaling creates space for thinking time. I don't see art journaling as being about "good" art or "good" journaling. It's about creating a time and place and space to reflect and listen and discern.

I glued a symbolic photo of "me" onto an already prepared journal page. I choose the photo because of the subject's confident sense of self. I chose the prepared background because I like it (no more complicated than that). I added layers of stenciling and thought about who I am and whatever I might be going. 

On the symbolic words and symbols included here: tree (of knowledge); windows (to knowledge); gibberish words (discerning); knowledge; education. 

I added some journaling with my (surprise) insight to stay put andale where I am...work!

Experimental Art

I'm a mixed media artist because I love mixing up media and techniques and more media and more techniques. Sometimes I flat don't like what I'm creating or how it's all going together. But I press on. I might add a bit of collage to camouflage what I don't like. Or I'll add a large layer of something created separately (like the butterfly inset by my artist friend Tanya when we were experimenting with wax rubbings and watercolors).

At some point the motley collection seems "done" and a title signifies my artsy reflection. Here I am simply reminded that it's okay to experiment. In art. In vocational calling. In recreational pursuits. In life. Experimenting is powering. 

Clippings & Quotes

Another easy peasy road trip art option is to (A) cut and collect clippings of headlines and quotes and assorted bits from magazines and newspapers; and (B) use a glue stick to randomly add the clippings throughout your art journal. 

I carry a #10 envelope and a accordion file folder in my art tote to file my clippings. I put the small bits in the #10 envelope and the bigger pieces in the folder. I don't necessarily use everything I clip on any given trip, but they roll over and go with me on future trips. I often don't remember exactly when or where a clip originated but ultimately they funds homes in my journal pages. 

Often the clippings will get buried under many more layers. I generally top with clear gesso (not whole in the car) so they're ready to top with virtually any medium. 

Dance of Freedom

There are multiple layers in this jounal entry which expresses my prayer for women & children who are incarcerated in a nearby family detention center. I started the art journal after spending a day inside Karnes City Detention Center where 500 immigrant women & children are being held. The first layers are unrecognizable in the final piece, but the first layers provided important reflection time to help me to process the experience.

I used a stencil of the USA and spritzed with watercolors. It symbolizes the diverse locations across the USA where the women have family and hope to go. 

The mixed media includes several layers. 

I had been stuck on how to finalize the reflection until I saw this page in one of my stacks of art books. The imagery of women dancing captured the essence of my prayer for the women at Karnes. I chose a piece of art paper from my stash and cut free-hand the shapes of the women dancing. I may add something more. But for now it is mostly done. 

Layering a Journal Page with Paper Collage

I added strips of cut papers in a quilting pattern that I've always liked but never made.

Ignore any fear of covering up something "better." 

I think art journaling is about the bits and pieces of joy during the bits and pieces of time spending time playing with art supplies while reflecting on...LIFE. It you wait for the big/ideal/perfect moment to "do art" or to "do journaling" then it is likely that art/journaling will never occur. Rather, it is in the bits and pieces of time that the joy of artful reflection is possible. The moral to the story is to create a space where you can leave your art supplies handy for short bits of art along the hectic journey of life. If all you do is one tiny little addition at any given moment/day/pause then that is one tiny addition that builds into something unexpected (and unknown) TBD (To Be Determined) in the future. I like to keep a working art journal out and open to a page-whatever page I have most recently work on or a page entirely different. Glancing at the open page as I walk by is a reminder that art journaling calls. Art journaling invites. Art journaling is waiting. Open invitation: COME. In that regard, art journaling is like writing: if you wait for the so-called muse to come before you begin it is very likely that you will never actually begin. And then oh how much you miss.

Pick a point with an existing page and add new bits and pieces.

Building on a Previous Journal Page

I had encouraged (guest) artist Kim to create a gratitude list of names of the people who had been present to/for/with her family during the murder trial for their (deceased) teenage son. In the middle of the horrific experience many people had come to sit in the courtroom and be an encouragement. In the middle of the tragedy, it is helpful (and healing) to identify and name grace present. Using letters to individually stamp the names is slow and tedious, but it also is in the tedium that it is possible to identify and experience the blessing that is present. On another day of waiting in the victim's room at the courthouse, she expressed a prayer for her (only surviving) son as he sat in the courtroom and listened to all the testimony. She drew around her hand in white crayon as an extension of her hand holding this son's hand. She used her deceased son's two favorite colors (red and purple) to express her feelings during the long day of waiting. After the verdict was rendered, she collaged the pieces onto an existing journal page for follow up reflection at a future time.

So Many Children Locked Up: A Reflection from Inside a Detention Center

It is important to slow down and art-it-out following an experience of any spiritual or emotional or physical intensity. I often zoom on with the next project, event, activity without slowing down. Art is my reminder of the necessity to slow down. I don't think it matters what the art is; or even what the end product looks like. It is the journey of doing the art itself which is the point of healing and wholeness. I often don't do art when my spirit needs me to do art. And yet, every time I do bracket out the time and dump my heart onto a journal page I am so glad I invested the time in doing art. Each mark on the journal page brings healing. Here: too many children (and moms) are being held behind locked walls in so-called detention centers (jail) for immigrants seeking asylum from violence in their homelands. It is very much jail for families, and it is appalling to see so many children (250-300) behind locked walls.

Simple mark-making with a mini stamp pad.

The background is a "reject" practice page done by a friend's mother.

A quick journaling; dumping out my experience of ministry inside a detention center.

Ver-Actuar-Azucar (see, discern, act) is an easy process for reflection.

Symbols: Peace sign & cross represent the two styles of earrings the women made.

Screened in. Behind bars. Women & children in a detention center.

Six tables with four chairs each for the women making jewelry.

Random Acts of Art

It is incredibly delightful to do "random acts of art" with whatever art materials strike your fancy. I love the idea of sitting down & doing art from A to Z; from start to finish. But the reality is that I live an intensely fast-paced life maxed to overload. What joy to do wee bits of art whenever possible without worrying about A to Z.

Random stamping with anew set of (half price) mini ink pads from HobbyL. 

I come out to my art room & put one CD on. Whatever I get done during the one CD is it for the evening. Sometimes I experiment with new materials. Other times I add a wee bit to something I've already begun. Or, like now, I sit in my wing-backed chair and ad to my art blog about previous random acts of art. All good. All joy!

No Time for Art

I've been missing art. My life is maxed beyond all max. I know art takes time. I regret I flat don't have time. So I came out to my art room and spent 30 minutes diddling. Nothing profound. But my spirit needs to do some art something. Anything. Something. Everything.

I used a scrapbook punch tool to add layers on one page and I collaged a friend's piece of leftover practice art on another. Not scintillating, but something. 

Stenciling Layers

Art journaling one page from start to finish requires more spare time than I've had lately. Instead, I've been doing one type of art/one medium on a page at a sitting. Then I'll flip through the journal looking for another place when I can use the same media and technique. It is a fun, mindless, low commitment way to do art journaling when I really don't have time.

I love my Jane Girl stencils. I'm probably over using them. But then I'll just look back on this year and maybe call it "the year of the Jane Girl stencils".

The generic stenciling adds a nebulous layer which ultimately enhances a feeling of depth. 

Life Above the Ordinary: A Mixed Media Reflection on Art & Jewelry as a Ministry of Presence

Creating a mixed media journal entry to capture the essence of my experience inside a so-called detention center for immigrant women and children seeking asylum helped me reflect and debrief and celebrate some of the joys of the experience. I chose a previously begun page with the title "Life Above the Ordinary" because that aptly expresses how I feel about the privilege of doing art as a ministry of presence for incarcerated women and children.

Softening the lines of a watercolor crayon.

The pretty papers represent the women & children. The background is difficult to see but it's a stencil of the USA with white gesso and represents the diverse places across the USA where these women have family members waiting for them. I used bright colors to symbolize hope for the future. I had done art with the women and children several times and then one day making earrings in the morning and bracelets in the afternoon. The I used beads to make the leaves on the flowers as a reminder of the joy experienced with the women. 

A 3-year-old helps his mother make a braided bead bracelet. Tenderness and patience abound.

The women gained personal agency by choosing the colors and designing the style of earring they desired.

A little girl told me it was her birthday: she is 9. Her mother made her a pink pair of earrings in the afternoon, and she helped her mother make a pink and purple bracelet in the afternoon. Two beautiful birthday presents inside locked walls.

Immigrant Detention Freedom Reflection

I've been visiting immigrant mothers and their children from Central America at a nearby "detention center" (AKA JAIL) who are seeking asylum in the US from violence in their homelands. I also help with overnight hosting when families have finally been released on bond with permission to continue on to a family member in the US who has committed to host and assume responsibility. This mother and her two kids spent 3-1/2 months in detention and were released shortly before Christmas. They had a 3-day bus journey (7 different buses) to NYC. I used a photo I'd taken as we were leaving the house and headed out the door to the bus station in San Antonio as the basis for mr belated art reflection.

Put carbon paper under the photo and trace over the picture. 

Re-draw over the carbon lines. I used a watercolor pencil and then blurred the edges of some of the lines. I kept seeing an image of a bus in my mind so I added a line art tracing of a bus. 

Add colors and stamps and stenciling to continue the mixed media reflection. 

Dove symbolizes peace. Names & ages of the travelers. Tio & Madre are the relatives hosting the family.