Pandemic Collage Journal

Early entry in my Pandemic Collage Journal

Pandemic Collage Journal, front of my 3 ring binder

I love art journaling with all the mixed media bling and originality, but, at work, when the Pandemic really got going, in March, I started a loose leaf Pandemic Collage Journal. My love of words and pictures, together, again lead me to find a way to record my feelings. 

It started out as collaged pages on lined paper, in a binder. I was shadowing another peer counselor who had a women's group. Collage was being used as a creative activity while the women talked about their issues. No one shared what they had put together, or wrote about it.  To me it seemed liked a missed opportunity, but I think that was from my art therapist's perspective. The ladies had been attending the group for some time and were happy with the format.

On my own, of course, I could not resist leveling up the meaning for myself by journaling around and inside the images.

I bought a ream of three hole punched paper and dug in.  Some days I made more than one page, some days I just ripped images from National Geo, Self, O, Real Simple and junk mail.  I did not need to know why the image appealed, but sometimes I did.

The images turned out to relate to stress, self care, lists and plans, self concept, and the like. Some pages have been more about collage itself and design.  Most pages continue to be a way of lifting the personal effects of the world's ever changing response to emotional, financial and political issues, not to mention global health issues.  

From March, 2020 until today, the first week of August, I have found my Pandemic Collage Journal to be a tremendous resource. Please join me, and post comments, and pictures of your own efforts. Send me a message through my etsy button if you would like to do a Zoom Pandemic Collage Journal activity for yourself or a group. I also do Spiritual Counseling and Oracle Reading. 

Here is a How To for starting a Pandemic Collage Journal of your own.

1. Find a three ring binder and some three hole punched paper or a sturdy catalog to glue pictures into.
2. Stock up on magazines. "O", Self, Real Simple or others self care magazines are great for words and pictures to work with, as well as National Geographic. Any magazine will give you journal fodder to get you started.
3. Find Scissors and glue sticks.
4. re-purpose grocery store flyers to use to glue on
5. Find a pen you like to write with. Can also use highlighters and colored markers to enliven things.
6. Find a large clear envelope to store the words and pictures you find. 
7. Tear out interesting pages that have words and/or images you can use now or later.
8.  You don't need to know how or why you chose them or how you will use them.
9. Find daily time to paste down images and/or words and journal on your collaged pages.
10. Journal about how these words and images relate to your day, state of mind, goals, worries, solutions, emotions, the world, people in your life, your job, your health. Just use your imagination. You can revisit pages that you have previously made and add comments. It's fun to journal around individual images. 
11. Be sure to add the date of the original page and your additional comments.
12. If you need a starting phrase to get you going you can begin with Dear Collage Journal, or the like.
13. This is not only a place to dream, vent, plan, make lists, complain, solve problems or just write, this is also a diary of your process as a human during a unique time in our history as humans. A personal historic document.
14. Share your Pandemic Collage Journal with a friend or friends via zoom.