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.

2020 Vision Window

This is the back of the 2020 Vision Window (2019 Reflection)
I used Marabu Mixed Media Art Spray and stencils, along with watercolor for the background.
I included the sacral chakra sunflower image from my Floral Mandala Oracle deck that I'm working on.
Image clips and words from multiple magazines.

Below is the front of the 2020 Vision Window (2020 Vision)
I used gelli plated papers from my paper drawers along with magazine image and word clips and words
typed and printed that need to be included. I made this vision board in late December and completed it
on New Years and in the days following the turn of the decade. As I lead others in this process I found additional
words and pictures that demanded to be added.

This is the 2020 Vision Window partially folded.
It can be tucked in a journal or can stand on my altar.

I think that many people are familiar with the idea of a "Vision Board"  or Dream Board. For many years I have create a collage for both the ending year and the New Year every New Year's Eve, give or take a day or two. This year I wanted to make a 2020 Vision board that could stand up on my altar. Since this is a sacred process for me I decided on that shape of a church window. I used Canson Mixed Media 14X17
paper so that it would stand up and hold up to mixed media applications. I folded the sheet in half and then folded each side towards the middle. I used a flexible curve to create the curved top of the window. 

I used Marabu Mixed Media Art Spray (acrylic) on the back with stencils to create an interesting pattern. I glued words and pictures from magazines and my own art. You can see that, at the top, the main image is an empty nest which relates to my son, now 23, who moved out with his girlfriend in March. I knew he would move when he completed his undergraduate degree but he left sooner than planned when he got an offer to move into a friend's house that he and his girlfriend could not refuse. I was so happy for him but in a mess about my next steps. 

Now, 9 months later, I am really enjoying my weekly meals with my son and feel our relationship has leveled up. But still dealing with my indecision about choosing where I want to live in the next decade. As a much older divorced mom, in my late 60's, this has a number of wrinkles and folds to negotiate. 

On the 2020 side I used gelli plate papers from my paper stash. I did a process with myself and groups where I asked what life values are important. From a list of values I had people circle 10. Then I, and everyone, crafted a vision statement for the new year using these 10 words (give or take a word or two). 

My vision statement turned out to be "Walk a path, with Friends, to increased Health, Spirituality, and Joy, while creating Financial Stability by Giving Back to others through Authentic and Whole Hearted Self Expression". What especially sparked my heart was the idea of walking my life path with friends. Also attaining financial stability through giving back to others.

I know that various images and designs will reveal their importance to me as the year progresses. I have this Vision Window on my altar and look at it whenever I meditate. Vision boards, in general, work because you are often reminded of your goals and vision which helps you to daily align your choices with your vision and life values.

 

October 2019 Art Journal Spread, What I'm Preserving

This is the left side of the spread.
Silk leaf in the left jar. A Mexican Loteria card of Bear in the right jar. A real fall leaf attached to the top.

This is the right side of the spread.
Quin Yin image from a napkin found at the Asian Market. Hand made paper web over the right image.
Spider from a die cut pack, Michael's

My October 2019 Art Journal Spread "What I've Preserved"
Tim Holz die-cut Mason Jar. Background: stencils and Marabu Mixed Media acrylic Art Spray.  Crow stamp.

I used the mason jar die-cut over a spray ink background which I gessoed after it dried.
This was done intuitively, interpreted later. I used paper scraps from my art paper drawer
that had already been punched. I usually save all my scraps because they are so good for
spontaneous application. There is a piece of cloth paper (that's another blog post)
underlining the right side of the spread. 

Now the interpretation: I'll start on the left and proceed right. The first jar has an silk leaf
that represents an artifact from the season. One thing I love about October is the beautiful leaves.
The jars on the left side of this spread represent my earthly existence, what's going on in my
day to day and things I need to pay attention to. 

The Bear card has definite significance in my life. In terms of Loteria Interpretation  Actually,
I can't find the site that talks about The Bear specifically, but when I looked in up in the past
it was associated with addictions, most particularly to food. I was shocked when I saw that
interpretation because bear imagery has appeared for me in many contexts as has addictive eating
and spending. I am now mostly in control and losing weight with Weight Watchers but have
struggled with various addictions my whole young adult and adult life. Addiction, for those who
are not familiar with it, is a compulsion to overindulge in a substance or activity that one mistakes
for true connection with one's own soul and an avoidance of emotional pain. It is sort of a wack a
mole sort of situation. When one addictive substance or activity is eliminated or abstained from
another is sure to appear. The only "cure", as far as what's real in my life and experience, is
"Letting Go and Letting God". Doing the emotional work and connecting with one's Higher Power.
Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a 12-step rant. Suffice it say that receiving The Bear was timely.

The right side of the spread turns out to represent my spiritual life. Two mason jars contain an image
of Quan Yin who is sort of the Buddhist equivalent to the Mother Mary. She is a deity of compassion.
I am very connected to the feminine face of God and particularly love Quan Yin. In the left jar her
image is clear and the seal on the jar says "Nothing is worth more than this". On the right jar there is
a spider and a spider web that obscure Quan Yin's image. It has to do, I think, with Native American
and shamanistic activities I have been pursuing in the past and present. The spider also represents
the Great Mother Tunkashila. The Great Weaver. Part of me fears some aspects of Shamanism
and Wicca. These things are part of my soul heritage and need to, for me, be understood and embraced. 

For those of you who wish to interpret your creations (a truly worthwhile endeavor) I recommend
using a mind map to capture your associations to imagery and also journaling.

The spread turned out to mean that I need to preserve and pay attention to specific aspects of my life:
seeking and seeing the beauty in the world, riding herd on my addictive behaviors, honoring the
Great Mother in all her forms, continue to explore my spiritual heritage and expression in this life.