Phoenix Rising

“Phoenix Rising”

In this class we’ll be making an art journal page which includes a front facing girl and a ‘rising phoenix’ with a layered mixed media background. :)

As most of you know, I <3 art journalling (Duh really Tam?), haha. I’ve been art journalling regularly for nearly 12 years now. (Take a look here at a video I did about all the different kinds of journals I’ve worked in over the years and this one about working in different sizes too). In general, when you watch any of my videos on youtube, I’m usually working in an art journal.

What I love about art journalling (as opposed to working on single sheets or on canvas/ wood) is that it’s a playground where the inner critic tends to be a little less loud. It’s a place where you can express your inner world in a way that is playful, messy, joyful, expressive, colourful and there is no pressure to create anything ‘pretty’. The whole point of the journal, to me, is to express yourself in ways that you enjoy allowing for growth, learning and experimentation.

In this class, along with drawing and shading a front facing portrait and phoenix bird, we’ll have lots of fun creating a layered, textured, splattered and interesting background.

Today I’m working with the theme of ‘Phoenix Rising’ it’s a relevant theme for me in relation to what I’ve been going through in the last 2 years or so. For you, you can choose to work with the same theme, or find a metaphor or symbolic way to work with a theme that represents anything you want to personally work on in your journal. You can use my lesson as inspiration or follow the instructions quite closely. It’s important to me that you choose what resonates for you. There are no “shoulds” on my lessons, only ‘see how you go’s’ :).

This lesson was first published as part of ‘Radiant 2’ organised by the wonderful Effy Wild but is now available as a ‘standalone’/ ‘self study’ class.