Art from the couch

You might not know this, but I have an art studio (I commandeered the garage, jazzed it up, filled it with supplies and voila!) And while i love having this dedicated space, it’s not always easy to get out there considering I’m a SAHM of two, and of course the fact that it’s winter and ridiculously cold out there doesn’t really help lol

So I’ve taken to arting from the couch…or my bed…or the lounge room floor lol I put together a great little art journal travel kit recently and am loving how easy it is for me to find a few minutes each day to work in my journals. I really must show you all the kit – stay tuned and I’ll have a post on it in a couple of days!
Anyway, enough jabbering, time for a quick look at some of this couch art lol Both of these were created entirely from goodies in my travel kit, and the book itself is a Donna Downey art journal.

Samie Kira aka Journalgirl recently shared a mini class that struck a chord with me – an art journal daily diary. As Samie said, it can be used to record weight loss, baby’s first months, illness etc and I immediately knew I wanted to use this idea to record my struggle with mental illness. And like Samie, I knew i wanted it to be bright, cheerful and EASY. If it’s too difficult, too much ‘work’, I know it just won’t work. So I’m keeping it simple, with swipes of paint, simple stamping etc. I have a spot to write a quick note on how the day went, and a simple rating system so that I can easily record what my mood level was for the day, with 1 being pretty damn scary, and 9 being one of those rare ‘life is frickin awesome’ kinda days lol

As you can see, it’s pretty basic – easy to prettify, easy to fill in. I don’t need the pressure of having to write for hours about how I coped, the ups and downs of the day. Just a few short notes, a quick rating and I’m done. I’m planning on taking this along when I speak to my doctor from now on too – often I find it overwhelming trying to explain what’s going on, and I hope this will help me keep my doctor better informed.

If any of you are working on a similar concept I’d love to hear about it, or better yet, see it! Please feel free to link me up in the comments!

Til next time, happy arting,

Lita xo