In this post, Disha Sha @crispbrush shares her reflections on her journey towards art journaling and how it has affected her over the years.
Hello kooshlee people,
I am disha (also @crispbrush on ig), a 22 year old from Bangalore, India, figuring out her place in this world. Just doing my 20s stuff. I rediscovered my passion towards art in April 2020 during the pandemic.
Have you ever felt joy in opening a fresh pack of stickers? Or have you ever taken a moment and enjoyed the crisp sound when you tore a piece of paper?
This is therapy to me, asmr (autonomous sensory meridian response) describes the feeling of relaxation that is felt after listening to certain trigger sounds. I started journaling in August of 2020 and have been experimenting with it ever since. Art journaling is a relaxation medium to my brain, to put out all my creative thoughts and paper scraps on a sheet of paper.
My journal gives me a platform, a stage and makes me feel heard.
SEEN. RECOGNISED.
Art journals are not always as perfect as they look on instagram sometimes it's just scribbles and a cup of tea on a rainy day, art journaling is a therapeutic process to relax your brain and feel calm after an exhausting day.
Having a bad day? Put it in a journal.
Wanna vent? Put it in a journal.
Feeling mentally exhausted? Put it in a journal.
Wanna crib? Put it in a journal.
Wanna be heard? Put it in a journal.
Feeling creative? Put it in a journal.
Feeling burnt out? Put it in a journal.
Wanna make a funny doodles and save it forever?
Say it with me! Journal!
Art journaling to me is a cup of sunshine on a rainy day.
My journey towards art didn't start from creative journaling. I started painting in the summer of 2020, my first painting was on a canvas and that one painting changed my whole perspective towards art, and how much I wanted to learn more about it and how much I wanted for it to be a part of my life.
We live in a society where our imaginations are shaped to please the world, art was the only thing that kept me sane on my hardest days. 2020 was tough. for everyone. I was just an undergrad who wasn't able celebrate her graduation, and I was not a person who was used to staying at home, I always had something planned for the day, and when the pandemic hit us, it was impossible to look forward to anything, it felt like same day on repeat, weeks pass by and it gets harder every day and that is when I found a ray of faith in a paint brush and a canvas, I used to sit for hours in my balcony painting with half dried paints and crooked brushes, life didn't seem as tough as I imagined.
It's beautiful how I could visit so many different places with just the help of a paint brush. I took up a 30 days art challenge, where you paint something everyday for 30 days. I cut my finger in the middle of the challenge while filling the glass jar, which used to dip brushes, but I eventually finished the challenge and then started the burn out phase, the art block.
Days passed by, I was looking for inspiration and that’s when I come across a few profiles which had books with beautiful crafts and poems written in them, I researched more about it and that is when I came across creative journaling, I had so many phases of journaling it started with junk journaling and then moved to mixed media and then to collage based journaling which then moved to minimal journaling and then I got into asmr journaling, which is quite absolutely my most favourite one yet.
fin.
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2 comments
Inspiring read!
Thank you for sharing this! Many people in the contemporary times has belittled art, especially as a career path. Yet, for many, art is their saving grace. Art is life. And during the pandemic, it has saved many of us from that feeling of loneliness, isolation and even depression.