Artists Working Towards Wellness: Expressive Art Journaling

Artist Spotlight:  Colleen Shannon

​Greetings Creative Souls,
I am so fortunate to receive such lovely emails from artists who continue their play and work in their art journals since they first began in class.  Colleen Shannon is one of those wonderful artists who works in a variety of mediums including her art journal. 
The wonderful aspect of art journaling that I find so freeing is its portability and range of media choices to explore within the pages. Here, Colleen explains how the art journal is a great media choice for when on the go, and traveling. 
After the article is link to sign up for December's art journal class and link to Colleen's website.


​Traveling with my art journal 
by Colleen Shannon
 September of 2017

I bring as little as possible with me when I travel, so I only had my journal, watercolor pencils and fine markers for art supplies. It was just enough to play with. 

A little backstory... I had been living in pain for about 8 months by denying a much needed hip replacement, to the point of requiring a crutch to walk. In June, after my first grandchild was born, I unexpectedly (and fortunately) had surgery in Chicago for the hip replacement. The surgery was very successful and it ended up being the best decision I could have made!

Since the hip area is also home to our creative energy, it was only shortly after the surgery I found myself itching to get out my supplies. It was a wonderful feeling to WANT to be creative again. I hadn’t realized how much the pain had been dragging me down and blocking that creative center. I grabbed by journal and started by doodling. This is the end result of one of the drawings/paintings. She represents transformation/new beginnings. 
​

Coincidently, about three weeks after doing that journal entry, Hurricane Irma was threatening Florida. Around that time Laura had asked me if I would contribute to her blog. While listening to the hurricane updates referring to not one, but three hurricanes in the Atlantic, I started flipping through my art journal.  As I looked at this doodle painting, I found it interesting that she is standing in water, has water drops on/in her arms and three cylone-ish drawings off to the left. Transformations and new beginnings are not always what we want or expect. 

It’s now time for me to drive back to Florida. A lot has changed since I left that area at the end of April, some of which is captured in my journal. I look forward to, once again, taking Laura’s classes to continue nurturing my creative side. I hope to see you there. 

Colleen Shannon
September 19, 2017

 To learn more about Colleen's work
click here http://asacredjourney.com​ 

To sign up for December Expressive Art Journaling Class link below
http://atlanticcenterforthearts.org/event-or-exhibition/expressive-art-journaling-5/

 Thank You!
Laura Bohn

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