🎨 Class Week 2: Elements of Expressive Journaling
Elements, live demo, and FAQ from my Expressive Journaling class
Week 2 elements
This week, I’m teaching beginner-friendly artistic elements to bring visual expressiveness to your journal.
Live demo - 11.07.24
The take-home invitation is to make an entry about your experience of the election results. You’ll combine oversized text, containers, doodles, and intuitive color into a single spread.
This demo shares some tips for setting up a nourishing workspace to encourage journaling more often, and the step-by-step process I used to create my journal entry.
FAQ from week 2
Question
When you’re adding underlines and pops to your text, do you know what you’re going to write before you start?
Answer
Typically I write first, then re-read the entry and add the underlines and pops of color around the text afterwards. In this example, I was challenging myself to choose the words “as I went” so they could be different colors, but that’s not common.
If something strikes me as particularly potent, like I’ve been struggling with it for a long time, or it’s a personal goal or value that is very important to me, that’s what I choose what to underline and pop.
Question
Sometimes I’m afraid to start because I don’t think I can fill up a whole page. Do you always write entries that take up 1 or more full pages?
Answer
I definitely don’t always to fill up the whole page when I’m journaling. I have entries where I just write a single word, a few lines, or multiple pages. If I finish an entry before the page is done, I add a divider on the same page to separate it from the next one.
Question
What if I don’t notice anything when I try the body scan and intuitive colors?
Answer
If this is the first time you’re doing a somatic / intuitive practice, this is common. You’re building a new muscle! As you continue to practice, the messages your body holds for you will become more clear.
It’s also common to feel numb or disconnected from your emotions when things are not ok in the world, work, home life, etc. Numbing allows us to get through the day without feeling so much pain. Noticing this is feedback for you. What is your numbness telling you? If you want to move out of numbing: when, where, and how can you make it safe to feel your emotions? Your journal is a great place to start.
Tips:
Check out an emotion wheel to prime yourself with language and prompts to consider journaling on.
Put on relaxing soundtrack and breathe gently for a minute or two to check in with yourself. Scan your body from top to bottom and notice what feels like it has tension, stuckness, aches, tingles, numbness, etc.
There are no wrong choices when it comes to assigning emotions, colors, or shapes. Just go with your first gut instinct.
Question
Are all of your pages visual?
Definitely not! Most of my pages are just text. This class is about showing you the highlights of pages with more visual expression on them.
If you imagine looking out the window of a plane, you’ll see mostly land. But sometimes you’ll see a cool lake that really stands out. Most of what I share in the class are the lakes.
Don’t let the pressure of making a journal visual keep you from making a journal entry. 75% of my journals are text. There are no expectations, only experiments.
Want to unlock your creative expression through journaling?
From doodles and diagrams to painting and collage, dive into Expressive Journaling to learn new skills in a beginner-friendly environment. You'll leave with a unique artifact of self-expression and discovery to mark this moment in time.
The next class will kick off in January 2025. I might run another beta session in December depending on sign ups.
Sign up to be notified 🎨
In the class, you’ll learn to make your journal an expressive container to document life events. I will invite your creative heart to the page and transform your thoughts into fuel that define a future made of your hopes and dreams. Drawn from my lifelong journaling experience, I’ll share techniques and examples for reconnecting with creative expression through journaling.
📓 In 4 weeks you’ll use your journal to:
⏳ Reclaim your attention from distractions
🪸 Create a welcoming container that invites creativity
🎨 Explore expression using beginner-friendly artistic touches
🥽 Invite curiosity and experimentation without self-censoring
🫀 Develop inner-wisdom and resilience
About me
I began journaling as an outlet for emotions I couldn’t express outwardly when I was young. My journal allowed me to capture, release, and eventually transform my self-limiting beliefs. Over time my journals became a place for personal discovery, play, encouragement, and honoring small moments of daily magic.
After 15 years of working as a designer in the tech industry, I left for a sabbatical and decided to follow my heart's path. I began teaching a virtual class to share my framework for journaling expressively in November 2024. My intent is to reconnect people with the nourishing act of creative self-expression.