there are numerous ways to start a visual journaling daily practice so in order to help you get started –I am really happy to share with you these fun exercises of visual journaling.
There are really simple materials and techniques in these bites!
Looking forward to see your art work in my Facebook group
Visual journaling with rakefet hadar
There are many theories that link our complex soul to theories of color.
Our aura colors, chakra colors, Native American color wheel and more are all an attempt to express the richness and complexity of our soul.
Our soul is like a beautiful diamond which is made up of several components, these components can be called energies and any such energy can be seen in a particular color so that we can understand how these energies work together to allow our soul to be expressed in the world.
The three energies that make up our soul are the core energy, the other energy, and the spiritual energy.
In Color Archetypes, I chose to use the language of colors to describe the energies that make up our souls.
The three basic colors – red, blue, yellow – make up all the colors in the universe, and respectively – the three basic energies of the soul can create an infinity of possibilities in our lives.
To express the energies of the soul – I chose to attach one basic color to each energy. The uniqueness of the “Color Archetypes” method compared to other methods of color healing is the ability of each one to arrange for himself the color map according to his intuitive and personal connection to the primary colors.
Creating our first color map
We are going to create a personal color map that is based on our current situation in life.
But before we start, I want to explain, In short, my theory about energies and color.
As you all know and feel, our world is composed of energies..
Feelings are energies
Actions are energies.
Connections with others have energies.
Through shamanic studies, I discovered that there are three main energy modes
The core energy mode
The other energy mode
The spiritual energy mode
Every day we move from one mode of energy to the others- lots of times every day.
We feel a special kind of energy when we are with our family or friends, interacting, talking..this is the other energy mode.
And then we are on our own, thinking, creating, listening to music, etc.. this is the core energy.
Finally, when we meditate or walk in nature, we can access the spiritual energy, which is a different light energy.
Some people feel it when they are connecting with art or literature, some when praying to god…but everyone has a spiritual side, even if you are not religious.
You probably ask- what is the connection between energies and colors? Good question!
Our subconscious translates energies to colors.
Our subconscious feels with colors..
What is especially beautiful about colors is that they have energy in them, each color affects us, but we are not quite sure how; we feel something when we see colors.
So now we are going to create our first map of color/energies.
In 2014, with the help of my long-time student Rakefet Berger, I opened the Creative Journeys School. I wanted to share the joy of creating that I had discovered within me. It took me a year to develop dozens of fascinating lessons on the visual journal. From the moment I opened my first group and until today, five years later, I’m surprised to discover again and again the magic that happens when people meet the visual journal for the first time.
Teaching or facilitating visual journaling is not like teaching a regular art course – it’s a field that touches the soul and walks the fine line between therapy and art. That’s why it became necessary to hold special training sessions for visual journaling instructors. And so, the SoulPages method came to be, a method that integrates a powerful tool together with processes that enable transformation and healing.
In 2016, I opened the training program for Facilitators through “SoulPages” method. I wanted to establish a special course in Israel for professionals who facilitate groups and inner processes, to master the artistic language of the visual journal.
In 2021 I opened the 1st international SoulPages Facilitator course which is running now with 16 amazing women from all around the world.( In March 22 the 2nd i will start registration for the 2nd SoulPages facilitator course)
The “SoulPages” method is based on three pillars – a deep understanding of the elements of visual journaling; the ability to integrate those elements to create experiential processes; and connecting to our unconscious mind as we use the language of metaphors and symbols. In this post i want to demonstrate the 2 main elements, the parents of the elements: Intention and magical coincidence.
The element of Intention
Intention is the heart of the artistic process, and it plays an especially important role in the visual journal. The primary intention of all visual journal spreads is to connect to the soul, and the desire to express all of its parts without being bound to rules of beauty and aesthetics.
Every spread of the journal starts with intention or desire to express something. Sometimes, the intention is clear to us right at the start, and sometimes we start creating intuitively and discover the intention deep into the process.
The natural way for me to create is to start intuitively, and through the process to discover the intention of that person within me – the “dream child”. Creating is the way to communicate with the higher parts of me; it is the only way that it can communicate with me, through lines and colors and the magical mix of the seven elements.
So for me, intention comes from my unconscious mind, from the higher, hidden parts of myself. At a certain point, usually when I add a few layers to the page, I start to understand the message, and then I connect with what has emerged from the spread and continue to create with intention.
Intention is like a cloud that always hovers over us when we work on our visual journal. The higher intention is to express ourselves in a new language, a visual language that touches us, a language that lets us create something from nothing. That is the higher intention of every spread in the journal.
The element of Magical coincidence
If the element of intention is the father of all elements, magical coincidence is the mother. To feel a sense of freedom and inner passion as you create in your journal, you have to love and accept the surprise that magical coincidence offers. Looking at the world through the eyes of a child lets us discover wondrous ways of creating, ways that we wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
Our inner dream child dearly loves magical coincidence; it knows “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” and there’s nothing it likes better than to wander around in new places and get to know them. It loves to gather inspiration as she wanders, and then make unique connections, to create in a way that only she can.
If we can connect to that part inside us, our world will grow and expand and we will feel connected to a new and exciting world of inspiration. Sometimes the feeling is like a curtain opening, suddenly seeing the world differently, from the eyes of the dream child who looks for magical coincidence everywhere she goes.
Magical coincidence is expressed in every stage of creativity:
The mixed media language that we use in the visual journal opens the doors to many fascinating combinations of techniques that are sometimes unexpected, but the results lead each person in the right direction. I call these techniques magical coincidence, because they enable our inner dream child to get excited and keep going.
There are many techniques of magical coincidence, and even more that you can discover.
When I just started with art journaling 7 years ago I use to buy so may stencils and I was using them as a background layer…but after a while I started to doodle my own symbols and I looked for stencils of small houses but I couldn’t find any…
so imagine how happy I was when Stencil Girl asked me to produce my houses into stencils. I was thrilled and immediately started to sketch them.
And after just a few weeks they already sent me the samples that i’m so thrilled to show here!
We (StencilGirk and myself) decided to launch them as a set that called “the inner dream houses” I feel this set represents all my ideas about the inner dreaming child that longs for a home and is very busy searching new dream territories.
The Tree & houses was inspired by the connection between people to nature.
The tree is a portal to many parallel inner worlds.
The stencil was design to allow multiple focal points . you can use parts of it from any direction or you can you all of it as a whole.
There are lots of symbols that I use in my work- the clusters of houses, the tree, the sun and moon and the small figures.
You can stamp parts of the stencil and continue the inner story in your own way.
The stencil can be used with India ink, acrylic, embossing, distress ink , tombow markers, watercolors and Gelly plate
The eye & Houses stencil by Rakefet Hadar was inspired by her love to the symbols of the inner eye and the inner house that represent the ongoing search for wholeness.
This stencil is designed as a mandala of houses and around a big Eye..you can use it as a whole or use houses clusters as a way to enrich your mix media layers.
You can also use just half of the stencils and create a focal point of an urban surrounding.
This stencil can be used with India ink, acrylic, embossing, distress ink , tombow markers, watercolors and Gelly plate
They are great for doodling because you can stamp parts of the stencil and continue it in your own way.
what is my way?
How to use the Inner dream house Tree stencils
watercolors
watercolor paper
Gold acrylic
black/blue Pilot
Pink/black Permanent ink
Images you love
Tombow markers
Glue
How to use the Inner dream house Eye stencil
watercolors
watercolor paper
Distress Oxide ink pads
black/blue Pilot
Pink/black Permanent ink
Images you love
Tissue paper
Jell pens
Glue
Acrylic on black….
black paper, Gold acrylic ( Abstract), Golden Teal acrylic, Permanent rose writing ink
Materials we will use
12 Heavy watercolor paper 250-300 gr
(optional- You can insert your own art)
wax thread
Needle
Washy tape
Awl
Button
