CHAPTER TWO

In this chapter, we will be talking a little bit about knowing your ‘why’ when it comes to BOD keeping. Knowing your why can help you decide on the best BOD Permutation (types of BOD spreads) for you. I’ll tell you about my why so you can gain some insight into why I BOD in the full spread + mds (multiple-day-spread) or full spread + wrap up permutation. I will share a list of BOD Permutations for you to try/think about/ experiment with, and we’re going to talk about layering and why it is so important to me.

The meat of the lesson will be in our video portion. We will make a quicky bound ‘artsy fartsy grimoire’ which is just another name for ‘notebook I use when watching art videos’. In it, we will experiment with some advanced background techniques. Okay, many advanced background techniques! There are almost 2 and a half hours worth of background technique videos in this lesson, so you might want to take a day off work. *lol*

I will be finishing up with a layering technique video that includes a demonstration of a full spread + MDS so you can move forward with an idea of how to get your life into your spreads.

This photo (left) is a good example of a multiple-day-spread or MDS in which we memory keep several days at a time through art and text.

THE WHY

Something attracted you to this pro-gramme and I want you to give a little bit of thought to what that might be. Are you feeling creatively blocked and you hoped this would kick your muse in the butt? Are you longing to create a daily creative practice that sustains you? Do you want to practice self-inquiry through journal art? Are you invested in memory keeping? Whatever your ‘why’, there’s a permutation for you.

My ‘why’ is this: I want to art every day. I want to memory keep. I want to do self-inquiry. I want to meet myself on the page. For these purposes, the full spread + mds work best for me (or the full spread + wrap up). In the full spread, I can practice self-inquiry and meeting myself on the page. In my MDS or wrap up, I can memory keep AND art every day. It’s the perfect system for me. It may not be perfect for you.

LET’S SAY YOU WANT TO MEMORY KEEP.

Take a look at the permutations list and imagine how each of them would work for you. One or two will jump out as being the perfect way *for you* to memory keep. Grids might work great, or even BOD CALENDAR. You might try the Smash Book route. Whatever you try, know you aren’t stuck with that permutation. You can always switch it up as your needs change. Full Spreads are ideal for self-inquiry, healing art, meeting yourself on the page, lots of written journaling. MDS spreads are great for snippets, bits and pieces, photo snapshots of your life, etc.

BOD PERMUTATIONS

There are as many ways to keep a BOD as there are people, but sometimes it’s nice to have a few inspiring ideas so you can just sit down and start. Over the course of the BOD Programme, I’ve seen people do BOD in all the following ways:

FULL SPREAD + MDSThis was my favourite way to keep my BOD until my life got crazy busy. On Monday (you can pick any day you like) I sit down and make a background on a full spread in my BOD. I use the left hand page to create a painting/collage/spread that either sets the tone for the week or focuses on something I’m dealing with/struggling with celebrating/planning. I leave the right hand of the spread fairly untouched so I can add to it throughout the week. Tuesday - Friday, I return to the page and add a little something about each day. Sometimes, I’ll mark of grids to work in throughout the week. Some-times, I’ll make a portrait on the left hand side and then use the hair as journaling grids/blocks. Sometimes, I’ll do ATCs or journaling cards and paste them in. If what I want to record needs more space than that one page allows, I will create a tip in by making art on a separate sheet of paper and then taping it in along the edge of the page, creating a fold out.

FULL SPREAD + WRAP UPThis is very much like full spread + mds except that you do your MDS in one sitting as a kind of ‘wrap up’ at week’s end. When I’m especially swamped, this is the route I take. To make this as easy as possible, I take little notes throughout the week and stick them in my BOD so when I sit down at the end of the week, I remember what went on.

ORGANIC BODAn organic spread is one that starts when you start and ends when you finish it. You can keep as many days (weeks? months?) worth of memory keeping in one spread. I’ve seen people start in the middle of the spread and move outward around a focal image. I’ve seen people start in an upper corner and spread out from there. This is an ‘anything goes’ and structureless method that I love looking at but haven’t yet mastered.

THE BOD PADThis is a page-a-day. I’d go with a smaller book if I were going to attempt this, but I’m considering challenging myself to this for a month at some point before year’s end.

GRIDSMark off seven grids. Fill them in. It doesn’t get much easier.

BOD CALENDARMake a grid containing all the days of the month. Fill them in. Especially good for very, very busy BODers. You spend some time making your calendar in your book and embellishing it a bit, but the rest of the month is a breeze. A little lettering, et voila! If you go this route, you might want to do little ATCs or postcard sized art throughout the month to paste into your BOD when you have the time.

VISION BOARD BODThroughout the week, add collage elements to a spread that sym-

bolize your dreams, goals, plans, etc.

COLLAGE BODThroughout the week, add collage elements to a spread that sym-

bolize what’s going on for you. At the end of the week you’ll have a collaged ‘snapshot’ of that week.

TAG BODMemory keep and journal on mailing tags throughout the week and paste into your BOD. Alternative: if you’re using tags that have the

reinforced hole in them, bind the tags together with a binder ring or ribbon for a compact BOD.

ATC BODMemory keep and journal on ATCs throughout the week and paste into your BOD. Alternative: use a hole punch and a binder ring or

ribbon to create a mini-BOD! The same can be done with postcards or loose sheets of watercolour paper.

BOD WHEN & HOW YOU FEEL LIKE ITSome folks balk at the whole ‘scheduled structured practice’ thing and just want to play whenever they feel like it, however they feel like it. I totally encourage this if it works for you. You might want

to get a special box to keep your BOD spreads in if you’re working loose.

LAYERING

A lot of people (yours truly included) start out art journaling with the erroneous idea that you have to be inspired to cre-ate. You don’t. The best way to come to know this with an undeniable certainty is to create a practice. Having a practice means you don’t wait until you ‘feel’ like creating orare ‘inspired’ to create. Creating just becomes a part of your daily life. It’s what you do. You don’t even have to *want* to do it (like yoga or going for a walk). You know it’s good for you, so you choose to do it whether you’re all excited about it or not. Here’s what happens when you do this: you find yourself able to create-on-demand. You never have to worry about having an idea or feeling inspired. You just *do it*. Often and with gusto.

Imagine if I had to feel inspired each and every single time I sat down to make a video for you. I can tell you this for nothing: I’d never get anything done. I might feel truly inspired once or twice a month. The rest of the time, I just want to create something. And there are days I *don’t* feel like it, but like brushing my teeth or eating breakfast, I know it’s good for me, so I put my butt in the chair, and I do it. The more I do it, the more I feel like doing it. The more I do it, the more art I make, the more pride I feel in myself, the better I get at what I’m doing, and the happier I am with this part of my life. And it’s contagious! Happiness in one part of your life ripples out and touches all parts of your life.

ALL THIS FROM LAYERING!

RESISTANCE IS FERTILE When you make layering your first ‘go to’ art journaling activity, resistance can’t win. Ever. Because as soon as you start throwing paint and papers at a page, as soon as you engage that part of the brain that likes to stick doo dads to thingam-ajigs, your inherent playfulness and creativity will take over and you will go from resistance to JOY. Yes. JOY. Especially if you learn to love the process over the product.

START WITH LAYERING

Especially if you’re afraid to start. Especially if you feel uninspired. Especially if you are resisting. Layering will take you into your own internal landscape. You will start humming while you work. Your left brain will shut the hell up and your right brain will start to babble about wanting a little touch of crimson over there and ohhhhh, wouldn’t that poem you read last week be perfect in this spread, and hey! I feel like finger painting!

GIVE IN TO EVERY IMPULSE

Do not judge what your inner artist wants while you work. If she says “orange! on top of TEAL!”, go there! Resist the urge to say ‘ew! I hate orange!’. This isn’t about the self that hates orange. This is about the self that is willing to risk trying orange with TEAL! Give in. Let her have whatever she wants. She wants to scribble? Scribble. She wants to lay down thick gobs of heavy body paint? Do it. She wants to brayer ink on the soles of her feet and dance on the page? Do it.

If you’re anything like me, your creative side has learned to mistrust you. She mistrusts you because her every effort has been met with ‘ew’ or ‘that’s cra-zy’ or ‘no’ try ‘sure!’ and ‘that’s INSPIRING’ and ‘let’s DO IT’ on for size. She will learn to trust you and you will find that not only are you having way more fun, but your ‘muse’ will be more accessible.

BACKGROUNDS

Backgrounds are fun. They are paint flinging, glitter gobbing, technique trying, ink splattering *play* and every time you make a background, you are wooing your creative spirit. A background is my favourite foundation for every page I make. Fussing around with trying to make a focal image and THEN colouring around it does not engage my creativity. It engag-es my perfectionist, so I leave that kind of fussing for when I want to paint a canvas or I have a definite idea about what I’m trying to represent on the page. If I sit down with an emotion or, as is the case more often than not, no clue what I want to do, my first step is to throw some colour down. Papers or paint. Gelatos or pan pastels. Whatever the medium, the point is colour and the colour is miraculous because a) the colours I choose can give me some insight into what’s going on with me and b) colour will lead to symbol will lead to words if I let it.

RELATING WITH COLOUR

Here’s an example. I sit. I don’t know what I want to make. I look at my collection of mediums and Green Gold jumps out at me. I pour it out and muck it around the page. Green gold, for me, represents growth, Spring, grain, nourishment from the Earth. It represents the country drives I used to take with my ex-husband. It is a peaceful, easy colour. As I’m using it I might ask myself: “Do I need this colour or do I feel this colour?” If I’m getting an ‘I need it’ vibe, I start thinking about what’s going on that I need it. If I’m getting an ‘I feel it’ vibe, I start thinking about how to celebrate that feeling.

To gain some insight into your own colour symbolism, I recommend clustering on paper with your colours. Paint a dab of the colour in the center of your page. Circle it with a black pen. Now write down every single word that comes to mind around the circled colour. Don’t resist anything that comes up. If you put a dab of red and the word egg comes up, let it be. Don’t ask ‘why egg?’. Don’t say ‘wft! eggs aren’t red!’. Trust it. Your reason will come to you eventually.

Developing a relationship with colour will enrich your background making experiences and take your art journal spreads from fun to meaningful in the time it takes to connect a colour to an emotion or experience or goal. No one else will know what yellow means to you unless you tell them, so this is a *great* way to be honest with yourself in your journal without revealing too much to casual onlookers.

LET’S PLAY

Grab ten sheets of your preferred paper, and let’s bind an art grimoire together. Then, we’re going to fill it up with a TON of backgrounds. Seriously...I lost count! In Chapter Three, we’re going to play with text over these same backgrounds, so make sure you dry thoroughly before going on to the next page, and save your work.

YOU WILL FIND VIDEO INSTRUCTION FOR THIS CHAPTER IN THE CLASSROOM