Craptastic Day and Zen in Art

For reasons I won't go into here, I had a kind of craptastic and long day.  I decided that I needed a different journal - the J.O.Y. 2 journal is bigger than I am used to and it has been challenging and interesting to fill it. I still have pages left for collage and TONS of pages left to write in and to do pen work in.  I made a 1/2 size journal from 9X12 watercolor paper, so this one is 4.5X6.  Should be interesting. I also decided it needed a firmer cover like I did for my first J.O.Y. journal, so I used an old Barilla pasta box for the cover. I haven't put it all together yet, but I made a good start.

Sometimes, even when I don't love the product, I love the process. Looking for images, thinking about colors and images and textures, putting them together - very ZEN for me right now. I need that.

First photo is the completed collage from the page I did on Day 10. I finished it last night but I don't love it. I just couldn't feel what was supposed to happen with the page, so I forged ahead. I think writing and pen work will save the page at some point. I have more I can do, but I had to leave well enough alone for now.

The next two photos are the beginnings of the new journal. The first photo is the front cover and the second is the incomplete inside cover. There is a little window in the cover which I'm excited about. Something fun will have to peek out of that little window. We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow will be a better day. I just let myself get upset about stuff that I shouldn't have today. I have to remember to breathe.