art journal Blog

Creative funks are never welcome. They have a nasty habit of either sneaking up on us when we least expect it, or rolling in like a slow storm over the horizon, so we can see them coming a mile away. The following symptoms of being in a creative funk may sound...

Follow Your Curiosity with Pete DeMarco

I had never thought of photography as art. I had always thought it was just for logical people following a very precise way of doing things. It felt like the opposite of creativity to me. Enter Pete. Pete sees creativity in a way not unlike my own - as a looping...

The Joy of Ripping Paper

Type “ripped paper” into Google and you’ll be delivered almost 65 million results, with the first few pages pretty much solely taken up by Pinterest pics and downloadable ripped paper PNGs. Ok, we got it, the world is pretty into it. And so am I: ever since I can...

How to Deal with Artistic Block with Tricia Poulos-Leonard

Today I sat down with Tricia. Tricia is wise and someone that you wanna have in your corner because she's very zen about art making, very knowledgeable and plays between the right and left side of your brain so well. She's a great encourager and wise mentor. We talk...

Dance Naked in Perfection’s Face with T Grey

Every guest I have on the podcast is my favourite, but this is my favourite favourite and most exciting. It's someone who excites me every day. My husband, T Grey. We're talking about what it's like being on the other side of someone who lives life creatively. We get...

What Is Art Journaling? And How It Helps You Grow Courageously as an Artist

I’ve been a practising artist for many years now – and I guess I’ve always known, even when I was little, that I was an artist. It was only recently, though, that I was introduced to art journaling by a friend. After a while I decided to give it a go myself, making...

In a creative rut? Why more art supplies are not the answer

When stuck in a creative rut, buying new art supplies can seem like a reasonable way to go about getting out of it. After all, we all know that art stores (and to a lesser extent, their online equivalent) are magical places; not only full of…uhh, art supplies, but allure and promise and potential. I’m here to tell you to hold your horses. Back up a little. Here’s why stocking up on more art supplies is not the answer.

Intuitive Art for the Recovering Perfectionist with Iris Fritschi-Cussens

This is the story of what happens when a perfectionist decides to actively go against her own nature in lieu of making the art that her soul needs. Iris and I talk about her brave decision to deliberately choose wonkiness, ignore self-doubt, and go for process over...

How to Collaborate with Other Artists

The Get Messy Season of Collaboration was in January. But community continues to be a Big Deal to us Messy Artists.

If you’ve ever experienced a creative drought, you’ll know the impact that your creative family can have on helping you through it, giving tips on finding the other side, and making you feel less alone in your struggle.
If you’ve ever experienced a creative high, you’ll know how much higher it feels when you share your wins and celebrate your creative flow with others.

In this episode of the Get Messy podcast, I’m calling on the combined knowledge of a small group of Messians. Traci and Meghan, Jenna and Dawn, and Sarah and Melenia share what they learned and what they gained from their creative connection during Get Messy’s Season of Collaboration.

7 ways to feel less alone as a creative

The life of a creative can be lonely. And let’s face it: whether we identify as creatives or not, we all know what this pretty rubbish state of being feels like. As humans, we’re hard-wired for connection: we long to be understood by others, we long for relationships with people with whom we can go through our struggles and celebrate life’s wins. This blog post presents 7 ways towards feeling less alone as a creative. And the best part is – perhaps counter-intuitively – many of these can be done without interacting with a single other human in real time.

Collaboration for Art and Heart with Char + Claudette

For the month of January, we focused on creative collaboration at Get Messy. Claudette Hasenjager and Char DeRouin led the way to nurture a safe space for artists to find their creative soul mate. For just the month, or for beyond. This excitement about creative...

Messy Conversation, Podcast

Art as a Must Do Rather than a Nice to Do with Gilly Welch

In this Messy Conversations episode, Jenna chats with Gilly about her creative process and thinking around art journaling. They discuss how art journaling encormpasses everything and how you make it what you want it to be.

Gilly shares how she’s able to be creative every single day due to the freedom given – no boundaries, and no rules. We are all busy but when we put small bits together with pockets of time, it starts to make a huge difference.