Art Journal Catalysts

TRAIL

05 – Wrapping Up Going Wild

05 – Wrapping Up Going Wild

This is the last short video in the Going Wild Series. Let's recap our time together and I'll share some pages from my sketchbook that have been inspired by simple walks in nature. I...

Dig in
04 – Drawing Leaves

04 – Drawing Leaves

Let’s use repetition and re-creation in our art practice as a way to lower pressure, explore, and develop an idea. In this session, we will be drawing from observation using a fallen leaf or...

Dig in
03 – Drawing with Scissors

03 – Drawing with Scissors

Firstly, we will prepare our sketchbook page with a nice dark background with either ink or paint and let it dry. We'll then look at our photographs for inspiration to create nature-themed...

Dig in
02 – Drawing with Twigs

02 – Drawing with Twigs

Let’s use unusual drawing and painting tools, like the sticks and twigs we picked up outside, to draw with ink and make interesting marks on loose paper. Use your twigs to experiment with...

Dig in
01 – Seeking Inspiration in Nature

01 – Seeking Inspiration in Nature

We are going out looking for inspiration in nature. In this lesson we will go out into our nearest patch of nature searching for treasure. We will look closely at leaves, plants, flowers or...

Dig in
Welcome to Going Wild

Welcome to Going Wild

Here's what we will be doing in this glorious nature-inspired class. By the end of this introductory lesson, you’ll have a lot of ideas about finding inspiration from nature - a local park or...

Dig in
Day 31 Un/finished

Day 31 Un/finished

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: What is finished when it comes to art, anyway? Celebrate all the finishing you...

Dig in
Day 30 Favourite

Day 30 Favourite

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Life is too short to hoard your favourite supplies! Take some time today to use...

Dig in
Day 29 Sunburst

Day 29 Sunburst

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:I’ve been noticing a trend in my journal pages lately… things are BURSTING with...

Dig in
Day 28 MissTakes

Day 28 MissTakes

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Let’s explore what we can do with supposed mistakes and learn how they can help...

Dig in
Day 27 Archive

Day 27 Archive

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Often times when I look back at my journals, it’s the smaller mundane moments that...

Dig in
Day 26 Scraps

Day 26 Scraps

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Do you have a tidy desk? I certainly don’t. Hey, there is no shame in it! 😉 The...

Dig in
Day 25 Collaboration

Day 25 Collaboration

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Work collaboratively to help overcome many of the obstacles we all face as...

Dig in
Day 24 Palette

Day 24 Palette

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Do you ever struggle with selecting the perfect color scheme? Well, not today! We...

Dig in
Day 23 Play

Day 23 Play

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Let go of expectations and tap into playfulness and possibility! Download Ingrid's...

Dig in
Day 22 Identity

Day 22 Identity

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Create three distinct background pages to represent three different aspects of...

Dig in
Day 21 Lifelines

Day 21 Lifelines

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Let´s see how one continuous line can break the blank page and lead us intuitively...

Dig in
Day 20 Trust

Day 20 Trust

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Journaling is the perfect way to rediscover your inner child and have fun. Nothing...

Dig in
Day 19 Gratitude

Day 19 Gratitude

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Did you take too many photos? Don't forget them in your digital storage. Print...

Dig in
Day 18 Extensions

Day 18 Extensions

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Delve into page extension possibilities.

Dig in
Day 17 Explore

Day 17 Explore

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Set forth on a Creative Exploration with limited supplies.

Dig in
Day 16 Clusters

Day 16 Clusters

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: Use old morning pages and masterboards to create interesting journaling clusters...

Dig in
Day 15 Reimagine

Day 15 Reimagine

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Create with as few distractions as possible to achieve a State of Flow.

Dig in
Day 14 Let Go

Day 14 Let Go

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: Create a journal spread that encourages you to share kindness with others and...

Dig in
Day 13 Serendipity

Day 13 Serendipity

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:ser*en*dip*i*ty: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or...

Dig in
Day 12 Renewal

Day 12 Renewal

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Take some time to reflect on your resolutions for 2023. Are you where you wanted...

Dig in
Day 11 Notice

Day 11 Notice

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: Take a look around you and gather bits and scraps that light you up. Grab some...

Dig in
Day 10 Time

Day 10 Time

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: There’s often a barrier in our minds that say we need to have lots of time to...

Dig in
Day 09 Layers

Day 09 Layers

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: Gather at least four pieces of ephemera that inspire you and get started on an...

Dig in
Day 08 Alchemy

Day 08 Alchemy

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: Let’s transform a few basic office supplies into a beautiful expression of the...

Dig in
Day 07 Garner

Day 07 Garner

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Build a database of colors, patterns, designs, and subject matter that you...

Dig in
Day 06 Patchwork

Day 06 Patchwork

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Combining colours, emotions, and assorted aspects of our lives in our journals is...

Dig in
Day 05 Elevate

Day 05 Elevate

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Elevate your page from okay to fabulous - simply by using paint, tissue paper and...

Dig in
Day 04 Joy

Day 04 Joy

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:What do you do when you are in a journaling rut? Do you ever find yourself...

Dig in
Day 03 Brain Dump

Day 03 Brain Dump

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: See HOW a brain dump can be used to create ease, BEFORE you get to the page....

Dig in
Day 02 Expand

Day 02 Expand

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Let’s explore how we can use Messy May as a catalyst to expand our creative ideas...

Dig in
Day 01 New

Day 01 New

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Create a new, dedicated home for your Messy May journey by binding an imperfect,...

Dig in
Messy May 2023

Messy May 2023

Welcome to Messy May 2023, you beautiul tropical fish Messy May 2023 will be available until 30 June, after which it will be moved to the Get Messy Library.  If you'd like to become a Get...

Dig in
Visual Catalysts

Visual Catalysts

ResourceVisual CatalystsBelow are tiny peeks of 21 of our most popular catalysts. Try these out at random, choose one that speaks to your heart, or pick one per day for 21 days to skyrocket your creative habit. These come from Your First 21 Days at Get Messy workbook.

Dig in
Whimsy + Curiosity Prompts

Whimsy + Curiosity Prompts

Whimsy + Curiosity#gmseasonofwhimsy #gmseasonofcuriosityOne way we can bring more curiosity into our lives is by fostering whimsy and following it, to see where it leads....

Dig in
Whimsy + Curiosity Artist Date

Whimsy + Curiosity Artist Date

Whimsy + Curiosity#gmseasonofwhimsy #gmseasonofcuriosityThis season, the suggested artist date is a museum date. Artist dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy....

Dig in
Whimsy + Curiosity Suggested Journal

Whimsy + Curiosity Suggested Journal

Whimsy + Curiosity#gmseasonofwhimsy #gmseasonofcuriosityThis season, the suggested journal is a Handbound Journal. Need some inspiration? Here ya go!If you'd like to dig...

Dig in
070 Whimsy + Curiosity

070 Whimsy + Curiosity

Whimsy + Curiosity#gmseasonofwhimsy #gmseasonofcuriosityDear Messy Artist The Season of Whimsy + Curiosity is all about bringing more curiosity into our lives by fostering...

Dig in
08 – Where to Go Next

08 – Where to Go Next

Let's finish off this project, page through my journal, and figure out where to go next. DownloadDownload the worksheet for this lesson.Action Stepstake some ideas from this flip...

Dig in
07 – Sketching with Thread

07 – Sketching with Thread

This lesson will take you through a simple collaged landscape using painted deli papers as the collage material. On top of this simple and colourful base, we will addd stitched lines...

Dig in
06 – Into the Woods

06 – Into the Woods

This lesson will further explore collaged landscapes. We will build on this collage process by creating a forest landscape and adding a figure and a guide animal to explore that...

Dig in
05 – A Stitched Specimen

05 – A Stitched Specimen

This lesson will explore some of the inhabitants of our landscapes. Personally, I find butterflies to be such a source of inspiration and the perfect partner for our stitched meadows...

Dig in
04 – Stitch a Meadow

04 – Stitch a Meadow

In this lesson, we begin working in our journals by creating a collaged meadow landscape and adding stitched flowers. I’ll take you through my collage process and how I would build...

Dig in
03 – Warm Up Collage + Front Cover

03 – Warm Up Collage + Front Cover

When I am feeling stuck, uninspired or unsure I love to make mini collages. Using all of my favourite scraps of paper ad small journal, I create these mini collages as a way to warm...

Dig in
02 – Vision Boards

02 – Vision Boards

This lesson takes you through my process of creating a vision board centring around the theme of environments that inspire me. In this process, I take the time to go through and...

Dig in
01 – Making the Journal

01 – Making the Journal

In this lesson I will take you through the process of making a simple and scrappy journal using mixed media paper and painted fabric strips as the signatures. The cover is made from...

Dig in
Welcome to Imagined Landscapes

Welcome to Imagined Landscapes

Welcome to Imagined Landscapes! Here are a few ideas for starting and some things to consider...DownloadDownload the worksheets for this lesson.Action StepsThink about what kind of...

Dig in
Bonus

Bonus

Twenty Prompts to Journal Print out these prompts I made for you. Add it to your journal and use it when you're looking for an idea or prompt for documenting your days.

Dig in
Flip Through

Flip Through

Here’s a complete flip through of how I documented my days using The Diarist, the A5 journal I’ve used for the previous year.

Dig in
All the Materials

All the Materials

In this lesson, I introduce all the materials you can use for journaling. From different journal sizes, to pen types, to stationery, this materials overview will provide you some ideas on which tools you would like to add to your journaling stash.

Dig in
Why Journal?

Why Journal?

Why Journal? I share my journaling journey and why it’s so important to document your days.

Dig in
Welcome to DYD

Welcome to DYD

Hello everyone, and welcome to Documenting Your Days. This class is all about using journaling as a tool to document your days in whatever format you find useful for your process...

Dig in
Mark making and materiality

Mark making and materiality

Mark-making is the interaction between the artist and the materials they are using. It provides the viewer of the work with an image of what the artist had done to create the mark, reliving what the artist had done at the time. Materiality is the choice of materials...

Dig in
Value

Value

Value refers to the degree of perceivable lightness of tones within an image. The element of value is compatible with the term luminosity, and can be "measured in various units designating electromagnetic radiation". The difference in values is often called contrast,...

Dig in
Texture

Texture

Texture is used to describe the surface quality of the work, referencing the types of lines the artist created. The surface quality can either be tactile (real) or strictly visual (implied). Tactile surface quality is mainly seen through three-dimensional works, like...

Dig in
Space

Space

Space refers to the perspective (distance between and around) and proportion (size) between shapes and objects and how their relationship with the foreground or background is perceived. There are different types of spaces an artist can achieve for different effect....

Dig in
Form

Form

Form is a three-dimensional object with volume of height, width and depth. These objects include cubes, spheres and cylinders. Form is often used when referring to physical works of art, like sculptures, as form is connected most closely with those three-dimensional...

Dig in
Color

Color

Color is an element consisting of hues, of which there are three properties: hue, chroma or intensity, and value. Color is present when light strikes an object and it is reflected back into the eye, a reaction to a hue arising in the optic nerve. The...

Dig in
Shape

Shape

A shape is a two-dimensional design encased by lines to signify its height and width structure, and can have different values of color used within it to make it appear three-dimensional. In animation, shapes are used to give a character a distinct...

Dig in
Line

Line

Lines are marks moving in a space between two points whereby a viewer can visualize the stroke movement, direction, and intention based on how the line is oriented. Lines describe an outline, capable of producing texture according to their length and...

Dig in
Welcome to Body of Art

Welcome to Body of Art

Welcome An invitation into being vulnerable with yourselfWelcome I’m beginning this class with no makeup, no elaborate hair, and no pants. Just kidding. It’s a small gesture of vulnerability in the hopes that you’ll meet me with your own gesture of...

Dig in
Expanded Spine Art Journal

Expanded Spine Art Journal

The incredible Diana was so inspired by Claudette's journal in the Courageous Adventures in Art Journaling class that she played around, figured things out by pausing a video, and made a similar journal. And then another and another. And then we're...

Dig in
Courageous Adventures Workshop Replay

Courageous Adventures Workshop Replay

This is a replay of the Courageous Adventures Workshop. During the part where we watch the lesson together, we recommend that you watch it through your own Get Messy library here. 

Dig in
Get Messy Passport

Get Messy Passport

ResourceGet Messy PassportA passport to celebrate your creative winsDownload the Get Messy Passport The Get Messy Passport is a Messy Artist's travel document to celebrate your creative wins. Print it out, make it your own, and "travel". Add passport stamps for...

Dig in
Pleasure + Liberation Prompts

Pleasure + Liberation Prompts

Pleasure + Liberation#gmseasonofpleasure #gmseasonofliberationHave you heard of Microdosing Pleasure? Many of us think/feel that making time for pleasure in our lives...

Dig in
Pleasure + Liberation Artist Date

Pleasure + Liberation Artist Date

Pleasure + Liberation#gmseasonofpleasure #gmseasonofliberationThis season, the suggested artist date is a cafe date. Go to your favorite cafe in town or a new one in a...

Dig in
069 Pleasure + Liberation

069 Pleasure + Liberation

Pleasure + Liberation#gmseasonofpleasure #gmseasonofliberationDear Messy Artist The Season of Pleasure + Liberation is all about doing things for the simple fact that it...

Dig in
Bonus – Tag It – Char

Bonus – Tag It – Char

Tags are so versatile and fun. I must admit, I never understood the hoopla around tags before I started art journaling. My rationale at the time was because I was primarily...

Dig in
Bonus – Tag It – Claudette

Bonus – Tag It – Claudette

Tags are such a fun way to add some extra personality to our journals. While making our tags we play with stitching, threads, and fabric scraps. We use quotes, images, and...

Dig in
06 – Wreck It – Char

06 – Wreck It – Char

The minute I shouted, “Wreck It!” during our brainstorm meeting, followed by Claudette replying with an emphatic, “YES, that’s it!” I knew I was in trouble. Seriously, how could I...

Dig in
06 – Wreck It – Claudette

06 – Wreck It – Claudette

During this Wreck It part of our course we are going to be dunking our journals in coffee, closing our eyes so that we can randomly spray spraypaint throughout our journals, and...

Dig in
05 – Color It – Char

05 – Color It – Char

The title “Color It” immediately makes me think of working with lots of juicy colors for a journal spread. Imagine my surprise when I ended up working with a limited color palette!...

Dig in
05 – Color It – Claudette

05 – Color It – Claudette

In lesson 5 we are going to be making our own handmade stencils, as well as painted tapes and stickers that we can use to add pops of color and interest within our journal spreads....

Dig in
04 – Explore It – Char

04 – Explore It – Char

I thought this was a great time to explore and get reaquanted with soft pastels, because while I love them, I hardly work with them and they’re gathering dust. I remembered finding...

Dig in
04 – Explore It – Claudette

04 – Explore It – Claudette

In this lesson, we explore our journals again and have a look at the flow of our journals so far. We harness the energy of being courageous and adventurous as we make some bold...

Dig in
03 – Grunge It – Char

03 – Grunge It – Char

I would argue that, “Grunge is in the eye of the beholder.” Of course, there are distinct and absolute concepts when it comes to grunge, but for me - and as in everything mixed...

Dig in
03 – Grunge It – Claudette

03 – Grunge It – Claudette

One dictionary defines grunge as deliberately untidy and uncoordinated. I couldn’t have said it better. I love the wild freedom that grunge allows us to explore within our journal...

Dig in