Interview with art journal artist, Barbara Martin.
art journal blog

Get Messy is an online art journaling school that teaches you to cultivate your creativity. Without perfection.
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Risa Iwasaki Culbertson stays inspired, accountable, and curious
Interview with Risa Iwasaki Culbertson about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
All of Tammy Murdock flows into her journals
Interview with Tammy Murdock about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Kay Losey’s creative practice provides the left brain with a much-needed break while the right brain enjoys itself making
Interview with art journal artist, Kay Losey.
Traci Taylor’s heart is bursting all over her journal pages and out into the world
Interview with art journal artist, Traci Taylor.
Noor Unnahar creates freely, without the boundaries of perfection
Interview with Noor Unnahar about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Tamara Egem practices self-love in her art journals
Interview with Tamara Egem about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Cindy Gilstrap finds magic in creative flow
Interview with art journal artist, Cindy Gilstrap.
Shannon Yates makes art that is not about perfection; but rather about self-expression
Interview with art journal artist, Shannon Yates.
Arlyna embraces the messy middle
Interview with Arlyna about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Cathy Nichols follows joy in her journal
Interview with Cathy Nichols about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Rory Grimes is all about normalising the messy middle
Interview with art journal artist, Rory Grimes.
Janet Joehlin makes good art, bad art, ugly art
Interview with art journal artist, Janet Joehlin.
Amanda Trought is encouraged and stretched from creative community
Interview with Amanda Trought about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Mou Saha’s art journal is an intimate friend
Interview with Mou Saha about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Flo untangles her heart through art journaling
Interview with art journal artist, Flo (@Flo_HereThere).
Shilpa Nagaonkar forgets everything when she makes art and her hands are messy with paint
Interview with art journal artist, Shilpa Nagaonkar.
Felicitas Mayer explores creative freedom, calms her mind and grounds herself with art journaling
Interview with Felicitas Mayer about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Kiala Givehand stays inspired, intentional, and in alignment through creative community
Interview with Kiala Givehand about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Mandy expects, accepts, and embraces imperfections in art
Interview with art journal artist, Mandy “MediaMixerArt”.
The best books for art journalers
Books are awesome. I am a massive book nerd. My interior design style is “books and plants”. My love for books is part of the reason I love art journaling – I get to create my own library of art. I get to fill my bookshelves with the tangible containers of my own...
Tanya Hardy-Dobney balances the endless to-do lists of her crazy life with art
Interview with art journal artist, Tanya Hardy-Dobney.
20 of the best books on journaling
I've been art journaling for eight years, but it was only two years ago that I've fallen for written journaling. And man, have I fallen hard. My journaling journey For a long time, art journaling helped me say everything that I couldn't say with words. As Georgia...
Start with Gratitude with Tiare Smith
Interview with Tiare Smith about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
52 journal cover and first page ideas
Covers and first pages are my favourite bit of any journal. Here is a collection of art journal ideas for every week of the year. Watch the video ...
Jana Clinard Harris finds community invaluable to her survival as a creative person
Interview with Jana Clinard Harris about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
How to organise ephemera for MORE creating and less hoarding
Ephemera is my number one supply ever, and if I only had one supply I could take on an island, it'd be paper. I am an exceptionally organised human, but I am also a creative and ephemera organisation lends itself to somewhere in the middle of those two things. The...
Eva Donges puts herself on the page.
Interview with art journal artist, Eva Donges.
How to embrace a new season in your art
Every month at Get Messy, we start a new season. Get Messy Seasons are a focused exploration of creating according to a theme. Filled with tutorials, prompts, and catalysts for you to learn and love. In the same way that we go through seasons of our life, we also go...
Brooke Gorrell-Beaudoin makes the heaviness of the real world feel a little bit lighter through art journaling
Interview with art journal artist, Brooke Gorrell-Beaudoin.
e bond finds a safe space where anything is allowed in her sketchbook
Interview with e bond about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Art journaling is a Alyssa Griese’s non-judgemental playground
Interview with Alyssa Griese about art journaling, creative practices, advice, and what to do in a creative rut. Take a peek into the art, and heart of your new favourite artist…
Wendy McGowen creates daily
Interview with art journal artist, Wendy McGowen.
Karen Price finds freedom to play in her art journal
Interview with art journal artist, Karen Price.
Roben-Marie Smith brings beauty into the world through art journaling
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? As far back as I can remember, I have been a creative person. Art journaling is a part of who I am, and like I was as a child, I still find comfort and personal satisfaction in creating. Journaling is my...
Melanie Theriault escapes and processes her reality through art journaling
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? Art journaling is a healing liminal space that allows me to both escape my reality as well as process it. It is my self care at its best. Art journaling feels like home, it feels like personal growth, it...
Meghan Deinhard allows her inspiration to express itself in little books
Interview with art journal artist, Meghan Deinhard.
52 Ideas for Starting a New Art Journal
The main thing that stopped me from keeping a journal in the past was fear of the blank page. Specifically, fear of the very first blank page. My initial way of dealing that fear was to simply keep the first page blank, turn the page, and make the art. It's not a bad...
How to bind a three hole pamphlet stitch
This is a lesson from Basic Bookbinding. Whatever your inner artist needs to create, build yourself the perfect handbound book with this course to capture all of your beautiful art and precious words. In Basic Bookbinding, you will learn how to bind four different...
Sheri Sears is messy and perpetually covered in paint and cuts
Interview with art journal artist, Sheri Sears.
Abbey Sy expresses herself on paper
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? Art journaling to me is all about expressing yourself on paper; regardless of what medium and purpose and style. Ultimately, these little decisions of materials being used, styles and layouts being...
Art and feelings flow out of Iris Fritschi-Cussens into her art journal
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? It is a home for my feelings, and a safe space to experiment being myself. Nowhere else do the feelings and art flow out of me as easily as in an art journal. My best art is in my journals. I haven't...
Misty Granade uses art journaling as an artistic springboard
Interview with art journal artist, Misty Granade.
Sarah Gardner connects to herself through art journaling
Interview with art journal artist, Sarah Gardner aka Juicy*S.
Art journaling gave Anouk Karssen a purpose in life
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? For me, art journaling goes so much further than making art. Art journaling gave me a purpose in life when I didn’t feel like I was enough for the world. It gave me a purpose to get out of bed each...
What to create when you don’t know what to create
Creativity ebbs and flows. There are ebbs where you have more ideas than time, there are flows where you have more time than ideas, and there are the bits where you have neither time nor ideas. It’s all part of being a creative human. Sometimes, even though you have a...
Art journaling is good for Lisa Goddard’s heart, mind, and soul
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? Art journaling to me is a way to express my emotions, dreams, experiences, and imagination in a creative and constructive way in a place where there are no rules or constraints. It is good for the heart,...
Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd finds magic in the process
Interview with art journal artist, Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd
The mess makes for the BEST art
I'm currently reading two books - Pema Chödrön's Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living and Mind Management, Not Time Management: Productivity When Creativity Matters by David Kadavy These books are helping me journey through the theme we're...
Tanya Watson combines self-improvement and art with art journaling
Interview with art journal artist, Tanya Watson
When you can’t create…
I’ve been sick for the past four months. Nothing serious, just a round of puking, a few colds, and like so many of us, I managed to catch corona. It’s been an extended period of lying on the couch doing nothing - sometimes cuddling a four-year-old, and sometimes...
Camila Garcia knows that mistakes are important to creative growth
Artist SpotlightWhat journal do you use? I am at the beginning of my art journal practice and therefore I am still experimenting with different types of journals. At the moment I am using a Fabriano Venezia, which is a little bigger than an A4 size...
Shemi Dixon experiments without restraint
Artist SpotlightWhat is art journaling to you? It helps me to exercise my creative muscles and idea. Art journal for me is more process-driven. I love to create meaningful pages. Art journaling allows me to experiment with my creativity in a way that...
Sara Barnes expresses her world through art journaling
Interview with art journal artist, Sara Barnes.
Creative Reflections and Intentions: Goal Setting as an Artist
The end of the year holds so much resolution and finality. It’s the closing of a chapter. But this also implies the newness of the next. It holds so much promise. Rather than focusing on the end or on the beginning, I encourage you to sit right in that feeling of...
Telling Your Story – For Self-Publishing or for Yourself with Kristin Tweedale
Telling your story is important. Telling your story of your life is what connects you to others, and helps them feel a little less lonely. By telling your story, you give others permission and remind them of their worth. The story-telling champion, Kristin Tweedale,...
The Art of Book Writing with Misty Granade
When I started art journaling, I started because I wanted to be an artist. But, step one to being an artist is making art. It's the same for writing a book. Step one to writing a book is actually sitting down and writing. The absolute Queen of Process, The Queen of...
Routine vs. Spontinaeity with Sarah Gardner
Sarah and I chat about the way she sees creativity - a place that has space for both structure and chaos. We talk about the harmony of her left and right brain sides of her brain. Creativity is impossible unless you're willing to embrace uncertainty. You have to widen...
How to Publish a Book with my Fairy Bookmother Jeannine Stein
Prepare yourself for a bucket load of fangirling. Jeannine is one of my favourite people in the world - my editor, my Fairy Bookmother, and all-around dream maker. She changed my life, and in this episode, we're sharing insight into the process of publishing a book...
7 Ways to Feel Less Alone as a Creative (Zoom-Fatigue-Free)
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...
What it’s Really Like Running a Six Figure Creative Business with Deborah Engelmajer
Deborah is my business bestie. She runs a membership for handmade sellers called Tizzit. We send each other daily voice notes about the highs and lows of business and everything in between. In this podcast episode, which is essentially a one-hour voice note, we...
Being an Artist vs. Just Making Art
I believe that anyone can make art but not everyone can be an artist. I know that the common narrative is that everyone can be an artist, however, I disagree with that. Well. Slightly. Let me explain... For some, capital A Artist is a stifling term. It renders them...
Let Go of Control and Make Imperfect Art with Kelli Saginak
You guys. This is an episode in which I share the wisdom and kindness of my life coach. This is the one single human who has changed my life the most in the past year - the beautiful Kelli Saginak. Kelli opens up about her history with control and anxiety, we talk...
Bookcast Series 2: It’s All About the Proposal
The proposal was the first official task to writing my book. It's also what ended up being my compass and my rock. It was a mammoth task, but it was also easy? Why? Because I had already done the work... the year before in a very deep way and also every single year...
Tools Over Rules with Laurel Greenfield
I have a massive girlcrush on Laurel. If you've ever struggled to create art that looks like the art going on in your head, then you're going to discover your newest girlcrush too. If you're a food person, same thing. Hell, if you are a living, breathing, creative,...
How to Fill a Travel Journal
Whether you're exploring a new country or your own backyard, here are practical tips on how to travel like an artist rather than a tourist. Podcast Show Notes We discuss: how to fill up a travel journal - whether you're away from home or just around the neighbourhood...
How to Write an Art Book in a Pandemic with Kellee Conrad
Last year, Kellee went through an intense creative burnout. I've been through many of those myself. This episode is about what's waiting on the other side. Kellee and I have loads in common, including writing a book with the same publisher and even the same superhero...
Bookcast Series #1: The Beginning – I Wrote a Book!
Life is experienced in moments. Some of these moments hold more weight. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can feel the weight of some moments. There are certain moments in my life that I knew while they were happening that they would change everything. Bookcast...
How to make art when you have no time
So much creative energy, so little time. Somehow, twenty-four hours in a day never seems like enough to do all of those things we have to do, let alone those things that we really want to do ... and “not having enough time” is without a doubt one of the top excuses...
Seven art myths we can kick to the curb
The world is full of myths about art. Some good, some bad. These myths float around, getting passed from person to person and perpetuating the way that art is perceived and talked about. Many of these ideas are not only inaccurate; they’re damaging to artists and the...
How to create when you have zero ideas
Want to make art but have no clue how to get started? Perhaps you know these symptoms all too well: You have the aching feeling inside of you that comes from not making, but it’s accompanied that pesky voice that tells you that there’s no point. You have zero ideas...
Stop trying to find your style
As artists and creatives, we can become obsessed by the notion of style. Style defines our work and gives us a way of describing our art to others. We are told invariably that style is everything: that having a recognisable style will help us to sell more work and gain more followers on Instagram. Despite the tempting potential upshots of having a neatly definable style, however, I want to propose that style is not the be all and end all. Here’s why you should stop trying to find your style…or at least flip the idea on its head a little bit.
It’s time for us to go back to our roots.
My dear beautiful, beautiful Messy Artist It’s time for us to go back to our roots. Get Messy has always been a place that evolves and adapts and fits around your life rather than the other way around. It’s never been a place where you have to change to be a part of...
Artist Dates: Everything you need to know
Floating around in the art world, you may have heard of the term Artist Date. Maybe more than once. Maybe only about one-hundred-and-thirty-seven times. Stemming from Julia Cameron's seminal book, The Artist’s Way, artist dates are a tried and tested way of connecting...
6 Lessons from ‘Do the Work’ by Steven Pressfield – and how to apply them to your art making
If you’re part of the Get Messy community, you have almost definitely heard of Steven Pressfield. His book, Do the Work, lays out the nuts and bolts of getting creative work done. I was recently lent the book by a friend and rocketed through it in about two hours…. Yes, it’s only a short book, but yes, it’s also that good. And yes, I would highly recommend that you read it. But in order to pass on some of its wisdom before it’s in your hot little hands, here are 6 important lessons that I learned from Do the Work – and how to apply them to your art-making.
A Spa for Your Creative Soul with Shay Kent
Shay is so full of wisdom and kindness, and she encourages that you create the same within yourself too. After hearing a testimonial about her class, that it was “like a spa for your creative soul”, I knew I had to pick her brain. Grab your supplies and listen while...
How to Create a Scraps Diary
In this video, Autumn Moon shares what exactly a Scraps Diary is about. She pages through her Diary and shares the spirit behind it, the guidelines, the essence, and what it means to her. Video Transcript Please note that this transcript has been automagically...
Creating Authentic Art from the Inbetween with Rachael Helmore
Rachael is my friend in real life. Not only is this episode proof that I have friends, it's also an exploration into what creating art in the "in-between" looks like. Rach is someone who says things that are so profound that I have to whip out my notebook in real life...
Feeling stuck? Use repetition to get out of a creative funk
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...
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.
Creating After a Drought, Art Meditation, and other Questions
This is an AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode, where you’re the one who asks me anything and I’m the one who answers. We cover a host of topics, mostly about supplies and where I’m at in my creative practice.
I share my favourite tools, classes, and resources for making art.
I discuss themes I’m processing through art (now and always), coming back to art after a creative drought, and a new way I’m merging meditation with creation.
A host of miscellaneous questions and answers.
And an in depth look at my love for white hair and #ff66cc.
No Rules. No Perfection. Just Expression with Karen Price
Nope, Caylee didn't become an American for the new year. That smooth, calming radio voice you're listening to is Get Messy Guardian's @ginnistonik. She's interviewing the marvelous Guardians of the Community to bring even more inspir-action and encouragement to your...
A Girl and her Studio: A Love Story
The best thing to come out of 2020 for me has been my studio. It’s my one true love (sorry T). It’s an old shipping container in an old slaughterhouse. It’s gritty, and raw, it’s hipster as hell, and its mine.
This studio has enabled me to do that weird thing people talk about called “work-life-balance” and for that, I am truly grateful.
I wanted to dedicate an episode of the podcast to it. It has a story. It’s a love story. And to make it worth your while, I’m sharing what a studio space of your own might do for you…
Take Time to Make with Anna Baer
Why is it so difficult to just. make. art? We know how much we love it and how it feeds our soul. We know it makes us better in a multitude of ways, but sometimes even the thing we love the most can feel like a massive effort.
I talk to Anna Baer, aka Olive Green Anna, about this. We talk about her mad skills – in creating art, in getting others to make art, and in pep talking directly to the heart.
I wanted to get together to talk about her latest offering, the Take Time to Make at-home artist residency, mainly because I’m taking part in it. I also sneakily wanted to learn more about her as a human since she lives so close to me.
Our conversation lit me on fire. I loved hearing about how her process and seeing art as wildness in control; a way to see what comes out of her. We speak about destroying your own art in order to make space, removing the preciousness of supplies, making shit art, and where we put our worth as artists.
Grab your supplies and let us keep you company while you create…
Using Art to Narrate Your Journey with Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd
The podcast is back! And we’re jumping right into the deep end. We’re not talking about surface level art here, no no, you can’t really do that with my guest. Vanessa Oliver-Lloyd and I are talking about a way to get around how damn hard it is to put your inner heart into your art. Not just putting your likes and dislikes onto the page, not just your paper ephemera, and not just what you did that day (although all of those are great). We’re discussing V’s favourite technique for telling your story without it being draining.
Cause we all have issues. We all have a story that has led us to the point we’re at. We’re all still on a journey. It may be beautiful, it may be painful, it probably is raw. Art is very good at helping unload that weight. But it’s not necessarily easy to do.
We wanted to talk about the creative process of making an online class, but in true Vanessa fashion, we ended up talking about so much more than that.
I’m glad you could join us.
70 Ways to produce more than you consume
The focus of my life currently is this:
PRODUCE MORE. CONSUME LESS.
It’s a bold statement. With so much great stuff on the internet, and with it being so easy to be sucked into Pinterest, Instagram, blogs, and galleries, I’m needing to step back all the more. We consume so many things every day that actively trying to produce more than that is a big feat. There are two ways of doing it: either producing more than a hundred things per day, or drastically reducing how much you consume and making more than that number. I don’t want what I make to be influenced by someone else’s. I don’t want to be comparing how much I make. I don’t want to be making less because I’m too busy staring in awe at someone else’s stuff. I want my Ideas book to be a to do list and I want to get. shit. done.
There are a million reasons why I want to consume less and the number one reason is to produce more. I want to make a lot of stuff. I want to make up for lost time. I want to record all my memories before I lose them. I want to make a whole bunch of rubbish stuff so that I can get to making the good stuff.
And so I made an action plan. Here are the ways that I’m shifting my default to producing instead of consuming.
Connecting with Yourself with Elaine Kiziah
One of the biggest things that art journalers struggle with in their creative practice is the journaling part of art journaling. It’s weird. I know. A while back, I invited a journaling expert to help the Get Messy community with how to find the words. Elaine Kiziah...
Why Art Journaling? with Wendy Solganik
What is it about art journaling that makes it actual magic? Out of all the different ways to be creative, why do we choose art journaling? Why is this the one thing we have stuck with over time, and the one thing that we are constantly falling in love with? In order to answer this question with Wendy Solganik, we need to dissect her entire creative story.
Connection, Structure and Silliness with Sandra Busby and Tara Roskell
You are going to love this episode. I’m chatting with Tara and Sandra from Kick in the Creatives. And if you don’t know them yet, by the end of this episode, you’re going to fall just as in love with them as I have. And good news for you because they’ve got their own podcast and you can binge listen to them and just take in everything that they have.