Art Journal

I am truly passionate about Art Journaling. Having taught the concept and techniques and having spent many hours journaling myself and with other women, I have seen incredible results. It is a beautiful therapeutic tool for self-discovery and exploration. It has the power to bring out all your ‘stuff” and challenge you in so many ways. It is truly transformative and healing…

By teaching art journaling to young girls, I hope to equip them with a way to express themselves as well as a ‘friend’ to turn to when they need to sort through issues and their feelings as they inevitably arise in their teenage years and beyond into adulthood.

Here are some pages from the older Mermaids' journals.

Art Doll Collage Canvas

This is a really fun project, suitable for one-off sessions.
Here is a sample I made for the class.



First, I take the girls through layers of background where they choose colours and placement to their liking. We use paint, collage, stamps etc I then provide them with a choice of image elements – vintage girl face, wings, party hat/crown. The girls then make up their own dress, arms and legs from the scrap-booking paper stash. They then finish off the canvass with sequence, rhinestones, buttons etc. It’s quite a balancing act for me at this stage to let them have freedom of expression yet impart the “less is more” message (they like to throw as much as
possible onto the canvass) ;) (As can be seen in the slide-show).

In a typical Workshop for younger Mermaids, 6-8 years old, we make Worry Boxes. This is such a popular project that I'm considering trying it with the older Mermaids (spurred on by my 12 year old daughter, who has been wanting to do one).

We talk about any worries we may have and what to do with them. I am astounded at how naturally the girls understand the concept of not bottling up your feelings. They really 'get' the idea that it is bad for your health and the idea of having a special box to put your worries in.

My philosophy is to go with the flow of the dynamic of the group. I was pleasantly surprised when in one of my workshops, in raising the question of what you may want to do to make yourself feel better, the Mermaids said: "Dance!" (I had to oblige of course) ;)

Worry Boxes