There was real terror in my studio last week.  Not artful terror.  Animal Planet kind of terror. A 3 foot long black snake.  As Indiana Jones said in Raiders of the Lost Ark, “Why did it have to be snakes?”

Of course his were venomous and angry…mine was scared and harmless.  But emotionally, I was pretty sure Indy and I were in the same situation.

Logically, I know this snake was harmless to me.  But phobias and fears don’t always respond to logic.  So, for a week I had not been in my studio until sufficient measures could be put in place and I felt safe again. What that means is the biggest glue traps ever and hermetically sealing every crack we could find!

This page started when I was flipping through a magazine and ran across the S word in a headline.  I only had limited supplies available since I was still too chicken to spend much time in to the studio but I decided a little art play was just what I needed to process all the fear.

There is lots of journaling on this page buried between layers and on top of layers.  I scribbled journaled with pencils, I wrote with a fountain pen, and I scribbled with a fineliner (video on how they work here).  I had a mountain of feelings, and fear, I needed to get out.

The journaling was quite intense for me, so to take a break from that I did some stenciling with Rectangular Patterns for Play and Curvy Ladders.

Once the patterns were down, I started drawing on top of them with a big Stabilo pencil. Such a calming feeling to me especially after so much emotion.

I was feeling relief from the mega dose of panic and fear, but there was still something I needed to make clear.  NO more snakes in the studio.  I really wanted that idea of NO to be very clear.  So, out came my Vintage Typewriter stencil.

By the end of this page, I felt better.  I am now back in the studio and still a bit jumpy but definitely able to manage the fear. But I still do carry around my glue trap on a stick for protection…

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

Rectangular Patterns for Play Stencil	Vintage Typewriter Alphabet Stencil	Curvy Ladder Stencil	Stabilo Woody 3 in 1
Carbon Pen	Art Journal	FineLiner	Acrylic Ink

InLinkz.com

I had a plan that was inspired by a pattern on the sidewalk I noticed when I was on a bike ride. It was a crazy crazy plan.  It involved precision.  Straight lines and measuring. If this was a movie, you’d hear the ominous music playing.

But this isn’t a scary movie, it’s play inspired by the everyday, this month’s Let’s Play theme.

What is Let’s Play?  It’s all about rediscovering the ability to play. Each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play. You can see all of them here. Plus get entered into the monthly giveaway by leaving a comment- details down below!

Watch How I used a pattern from the sidewalk in my art journal on YouTube.

Here’s the pattern than made me obsessed with using a grid in my art journal.

The moment this  pattern grabbed me, a plan that was destined to lead to an OOPS was hatched.  First, I would paint over ancient glue dots to create the raised bumps.

Next came the perfectly straight strips of paper that would make the grid lines under them.  I measured. CAREFULLY.  Really I did!  But the strips of paper did not come out as expected.  No fault of the paper cutter.  This was total user error.  OOPS!

But I recovered.  I picked the most similar ones to use for building a precise grid. Or so I thought I would be building a grid.  I really wanted to build a grid.  In the video, you see why it didn’t turn into a grid.

Those tall yellow ledges were just the perfect platform for the leaping, running, dancing girl from my Learning to Dance stencil.  The title didn’t fit perfectly in the space I wanted, but that’s no problem with a stencil!  It’s easy to rearrange the words to fit the space.

Two things were very clear to me at the end of my play session.  One, this page isn’t complete yet.  Two, I was done working on it for now, after all an art journal page does not have to be finished in one session.

Of course, I’ll be sharing where it goes next.  Get signed up for my newsletter (if you’re not already) and you’ll be sure to know what happens next to this page!

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

Sharing your play:   I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating!  We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook?  I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways:  Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org.  Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com?  Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, July 31st at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog the following Monday.

Congrats to Margaret Price, last month’s winner!