I would like you to create yourself a Pinterest account. If you have one already, get another one, just for this project.
You will need the following boards:
* colors (one for each color)
* Soul Flower
* My Childhood
* This is me
* The Perfect Place
* Art
* Quotes
* colors
One board for each color, at least one for neutrals. You might want to have blacks, whites, greys and browns, or grey from black to white; brown, beige and cream. Or what ever you like.
If you don't like some color, don't have a board for that color.
If you think purple, violet and lavender are different colors, have a board for each of them.
Pin pictures that are of your favorite shade of that color. Not just orange, but the exact shade of orange you like. You should be able to open any of these boards and just sigh of happiness because the color is exactly right.
Also, have boards for your favorite color combinations. Like I have "yellow, grey, black"; "red and aqua"; "blues and gold" and "peacock".
This exercise will give you your natural color palette, and it's highly probable that these colors actually work amazingly well with you. It's a better way of doing it than any seasonal color analysis, because the seasonal color analysis was based on the fact that people intuitively use "their" colors in their paintings, artwork. You use the colors in your art that you like, that pleases you best, you use the color combinations, etc.
* Here's another little exercise I want you to do.
Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing for a while. Calm down. Relax.
Imagine there's a green plant growing inside you. It's the flower of your soul. It's just leaves at the moment.
But there's a bud. (or buds). They are still tightly closed, green, but growing. They will burst open at any moment. Let them grow and swell, feel the urge to burst... Imagine yourself sitting inside that bud, in total darkness...
Now, the bud opens.
What color is the flower?
What shape, what scent, how does it feels? How do you feel, sitting on this flower, surrounded by it, surrounded by it's color and essence?
Make an art journal page of this flower.
Then go on and create a Pinterest board for this flower and its color. Pin all the pictures that give you the same feeling as your flower and its color.
This flower is your * Soul Flower, and its color is your Soul Color.
* Now, another exercise like that.
This time you should meditate about your childhood.
I want you to find as many photos of you as a kid, as you can find.
Pick your favorites, and scan them, and pin them to the next board:
* My Childhood
I want you to fill this board with images that remind you of your childhood, not images of vintage items, but pictures that make you feel as if you were 10 again.
Pictures of the environments you lived in.
Pictures that have your favorite colors, shapes, animals etc.
Sure, pin vintage images, if they make you feel like you're 10 again, like your favorite toy.
Pin YouTube music videos to give your board a sound. Was there a special song or sounds of wind in the willows that you associate with your childhood? There's most likely a YouTube video that has that sound.
You should feel like you were 10 again every time you open this board.
(Go ahead and make it "secret", if you don't want photos of you as a kid to be openly available to all. And if you don't want to post images of you on-line, save the photos for your journal, and try to find a picture that looks like you as a kid, to play your stand-in.)
* This is me
Fill this board with ANY pictures, that make you feel "this is so ME!".
NOT picture you like
NOT pictures that show the "you" you would WANT to be
NOT pictures that show what you believe others think of you or expect of you
NOT pictures of your roles
NOT pictures that give an impression you would like to make
NOT dreams, wishes, hopes or expectations.
YES pictures that FEEL LIKE YOU.
The real you.
You are after the essence of you. Your energy. Imagery that resonate within you and fit your inner esthetics. You should identify yourself in the images and moods. What you associate with yourself.
Don't try to find specific pictures, but search with key words that describe you.
If you were a landscape, what would it be?
If you were an animal, what would it be?
If you were a cat, what kind of cat?
If you were a dog, what kind of dog?
If you were a bird, what would it be?
If you were a fairytale creature, what would it be?
If you were a fairytale humanoid, what would it be? (I mean mermaids, fairies, trolls... humanoids.)
If you were a flower, what would it be? Which color?
If you were a tree, what would it be? Which season?
If you were some other plant, what would it be?
If you were a color, what would it be?If you were a melody, what would it be?
If you were a time of the day?
If you were a book, if you were a holiday, if you were a city, if you were a stone, if you were a number, if you were a word, if you were a letter, if you were a season, if you were a month, if you were a decade, if you were an era, if you were a dance, if you were a painting, if you were a house, if you were a Goddess, if you were weather, if you were a natural catastrophe, if you were...
you get the idea.
If you were a force of nature, what would it be?
If you were a superhero, what would it be?
If you were a piece of furniture, what would it be?
If you were a country, what would it be?
Why? What does the specific item/thing means to you? Your personal symbolism associated with this? Which words would you use to describe this?
Now, make a page on your journal of "you as..." You as a cat. You as a tree. You as a...
ALSO, WRITE WHY - as the comment, text, description, write on it WHY you chose the picture. What in it is "you"? What is the emotion you are trying to convey?
* What is your favorite dance to dance? Movements don't lie. You can't pretend to like to dance something you don't like.
I happen to believe dance is important. I believe everyone should dance. Even if it's in your own living room in darkness with closed curtains and when you're alone at home. Dance.
Even if you think you "can't". Not everyone is fit to be a professional dancer, but all can dance.
It's like with singing. Everyone might not have a nice voice and be good at using it, but everyone can sing. We all know how. (And we should do it as often as we can, even if it's in the shower or in a closet, when you're alone at home... :-D)
* Favorite scents
1) Perfume
Do you have any perfumes? Which and why? Do you use them?
Is there a perfume that smells amazing on someone else, but not good on you?
What components make up the scent of your favorite perfume?
My "signature" perfume is Lolita Lempicka (Lolita Lempicka).
"Lolita Lempicka fragrance is based on licorice. Beautiful anise note is a perfect match to licorice and violet. The intensive green ivy note is fresh and optimistic. The almond is in harmony with woodsy iris and sweet vanilla, united with heliotrope and Tonka. It was created in 1997."
"main accords: sweet; soft spicy; powdery; floral; woody"
2) Other scents and smells
Which smells make you instantly happy?
For me it's the smell of a colonial ware store. In Finland there were these stores, still in the 70's, that sold things like coffee, tea, cocoa and spices, dried fruits and other such exotic speceries. Oh, and sugar. (Spiceries). These shops smelled amazing - candy, spices, coffee... I could have stood in one of these stores for ages, just breathing in the amazingness...
Also, freshly baked goods... that's one reason why I'm a baker.
Literature.
Think about all the books, stories, poems, song lyrics etc. you have read or heard.
Think about your emotional response, the resonance, the wisdom you perceived.
Which books have been important to you?
What are your favorite books, poems, stories etc?
Who are your favorite writers?
If you were a character, what kind of character would that be? Or who would it be? Is there already a character that makes you identify yourself?
* The Perfect Place
Close your eyes, breathe, relax, calm down.
You are somewhere. It's the best place in the world. It's the most beautiful place in the world. It's the spot on earth you wish you could live your whole life on, and where you plan to die and be buried one day, so that you will spend the rest of eternity there, it's just so perfect!
There are no limitations of time, space or money here, if your perfect place is Taj Mahal on Bahamas, that's the place. If your perfect place is the library of Alexandria before the fire, in Canada, looking like a log house, then that's it. If it's Rivendell placed on Pandora (Avatar), then that's it. I mean - no limits.
Now, close your eyes again, and place yourself comfortably on a seat... what kind of seat? How does it feel? Is it a comfy arm chair, a throne, perhaps you are sitting on the ground, or on a swing hanging over a waterfall?
Where is this seat? What else is in the room - or space, if there's no room. What do you see, hear, smell?
Describe the landscape, describe the house (if there's any), the dwelling, the rooms, the gardens, the park, the town or city this dream home of yours is.
What time of the year is it?
What time of the day?
Is it warm, cold, snowy, rainy, sunny, cloudy? What's the weather?
Is there water nearby? Trees? Meadows?
North, south, east, west?
Are there other people there? What are they to you?
What are they doing? They are behaving as you'd like them to behave, their actions bring you joy, it makes you happy to see them.
If you get unpleasant feelings, write it down, for future reflections, then change what they are doing, and if that doesn't help, remove them from the place. NO-ONE WILL EVER KNOW.
This is YOUR place, YOU decide who's there and who's not, not some conventions, needs or expectations.
You will be able to have the husband you have always wanted, the kids, the parents, siblings and other relatives; or no relatives? The lover of your dreams. Lovers. Real people you know, celebrities, imaginary people... anyone goes.
The friends and neighbors you have always wanted, everyone in your dream space is exactly as you want.
Or everyone is an animal.
Or there's no-one else there, except you.
Or you and a lot of animals.
You see - it's YOUR dream place, YOU decide. EVERYTHING.
Now, what do you do in this amazing place? How does your life look? What do you eat, drink, what are your hobbies?
What is your job? Do you have any, or are you so rich you don't need to work? Or otherwise supported, by magic or God or fairies or what ever? Are you someone's mistress? Or muse? Are you perhaps a princess? Or queen?
What do you wear?
* Art
Fill a board with artwork you like and artwork that you think is you, and artwork that looks like you. That's three kinds of pictures.
Pieces of art you love is easy.
Pieces of art where the subject looks like you, maybe a bit more difficult, but still easy.
Pieces of art that show your essence, that show your spirit, that ARE you... that's difficult.
Because it's not what you think others think of you, or what you think you should be, or what you would like to be. (Even that is OK, because our dreams are unique to us. You can't fill a whole board of images of what you would like to be without who you really are sneaking in and influencing the result :-D) It's pictures that describe your inner world, pictures that share your energy.
But - if you can't find pieces of art that are you, at least pin artwork that you like. You can remove pins later. Maybe you like a painting a lot, but after having seen it together with all the other paintings you love, you might not think it fits with the others. And then the question is, of course, is this the real you, or the others?
Don't forget to write in the description WHY you like it, WHY it's like you
Also, don't forget that this isn't just about paintings and pictures. Architecture, landscape architecture, arts and crafts; design, jewelry, furniture; sculptures, street art, calligraphy, installations, music, theater, dance... "art" is a W I D E concept.
Look at the ornaments, patterns, texture, surface, colors, shapes and lines, forms and techniques, styles and eras.
* Important, meaningful quotes
I am sorry for not having "a Bible", because there's an ocean of Bible based activity on-line.
I with my own, eclectic spirituality, need to write my own Bible.
I do that by collecting quotes that mean something to me, from all possible sources.
Look for quotes that make you respond physically. Quotes that make you cry. Quotes that make you so happy you find it hard to breathe. Quotes that make you smile. Quotes that give you that fuzzy, warm feeling inside. Quotes that remind you of that Mother loves you, and created you to be you. That there is no-one else in the world who could be you, every one of them is lacking something essential, the things that make you different from all the others on this planet.
You are special, you are unique, you are important.
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Those boards are going to be your main source for this year.
Now, start your art journal. There's tons of material, tutorials, instructions, examples and inspiration on-line, if you feel unsure about this. (You can collect them all to one board on Pinterest, to have at hands when you need them.)
art journal every day: getting started
Here's about how to collage
Art journaling 101
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