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I wanted to include a few interviews with journalers I admire as a part of Creative Emergence to give you some different perspective and ideas about journaling.

Effy Wild is an avid journal artist, art journal teacher, and writer who lives and loves in Southwestern Ontario.

She teaches art journaling and self-inquiry in on line classes and is also the hostess of the collaborative series of e-courses, Radiant: Faces and Radiant: Art Journals. She blogs at effywild.com.

I’ve known Effy online for years.? She is a deep explorer and wild creative being – a true creative kindred spirit. I am thrilled to be a part of her Radiant Art Journals e-course – which is starting October 1.

Radiant Art Journals is an immersion into the whys and hows of mixed media art journaling through thirteen full lessons, two bonus lessons and SIXTEEN ADDITIONAL LESSONS by Effy!

Click here to read all about Radiant Art Journals and to come join us!

Why do you journal?

I journal to meet myself on the page, work out my stuff, document my life, and play.

How did you get started?

I have been an avid written journaler since a grade 5 teacher had us keep journals for class. Journaling led to writing creative non-fiction and poetry. I suffered a really bad case of writer’s block in 2008 & 09 due to a family crisis and in an effort to ‘unlock’ myself, I went looking for something else to do while the muse was off on holiday. I found art journaling, and the rest is history. I still keep a written journal in conjunction with my art journal, but art journaling tends to take priority these days.

What?s your favourite thing to do in your journal?

I love to layer until the spread reveals itself to me. I rarely begin with an idea of what I want to do in mind. This feels like a process of ‘reverse excavation’. The more layers I *add*, the more deeply I dig into what my soul wants to express that day. I am also really obsessed with faces. The ability to create a face that captures what I’m feeling or experiencing has been really life changing for me. It is as though I can, through the creation of a representation of what I’m feeling, detach in a loving way from the feeling so I can examine it, understand it, and then reintegrate it from a place of knowing. Adding text is almost *always* necessary to my process, but text does tend to take a back seat to the symbols I use to express my feelings.

Do you have a specific brand/type of journal that you use (if yes – please include a link so we can check it out)?

I bind my own art journals out of canvas and watercolor paper. For written journaling, I prefer the Moleskine Cahier Large size. I usually glue six of them together, back cover to front and then bind it all in fun duck tape.? I buy them from bookdepository.com because they are less expensive there and they offer free shipping. I also have a journal I toss in my bag that includes an insert I can art journal on (cardstock) and a Moleskine Cahier. This is a ‘fauxdori’ journal that has elastics set in the binding to hold various inserts and books.

Do you get creative with art supplies in your journal?? If so, which ones?

In my art journal, I use primarily acrylic paint, Pigma Microns, Unibal white gel pens, and, occasionally, stencils, sprays, stamps, and scrapbooking paper. I keep my written journals in black pen – sometimes in fountain pen, sometimes in whatever I have in my purse. I don’t tend to doodle or draw in them. I just write and write ‘morning pages’ style until I’m spent.

If you want to see more from Effy go check her out at effywild.com or join Effy and I are 14 other brilliant teachers for the Radiant Art Journals course.

Again today? I want you to meet with dream intention in your journal.

Just like yesterday (using the technique I teach in my free class or anything you have learned in my classes inside the Creative Dream Circle) and see what happens today.

Remember that each time you do this, you are clearing the channels of communication between you and your dream.

Once you’re done – let us know how it went.

Did your dream have anything new to show you today?

Share your daily journaling pics on Instagram?using the #creativeemergence hashtag, or post them here on Facebook.? (I’ll be sharing my pics and thoughts on? my Instagram.)

And/or leave a comment below. (Yes, you will need a Facebook account in order to comment.? Apologies to those of you who don’t have Facebook.)

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Because I loooove my Circle members, I’ll be posting links to resources inside the Circle in most of these posts so they can dive into the lessons a little deeper. If you’re not a Circle member you can just ignore this part – or join us!

For more new ideas and perspectives, we’ve got the following amazing interviews and audio classes with inspiring people in the Advanced Creative Badassery Resource Library:

Being an Artist with a Chronic Illness With Samie Harding, Change with Shannon Wilkinson, Coming Out as your Authentic Self with Liv Lane, Creative Projects and Creative Practice with Jamie Ridler, Divine Guidance with Laurel Bleadon-Maffei, Poetry is a Lifeline with Liz Lamoreux, Sharing Your Story with Susannah Conway, Trailblazing with Chris Zydel, WordPress/Putting Yourself Out There Online with Angel Sullivan

We’ve also got a private forum inside the Circle for sharing your Creative Emergence photos and stories if you’d rather not do that publicly.

You’ll need to be logged into your Creative Dream Circle account for these links to work.

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See you back here tomorrow for day 6 of Creative Emergence.