Art Journal To Reduce Stress
What Stresses You Most? Relieve Stress With This Easy Art Project
There are usually one or two stressors in everyone's life. There really is no escaping that. Let's art journal about this and find some relief.
Stress is a nightmare, particularly when there is a lot. There are studies that have shown the adverse effects stress has on people’s lives and these studies also point out the importance of managing or eliminating stress. That is the focus of today’s art journal prompt.
For this mixed media art journal prompt, you will need the following materials:
- Art journal
- Black sharpie
- Black construction or craft paper
- Light colored (your favorite color) construction or craft paper
- Ruler
- Straight edged scissors
- Decorated edged scissors
- Glitter gel pens
- White milk-gel pens
- Heavy-duty glue stick
- Watercolor paint: black and your favorite color
- Paintbrushes or sponge brushes
- Small containers of water
- Ephemera and decorative paper
Follow these instructions to complete this mixed media art journal prompt:
- Open your art journal to first page spread, set out all of your supplies, and think about what is stressing you out. The first thing that comes to mind is what you are going to write in bold letters across the entire page spread. It should read something like: I AM STRESSED OUT ABOUT [fill in the blank].
- Along the edges of the left hand side of the page spread, paint a watercolor boarder using your favorite color.
- Along the edges of the right hand side of the page spread, paint a watercolor boarder using black paint.
- Allow these boarders to dry completely. In the meantime, cut the craft paper (the black paper, and the paper in your favorite color) so it is one inch smaller all the way around than the art journal page. Use straight-edge scissors for the black paper, and decorative-edged scissors for the paper that is your favorite color.
- Affix the black paper to the center of the left hand side of the page spread so the painted boarder shows all the way around. It does not matter if some of your writing shows.
- Affix the paper that is your favorite color to the center of the right hand side of the page spread so the painted boarder shows all the way around. Again, it does not matter if your writing shows.
- Using the while milk-gel pens, write what is stressing you out on the black paper. Do not worry about how neat your writing is or if your sentences make sense. If you have to cross out a mistake, go for it – neatness does not count.
- With the glitter gel pens, write solutions about what is stressing you out on the paper that is your favorite color. If these solutions require the help of others, write all of that out, too. Again, neatness does not count.
- Embellish any blank areas of the pages with the ephemera and decorative paper. Add things that make you happy, that are beautiful to you, and that lift your spirit. That way, when you revisit this page spread, the first thing you notice will be items that remind you of joy.
Repeat this art journal prompt as often as needed to completely get all of your stressors (or the most stressful situations) out and on to paper. The act of finding positive solutions is not meant to be a cure, but rather a helpful way to knock some of the negativity out and add some positive thoughts in. Hopefully, you will be one step closer to eliminating or managing your stress better.
