Wreck This Journal A Hole Lot of Messes

Wreck This Journal A Hole Lot of Messes I cracked open Wreck This Journal on Saturday afternoon, leafing through the pages knowing I needed to start somewhere. Every page held another choice, and I knew I could pick whichever one I wanted. So, where was the perfect place to begin? I already took my shower, so showering with the book was out. I didnt have a piece of string handy and I was on a tight schedule so I couldnt take the book out for a walk. I didnt feel confident with starting with something artistic, like tracing my hand (dont I have to make it something afterwards?), so I was happy when one of the pages called to me, Pour, Spill, Drip, Spit, Fling Your Coffee Here. I was drinking coffee! I still had some at the bottom of my cup, and left in the carafe! I could paint this page with coffee! I didnt have a paint brush, but that didnt stop me. I had what all dutiful Jewish girls from Long Island have: make-up brushes! I grabbed one, cracked the spine of the book, dipped the brush in the coffee, and started painting. Hm. Too light. I couldnt do anything, make anything, see anything! Maybe if I took the brush and splattered the page like all those spin art sweatshirts I made in 1988eh. Nothing too exciting. Maybe if I take the carafe and pour the coffee onto the page, and then paint from there? Yeah, thatll work! Well, it didnt really workit made a mess! It leaked through 6 pages of the book AND onto the spine! And ya know what? That wasnt enough for me! I laughed as I closed the book on The Giant Coffee Mess of 2009 watched the remains spill onto the kitchen counter. I then opened the book back up tried to makeup-brush the coffee into something art-like, but realized the mess was just as it was supposed to be. A mess. An ugly mess at that! And I loved it! I was having fun, and trying something new, and enjoying the journey with my journal. So thats what Im going into this crazy, fun, scary project with: Allowing myself to make a giant, ugly mess. For a recovering perfectionist like me, its the best way to start. It takes the pressure off that anything needs to be pretty, or nice. If I focus on mess, I can focus on the artist in me that wants to get out, have fun, find her voice, and enjoy the process along the way. Look at all the messes I made this week ( you can see the remains of the coffee on each every one)!: