Reflections Art Studio and Community Classroom

Reflections Art Studio and Community Classroom An art retreat in the country to learn art techniques and visual journaling for creative self-expression. Be creative! Be happy! Be healthy!

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This little visual journal is called a Seeded Journal, from Henrik Drescher lessons, through Carla Sonheim 🇺🇦 classes, w...
10/09/2026

This little visual journal is called a Seeded Journal, from Henrik Drescher lessons, through Carla Sonheim 🇺🇦 classes, who taught me how to make the journal out of one giant piece of paper and bits of previously loved art glued on randomly without thinking about placement.

When the paper is cut up, we weren’t allowed to look at the orientation of the pages, so the images could end up being upside or sideways. The idea is to respond to what the page was seeded with and turn it into something new.

I forgot to take a photo of the seeded page, but the original page had the greeny yellow strip that I turned into the girl’s dress, the puffy paint that my granddaughter added, the turquoise paper under the tree which is an upside down copy of a previous journal entry, a playful pink painting that I turned into the tree, a few images of seal of an university, a label off of a Japanese pen and a snippet of another painting that I turned into clouds.

You may notice that I used my famous Wiggle Squiggle Writer to draw the tree and other foliage.

This process fights the “white blank page” syndrome and leads to unlimited creativity.

09/18/2026

I am visual journaling outside today. I just love the gentle warm September temperatures. Do you? Today we have a little breeze and a warm 23 degree Celsius.

I love using art supplies that have their own stories. They help me to tell my stories. An antique writing desk, I lovingly call my paint desk, previously used supplies from my school teaching days, antique letter and number stamps, and ripped up art canvases are some of my favourite supplies.

What art supplies do you have that have their own stories to tell and help you tell your stories in your visual journal?

Continuing the theme of letting go, I tore up about ten previously painted canvases because I no longer wanted to take u...
09/10/2026

Continuing the theme of letting go, I tore up about ten previously painted canvases because I no longer wanted to take up precious space with incomplete or once loved paintings. It was rather satisfying to hear the rip!

I was gifted a precious heirloom, a hope chest, that once belonged to my husband’s grandma. It has replaced a blue tin vintage chest that once housed my canvases. This new chest is not deep enough for all of the canvases I had, so it was time to release some canvases.

I have already used up several canvases by making them into visual journal covers (to be revealed soon).

I also tore several canvases into strips, using up many strips as a background in this visual journal spread.

Use it or lose it, I say!

I would love to read what you are what are letting go of? Comment below!⬇️

09/10/2026

I often get asked, “Where do you get your inspiration from in your visual journals?”

This video shows my process for this visual journaling spread.

First, I often begin by journaling. I like journal vertically, just in case I decide to leave some of the words showing through my layers, it adds a bit of privacy.

When I’m finished journaling, I like to circle words of interest, which could become possible words for of inspiration or a for my theme for my visual journal spread.

Here I circled the word seven because it’s a significant word this week. so I decided to find different ephemera relevant to seven.

Then, I decided to add a bunch of textures: Tea dyed papers, and other textured papers I made with modelling paste.

I also glued on some pine bark that I found from one of my trees on the ground, and some wasp nest paper for colour and texture.

Telephone book pages, old maps, a page from a receipt book, and some other handmade papers were also adhered .

For further inspiration, I went outside for a short nature walk. When I entered my studio, I noticed a hitchhiker on my shirt! that there was a ladybird beetle on my shirt. There was a ladybird beetle (aka ladybug) crawling down my shirt, up my hand and down onto my cloth visual journal covers. I think it really liked them, as it spent a lot of time going back-and-forth on them@and my supplies.

Eureka, I received more inspiration! Paint a very large ladybird beetle on my page.

While I was outside, I also found some signs of fall. I collected some leaves that had already began changing in colour. I then paint them as well.

In the middle of my spread, on the old receipt paper, I added just a little bit more journalling about the ladybird beetle. Voila!

I also noticed that some of the markings on my tea dyed pages resemble how the little beetle moved across my visual journal and other objects.

I really like how everything became connected.

That’s how I got the inspiration for this visual journal spread.

If you liked what you saw please like, comment subscribe or even share. Thank you for your time.

How do you find inspiration? Let me know in the comments below.

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7130 Highway 523
Medicine Hat, AB
T1B0L3

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