Expressing myself through art journaling

I have always found it difficult to express myself through art.
I can paint a portrait, a landscape, a still life - that’s 'easy', but to actually express my feelings, my thoughts - that is not easy.

Two collage methods I found very helpful to become more open:
1 Combining text and images.
2 Soul Collage.

Combining text and images:

I simply collect images I like in one container and text in another.
And then I have fun combining the two.

I use a very basic background technique :

I glue down 3 or 4 bits of random paper.
I add diluted white acrylic paint or gesso.
Then paste the images and text
add some more white paint or gesso and finaly
add some details.

I need loneliness, even the painful aspects.

upwards, into the sky.

Soul Collage :

“Using intuition and imagination, you create your own deck of collaged cards, where each card reflects a different aspect of who you are.” 

link: http://www.kaleidosoul.com/soulcollage-cardmaking.html 

The intuitive method:

Find images that appeal to you.

Collect background images.

Categorize images and work with one category you find interesting.

Combine those images with the backgrounds you have collected: the right one will just ‘click’.

This is the very first card I made about two years ago. I found I had collected these images of hot airballoons. Why?

No idea. 

But put together with these high (and safe) castle walls, they tell a story.

(Sorry about the quality of the scan.) 

The outcome of these collages are always personal and often lead to more ideas for themes.