Reflections of Me-Timeline-Journaling Class w Jeanne Oliver

So I actually finished this project several days ago and loved doing it! It was inspired by a bonus class from Jeanne Oliver's Reflections Paint Your Story course, which was added onto the Storytellers and Mavericks course I signed up for. I decided to do the bonus class first, but have since watched the videos for the S and M course also. www.jeanneoliver.com, and then I got sidetracked off onto another course and have a Santos Cage doll WIP 😏 (see previous post and next posts).

Anyway, this is the double spread I started with (see previous post). I covered the journal pages with scrapbooking paper, which says "I Love You" repetitively, then drew my timeline circles and marked off 8 sections. The center circle represents my core beliefs. I didn't necessarily follow the video, but I did decide to go ahead and use the teacher's suggestions, sort of, for the sections representing different chapters of my life, like before I was born, influencers, childhood, dark times, home life, future, etc. There's more to them than that in the class, and she does a great job of explaining hers for reference. It's a lot about digging into and understanding my roots. 

I used mostly printed off photos, torn apart, as a base for each section, to represent that chapter of my life. There are a few videos in the class showing different techniques and things to use, which are fun and interesting. Center right top, I've used a photo of my parents (pregnant with me) for before I was born, my granny and me for a positive influence, the house I grew up in for childhood, corn crib for dark times, a solid rock path for leaving my parents' home and my childhood, a sheltering tree for my own home and family, a box of my grandpa's rusty tools and parts for my creativity, and a dead tree in snow for my future (because I'm in the winter of my life now). This was the base I started building onto.

I've added black and white gesso around the base photos, then other torn photos, papers, artwork, etc. into the various sections/chapters, using mostly b/w with a little color. In the center circle I added a tree with many branches for my family tree, and the butterfly wings, which I found in the car shed after the cat killed it, for transformation and life. Some of my sections wound up a little wider than others, but my chapters all bleed over into each other anyway, so it's ok! This looks nothing like the teacher's, except that it's a circle. I tend to get a little busy on paper! 😀

I've added a cross in the center, signifying my faith, some words and numbers, and a lot of marks with various tools. Every mark and collaged piece on here represents a symbol or meaning for me during that period of my life. I won't try to explain them all here, but they are all significant and I have loved all the memories and discovering a bit more about myself.

I added a few more touches, such as the squiggly line around the outside, which connects all the chapters together. Since making this photo, I also brought out the eye over the tree in the future section. So, this is it, at least for now. It's been a trip!

Closer up of left page

Closer up of right page

I'm thinking I may make another one of these. I'll confess that some of the marks were strictly intuitive, and I didn't fully know what they meant when I was making them, but once the timeline was done, and I really looked at each section/chapter, I knew exactly what every mark and symbol meant. It was amazing!

Still thinking about taking the whole course, as soon as, I finish some of my other projects! This is the second class from the Reflections course I've taken (previous post R of Me-My DNA), which was a free class, and they're both awesome classes. The whole course is bound to be amazing!

Stay safe, well, and creative!