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 didn’t have a piece of string handy – and I was on a tight schedule – so I couldn’t take the book out for a walk. I didn’t feel confident with starting with something “artistic”, like tracing my hand (don’t 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 didn’t have a paint brush, but that didn’t 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 couldn’t 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 1988…eh. Nothing too exciting. Maybe if I take the carafe and pour the coffee onto the page, and then paint from there? Yeah, that’ll work!
Well, it didn’t really work…it made a mess! It leaked through 6 pages of the book AND onto the spine! And ya know what? That wasn’t 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 that’s what I’m going into this crazy, fun, scary project with: Allowing myself to make a giant, ugly mess. For a recovering perfectionist like me, it’s 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)!:
Related posts:
- Wreck This Journal: Breakin’ On Through to the Other (Fun!) Side
- Wreck This Journal: Playing with my Food
- Wreck This Journal!
Tags: Wreck this Journal
June 12th, 2009 at 10:13 am
wouldn’t it be funny to see another wrecker on the subway!
i wanted to lurk at spring street and see what became of the lost page – maybe follow it…but had to go to work. ugh.
love your holy page. may have to revisit mine…
June 12th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I love that your intention is to make a gigantic mess. I need to set one too. Your photos are great. Happy wrecking.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Magpie – That would so be something Improv Everywhere would do, don’t you think? 300 people on the subway, throwing journals and spilling coffee & burning pages? Awesome. I think not knowing where the page ends up is part of the journey, & lets you use your imagination as to who/where it went to. I think a dinosaur has it.
Ananda – Thanks for the photo compliment! I’m not a photographer & haven’t posted any of my own photos here, and it was kinda sorta giving me agita. Thanks to Picnik I was able to create a cute collage. And ya know, I didn’t think of Making a Mess as an intention, but that’s exactly what it is. I think that, and to not censor myself – just open the page & let it happen. Fun!
June 12th, 2009 at 10:45 am
LOL! What a journey from makeup brushes (brilliant) to poured messes (brilliant)! Yay to letting go and being with the glorious mess as it showed up. Maybe it’s just redefining “perfection” to meaning “exactly how things are”.
big hugs,
Jamie
June 12th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Jamie – I love that definition of perfect! It’s…perfect. Seriously. When I find my perfectionist poking her head out, I’m going to remind her that perfection is things exactly as they are. I have a feeling she’ll then go away. That would be nice.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Glad you are loving the journal – I just got mine in the mail the other day and have yet to crack it open – now I am excited to make a mess this weekend!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Can’t wait to see you wreckings, Amy!
June 12th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
THIS made me smile!!! Great wrecking fun!!! I love your attitude!
June 13th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Yes to the wild abandon of it all!
June 13th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Thanks Cynthia & Genie Sea! I’m having a freaking blast.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Fabulous! Love that you shared the whole process of starting with makeup brushes through to pouring the carafe on it.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I like the coffee staining the whole book. As if the prompts are collaborating with eachother.
June 14th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Sherri – I literally wrote my train of though. The whole thing was so ridiculous, but just as it should be to a new artist getting her feet wet!
Rowena – I love your blog and am so glad you commented here! I didn’t think of the coffee staining that way, but it makes perfect sense. I think this whole book will be collaborating with each other – especially after I take a shower with it!
June 15th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Wow I love your holes page! You just poked holes everywhere – love it! Also love your collage — I want to do that! So cute
. I might have to steal the idea… okay I’ll give you credit if I must! Love your coffee page 
. And your burn page looks too perfect! Okay off to do some coffee wrecking!
June 15th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
The collage I did on Picnik, & let me tell you that if I did it, anyone can do it, Carolyn!
Yeah, I’ve been going a little nuts. Luke is convinced that my book is gonna start smelling soon. I’m having way too much fun with the food stuff!
June 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am
You did a wonderful job! I love the idea you had of using your makeup brushes. LOL. Even if it didn’t work – you were thinking “outside the box”! I know I was too timid when I did my coffee page – I actually took a teaspoon and just poured / dripped carefully on the page. I am laughing at myself now. This is great fun, isn’t it?
June 16th, 2009 at 9:12 am
You can always revisit the coffee page if you want, Arlene! What I love about “the rules” is that there are none! I have gradiose plans to cover the fruit sticker page with wine & beer labels
June 16th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Poke Holes page is awesome, looks like it was used for target practice at a shooting range! Your experience with the coffee page was fantastic…great to rediscover making a mess, probably not something most of us have done since we were kids! (and this time there is no one to scold us either!) Great wrecking!
June 16th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Definitely nobody here to scold us (but nobody here to clean up the mess, either! I actually didn’t mind that too much).
Thanks for the wrecking kudos, Kris!
June 16th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Thanks for this post. This is great! I *really* love the poke holes page. It’s actually pretty! I also can really relate to your “recovering perfectionist” line. And I like your encouragement to “make messes” – that’s exactly what I’m going about doing!
And Jamie – I really love your comment about perfection being “the way things are.”
June 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Thanks for calling my pencil holes “pretty”. I hadn’t really seen it that way! Looking forward to seeing your messes, Amateur!