Light The Path Design Team Kate | February Sense of Touch

Hi everyone, it’s Kate! Today I’m sharing a spread I made in response to one of this month’s journaling prompts in the Light The Path workshop. When a new LTP month begins I print off the workbook and pop it in my 6×8 album so that I can work through the prompts on paper. This month, as I journaled, 2 of the senses stood out to me. I felt like I could just keep writing about them for hours as words flowed out. I filled my printout page with my writing getting smaller and smaller as I went!

As I reflected on my senses, I thought about how touch is present in my life has changed. Some years ago touch was an everyday occurrence. I worked with my hands as a beauty therapist and touched faces and bodies every day. I loved this work and the way touch had such a profound impact on people’s lives. I probably touched a couple of dozen different people everyday, and remember how different sessions would leave me exhausted or invigorated. Now, about 8 years after leaving that world, my reaction to touch is very different. I quickly feel ‘touched out’ and don’t want to be touched at all. I’m also not a person who tends to touch others with hugs etc. It was only while writing in my workbook that this big difference occurred to me. I think that my previous career gave me a space in which I could give and experience touch in a structured and understandable way. Whereas in everyday life I find it more difficult to express affection or appreciation through touch in a spontaneous way.

Clearly, my senses were harbouring insights I had only rarely thought about. I decided to make a spread based on my sense of touch journaling. I wanted to incorporate the beautiful line art of a nude that was included in last year’s kit for February, as I felt it really symbolized the dichotomy of our skin – both delicate and robust.

As one of my goals for the year is to dive into art journaling, I made an art page for the right-hand side of the spread. I printed the line art directly onto watercolour paper, then I was able to freely colour around the figure using some of my favourite greens and blues. If you try something similar, check first if your print is waterproof on a small area before watercolouring over it. My printer uses dye-based inks so they would run if I put water over the printed areas.

I took my time with this and enjoyed letting the colours run into each other. After letting the paper completely dry I took a white paint pen and added some doodles. Mine was a Posca pen but you could use a white gel pen for the same effect. I felt like some of the doodles were growing from her, and others were gently landing on her skin. I thought about adding some words around the face area, but after letting it settle for a while I realised I was happy with her as she is.

Next, I created an embellished journaling page using elements from the kit; that I printed on smooth 100gsm crafting paper then fussy cut. I often use my Cricut to print-and-cut, but in the spirit of meditating on touch I cut out by hand. I enjoy the smooth feeling of the paper, although the scissors make my fingers cramp if I do too much in one go. I wrote out my journaling, copying some from my workbook and adding/subtracting bits here and there as I wrote. Here I used my favourite journaling pen, a Uni Pin, although I forget which size (I have many!)

Once both pages were finished I simply punched them and added them directly to my album. I’m using a 6×8 3-ring Vicki Boutin album from the ‘Junque Journal’ range for all my Light The Path projects this year. If you’re a member, you can see my digital pages for this month in the inspiration gallery, as well as some examples of how I filled in my Senses workbook.

This month’s prompts led me to new insights on my senses and what meanings and feelings are tied up in them. Sometimes these thoughts and memories can feel a bit overwhelming, I found it helpful not to try to do too much in one sitting. I’d love to hear what insights you had while working through this month’s workshop, so please do leave me a comment below.

Much love,

Kate x

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