Meet Tina

Tina's story

I never imagined I would be someone who art journals.

I was looking for a new creative practice but I didn't know what, as I had never considered myself arty. I just started anyway, a woman with some colour and a willingness to show up. I set out to learn and discovered so many mixed media art journaling techniques along the way. Paint brushes and paints were quite foreign to me. I am still experimenting and discovering. But it didn't matter what tools I had. I just started to create.

Slowing down enough to make marks and collage brought my soul to life. And for me, that creativity became a doorway into something deeper. I had been on and off with reading the Bible for years and I wanted a consistent way to let it land, not just in my head but in my heart. Art journaling became that place. A place where God's Word moved from something I knew about to something I actually lived.

Transforming Pages is the place where I keep the practice going while sharing the journey with others. It is not an art class. It is not a Bible study programme. It is a doorway. A simple, accessible creative practice for anyone who wants to show up on the page. For those who also walk by faith, it is a place where His Word meets the mark you make.

If you've read this far, I think you're ready. Here's your challenge: grab whatever is closest. A pen, a pencil, an old magazine, a highlighter. Make one mark on a piece of paper today. Not a masterpiece. Just a mark. Pretend you are six years old and nobody is watching. That is where it begins.

Not sure where to start? Watch how I make a journal from paper bags and prep the pages ready to create. No voiceover, no pressure. Just the process. It really does look like a five year old did it, and that is entirely the point.

Watch and create along →

You are exactly the right person to pick up a pen and show up on the page.

My process

My journal is a safe place.

That is the most important thing about my process. I don't start with a plan. Sometimes I write on the page first. Something I'm feeling, something I'm working through, something I can't quite say out loud yet. And then I start to collage over it. I paint over it. I build up layers until the page looks completely different from how it started.

I should be honest. There is a stage in the middle where I don't like it at all. I get frustrated at times. Sometimes I leave the page and walk away. When I come back, something starts to emerge. It is not always beautiful. But there is always something I can learn on the page, and that is enough.

When I read God's Word alongside this process, something shifts. It often leads me to a point of praise. A sense that He has lifted me out and turned what was on the page into something that reflects where He has brought me. Isaiah 61 comes to mind. Beauty instead of ashes. Joy instead of mourning. That is what I find happening, not just on the page, but in me.

And that is why my journal is a safe place. I can express myself freely. I dump my feelings, my fears, my anger, and nobody will ever read it, because I create right over the top of it. No one is hurt, because I am processing on the page, not on the people around me. It is mine. It is between me and God. And something always comes out the other side.