A few months ago, I was delighted to be able to meet two art journalers in person: Karen Liz and Caylee Grey.
There is something really intimate about meeting other people who pour their souls onto paper. It’s not often that I get to connect one-on-one with others who art journal, and I treasure it every time. Holding someone else’s visual diary in your hands is an incredibly intimate experience and one that inspires a sort of reverence; it’s like holding someone’s soul in your hands.
Karen and I met up in September in Koblenz, a beautiful old town south of Cologne. We shared our journals with one another and explored a huge flea market — and scored a pile of vintage magazines for under 10€! Karen is sweet and her work is absolutely beautiful. Check it out here.
Caylee and I finally met just a week before she and her family moved back to her native South Africa. We’d been talking since I first was invited to do Messy May in 2023; she learned I’d just moved to Germany and, as a long-time ex-pat, had sage words of wisdom to share.
I traveled to meet her in Heidelberg, another beautiful old German city, where we had cake, rummaged through treasures at a vintage bookstore, and bookended the day with bunch and cake.
Caylee, of course, is the founder of Get Messy, an online community for art journalers. See her personal work here.
Thank you, Karen and Caylee, for making the time to connect and helping to fill my creative well!