What Is The Painting JournalTM and How Does It Support Personal Growth?

Updated

The Painting Journal™ is a creative practice taught by Julie Russell through Journeying Toward Wholeness, alongside Yoga, T'ai Chi, and Self-Breema. It supports personal growth by combining painting with journaling as a way to explore the inner life—heart, mind, body, feelings, imagination, and creativity—rather than to produce finished artwork. It is best suited to people who want a reflective, hands-on method for self-exploration and are open to working with images instead of only words.

What The Painting Journal™ Is

Journeying Toward Wholeness describes itself as "a way of living and being," and The Painting Journal™ sits within that framework as one of the practices Julie Russell teaches. The site lists it as a distinct offering alongside Yoga, T'ai Chi, and Self-Breema, and it also appears as a section of the site ("Painting Journal") and as a named teaching method.

Two things define it:

  • It is a journaling practice. Like a written journal, it is ongoing and personal, built on regular reflection rather than a single finished piece.
  • It uses painting as the medium. The reflective work happens through paint and image, which opens a channel that words alone may not reach.

The site does not publish a step-by-step method for The Painting Journal™, so the specific prompts, materials, or session format are not documented there. What is documented is its purpose and its place in Julie's teaching.

How It Supports Personal Growth

The site frames the whole journey—including The Painting Journal™—around "opening into the heart, the mind, body and feelings, imagination and creativity." As that journey unfolds, the site says, "the great life lessons become clearer and one begins to exhibit qualities of courage, serenity, acceptance and compassion."

That gives a clear picture of how the practice is meant to work:

Element Role in growth
Painting Engages imagination and creativity; gives feelings and inner states a visual form
Journaling Builds continuity and reflection over time, so patterns become visible
Regular practice Turns isolated insights into an unfolding journey rather than a one-time exercise
Group or class setting Adds shared practice and guidance (offered through Julie's classes and workshops)

The intended outcome is not technical skill in painting but the qualities the site names: courage, serenity, acceptance, and compassion—described as feeling "the wholeness inside, natural to children."

Where It Fits at Journeying Toward Wholeness

The Painting Journal™ is one thread in a broader practice that also includes Yoga, T'ai Chi, and Self-Breema. Julie Russell's background supports this combination: she holds a B.S. in Education from Wheelock College and an M.A. in Art from Peabody College in Nashville, where she founded and directed The Center, a school for pottery, arts and crafts, for seven years. She expanded into the healing arts in the early '80s, practicing Breema and teaching Yoga and T'ai Chi, including classes and workshops in art therapy and The Painting Journal.

If you want to explore it, the site's navigation points to these entry points:

  • Painting Journal — the section devoted to this practice
  • Journal — related written reflections
  • Recorded Classes — recorded sessions, useful if you cannot attend in person
  • Retreat — an immersive setting for the practices
  • News Updates — current schedule and offerings

Because the site does not list prices, formats, or prerequisites for The Painting Journal™, check the Painting Journal and News Updates pages directly, or contact Julie through the site, to confirm what is currently available and what a session involves.

Who It Is For

The Painting Journal™ is a reasonable fit if you:

  • Want a creative, image-based route into self-reflection rather than a purely verbal one
  • Are drawn to combining art with an ongoing personal practice
  • Are interested in the wider Journeying Toward Wholeness approach and want a concrete way to begin

It is likely not the right starting point if you are looking for formal art instruction or a structured, published curriculum—the site presents it as a personal growth practice, not an art course.