At my once a month Saturday morning art group last weekend Briana Goetzen (Orange Spiral Arts) led our group online in the creation of a visual journaling page. We began with 3 minutes of writing on the prompt, “In my heart I carry…” And then we chose some of the words to use on a mixed media journal page and from there created to our hearts’ content. I found it so much fun that I began another journal page yesterday and finished it today. I am especially loving using a white ink pen (uni-ball Signo) for doodling after the paint has dried. A friend told me about the pens and I’ve found them one of the most fun art supplies I’ve bought all year.
Doodling and Noodling
Visual journaling feels like a lot like stream of consciousness journaling where you put the pen to the page and write whatever comes up even if it’s only, “I don’t know what to write,” written over and over on the page. But for me, journaling visually was much more fun.
Using Zoom for online art gatherings and workshops has been a bright spot in the pandemic for me. Who knew that it would so well for lots of different kinds of art?
I love the layered process of visual journaling. On the one above I started with a sketch of a vase with dried hydrangea flowers in it. Then I added layers of water-soluble (Neocolor II) crayons, some watercolor paint, more pencil drawings, collage of magazine and photographs, and an origami crane. In the end the sketch had disappeared under other layers but that was okay with me. It was just a place to start. Today after all the paint and glue had dried I added lots of doodles using the white ink pen.
Photo Play
Yesterday I also played with combining some recent iPhone photos with old family photos that I had scanned in. It was a different kind of stream of consciousness playing that turned out a little darker than I expected. Though I often make a great effort to focus on light, love, and joy in my work, sometimes I spend a bit of time excavating darker memories and times that need to be brought into the light.
“When a light appears in the darkness, the darkness becomes richer; and when a darkness appears in the light, the light becomes richer! Uniformity impoverishes, discrepancy enriches!”
―
I like to remind myself that the beauty of life exists in the contrast between light and dark just as the beauty of the seasons of the year lives in the contrasts of the different seasons. Embracing the fullness of life means embracing and allowing both the light and the dark. In the book The Hidden Gospel, author Neal Douglas Klotz, speaks of “shem-light,” and says “shem-light contains all vibrations, from the slowest to the fastest, from the most dense waves to the most expanded. It includes what we call darkness…” Klotz talks about the idea of darkness shining.
I love to imagine shining darkness. What would it look like? How would it feel? Where would one encounter it?
What a paradox, the idea of darkness shining. Yet, I know in my heart that it does and that the wholeness of life spans the full spectrum of vibrations from dark to light.
To escape into light is no better than to continually rummage in darkness. Both light and dark are needed.
— Neil Douglas Klotz, The Hidden Gospel
On this first rainy day of spring this year I am giving thanks for the rain (and that it’s not snow) falling from the sky. Tomorrow is predicted to be another rainy day. That’s fine with me. I think by the end of the rain the ice will be completely gone from the pond and the ducks will have more room to swim around. This morning there were 3 beautiful male mallard ducks circling the open areas of the pond. And this afternoon there is a mallard by the bank of the pond and a squirrel foraging in the grass less than a foot from the duck.
What are you grateful for today? How will you spend your rainy days this spring?
May you walk in beauty.
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