I’ve just recently began to keep a written journal again. I used to keep one faithfully from the time I was 10 years old through college. However, work, babies and life in general got in the way of carving out the time to just sit and reflect. Then, a few years ago I chose to put my thoughts and feelings into my art rather than the written word. My art journals reflect the experiences I have in life and I felt quite satisfied. Well, at least until I realized that the reason visual journals were satisfying was because no one could really know what my deepest motivations/inspirations were behind the piece.
I have been hiding from the powerful reflection that occurs when you write somethng down. With encouragement from a mentor of mine I decided to begin anew the practice of keeping a journal. This journal has a focus though. I am reading through the Psalms and reflecting on them. One a day. What is interesting though is that I reflect for perhaps a page on the Psalms, but find myself adding many more pages of thoughts — some stemming from the verses and many more expounding on my life.
This experiences has proven quite cathartic in only a few days. With this profound sense of release I felt it was only just that the journal should be adorned with a strong, artistic cover. I chose to use mixed media and collage. Here’s a collage tip: Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines are some of the best sources of images I have found. I love ripping the pictures of the ads apart and redefining them. The face of the girl in this piece is actually from a perfume ad in the November 2009 Vogue. There was a young man kissing the shoulder of the girl, but I just cropped him out. Also, there’s so much lettering in these magazines that it’s fun to take a letter here and a letter there and create your own titles, or you could get lucky like I did and find an entire phrase that will work such as “I Will Survive” that I used.
Layers of crackle paint, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, embossing powder, a bit of bubble wrap immpressions and an enamel Hebrew letter (Reish) complete the assemblage. I chose the letter reish because it has some fantatic mystical meaning in Judaism as well as the first letter in the word rosh which means “head” or “beginning.”
Now that the cover is complete, I am even more inspired to keep writing! In the age of electronic whatchamadoodles it’s nice to put pen to paper the old fashioned way.