Words and Pictures

I  asked a friend who knows about such things why people … and I, in particular … who have perfectly good relationships still love heartbreak songs.   She said, Often, people have sadness to deal with that they can’t face directly, so they sublimate it onto the music.   That is part of the fascination of art journalling for me … it brings out things that might remain in my unconscious otherwise, things that might not even be revealed in my Morning Pages.  The combination of prose or poetry with freeform art recommended in Jeanne Carbonetti’s The Yoga of Drawing has particular power to bring forth work that surprises me.

Sometimes, the results articulate ideas I’ve already acknowledged in a more beautiful way, as in this painting which I call Almost Autumn, which touches on the sense of passing time as one gets older (please note that clicking on an image will provide a clearer, more high resolution version).

Is summer ever more precious than when it's ALMOST AUTUMN?

Other times, the page turns unexpectedly dark.  This painting, which I call simply Darkness, speaks of times when life is so dark that only our anger keeps us from slipping away.  I think most of us have been there.

Sometimes it's so dark That the only light Is the hot red glow Of your anger. Love that light, Because beyond it Lies despair, Where all is blackness.

Other times, I don’t know exactly what to make of the work that emerges, as in the case of Fire, a painting that seems to connect to some sort of tribal archetype or legend.   I suppose it could apply to the days following 9-11, not that the coming together lasted.

In our dreams, our legends, Our nightmares, really ... The fire always brought us down. When it finally came, It brought us together.

I’d love to hear what you see.

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Tags: anger, art, art journaling, drawing and painting, feeling older, journalling, postaday, psychology, sadness, The Artist's Way

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