I mentioned in an earlier post that I was taking an on-line journaling class with Juliana Coles. The class is titled "The Book of the Night", which appealed to me. Basically a book with a dark or black foundation, instead of white. I have never done any journaling before, at least not this kind of expressive, artistic type. I struggled at first, not messy enough or raw enough or gritty enough. She doesn't call it Extreme Visual Journaling for nothin. Now I am more than half way through and finding that it's just so wonderful. So wonderful in fact that it's altered my dreams. Fewer of those dreams with angst and fear of loosing things to confidence and happy outcomes. Of course I never expected that and am thrilled to have this side effect of journaling.
Part of the homework is to make layered pages with various techniques, usually with a thought in your mind, maybe something that nags at you and needs resolved. You write down words or even write entire letters (along with the layers) and then cover them up with paint that gets moved around. The end result is a page that speaks to you, has hidden forms, hidden faces, and it needs your interpretation. In the practice I have had to re-ignite my imagination, learn to see shapes for what they are.
So here's a page that is still in the reconciliation mode. It's an odd one, I found little faces, an unusual body form, a bird with a skull inside - you know, the normal assortment of hidden forms.
The latest one was a haunted house where you could put your past, along with the tormented souls in your mind and they would live happily ever after. I call it The Towers.
Complete with bats in the belfry, a stair case that takes you to the sea, a nice place for the bad things in your past to live.
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