Light & Dark

in my Art Journal

It’s the full moon at the moment and the weather is very stormy. Living in an old house, surrounded by trees, there are all kinds of creaking and wuthering noises, which is perfect to share this new art journal page…

There’s room for every mood and emotion in an art journal, and this one turned out pretty moody indeed. It all started with a bundle of papers and images in neutral tones, including some beautiful darks and inspiration from a ceramic piece by Susan Simonini, which adorns my art table and proudly holds my brushes…

At first I had this focal image of an artist’s hands painting with india ink. It made me want to play with some black and even though the image didn’t end up in the journal after all, it inspired me to take out a brand new bottle of black gesso by Liquitex. It had been sitting on a shelf for a while and it was time to open it!

I started with some collage, then used the little round seal, which was full of beautiful black, to make the three large dots (I don’t like to waste art supplies!) From there I kept playing with more black, and then of course I felt called to add some white and bring back some light, which gave me some lovely grays in the process. Something in my soul just delights in the play of light and shadow, and I love the contrasted, rough and ruffled look here.

It also started to feel like an old, mysterious attic that might hold some memories and long-forgotten secrets… Maybe a story? Maybe even a ghost?… I started journaling on the page.

Then, as I often do, I took out my wooden box of cut-out words to find out more, picking up anything that resonated in the moment and laying it all on the page. I had been enduring yet another migraine in the previous days, and the words that came up were spot on. The discrepancy between feeling so very blessed in life, and the very real pain that paralyses everything. The denial of it too. Maybe this is what this “ghost in the attic” is about.

I removed a few of the words and kept just the core of the message, then journaled some more to let out any thoughts, any feelings without judgement, any inner guidance that might reveal itself. I wrote in white as I love the feeling of “writing with light”. It feels very healing.

Here is the finished page…

… and the process from start to finish:

There are many brighter, happier pages in my art journal, yet I just love this one, and loved the process of making it. It felt healing and fun at the same time (black gesso will quickly get your hands messy!). If you’d like to see more pages of my journal, head over to THIS POST where you will find a full flip-through video! And to dive into this beautiful and yummy process with me, check out my online class The Artist & the Journal and put your name on the waiting list for the next round (coming up in a few months):

Stay tuned for my next posts where I’ll share a quick art tip on video, as well as my latest painting… which turned out very black and white too!

Light & love,

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