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JOURNALS "painting is just another way of keeping a diary" -Carl Jung
(Basically) every day since 1996, I have painted with watercolor for an hour. This activity has proven to be one of the most important aspects of my process; I believe there is a lot to be said for a daily practice. Since the possibility of being able to observe cycles by keeping work in chronological order appeals to me AND since I feel dealing with process is about honoring the ugly as well as the beautiful, keeping a bound journal was essential. On March 13, 1996 I started with a journal I called "Daily Bread". (I thought this was the title of a tiny blue book (it is actually "Daily Food") of verse and hymns for each day (c 1899) that my sister-in-law gave me years ago). There are now four more journals that I paint in during that hour of watercolor. The second came out of noticing that I had begun (for lack of a better word) doodling on my paintings. The lines and shapes and attitude of what I was doing felt exactly like the type of drawings I have done since I was a child (usually while I was supposed to be taking notes in school) but never recognized as having value. This journal has been called "Starting With Line" and was my attempt to push this process further by dealing with it every day. It is currently called "Starting With (a) Line" and these images work off of the beach paintings (sky/horizon line/sea) that I have been working on for the past 3 summers. The third journal is called Life(s) Lessons and in it each day I make one drawing (usually a shell, a piece of fruit or my cats) from life. I use this as a little placeholder in my life for when IO don't have the time to go to draw the figure. The fourth is (literally) Left Handed; starting this exercise came out of a fear of impending Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and the desire to grow another area of my brain by learning something new. And finally, in my personal (written) diary I also do a little painting each day. |
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