I’m out with lanterns, looking for myself. Emily Dickinson
Sometimes things happen, that change our perceptions of who we are. That’s where I have been for the past 6 months, or more. I have suffered with anxiety and depression my whole life, but something wasn’t right this time. I decided to bring in the professionals, and I am so glad I did. Covid-19 and being rather isolated, to protect my mother with Alzheimers, has been really tough on me.
In an effort to turn things around, I started reading about the benefits of journaling your feelings. I tried bullet journaling, a couple years ago, and that lasted about a week. I have a gratitude journal, that I write in occasionally, but it’s hard to be grateful when you’re not feeling it. I read about art journaling and it seemed like a good option. It allows you to tell a visual story, with collage, paint, inks and all kind of media. Of particular interest to me, it can be amended anytime, with additional layers. I watched several videos, and was particularly intrigued with gel printing. I bought myself a small gel plate set, and used the brayer, I had from Ruth’s paper lamination class. It was a lot of fun, and husband Brian, got interested too. We signed up for an online class, Mastering the Layers with Carolyn Dube.
This article was coming up, and I thought a Multi Media Art Journal, would provide a perfect way for me to express all my different art interests. I found this wonderful journal, made by Ranger, that has fiber pages; denim, burlap, and heavyweight cotton paper. (Dina Wakley Media Journal – Blue Edition) This journal is perfect for expressing myself and the things I love.
For this article, I created the title page. I decided to include many fibers, and my related interests on this important page. My title “Love the Journey” reflects the new path I plan to uncover. I found an old set of magnetic letters, headed for the trash bin, and put them to use.
The butterfly was made from a gel print. The antennae was made from denim threads that raveled off the page. The right corner shows, some hand dyed coral silk lapp, cut from a wet felted piece I did quite a while ago. The blue pieces of knitting and crochet, are a combination of 2 threads; silk covered stainless steel, and a lace weight yak/alpaca/silk blend dyed by me. The silk covered stainless steel is one of those things, that seemed like a good idea when I bought it, yet has languished in a yarn bowl for years. Now, I have all sorts of ideas on ways to use it.
I included my shrink plastic and metal pieces, and embroidered them on the page with linen thread. The plastic hearts were a last minute addition to show humor is always a good thing.
Capi