Journaling: when i was the forest

in my journal: 7.2021

Last month, we took a trip into the mountains and were able to reconnect to ourselves and to nature. It was good for the spirit. While I was there I did this journal spread using two of my images that I happened to bring with me on our road trip. I had a glue stick, pencil, india ink, and a palette with dried gouache on it. As you can see, I forgot to bring scissors. You really don’t need very much! Oh, I did bring a roll of masking tape in my pencil case. The poem really spoke to me and thought I’d share this spread here in case someone else needed to read these words.

When I Was the Forest

When I was the stream, when I was the
forest, when I was still the field,
when I was every hoof, foot,
fin and wing, when I
was the sky
itself,

no one ever asked me did I have a purpose, no one ever
wondered was there anything I might need,
for there was nothing
I could not
love.

It was when I left all we once were that
the agony began, the fear and questions came,
and I wept, I wept. And tears
I had never known
before.

So I returned to the river, I returned to
the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again,
I begged—I begged to wed every object
and creature,

and when they accepted,
God was ever present in my arms.
And He did not say,
“Where have you
been?”

For then I knew my soul—every soul—
has always held
Him.

–Meister Eckhart (1260 – 1328)

I have been trying to do more art journaling pages as it really does help me loosen up and I have been feeling kind of tight/tense when I’m in the studio lately. My journal pages are for me, for exploring, for making marks. I don’t spend too much time on them. And often it’s just about having a glue stick, different papers, and a pencil. My creative process has always included using my own photos, so I have a drawer filled with printouts of my photos that i can just pick through. And if I’m going on a trip, I’ll slip a few into my journal and I might use them. I might not. But I like to be prepared.

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