When Maryland first went into lockdown with the schools closing, I pulled , out my journal set on writing in it everyday. Marking, recording, and witnessing what we were going through as a family, as a community, as a country. I kept it up a few days, but then I just didn’t want to write. It was all too much.
I wasn’t getting time in the studio as I mentioned in previous posts. One day I decided to just go in and at least clean up. As I piled up some of photos, I felt moved to take an image and add words to them. And so my pandemic journal began.
These had to be simple, as I did not need another demanding thing on me. The palette is limited. The words come from found text from one book- an old Grimm’s Fairy Tale that I got from a library rummage sale years ago.
I had created these two pages before the covid 19 crisis hit the U.S., but they had written words and were for something else that never went any further. When the journal started to really come together, I went back and added words from the fairy tale book that made more sense to go with my pandemic journal.
Each page is 6×6 inches. As it is completed I attach it to the previous page, making it an accordion, or concertina book. It is already really long. I think I have at least 15 pages. I try to do one a day, but sometimes I skip. I will share more pages as I am able to.
While I couldn’t do a written journal, this I can do. And it helps me express my feelings better than my mere words ever could. That has always been the reason why I visual journal. The process helps me in a different way than writing.
