Yesterday I went in search of words that would feel like I was wrapped in blanket and I found the poem “To Be Held” by Linda Hogan. I thought maybe someone else might need these words as well so sharing this morning.
To be held
by the light
was what I wanted,
to be a tree drinking the rain,
no longer parched in this hot land.
To be roots in a tunnel growing
but also to be sheltering the inborn leaves
and the green slide of mineral
down the immense distances
into infinite comfort
and the land here, only clay,
still contains and consumes
the thirsty need
the way a tree always shelters the unborn life
waiting for the healing
after the storm
which has been our life.
I created the painting for the page above many years ago. It was an encaustic painting. I printed it out and glued it into my journal with a glue stick. Since it was a square painting, it didn’t fit on the page so I just folded it over and glued the extra paper on the back. It will add to whatever I do on the next page.I had my gouache palette nearby so I just brightened the white circles and added some color on the top. I used a pencil to add in the poem and some lines.
Creating visual journal entries really doesn’t have to be crazy involved. Use what you have, like printing out previous work and bringing a different life to them. Doing this, I started thinking that I would want to revisit this composition but larger and rectangular instead of the original square. Visual journaling is often like a sketchbook for me- a space to try things out that might work its way into a larger work on a panel or canvas. Hmmmm…