Art Journal Vol V :: Dream

  { 6.11.11 }

For this journal page, I used one of my favorite writing techniques. As you may know, art often comes very easy for me, but the writing part does not. In fact many of my first art journal pages had no writing at all, and sometimes they still don't. However, I have found that the addition of the writing can help me verbalize my emotions and thoughts. This particular technique, taps into the poet inside of me and is often very profound for me. As a bonus, it is super easy!

1. Create your art however you like. This can be drawing, collage, a combination... just be creative.
2. Look at your image you created and brainstorm whatever words come to mind. These can be descriptors, emotions, or random words that come to mind.
• My words were:
• dream
• child
• colors
• aura
• penetrate
• frog
• radiate
3. Use the words you brainstormed to write a poem. (Try to use all the words, but if one just doesn't fit, don't worry. Also feel free to change the tense of the verbs, or make words plural or singular to fit within the poem)
1. My poem:
   

   as if from a dream
   the bright aura of color
   radiates from the child within
   penetrating reality

I never would have been able to come up with that poem without using this process. However when I read it, it speaks to me in a very deep place, and took the artwork to a deeper place because of it. Try it for yourself and see how it works for you!

Self-care is something that is deeply important to me, and I continue a practice I started in graduate school, which is to keep an art journal specifically for my self-care as a therapist. You can read more about that here.