Category: Journal
Journal/Image Idea File of the month from private collection.
The importance of doodling…
Spontaneous drawings may relieve psychological distress, making it easier to attend to things. We like to make sense of our lives by making up coherent stories, but
Hi-a-tus from Facebook and Instagram to rejuvenate my creative process
“Set your boundaries and protection but at the same time, look to your own inner friction and allow it to ignite something that will have
There is one moment in Pippi Longstocking that nailed it for me…
As a child, I desperately searched for characters in books that aligned with my anxious outward ways and my happy reclusive interior. Charlie Brown came
I am not depressed today.
May 18, 2019 Saturdays I tend to have– a type of Saturday Migraine– what I call- spiritual migraines- as the time to myself hits after
I keep the broken bits. They illustrate the subtext.
I keep the broken bits. I honour the cracks. They illustrate the subtext. There in I seek the true story. Subtext or undertone is any
Ut Pictura Poesis- the narrative potential of the drawing
I draw pictures. I imagine storylines. I imagine a narrative, a comic, a screenplay… There is nothing quite as on target as the prose I
Visual notes: Patient No. 6, Psychiatric Diagnosis, 1959
As part of my research for a current project into mental health treatment in BC 1940’s to 60’s, I came across vintage psychiatric videos recently.
Sunday pause. Sunday paws.
Sunday pause. ☕️📰📚 Sunday paws. 🐾 Couldn’t sleep well last night- overthinking- work, responsibilities. But this morning I pause, knowing I’ve worked dang hard to
The sparrow is mightier than the machine
This morning, at the 23 bus stop in the West End, I heard the overwhelming LOUDNESS of humanity– cars, buses, construction, garbage container being dumped
Give yourself the opportunity to discover your own imagery
Dreams of my art being attached to some kind of imaginary romantic self-sustaining monetary outcome no longer serve me. If my creative process is to
“Retreat mode”
Heading into “retreat mode” for awhile. Creativity, family, bread and butter work, boundary reset. See you on the other side. Not known, because not looked for
I get this ways sometimes.
Ever get this way? Staring at your to do list, and not moving? Feels like a slow bleed, but the blood is flowing backwards causing
Vision 2019: COURAGE
Recall My Big Vision and Mission for 2018: Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside,
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 9- Torpet
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
60 years ago my mother became a mother. (Karin Kristina Orwald 1936 – 2008)
Decades are significant. 60 years ago my mother became a mother. 50 years ago we moved to Canada from Sweden. 50 years ago, my mother started
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 8- The Letter
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 7- Grad and the Party
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
Admit it- you crave simplicity.
September 30, 2018 Dear Me, I am writing you this as I sense you need a reminder. I am writing to remind you that it
On this one year anniversary since Asterix passed, something poignant happened.
In the early morning of September 24, 2018, it will be one year since I lost my beloved parrot, Asterix. Recall: Losing him was deeply
A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short: Steven
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
Come back to me.
Come back to me, Molly. It’s been a strange time- hiding you from the world in order to explore new ways of telling your story.
A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short- The Audition
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short- I am 15 now.
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 5- They don’t know what it is.
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Today’s instalment:
Mind mapping this month’s Power Path as personal therapy.
When I read something that really needs to sink in- I mind map it out. My whole brain is engaged and I can then look
Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 4- Sex Education
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Today’s instalment: © Katarina Thorsen 2018
Saudade waves.
Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. It often carries a repressed knowledge that
Potato Nose Diaries (1977)- Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Today’s instalment: © Katarina Thorsen 2018 — Potato Nose Gallery:
Potato Nose Diaries (1977)- Instalment 2: The First Entries
Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Today’s instalment: — © Katarina Thorsen 2018
Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Instalment 1: Introduction
Subject to change Instalment 2 August 12, 2018 © Katarina Thorsen 2018
“Potato Nose Diaries- 1977” illustrated weekly instalments start Sunday!
©2018 Katarina Thorsen
I can feel the planet churning…
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. – John Muir When I am in the forest in Stanley Park,
Journal exercise: find a message in your words
Journal exercise: 1. Identify something that is blocking you from living fully and loving yourself. I chose my goddamn fucking ugly mug. 2. Write
Spirit Guide.
I was going to write tonight. Instead I fell down a nap hole and dreamt of a fox. I was going to write tonight about
Die into life.
I haven’t posted for awhile. That’s not to say I haven’t been writing, drawing, planning, thinking, working. A new job started January 15 and somehow
What if memories are allies?
Researching a seemingly unrelated subject tonight, I was thrown down into a pit of dark memory of betrayal and attack to my heart. How strange
Journal entry April 16, 2018 San Jose Airport
Journal entry April 16, 2018 San Jose Airport [unedited] It is so odd to take time out from the trajectory of every day in these journeys…
Staying in process…
Just when I think– Oh shit, I put myself out there, and now I am all vulnerable and shit and feeling old pangs of, oh shit,
When public goes private, do I lose you?
When public goes private, do I lose you? I am so used to sharing my creative process openly– and now I find myself in a
Homework- writer’s group: close your eyes…
Journal entry: If I close my eyes, what age do I go back to? Usually I go back to age six. But today as I close
The second letter. November 5, 1968.
Why when I close my eyes and think about myself at a young age do I find myself immediately at the age of 6? What makes
Writing exercise.
1. Put the timer on for 10 minutes. 2. Write stream of consciousness about whatever- whatever comes out of the pen onto paper. Keep the
Dream. Letters. Thought and Memory.
I had a terrible dream last night. In the dream, I haven’t been home to visit my parents for four years. In the dream, they
Guilty of intent.
One word… come on, Thorsen— just one word… If I am to continue to commit to this artist life, answer to my gift, I must
Friday night check in: effortless action.
Checking in with the Power Path at mid-month: My form of meditation is to mind map it out: My notes from reading the February Power Path
Being ace, full of peACE
In October 2016, I wrote: On October 3, 2016 I wrote: Opening up to defining myself as ace and what that means to me feels relieving
My narrative.
Something new is brewing. This new thing will require that I dig deeper, reveal more and share some things previously unshared. But in
Secrets and mysteries
Great, invisible stories are being written all around us, every day. The language of the world is full of ineffable secrets and mysteries. – Brian
Practicing neutrality.
I know anxiety. I know depression. And now it seems these days like I am practicing neutrality. Allowing things to be. Just be. Letting fear crumble
Why do I keep the journals? Is there any value in the pain contained within?
Why have I kept all my journals/sketchbooks? Yes- they are filled with sprinklings of magical memories about raising children- that is definitely the best part.
Perhaps I am simply an explorer. Not seeking answers…
I sit on the 23, heading home… leaning my head against the window. The bus is full. It’s damp outside and damp inside. I have
Until we meet again… dropping off Asterix
Letting go In order to hold on I gradually understand How poems are made… – Alice Walker Recall September 24, 2017: Well, I did
Reclaiming the act of creating…
I could sit and wait. Ask myself: how I will get back to that beautiful, exhilarating buzz of creative process and my soul’s work? But
The crown ripped away. Journal musings.
My head hurts. Not the inside of my head. The outside. The muscles on top of my skull. The ligaments. I sat under a young
Good night, Asterix.
I have been very aware of late that my parrot is aging. The lifespan for domestic African Greys is about 28-32 years, whereas in the
Eclipse therapy.
Checking in to the August Power Path: I have been struggling of late with depression, been pulling out the tools and re-evaluating life, making strides,
What if today, I just NOT worry?
Today I am giving myself the permission to be just in the moment. When fear and worry arise, I will try to let it
