Home is a place in the mind. When it is empty, it frets. It is fretful with memory, faces and places and times gone by. Beloved images rise up in disobedience and make a mirror for emptiness. MAEVE BRENNAN, The Visitor With gratitude, exhaustion, wonder, and excitement, we said goodbye to our North Vancouver home…
Category: Journal
Journal/Image Idea File of the month from private collection.
Transition, retreat, reevaluate
Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. – Marcus Aurelius My life has taken an interesting turn, and I find myself having to declare bankruptcy and start totally fresh. This means giving up my tiny condo, packing up and finding new live work space, and basically reevaluating many…
I thought I was holding on to this ONE life I knew. #journal
I thought I was holding on to this ONE life I knew. My heart feeling the weight of having died a thousand deaths. I thought I was the tree, whose roots dug so deep, So deep that it was surely invincible. I thought I was the tree that houses the egg, the chick. Providing a…
Hope. Dream. Goal. Gratitude. Journal page inspired by Patti Henderson.
My dear friend, filmmaker Patti Henderson, requested we start a mutual journal sharing. Do a page on hope, dream, goal, gratitude. Then take a picture and send it. Lather, rinse, repeat. Here is my first page.
My home is a type of autobiography.
I am imperfect. My faucet leaks; My fridge door handle is broken; My stove drawer is faulty; My dishwasher is broken; My garburator never worked; My closets doors need replacing; My carpets are dirty My venetian blinds bent My walls in need of a fresh coat My tiles are cracked And I’m on a busy…
“These messages are real answers…” My first ever tarot card reading with Madam Patricia. #skepticonvacation
I was delighted to be invited for my first ever tarot card reading by ScorpioSun aka Madam Patricia this afternoon at my favorite place on earth: Salmagundi West. Journal notes this morning: Purposely slower morning. Woke up at 7 AM, pressed snooze till 7:45. Coffee. Made bed. Uncovered the parrot. Tidied up in case the…
Losing heart… Fix or accept?
So— things haven’t gone as planned. It’s not working out as I hoped. My mom’s shattered dove and pot above tell the story. When they broke, I cried. I cried yesterday— alot. Broken-heartened, dis-heartened… But I found myself surrounded by love and support from my kids (Anna and Julian) and together we dug deep into our…
I could hear her heart stop.
I could hear her heart slow then stop. Then she flew. She flew straight down to San Francisco. She flew straight to her mother and aunts. She became everything.
Saying goodbye to the life of Riley.
Riley aka Mr. O’Riley 1998-2014 My beautiful cat, Riley, passed away peacefully on January 1, 2014. He wound down slowly all last year and passed away surrounded by love and his favorite people. He loved the outdoors, so we placed him in the earth in a beautiful spot. [Special thank you to Darcy for…
Attachments to the familiar- 10 years later, taking pictures off the fridge
I like the familiar. I like a cozy visual environment. I like clutter. Now I am readying my place to sell and to move and it’s time to detach. For 10.5 years I have had certain images taped to the fridge and added a few over time. I am attached to these images. They comfort…
The I AM AN ARTIST MANIFESTO
The I AM AN ARTIST manifesto – Katarina Thorsen, 2014
How I must start 2014: naked.
How I must start 2014… Transparent, open, allowing whatever. How I must start 2014: NAKED. I surrender. I am transparent. Open.
Is debt an emotion? Changing attitudes.
There are so many shifts and transformations that color this past year for me. I am learning. Taking big steps and baby steps. The biggest change is allowing anxiety around finances to just be, sitting with it, reaching out for help, enriching my support network, listening, facing, communicating, trying, failing, trying again, moving forward. I…
What I learned in 2013: honor your gift.
– Yesterday I posted what I learned about myself in 2013. I was going to write a long list of words and concepts I embraced in 2013. – – But I stripped it down. Stripped it down to the bare essence: – So what I truly learned in 2013 is that I have the right,…
This week’s journal musings.
I use my journal as a tool to ease the mind. A simple 10 minute visit here and there with pen and paper can do wonders. The journal is a place to NOT have everything figured out. The journal is a place to just be. Warts and all. This week, I found my mind churning…
Removing the fear- a deconstruction.
Deconstructing a blockage tonight by analyzing its essential parts:
Biography becomes biology. Ugly mole diaries.
Your biography becomes your biology. – Caroline Myss Last year I had an ugly fucking mole growing above my left temple (aftereffects of radiation treatments in 1983). The family kept commenting on it and raising concerns. I have a lot of moles. I am a moly person. But this one was too visible. I would…
A love letter to my students.
Dear students, [With students, I mean each and everyone of you that has touched my life.] Thank you. As of November 15, 2013, I am turning a page and have said goodbye to my role as a “youth coordinator.” I am now fully embracing my role as an artist. Being an artist means being a…
The Housewife Howled- regurgitations from the journals of the husfru, 1994. Part 1
I pulled out an old package of journal scribblings from 1994. Written when my kids were young, I was married and three years in to an art career. Let’s take a look shall we? Preface: So here I sit about to embark on the great adventure: the writing of a book. My book. But where…
I am finding chaos a trigger to inner peace. #journalexercise
At times, life can feel chaotic. Both within and without and especially in moments on transition, when to-do lists double up and there are never enough hours in the day. When you sense stress in colleagues as they anticipate change. Your nerves are highly sensitive to triggers and the panic demon sits in the very…
Journal exercise: facing our barriers [writing and drawing]
Before our drawing exercise today with my youth group, I asked them to write stream of consciousness around barriers– barriers that come up in life, that make us “stuck” etc. TEN MINUTES. 10 minutes of writing can be very liberating as it gives us a private place in which to problem solve and release….
I choose to remove my own mask in my own time. #authenticity
Don’t you, when strangers and friends come to call, straighten the cushions, kick the books under the bed and put away the letter you were writing? How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are? Isn’t the mirror hostile enough? ― Jeanette Winterson We can receive all the help and…
JOURNAL EXERCISE: Taking charge
JOURNAL EXERCISE: Taking charge How are you taking charge of your life? How are you taking responsibility for you? Write it out: Exciting times as I take the next steps in my life. I mind-mapped it out, made the decision, circled the date on the calendar and now executing the plan. I’m taking the…
Untangling Past/Present/Future Journal Exercise
We may find ourselves stuck in a cycle, weighed down by our past, distracted by our perceived future and not living fully in the present. If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present….
One year ago, he said “never give up.” I won’t. #drawntogether
Excerpt from DRAWN TOGETHER: — Available at Salmagundi West:
I want to take your secrets public. I want to burn down the distance between us. #Journalexercise.
I have found that by being honest with my audience, I can be honest with myself and also forgive myself for imperfections- or more accurately, celebrate my imperfections. By acknowledging secrets I can ask for help. I want to take your secrets public. I want to burn down the distance between us. I want to give…
Fear and resistance on a Monday morning. #Journal
The more scared we are of a work or a calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. ~ The War of Art by Steven Pressfield I am answering a call. More on that soon. Yet still I struggle with the same old anxieties around money. I am taking steps, mind…
Week 1 of Young Mothers Group: Esteem Heart
I am so honored to be journaling/ drawing/ sharing/ dialoguing with and witnessing the strength of young moms at a local support group. Week 1 was about intros, covenant, journaling and drawing and starting our esteem heart as part of a large art piece.
Responsibility garden… #journalexercise
I am taking charge of my own life. All the seeds have been planted. The shoots are healthy. And growing. It’s time for me to tend my own garden. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are…
The Waves- Matt Roy’s addition to our COMMUNITY JOURNAL PROJECT! #drawntogether #recycledart
My father and I kept mutual journals and one of our original journals was pulled apart and offered to the community. — I am so excited to be witnessing my Father’s dream project of community journals unfolding. The latest addition is by Matt Roy: He added a page from Virginia Woolf’s The Waves to create…