Seeing in the dark

When I acquire a new book to journal in - often a decommissioned library book selling for a dollar - the first thing I do is take out some pages if the book is quite thick. Then I cover the pages by either adding a layer of gesso, some masking tape, brown paper tape, pages from foreign-language books, collaged papers or images, or a combination of these things.

Occasionally I use black acrylic paint.

When I come to one of the black pages I often wonder why I did it. What was I thinking? What can I do with this page.

This time I was pleased to see that there were gaps in the black where I could put some colour. I went for a sunny yellow. The black didn't seem so bold then, and the strip of yellow down the middle meant that I ended up with two panels.

I thought about how we often focus on the dark rather than on the light that spills in around the edges, so that became the first panel.

With it being spring here in Australia, I have been planting some vegetable seeds. I thought about how they start to germinate in the dark - how they need the dark to germinate in a lot of cases. When we go through bleak times there is often something that germinates within us during that time. Something that we don't see the fruit of immediately.

So don't disregard the bleak times. Ask yourself where the light is spilling in and what is starting to grow in you.

I'll be linking this to Art Journal Every Day. Look forward to seeing you there!