Image Quest© Visual Journaling; Birth by Fire!
I began daily journaling in 1994 after reading Julia Cameron’s groundbreaking book, The Artist’s Way. After eight or nine years of writing the journals stacked up in the corner of my studio. They held mostly mundane but also some extraordinary insights. Even though I had no desire to read through them, I couldn’t see myself throwing them out either.
October 2003 our home, my art studio and my journals burned to the ground in the Southern California firestorms.
When my husband and I went back to the land where our home once stood we were hit by a wall of pungent smoke and ash. I tried to make sense of such a catastrophic event as I stared at a grandfather eucalyptus tree, still ablaze.
The black rubble crunched underfoot as we worked our way towards the general area of the studio. My flat files had melted and collapsed into themselves, a wicker basket had become a pile of perfectly shaped vine charcoal, scissors lay in a pile fused into a sculpture, And there in the corner, rising above the rubble, was something strangely familiar, a stack of charred spiral wire bindings remained standing because the heat had fused them together. Their sheets of paper were still intact but instead of paper pulp they had been reduced to beautifully delicate sheets of black ash. I felt no sense of loss for my years of journals. I just stood in awe of their amazing transformation.
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Life went on.
The hunt for a rental house and studio and the fire insurance battles ensued. It took three years to rebuild. My need to journal was fueled by the fire. Soon the journals began to stack up again. Contemplating those pages and pages of scrawled words that I would most likely never read again, I began to think outside of the box.
My own handwriting, numbers, doodle sketches and ‘thinking on the page’ had always found their way into my art so why not make these pages the foundation for something new and alive- the beginning instead of the end? Excited about the prospect of finding a new way into my world of art an exciting form of ‘recycling’, I started to work!
Then IMAGE QUEST was born
Years before I had begun the practice of collaging the outside of my journals as a visual check in with myself before starting my journal. So there was already color, image and texture on the exterior, all I needed to do was take it all inside. I began by adding a transparent wash of color quickly to each and every page- right over the writing. Though I didn’t consciously re-read the pages, an overview of what the journal held flashed before my eyes.
Soon began the game of “Whatever elicits a body sensation belongs in this visual journal”. Magazine pictures, photographs, contour drawings, fields of purple paint, leaves, doilies- any and everything that I felt a sensation toward, disgust or tender, went in. The pages became yummy, frothing with texture; chaotic, sumptuous and thought-provoking. It was a gathering place for my life; memories, thoughts, feelings and body sensations- past, present and future all randomly woven together, the child informing the ancestor, the ancestor informing the future imagery, the future informing the past.
I began to noticed as visual images, smells, taste, touch, sounds triggered different body sensors. When my body became activated in this way, then there was always a corresponding image that could be generated to add to the journal.
My journal was a laboratory, a private playground.
Sometimes the journal seemed a chaotic mess. But that was okay because this was a laboratory for experimentation, a private playground. I had no intention of showing it to anyone. I could just set the timer, open the book, drop down into my sensing body and lose myself. When the timer went off I could go back to my daily routine refreshed, keenly aware and fully embodied. When certain images that I encountered were uncomfortably intense I knew they were at work in my life, they were my images and needed to be added to the journal. I would tentatively draw or paste them in. But then I could always tape those pages together until I was ready to address them later.
Often it seemed that my pages were out of my control and I was just along for the ride. After awhile I watched in awe as the pages began to self organize, as if I was merely the scribe doing as I was directed.
A reciprocity began to form. The images needed me for them to be able to change and I needed them to help me know what to do next. The more I showed up, vulnerable or unexpected images came easily and took the lead.
My journals became my companions and my images my guides, my personal IMAGE COUNCIL©
I soon made a deal with my journals. I would show up to tend to them at least 15-20 minutes a day, randomly adding images; painting a swath of hot pink, covering up murky areas with white, then adding a new image or journal entry on top. I began a new way of remembering by recreating a familiar childhood drawing or drawing a long loved toy. I ripped off images that felt out of place and tried them out in new locations- to see how it might feel. Sand paper was ready in case something, previously buried, wanted to resurface.
This daily practice became a habit of stepping into my sensual body to reconnect. It was enlivening to set a timer, put ego aside and become immersed in color, shape and texture. It built inner trust, offered a safe place to address my demons, ask them questions and discover what sustained me.
I had discovered a whole new mysterious world between these pages; MY WORLD!
My journals still pile up, but each one morphs into an alive body of work in and of itself. Each is a volume of sensual interaction with intimate, personal imagery; it encapsulates my past, present and future all at once giving a chance for my life narrative to shift.. These journals are never finished, they will always be open to change, juicy, thick and bursting with life!
Take it from me, you don’t have to wait for your home to burn to the ground to begin the amazing journal tending process that is “Image Quest”©!
Go to the Events Calendar and join our next group or our online course & community.
You will be amazed when you step into YOUR WORLD!
