JOURNAL ENTRIES

Years ago, my therapist recommended that I try journaling or creating art as coping techniques to help with depression and C-PTSD. I gave it half-hearted attempts in fits and starts since, but nothing stuck.

But about one year ago, in February 2024, during a super-low time, I was really struggling, searching for reasons to keep living. Well, the universe must have sensed the darkness consuming me because in that moment, suddenly in front of my eyes was a piece of art that awakened something in me. I later learned it was by a Russian-born artist named Wassily Kandinsky, titled Yellow-Red-Blue.

Here I am a year later, still not sure how to put it into words, except that, that piece of art genuinely saved my life.

A few days later I made the decision to explore art in a genuine way. I didn't know how or what I would do, and slowly I've been figuring it out one day at a time. So far the art is proving to be successful as therapy but the journaling part is still nonexistent. And that really kind of buggers me, because sometimes I feel like I have something of value to say, but words and writing have never been one of my strong points.

Since there is a public element to this it will give me the nudge I need to make it a regular practice.

So, this is my art journal. I will post pictures of my art accompanied by written thoughts and reflections on it, probably short but maybe more in-depth at times, I really don't know. My hope is, at least, to the best of my ability, that I will express myself in a honest, healthy, and creative way that minimizes the PTSD and depression symptoms.

As 2024 came to a close, I was floundering. I'm used to this happening with nearly every new endeavor I've taken on over the years. As such, in an effort to give my art direction and what I thought was an achievable goal, I've decided to fill sketchbooks with as many faces as I can. I bought a stack of sketchbooks, each with 50 pages, so by the end of the year I should have at least 365 portraits across 8 books.

Ultimately, it is my hope that this little exercise will develop into a detailed record of my art, and a body of work, for my children to look back on when I'm gone. Something I wish my parents had done. I will expound more on that in future posts I'm sure.

Cheers,
Steven

p.s. If you've never heard of Wassily Kandinksy, here's a great, short, article to get you acquainted. He was quite a fascinating person. Cite - Wassily Kandinsky: The Father of Abstraction. Visit https://www.thecollector.com/wassily-kandinsky-the-father-of-abstraction