Take away

excerpt adapted from my journal, early December 2010

Dos tacos pastores, con frijoles, cebollas fritas, queso y cilantro. Una quesadilla de pollo. Una margarita con sal.

taco stand menu near Hacienda Mosaico

All eaten by twinkling lights pool-side back at Hacienda Mosaico. Venessa and I discovered that the only thing we like more than our visual journals is food. When the afternoon workshop wrapped up at 6:30, we hit the corner taco stand. I practiced my espanol, and marveled at the wonder of a taco stand, and the bewilderment that there isn’t one in my hood in DC.

get rid of the blank page

Today’s workshops were a dive (head-first) into creativity. Within minutes, Lisa had our journals open, smocks on, and paints blurted all over the page. The only thing more intimidating than creating is looking at a blank page, so to confront this initial fear head on, we squirted our craft paint onto the page and then used old gift cards to scrape the paint horizontally and vertically, creating gorgeous color and texture. I quickly realized that I preferred working with bright colors and deep hues – blues/greens, greens/yellows, reds/oranges, pink/yellows. Purple/yellow didn’t work out so well. Lisa was right – I instantly fell in love with every single thing I was doing on the page. It brought out an artistic confidence that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

What do I really, really, really want?

Our first prompt of the day required that we take out a pen and take on this issue head-on, in writing, right on one of those perfectly painted bright, beautiful pages. It was scary, but then again, I wasn’t doing this for anyone else – only myself, so I just started writing whatever came to me, without judging what was being put onto the paper. It’s a process; not a product. Adding magazine cut-outs and text, I framed the spread with beautiful images of work. I don’t exactly know what it means, but it’s something about overcoming obstacles, giving first in order to get back, and doing what equates to “beautiful work.”

take away #6: I love being messy

It is strange how in this visual journal, I’m completely messy. It’s a trait I don’t allow myself in real life, keeping everything tidy, in its place, organized. Yet on these pages, I’m splattering stuff. I don’t care about lettering or handwriting – somehow the messier it all gets, the better. The more color, the better. It’s so different from the self that I put out there to others, yet I still love it. I love that it’s me.