It ain’t always pretty…

I woke up on the wrong side of the easel today.

Maybe I am just in a bit of a funk about turning 48 tomorrow.

I know, I know.

48 is great, especially considering the alternatives to growing older.

Hardi-har-har.

Whatever the cause, I was crabby.

So I took Crabby Me into the studio to lose myself in music and paint.

Acrylic paint play on an already stenciled page in my moleskine journal.

Letting the paint blobs bring the doodles out using Faber Castell pens…

Isn’t this looking promising?

Promising ?

Or too pretty?

Need to add an edge to represent what I am feeling today?

Suddenly, before I really knew what was happening

burnt sienna ink covered the page.

And not in a good way.

I started frenetically scribbling over the whole thing with a sketching pencil.

Then came out came these messy words…

This kind of left me feeling defeated.

No magically beautiful page was waiting at the end of this time in the studio!

But then how many times have I said to other journalers and to myself,

that art journaling isn’t about the end product.

That it is about the process.

About letting yourself just be,

in that space, in that moment.

After sitting with the page like this for a few moments,

I added these words…

And that is the truth, isn’t it ?

So this less than perfect,

way less than pretty, page is remaining like this in my journal.

And while some of the crabby is lingering,

I am left remembering

that no matter how ugly life may get,

to keep on looking for those sweet spots.

Happy Tuesday, Beautiful Ones !

Love hard and Make Art.