BE THE JOURNEY: Experiencing our souls through “mark” making

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“A creative act is one that invokes imagination, making the invisible visible. It reflects what is inside of us, parts of the self that are more authentically conveyed with images than with words. One could call that an internalized image of oneself, but in its simplest sense, it is as close as we get to seeing our souls.” –Cathy A. Malchiodi, The Soul’s Palette

This moment is THE moment to BE THE JOURNEY. Grab a pencil, pen, marker, brush, or stick and MAKE your mark. Each stroke is THE mirror of you—your SOUL.

Pilgrims! I believe that art making is a great awakening agent. I believe that each of us can awaken and be more present to ourselves and others by generating visual images right NOW.

BE THE JOURNEY means living the PROCESS not because of the eventual outcome or PRODUCT. THE journey is YOU. THE journey is ME. MY SOUL is made visible through my actions—in this case—my art making: MY MARKS. Each and every one. Your marks. Each and every one.

Artistic skill level does not interfere with our ability to communicate through lines, forms, colors, or symbols we can create in the moment!  Messages are present for us, waiting to be deciphered inside of those marks, communication lines from our souls.

Consider the Yellow Brick Road leading Dorothy and her companions to the Wonderful World of Oz. Just as the golden highway to the desired destination is made of many golden bricks, so is each one of our created images.

Let’s suppose that instead of the arrival at Oz being the purpose of our JOURNEY that it is each brick, each step, each mark, and each image that we generate that is the JOURNEY.

In other words, instead of anticipating an outcome, an arrival, a conclusion to the pilgrimage, we might LIVE our lives in a heightened way of being during which each action and result holds significance. In such a way, the destination lessens in importance and the journeying itself becomes primary.

The act of making marks is a process of taking incremental steps that become THE DANCE…and the DANCE (or journey) of life is such a vital matter!

That’s Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and share your “being the journey” with me.

BE THE JOURNEY. This image is built on the outline of one square and several circles I traced on the paper before beginning the image generation. I’ve been craving structure in my drawing and have in the past few months started an image with building blocks of squares and circles. I am finding such satisfaction in “seeing” images emerge within the foundations of these geometrical compositions. I invited the familiar characters (Wandjina, Mother Mystery, Wallaby, Turtle, and others from my psyche to join me. They come from the “Cosmosof Hallelujah” (see here for an explanation). I find great comfort in repetition and then emerging discovery. For this image I used watercolor pencil, micron pens, India inks. I crave being present to my life right now. This image holds that intention for me. (art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)