“All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital.” - Oscar Wilde
When we think of symbols, we are seeking something to stand in for, or represent another thing. We see symbols throughout our daily lives. We know shortcuts and the ways signs mean something, like the crosswalk person on the crosswalk light. We know the poison sign. The more we move into computers and new technology, we are seeing more and more symbols. On this art journal page, we are going to explore personal symbols to tell a personal bit about ourselves. You will be surprised what symbols you come up with, even when you are totally done the exercise and you suddenly see one you were not aware you had even put in the painting.
We are all unique human beings. We have different bodies, different brains and ways of thinking, different emotions triggered by different things, and our spirits are totally unique. So, it is with the symbols that have deep meaning to us and the context of a common symbol might mean something totally different to each of us.
What are somethings you believe in, you value, you live by? How could you use a symbol to express your culture? How can you show your emotions? What does your heart long for? Those are some things to consider when considering symbols that mean something to and about you.
Give some thought to personal symbols that you might use often or that you feel is part of your personal story. Make some notes and sketches to clarify some of your symbols on a paper and then put your symbols together to represent your own personal parts of your story on an art journal page.
I drew my shapes and symbols in sharpie. I am thinking to make it more impressionistic because, after all, I am using symbols that are up for definition by any others (unless I tell them, and I am going to tell you). Yours can be secret symbols, or not.
Then I began to block in colors, as usual. I knew light would shine on the more protruding areas of the face. I sense the light coming from her right (the page’s left) and so where I think the light will shine on cheek, on side of the nose and chin area, I have made lighter. Her shadow side is darker. I love to use pumpkin spice for my darker face color. I am using a cream instead of stark white.
Once I get a baseline of base colors, I can now start doing some details. I outline the face and neck with a brown washable felt pen. I, then, use a small brush and do almost like a watercolor brushing with a really wet small brush to get back some of the shadow on the face. (At this point, I begin to skip around).
I outline in black again. I am trying to get some shadows and highlights in the face that look right. Suddenly it hits me.. the nose is too wide.
Watch me try to fix her nose…especially. I could walk away from it and tear it out of the book, but… it is a problem to solve.
I needed to make the head covering come closer into that side of her face, for one thing.
Once I brought the teal closer in on that side, I see how it needs to droop further on to her face on the other side.
I keep working a bit, walking away, coming back and
now I am starting to feel better about her nose and face. She is coming, after all. I lighten her face up a bit, put the dot of life in her eyes, and I am calling her good enough.
Now, if you are interested, I will explain some of my symbols within the art journal page:
*The woman represent the Divine Feminine that I seek, earnestly, and spoke to in an earlier blog post.
*The teal color represents my spirituality and that it is the highest of value to me, therefore it is on her head covering and the background.
*I realized, afterwards, that I paint green eyes when a portrait is about me.
*The Red Road speaks to the First Nations way of walking a good path in this life, living a good, clean, life and being on the Good Red Road towards Creator.
*At the bottom you see water – I have always lived near water and it eases me to be near it.
*the Yellow strip across the bottom, below the figures, stands for the wheat fields that I grew up around.
*The one angel wing represents that there is a bit of angel in me and I am always trying to sprout new feathers.
*The symbol for mountains is the purple on the bottom of the page. Old chief Mountain is in view from where I was brought up, and where I lived most of my life. It used to be framed I my big picture window. It also has a traditional meaning in that we are watched over by him and his story relates to a beautiful love story. The symbol is repeated many times because I have returned to seek solace from him many many times.
*At the very bottom you see, first, a snake eating its tail. This speaks in a symbolic way to the way I made my own life hard betimes.
* There is the ying and yang symbol representing my belief that all things down here on Mother Earth are equal and balanced.
*There is the peace symbol and, yes, I was a teenager in the hippy dippy years, but I missed out on the hippy dippy back then because I was too uptight to let go and enjoy.
*Notice the diagonal line between balance and peace and I have yet to discover what that means for sure, but it is there. I did not notice until I was done the painting. Why? It will come to me.
* Of course, there is love. I have greatly loved and been greatly loved in return.
*There is an artist’s easel, of course.
* There is a tipi which represents the traditions that I follow.
The little stick characters are all me and in the act of interacting with the divine Mother. There is the down-hearted, there is the joy, there is the pleading, and there is the rescuer. Yes, I am and have been all those things the characters symbolize.
*The spiral symbol at the third eye has a personal meaning to me and that is that there are always recycling and that there is lifetime after lifetime, I believe. I have it placed where it is because I am aware of such.
And so, I call the page finished. There are parts that I am not happy with. It is flawed. So I am and so it is!
I hope you give the symbols page a go. And, share it with us even if you do not explain the symbols.
©Carol Desjarlais 4.24.21
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