Language is the dress of thought- Dr Samuel Johnson
I adore language! I love how simple little words strung together can express our deepest thoughts and feelings, and how those same words can take on a completely different meaning depending on what era or part of the country we live in, or what we have gone through in the past. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Language is too.
When I was at school in Sweden, a close friend and I used to speak to each other in English all the time. We both felt we could express our true selves much better in English than in Swedish. This language fitted our personalities better. And after I moved to England, one of the most thrilling moments of my new expat life was when I started thinking in English. It was like I had been invited to an exclusive club where I suddenly had access to a wealth of information previously only hinted at by insiders (yes, I know, I need to get out more!).
Obviously that excitement has faded somewhat over the years, but I am still totally enthralled by language. I am fascinated by spoken language (regional dialects, colloquialisms, slang, you name it). I love reading. I get goosebumps from well-written books and blog posts. I love a good story and seek out natural storytellers, in life and online.
So I have been fascinated to notice lately that a lot of art journalers and artists I admire are also avid readers.
And then I had an aha-moment.
I’m not sure why I’m only really getting the connection now, I feel like I should have gotten it a long time ago (especially considering the kind of art journaling I do), but I suppose I had to go through a few things first to truly appreciate the meaning of it…
Artists are visual storytellers!
We use paint to pour our soul stories onto paper or canvas. Each brush stroke is a carefully chosen word that expresses our thoughts and feelings. And each new painting or journal page carries the story forward.
Our story lives on in our artwork. And we can only hope that the people who see it look at it compassionately.
***
This page was made using water soluble crayons, acrylics, ink and paint pens, stencils, and stamps. I also used an image I got on the net as a stencil for the dress form.
Love your post, and your journal page, Carin! I love language and reading too, so much so that I ended up studying English linguistics and literature :). And I can really relate to everything you write about language. I’ve been writing my diary in English for years, because I feel I can express my thoughts and feelings so much better in English than in High/Standard German, which really is a bit of a foreign language too to my native Swiss German. But I also love Swedish, it is such a beautiful language, and I was thrilled to speak only Swedish when I was in Sthlm two weeks ago. But I also prefer to express myself visually, but I’m often inspired by words or sentences I’ve read, at the moment especially by one of my favourite authors, Majgull Axelsson, whom I discovered only recently.
Tack Katja! I saw you writing in Swedish on facebook the other day and was blown away by how good you were. I think your Swedish is better than mine at this point lol. I’ve never read Majgull Axelsson (but now I want to!), but totally get where you’re coming from about drawing inspiration from words or sentences you’ve read in a book. I do that too. Or I write a quick comment on someone’s blog and can’t stop thinking about my response and develop it visually.
Beautiful post Carin… and gorgeous art journal page… I love language… reading and I love your description of your aha moment… at present I am reading ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak… and seriously there are times when the descriptions and phrases that he uses are so fabulous… so profound that I just have to put the book down for a moment and let the words run over me before I continue to read… there is nothing quite like a book.. a story… a piece of art to take us away….
Jenny ♥
Thank you Jenny! I have the book thief on my knindle, but have not yet read it. Your description makes me want to read it next! Love books that make you stop and ponder, taste and savour.
speaking of words..I love that you said Possessed…YES..that is what I really am…we are untied in that…I hadnt thought of that word..but it is perfect..Thank You..I love your journal page..words are fantastic..I may some to the canvas Im working on now…Thanks Carin..have a great day..!
Lol. Thank you Robin! Hopefully our husbands won’t ever try to exorcise our demons lol.
Yes, I agree, Carin, artists are visual storytellers. But people need a little nudge, that’s why giving a painting a title is so important. I’ve sold paintings because people fell in love with the titles.
Now go get Comment Luv!
Excellent point Susan! Sometimes people love our work, but don’t feel a deep connection with it until we give them a nudge in the right direction.
Yes m’am!
I have always loved to read but I’m not good with words. Maybe that’s why I like art journaling so much…it’s more visual. Thanks for getting me to think in this direction.
LOVE your page!!
Thank you Janet! Glad you love the page! I had so much fun experimenting with some new to me things on here.
Our story lives on in our artwork. And we can only hope that the people who see it look at it compassionately.
LOVE this and your page – wonderful, beautiful and bold. Bravo, xoxo
Thank you Kristin! So glad that spoke to you. xoxo
I love this post and the quote! I was talking to someone the other day who kept sharing how unimpressed they were when someone uses “big” words. I asked about the idea of expanding language and enjoying the sense of how some words just roll off your tongue and sound delicious. They said they didn’t care about that at all. I love language. And I love hearing about all these aspects of who you are:) Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much Michele! Yes! Some words are just delicious and I want to use them whether they are big or not. It makes me sad when people don’t want to expand their vocabulary, they miss out on so many delicious words, but I guess it’s their perogative. Glad you like the look into my life too. I’m enjoying this new side of my blogging 🙂
Love your blog post Carin. I enjoy journaling, but I don’t always do it regularly more as I feel like it. I’m also passionate about reading, but rarely finish one book before starting another one and another one, it’s just me. I’m often speaking half french an half in english especially when trying to converse in french (my mother tongue, you’d never know). My husband gets a kick out of this, he calls it bilingualism! lol I wish I had the facility to learn other languages I find it very interesting. By the way your journal page is so lovely.
Thank you so much Suzanne! Lol! I used to be like that with a Swedish friend who has now moved back. We spoke Swenglish most of the time, and it cracked our friends up.
Thank you Mama! xoxo
Quite all right sweetie, enjoy Portland with Ms Daniele!
What a great journal page about language! My daughter recently spent a summer overseas and when she started to think in their language she was so happy- and when she came home it took her a while to transition back!
Thank you Carolyn! How great she had that opportunity! And yes, it does take a while to transition back. The first few days after I go back to Sweden on holiday I am completely confused. My Swedish seems very clunky and wrong in every way.
Hello! Thank you so much for your comments, both on blog and on IG! You’re so sweet and I just love the way to say things. Makes me all giddy inside.
And I love the last line of this post. You do love words!
all the art here is super yummy indeed! I will be back!!!
😀
Excellent! You’re always welcome here Daniele! Enjoy Portland with Kristin!
I love words as well. I love trying to come up with a unique way of saying something that makes people take notice. Turning a word a little to the left or to the right and looking at it upside down and using it like it has not been used before I think is great.
Here is some of my art work: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WashedInRed?ref=search_shop_redirect
Dear Carin: I absolutely agree with you! We try to tell our stories through our work…through our art. I love your page…it’s beautiful and graphic and layered with …stories:)
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and your very kind comments. Kind of strange how you wrote about the very same thing and then found my blog. xxx
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