Visual Journal Art - it isn't always pretty | be true

It isn't always pretty.

I'm not talking about the times when you aim for pretty and pleasing, or follow the rules but miss the mark.

I'm talking about the times when the only aim is to show up, to not withhold your love (in all its forms), to release your voice and truth and impulse in whatever ways you are able.

Those times when - practiced or not - what IS trumps intention and opens the floodgates of... exciting, scary, risky, vulnerable, honest, primal, wild, surprising, messy, quick-and-dirty, and... raw exploration of your pulsing wholeness.

Show up like that, and it isn't always pretty on the page.

It can, however, shoot you quick to the heart of your core sense of freedom and energy.

And if you listen to that energy coming through you... its wisdom debunks the lie that what we express and make with that energy is only 'worthy' if it 'measures up' in the light of some outside lamp.

You don't have to uplift to be valid or real. Neither does your art-making.

You don't have to hide your shadows and the full spectrum of evidence from this life you have been a warrior in or a mother to.

You don't have to fabricate every damn moment into a promise of meaning and joy (or whatever) just because that's how you think you're supposed to feel or what proves you're getting something right or that you have something to offer - or that you're worthy of being seen.

Just Be. Be and See.

It's all sacred, dear one. All the parts you let shine forth, cradle within and run from, too.

The real joy of your essence can hold space for all of your nature, and you are wholly, fully welcome in your creative process.

Give yourself to your organic becoming. Come unkempt, disheveled, red with action, fierce with gaze, hands in, knees dirty, knuckles white and working with whatever is nearby to grab for the expression.

Just come. Show up Alive with what life feels like in the rhythms beneath the surface.

Be gentle and happy when you genuinely feel gentle and happy, by all means. Feel it fully when you make from that space.

But be your intensity, too - when that is your truth.

Show up Intense. In all your colors, muddy and bright.

How does it feel?

Unfamiliar? Uninhibited? Uncomfortable? Like forgotten territory? Like the breath of remembering what you know you know?

Does it feel dark? Mixed-Up? Unfinished? Sloppy? Unsure? A little bit thrilling? A lot thrilling? Free?

Good. You're human.

Most importantly... Does it feel True? Shoot for True... True to You.

Forget about pretty and complete once in awhile.

Forget about whether or not it looks or sounds like someone else's idea, or the world's idea. Forget about the instructions you were given and the ones you made up too.

Forget about what you're supposed to try to feel like.

Forget about art... and all the trends & mends, who's-who, how-tos, presentation and righteousness.

Forget about everything for awhile and just express.

You are the art. Living. Intense. Dynamic. Ineffable. Enigmatic. Full. Whole. True.

So Create.

Be your own kind of maker... just You & Creative Source showing up to this momentary energy, As Is.

As All-that-Is.

Lay it on the page with unrestrained love and abandon - caring when you care and daring when you don't.

No matter what might be staring back at you, just let it out with all your courageous curiosity and naked expression.

It might not be 'pretty' at all, but there is nothing more beautiful than you figuring out how to be True to You.