This evening I decided to do an art journal spread based on forgiveness. We discussed the power of forgiveness in my manifestation class on Monday and I wanted to do something that reflected that class and what I learned.
I’ve been a big believer in forgiveness for quite a few years now. I have finally come to understand that forgiveness is about setting myself free from the whatever versus saying that the whatever is/was OK. It’s about me and my happiness––not the other person.
I’ve done a lot of forgiveness work over the past several years with amazing results. It has allowed me to no longer be triggered (mostly) by people I choose to keep in my life but who sometimes aren’t that nice to me. It has allowed me to be a much calmer person in general since I’m no longer lugging around all that previous angst.
I’m still very much a work in progress and believe forgiveness is an on-going process.
I started out my forgiveness spread with pure black paint. I’m not sure why I went so dramatic but this is what I was feeling – like the black represents all the angst I’ve absorbed during my life. It felt gratifying to paint these pages black. It’s the first time I used black paint in my art journals.
I put white paint over the black then wiped it down with a baby wipe to give it this white-washed effect. I felt like I wanted to add the white since I can be very black and white in my thinking. I also wanted to add a bright color and nothing is brighter than white.
I added turquoise to the top with the intention of creating a sky and maybe doing a landscape.
Below the turquoise I added a mix of pumpkin orange and red with the intention of it representing mountains. Instead, I think it ended up looking more like flames. I put the paint on rather thick, liking the opacity and brightness of it.
Here’s the final result. I plan to go over some of the white (in the rabbit and in free) tomorrow with my white pen to brighten them up a bit but overall I like how it turned out. I like the dark against the white with the red/orange giving it more life.
In case you want to learn more about forgiveness and how it really works, I highly recommend the book Radical Forgiveness: A Revolutionary Five-Stage Process to Heal Relationships, Let go of Anger and Blame, and Find Peace in Any Situation.