Journaling as a Reflexive Element of my Art Practice

I like to write. Writing is a thinking exercise for me. It allows me to put order to my thoughts, and often times, my emotions. It also helps me regularize the flow of my breath.

When I first came to the US, my freshman English teacher demanded we keep a journal. I had already been doing it for some years. I wrote, I drew and I painted in journals from the age of thirteen. I still do. Living in the information era, we are constantly bombarded by real time news. In a world overflowing with all kinds of data, life seems to go on at a high speed. Sitting down in front of a notebook or computer, with pen or pencil and writing, to me becomes an act of active meditation.

As an artist, this combination of a train of thoughts flowing through the actions of our hand or hands, makes a lot of sense.

I relate it to drawing or painting or making a collage. Marks/words and sentences are laid out, sometimes by themselves, sometimes in a definite way. I can cross them out, layer them, change their order: transform ideas.

Encouraged by a couple of friends, and also following an old desire of mine, I decided to include a blog on my website. With it, I plan to share my reflections 'out loud.' I visualize touching on themes and needs that are related to my work and interests. Sometimes, there will be texts; at other times, perhaps just images; or projects both of my work or of others.

To begin with I plan on posting to the blog once a month. You are invited to read and to step in, if inclined to do so… I would love to receive your insight and perhaps, we might engage in a fruitful meaningful dialogue.… A collaborative free flowing exercise of producing some kind of knowledge.

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