The big 'D'

As many of you know I have MS and with that can come depression (the big D).  I have been suffering from depression for a few years but it came back with a vengence last year.  Its been under control, but at the moment it seems to have reared its ugly head again.  I am seeing a wonderful counsellor who has really helped me put things into perspective.

One thing that has really helped is art journaling.  Lynn (from Graphicus in Barnard Castle) showed me all about it last year and told me how much it has helped other people with depression.  So I set about giving it a try.

This is one of the first pages I did.  I started off writing everything down about how I was feeling.  I then gessoed over that.  It took a few coats of gesso to obliterate the words.  I didn't want them to be completely obliterated as I still wanted to see some peeking through.  I then used black chalk to scribble over the top randomly and used a tissue to rub it in a little.  The 'what lies beneath' wording and maze were both from magazines.  Most of the stamps are Tim Holtz, stamped in versamark then embossed in black.  I wrote words over the top to express how I was feeling.

I found doing this page VERY cathartic and although the big D is back, its nowhere near as bad and this page shows me how far I've come.  I feel that because I wrote out my feelings and covered all the bad stuff up, I can move on without that weighing me down.

Art journaling can be done in any kind of book or just on paper.  Its only for you to see so it doesn't matter what it looks like.  I've only posted this on here in case someone who may need a little help uses the idea.