One of my favourite meditative activities is working on the decorated margins in my dream journal.
They are always different and often suggest living creatures, such as here a beaked being on the right, and a fox-like entity in the centre.
The process is simple. I use my water colour paints and a 0.4 Artline 200 pen. Today I used Quinacridone Gold and Scarlet.
Since this book is new and the paper is an unknown quantity, I’m starting with primary colour mixes. I’ve already noticed there’s a vast amount of spotting on this paper. Don’t yet know why.
I painted patches and streaks of the first colour round the margins surrounding the blocks to be saved for writing, and waited till moderately dry.
Sloppily over-painted with second colour, leaving some of the gold patches and streaks, and making new patches and streaks over the first, and any unused areas.
It doesn’t pay to be too exact. Wait until thoroughly dry. Some people use hairdryers to speed the process.
In my next session I use the outliner—I prefer black—to make lines wherever the colours change including in areas of shading, though it’s easy to go too far.
It pays to keep checking how the work looks, and whether any recognizable entities are cropping up, and then to give them an eye or ear.
Rita de Heer 