Image Cards - Visual Journaling

Imagine spending ten minutes a day creating an image of some detail from your life or experience. On the table you have watercolors, pens, markers, pastels, gouache, charcoal, rubber stamps, old magazines, brushes and glue. The small 4x6” watercolor paper is taped to create a frame, and secured to the table. You sit and think over the day, reflecting on conversations, concrete details, words, and feelings. Perhaps life is moving so fast you feel like a blur on the screen, or you had lunch with your mother and she was wearing her signature red scarf. On that day your image card might be “The Red Scarf”, drawn, painted loosely or collaged onto the paper. Or, you may take 2 or 3 pastels, swipe them across the page, wipe your hand across it and name it “Life as a Blur.”

This is the process I created for myself in the aftermath of divorce, as I was embarking on a journey to get pregnant, alone, using insemination. I did a card a day for over a year. Each card was dated, and on the back of some of them I wrote more about what I was feeling. I gave myself 10 minutes just before going to bed to reflect on my day and choose a single image or feeling to create. I reveled in the simplicity of the process. There was no need to express everything about my day, just one, powerful image. When I look through my box of cards I can feel the experiences they represent: “The Period,” “Defeat,” “The Ultrasound,” “The Mother,” “Ambivalence,” “Bad News,” “Joy.” In my saddest moments, the image card process held me and gave me room to feel. When I was overcome with happiness, the small card became the receptacle for joy, recording and reminding me of those moments when I had slipped back into despair. I believe it is having a regular practice, like meditation or yoga or journaling, that makes this process transformative and priceless.

Materials Needed:

4x6” paper (anything from unlined index cards to nice watercolor paper)
Drafting tape (1/2”)
Fine point, permanent ink pens
Watercolors, colored pencils, watercolor crayons, gouache (any or all of these)
Magazines for collage
Glue (I like archival glue sticks)
Rubber stamp alphabet set and ink pads (optional but fun)
The Process:
Consider committing yourself to this practice, making an image card a day, for at least two weeks, no more than 10-15 minutes per session. This will give you a good sense of how your work can progress when creating a safe environment for exploration.
Tape off the edges of your paper, so that you will have a white border on the page.
You can approach this a number of ways. Here are the two I use most often:
Without thinking, reach for whatever color or magazine image you are drawn to and let an image emerge. Remember, no more than 15 minutes. Once the image is done, name it and put the name on the image. Does the painting express a feeling, an idea, an object? Name it without judgment, Date it on the back, then put it away. Prepare your paper for the next day.
Think over your day. Is there an object that stands out, a situation, a feeling? For example, you had a tense meeting with your boss and she was wearing a tight gray suit. You could create a image of “The gray suit”. Or you tripped on the down the stairs, so you could do a card called “The trip.” This process often helps you to focus in on an image that is symbolic of a series of feelings or experiences, and when you revisit your images in a few weeks, months or years, you’ll know exactly what that experience was.
Find a sturdy shoe box to keep your image cards in, and review them every now and then, looking for patterns. Image cards are excellent writing prompts, if you want to further your exploration.

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