Dare to Rest on Pure Joy

For week five in our Scribbled Lives challenge, we were prompted with the word Universe. What we wrote had to include the word universe. Funny how our universe is impacted by different things at different times. I pictured something ethereal like majestic stars or dark moody skies. This piece is not that at all. Here’s why…

We have two Labrador dogs, Biscuit and Gravy. They are littermates, brother and sister. Biscuit tore her left ACL and had surgery the day I worked on this prompt. I had to think positive, think and feel bright, so a dark and moody sky was NOT the thing to create. I searched and found these words from Louise Bogan:

I cannot believe that the universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely, the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!

-Louise Bogan 1970

The text led me to a brighter place. I knew I had to step outside the original idea and create something very different.

I had time to kill and thoughts to keep positive, so I opened my stash of Sharpie markers and got busy. I love when ink bleeds so I began by choosing rice paper, which is delicate. I knew the markers would bleed and do things I did not expect. I needed the joy those little surprises would bring while I worked. I utilized a large stencil for the shapes, randomly drawing and filling it with colorful marks. I spent about three hours doodling and watching those specks of color mingle on the page. Once the shapes were filled, I removed the stencil and wrote the text in black. I used Sumi ink and a large brush for the word Joy. I had my world that must rest on pure joy. The vet’s office called later that afternoon, and surgery went fine. Biscuit is now healing and another adventure begins as we work through her recovery period of six weeks! Six weeks of an energetic lab that must be contained and still…oh boy!

As an artist I understand the power that color and creativity have on our soul. This piece is nothing like what I first imagined. I must admit, the process and colors of my different choices soothed my universe and allowed me to revel in pure joy while I worked and waited for the vet to call. Sometimes we have to venture out of our first idea to allow something different to appear. Sometimes circumstances forces us in new directions. Sometimes we have to let go and risk being either pleasantly surprised or disappointed. It is a risk, and risk is not always easy. But if it were easy everyone would do it! So today, take that risk! Dare to find your pure joy and rest in it…the result might just astound you!