It’s hard to have unfaltering faith in everything, all the time. Things can be dark, or uninteresting, or impossible, or immovable—far away, or too close for comfort. Making your way through the darkness can be really tough, and unfortunately I’m not here to give you three easy steps to make the bad guys go away. You have to go through them and come out on the other side only through time, healing, and change. But I do know one way to make dark days a little brighter, and how to eventually put yourself on the yellow brick road to the Emerald City.
When I’m feeing the mean reds, I sit alone in my room, turn on an oldies radio station, get out my scrapbook, and start cutting and pasting.
This book, where I can write corny quotes, paste sentimental ephemera, re-create exchanges and experiences, and run my hands over faded movie stubs from weeks, months, or years ago, makes my feelings and memories tangible. It gives me perspective and helps me sort out my emotions in a safe, private place.
I think the key to keeping hope alive through a bout of the mean reds is not to withdraw from life, but to fiercely engage with it. Try to notice everything, and write down and/or draw it all. Collect shopping lists you find on the ground; maybe write autobiographies or draw portraits of the people you imagine might have made them. Look out the train window at passersby and imagine their whole future. Strike up conversations with elderly ladies on the bus. Play Sam Cooke as loud as your stereo will go. Sit on a park bench alone. Run. Walk. KEEP DOING.
Eventually a spark of inspiration or faith or enthusiasm will return, sometimes when you least expect it. Then it will creep up, maybe without you even noticing—your full-blown lust for life, revitalized and restored.
This gallery collects some pages from my 2012 scrapbook/journal, which I wrote/drew/pasted in an old book from the ’70s that I found at a thrift store.
As I look through them again I’m reminded of chilly nights on a fold-out couch intertwined with darling limbs and others spent cross-legged alone on my bed, reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss.
The last page of that book goes like this:
So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!I say, start small, with what’s right in front of you, using your brain and your hands.
Yours faithfully, Minna
28 Comments
This is so perfect. I love this diary! I mean, I want yourr liiiiife! This is beautiful!
This is so so special, thank you for sharing this Minna. I am bookmarking this for the next time I have the mean reds :)
xxx
Minna (and everyone else that collages), where do you find the images for your artwork? Are they from old magazines? And if so, where do you find the old magazines?
Hey Jes!
I source pretty much all of my collage material from thrift stores. I literally have piles of old books covering most of my bedroom floor, it’s ridiculous!
Going and searching down on my hands and knees in dusty stores is really satisfying, you can come across some real gems amongst hoards of old babysitters club books and the like. Just keep your eyes peeled, and have lots of time on your hands. I scan the spines of the books, and see if there’s anything that catches my eye, I’ll pull it out, scour it for images, and decide yes or no if it will be useful or not.
GOOD LUCK!
X
Minna
I’m so inspired to start collaging now <3
Thank you, Minna!
You are extrmely talented and inspiring.
Doing stuff in my journal doesnt necessarily make me feel better when im upset but it does make me feel like im doing something productive and creative, which actually does make me feel better… I guess that’s redundant, but theres a difference between them that makes sense in my head. Anyways, thank-you!
AHH I love this, Minna! thank you! It’s wonderfully inspiring and beautiful.
these are beautiful. AHHH. Why don’t I do this??
love!
i love this SO MUCH minna
<3 <3 <3 <3
absolutely inspiring. this makes me want to create. minna, your mind is wonderful and these collages are touchingly beautiful
These are nice, love #12
I love it, so creative! My eyes are still recovering from seeing something so beautiful. Thanks for inspiring me :)
all
so
beautiful
This is amazing!!!!!!!!! So inspiring
Amazingazingzingagns./,13./12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
beautiful! i love the Leonard Cohen lyrics :)
the caption (I guess you call it) on number four is so motivational to me, it almost panic-ly beautiful. Lovely!
This is amazing! Very inspirational.
Thank you so much for all of your positive comments you guys! XXX Minna
This is perfect.
Minna, I’ve been following you on instagram for a while now and god it seems like your whole life is aesthetically pleasing!
You are such an inspiration!
i love how you think and what you’ve said here :)
totally just shifted my entire mood and my intentions for the rest of the day.
thanks you awesome lady!
As an adopted Sydneysider, I love seeing little glimpses of Australia. This whole thing is lovely and inspiring.
Minna is one of my favorite artists. Although I’ve made collages all my life, she was the one who really inspired me to start on the collaging path I’m on. I really want to become a collage artist now, and I’ve started posting my stuff more and more on my blog and Tumblr because of her. Her style is so beautiful and connected and just makes me feel so happy and like there is just a WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE. I take most of my inspiration from her, and how she incorporates painting and pictures and just makes it so perfect. So, thanks to Minna, for inspiring me forever <3
Thank you so much beautiful, that means so much to me! XXX Minna
This is breathtaking and so inspiring <3 <3 <3