LifeBook Week 41: Letter to My Younger Self

This week's LifeBook project was brought to us by Kristin Van Valkenburgh. It involves a powerful healing exercise: a letter written to our younger self. This propelled me back in time, when I was in my late twenties and went through an early midlife crisis. I was desperately unhappy and clueless as to where my life was going. I wish I had my letter back then, reassuring me that everything was going to work out just fine. The main message of my letter is to always be true to yourself, which I also wrote on my page.

The background of my project looks rather different from the lesson. It is a lot more controlled, which wasn't intentional. I still struggle with letting go of my old habits and surrendering to the process, but I know I'll get there one day.

I used gesso as the first layer to texture the surface with stencils. The colour was added with fluid acrylics and metallic oil pastels. I cut the heart out from a piece of batik fabric and hand stitched it to the paper to make a pocket. (You can see more of my collection of batiks in this post.) I used acrylic glazing medium for the drips and sprinkled glitter over it. The glazing medium dries clear, so it's a good way of doing this instead of using paint. It's also just the right consistency, not too runny, not too thick. I'm quite happy with my page, though I realize I failed to implement the background technique. I found the letter writing exercise very meaningful and relevant to me.

Let me show you some photos:

My advice to my younger self

Heart pocket cut from a piece of batik

Textured surface

Glitter added over drips of glazing medium

I love the way the light catches the glitter