Dreaming in Technicolour – Frida Kahlo’s Diary.
I’ve kept a journal on and off for years. When I’m feeling creatively stuck I find that a daily ‘off-loading’ onto the page helps clear some space for ideas to come. When they do, I drop the whingeing and work the ideas out on the page instead. I have stacks of journals filled with my inscrutable minuscule scrawl that I never return to because the contents are either illegible, utterly cringeworthy or insufferably dull. I may not reread my own diaries but I am fascinated by the diaries and working practices of other people.
It’s no wonder then that I was so inspired when I found ‘The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait‘. The combination of random thoughts, visual experimentation, and above all, the vibrant and liberal use of colour is inspirational. To be able to access such a rich collection of informal sketches, studies, poems, dreams and observations collected over the last ten years of Kahlo’s life is an incredible resource offering an insight into her artistic practice as well as her life and her personal thoughts.
The diary is not only inspiring, I’ve found it liberating too. I’ve always felt faintly embarrassed by my large collection of brightly coloured writing inks. I love them, but can’t shake the feeling I’m behaving like a misguided sixth former when I veer away from regulation black or navy. Well, Frida Kahlo clearly didn’t give two hoots for the coloured ink maturity index – hell, she didn’t limit herself to using one at a time – and from now on, neither will I!
Lucy
Sarah
That looks beautiful! I too love coloured ink 🙂 I recently started learning to physically write again, as the teenage me had a nice copperplate hand and could break into Gothic calligraphy at the drop of a black beany, but the adult me has just been scrawling. I was delighted to find a vast amount of bottles of coloured ink are available, and now see the ‘black in only’ warning on forms as a personal admonishment.
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Copperplate *sigh* My biggest regret is that no matter how hard I try to be neat, my writing is a wild untamed beast that does what it likes and not what it’s told. I have a whole row of bottles of beautiful French inks lined up on my bureau, and I love using them, but I’m basically just making multi-coloured spiders instead of black ones.
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Coloured ink *sigh* – how wonderful…..😀
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Coloured ink is one of my guilty secrets. I use it for journalling, but I think I’m ready to come out of the closet and be a liberated user out there in the real world.
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It looks wonderful! What an excellent reproduction. And I must thank you – my mother’s birthday is November, always a nightmare with Christmas so close. I now know what to buy her 🙂
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You’re welcome. I should be on commission. To be honest, it’s such a beautiful book, I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying a few copies as Christmas gifts, as well.
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The younger generation are missing out on the joys of writing with a fountain pen. They enhance your handwriting, and there is no need to press as you have to do with biros and that is a great benefit when you are older and have arthritic hands. I like the spontaneity of frequent emails from friends and family, but regret the almost demise of the hand-written letter. Keep on with your pens and inks!
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I certainly will! I also love to use a fountain pen, and never use a biro or the equally evil gel-pen. I do also use blackwing palomino 602 pencils which I initially bought to write notes in the margins of books but they’re lovely to write with, so I use them for everything. Alas, you know as well as I do that it would take more than a fountain pen or a posh pencil to make my handwriting legible!
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What a wodnerful finding of such an inspirational woman… Very interesting … And I have never heard of it, so thanks for spreading the voice… Best wishes. Aquileana 😀
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I was so excited when I found it, Aquileana! I love the work of Frida Kahlo, and from what I’ve read about her life she really was an interesting woman. To find such a fabulous collection of her work and thoughts, was thrilling. 🙂
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