HEALTHY INSANE

Olga Albizu (1924–2005) was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she studied painting with the Spanish painter Esteban Vicente from 1943 to 1947. She received a B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico in 1946. In 1948 she moved to New York City on a fellowship for post-graduate work at the Art Students League where she studied with Hans Hoffman. After that, she did further studies in Europe at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. Later, she spent a year painting in the Provence as painters such as Van Gogh and Cézanne had done before her. In 1953 she returned to New York.

Color charts of undifferentiated (top) and specialized (bottom) plumage of different warbler species from Charles Keeler's Evolution of the colors of North American land birds (1893).

Gustav Klimt

Portrait of a Woman (detail)

Gustav Klimt

The Women Friends

Gustav Klimt

Cottage Garden (detail) 1907

At first, You had teeth.

You know better. You did this. You are too much.

So You learned to stand outside myself and let the bite land there.

...

I was never gone.

Only somewhere behind the sound.

Close enough to hear it.

Yet not close enough to say I without flinching.

...

For so long, You were the hands that pointed.

You, the voice to blame.

You, in the room where I could not leave.

I only wanted You to stop sounding like Her.

...

So, You called, from the floor.

From the dark.

From the place behind the sound.

From the mouth that could not say I yet.

From whatever part of me could still reach upward.

...

You are allowed to be tired.

 No.  You are not.

Again.

You are allowed to be imperfect.

 No.  You are not.

Again.

You are allowed to be me.

 No.  You are not.

Again.

Again.

Again.

...

Until the word came back shaking.

Until the bite did not land as hard.

Until I reached for You with softer hands.

...

You are still here.

So am I.

Only now, when the old voice reaches for You,

I reach back. And You do, too.

...

And somewhere between the wound and the answer,

You learns my voice.

Shows standard colors and conventions for drawing topographic maps.

Principes du dessin de la carte topographique/Principles for drawing topographic maps. 1825.

Pull Out One Important Sentence

A diary page does not need more decoration to feel designed. Sometimes it needs one sentence with more visual weight.

Let the page have a focal point

When every line has the same size, the important thought can disappear inside the body text. Pulling out one sentence gives the page a clear emotional center.

Choose it after writing

Do not force the pull-out line before the entry exists. Write normally first, then select the sentence with the most emotional weight.

The pull-out sentence tells the eye what the page is about.

Use size, breathing room, and a quiet return to body text. The page should still feel like a diary entry, not a poster.