Art Journaling 4 x 6 sized

Today has been a wonderful sunny day. I´ve spent most of my day sitting on my balcony, reading a great book. In the afternoon, I´ve listened to a band playing great songs from the 70s just beneath my balcony, being part of a cultural event in my hometown. Then in the evening I´ve been watching "The other F word", a wonderful documentary about aging punkrockers, and I finished my Saturday with a documentary about Ozzy Osbourne ... What a happy day this was!
But be honest - when did you ever write a good poem on a happy day? I know I never did. I´m old enough to know that I need sadness and darkness to be creative. That´s why my postcard sized art journal page for this week´s SPA challenge celebrates the dark side of my life. Obviously I didn´t make it today ...
For this card I used a watercolour background on watercolour paper, then applied a magazine photo that I then altered in any possible way - I sanded it, scratched it with a knife, smeared gesso over it, painted and drew over it to make it my own and to intensify the broken look and make it all mine. Then I stenciled the theme, stamped the raven and wrote a few words in black at the bottom and in white around the face on the left ("Why do I feel that broken?"). Quick and easy, but very intense, this "page" will always remind me of the necessity of those days.
Maybe some of you prefer bright pages with uplifting messages, affirmations and such - but what´s an art journal for? It´s for YOU, and if you´re not feeling optimistic today, why should you hide that? Make art from the feelings life gives you every day, and it will be good art, and it doesn´t matter if anybody else will have a look at it and will be able to read your words or not. That´s art journaling, and I can´t wait to see what you all come up with for this week´s challenge. I´m planning to make more postcard sized pages and then bind them in the end - and you?