New Anne Frank Muse Mantra for Holocaust Memorial Day

This avid journaller died when she was 15 years old.  Born in 1929, she would have been 87 this year.

I decided to spend some time with her image and turned to a new page of my sketch book with my sharpened pencil and a few photographs of her that I had found of her for my reference.  

As I focused in on her reflection shining back at me, I studied her outline, the contours and the different shades within the photo.

I could feel myself began to zone into her.  

I took a long long look at Anne:

her face
her eyes
her hair
her smile

I began to draw her in my dollystration style.

For 90 minutes, it was just me and Anne.

I got to know her a little bit in those 90 minutes.

In my meditative state as I drew her, I realised just what thick hair she had, really unruly and disproportionately quirky and lopsided. 

It was so thick, that it seemed to have it's own story to tell. 

As I filled in her hair, I knew that she must have had difficulty taming it.  

And I felt sad that she never had the opportunity to really play with her hair as a young woman, or style it as she grew older.  

Then I focused on her lips, it took me a while to feel that I had them right.  

From this time with Anne, I really sensed such a big grin, a wide smile, a grin that grinned from ear to ear, with dimples at each side of her mouth when she smiled and laughed.  

And I felt sad that she never had the opportunity to really laugh, grin and giggle as a young woman, or smile at her husband as she grew older.

I then started to draw her Journal, her diary, Kitty, whom she wrote to whilst she was in hiding and I could deeply relate to revealing her inner most thoughts, desires, hurts and angst to the page.

I have been there.  All my life, I have written in my journal, sometimes more than other times, but it has been a constant presence in my life.

And I felt sad that she never have the opportunity to continue to write as a young women, to continue to share more of her stories as she grew older.

And at that moment, I was grateful that she did write when she did and that her words were found and shared.

There are so many of Anne Frank's words that stand out for me, it was difficult to choose but this quote really struck me. 

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

And that sums up what we all need to remember every single day.

We can begin to improve the world right now. 

This Muse Mantra is for you Anne Frank.

Thank you for writing and inspiring us all to write. 

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