Anniversary Texture, Sierras in Black ~ September 11 and 14, 2013

Early September is usually pretty active. Not only am I packing and preparing for my Women's Journaling Annual Retreat, but it is also my birthday and our anniversary too. So this page has whispers of how terrain between Roland and I had smoothed out, the lace-y laser cut paper pattern from the anniversary card Ro gave me (sometimes draping words with a filtered or translucent paper will give you a bit more privacy on a journal page - and I inserted it with photo corners so that I can take it out to read when I want to), the business card from where we dined (disappointingly) and the bitter sweet last evening at home before I take off for the Sierras where the retreat is held.

All that echoes against the opposite page ... the first full day at Lake Alpine Resort up in the California Sierras. Both Jean Warren and I arrive a

day or two ahead to finalize locations for different creative processes. This day we took off, up to a nearby duo of glacier formed lakes called Mosquito Lake.

Now I'd mentioned that with this journal, I really wanted to mix things up, right? Well, there we are at the pristine lake, I'm all seated having found the perfect scene I wanted to paint. I get out my materials from my pack, open up my journal ready to watercolor - - and - - as you see, it is a black journal page. I really, seriously considered skipping the page and going on until I found a watercolor page, but at last, decided to stick to my commitment. I worked, rather uncomfortably, with the black page. Using a white Schwans Stabilo pencil,

graphite pencils and some of my wax crayons for the color accents I depicted the lovely, sparkling lake and white cabins before me. The lettering was with white gel pen. I'm mostly pleased with the image - - but even more with the fact that I stuck to my aim of testing out new materials, papers and increasing my open minded attitude. (PS You'll see in the next pages ... I develop a way to cope with my yearning to paint on watercolor paper when the journal page is NOT a watercolor page!)


It remained a perfect day up in the azure sky-ed mountains ... one of my favorite places here on earth!

The Start to My 2011 Women's Journaling Alpine Retreat

September 10th began with an early rising for me. Up at 4am to finalize packing in the car and head out on my eight-hour trek from Southern Oregon to reach my beautiful Lake Alpine Resort destination. As I neared Angels Camp, California, the excitement amplified. I began receiving phone calls from our Culinary Coordinator, Izzy, and my tandem teacher, Jean Warren, all of whom were en route too.

It was a brisk, autumn day when I pulled into the bustling resort parking lot. I remembered the resort owner, Gigi, had spoken of a wedding taking place that very afternoon and that celebration added joy and frivolity to the scene. Izzy had already arrived and was unpacking all our fresh, lush food into the kitchen. Shortly, Jean and Kitty, one of our retreat participants, arrived, anxious to get settled. Once landed in our places, thoughts of a warm meal began to tease us. Down in the restaurant, the wedding reception was just concluding and the happy bride greeted us at our table near the cozy fireplace, to offer us all champagne. “Why, of course, we’ll join in your celebration!” we all chimed in! Dinner was just what we wanted and conversation lively, as we got to know each other.

Open here, in the cabin for us all to relish (notice the colorful fruit Izzy had provided for us all) and learn from, is one of the special treats I’d brought along, the amazing journal of Elinor Peace Bailey. I’d stumbled upon this woman when taking a writing class and an image of her with her dolls was one of the writing ”prompts”. With Elinor Peace Bailey’s complete trust, she mailed me her journal to pursue and I’d requested bringing it to this retreat. Our evening was spentsavoring her pages and the creativity present in all of us, just waiting to be unleashed.

With dreams of vivid journal pages dancing in our heads . . . we all nestled into our warm beds for slumber.