Tandem Birthdays and Gurgling Creeks

These journal pages bring a smile to face ... nice how two pages in your journal looking back at you can do that. And that's one of the reasons I relish my journaling practice ... not only does it stir immediate feelings, smells, moods, tastes, but too, it quizzes my memory. I might be better than some of those brain games or memory training CDs, who knows. I also see that moments charged with emotion are easier to remember, so that my pages mostly reflect times I want to remember. And thus, these volumes I'm creating tend to reinforce the positive and the creation of more positive. And you know what? I like that! Ok, back to these journal entries.

Early June my hubby and I get to celebrate a birthday each. His, his belly-button birthday and I, my sobriety birth date. This birthday I set aside time to create a gift for Roland and his card. A lil' burro (his favorite animal) started as a demo but grew into a sweet shadow box presentation with a wild grass installed in the foreground. We traveled to Ashland for his birthday dinner at one of our favorite places, Thai Pepper, just off the Plaza. From a shot I grabbed on the patio of the restaurant, I blended his portrait, meal and the business card to capture the evening. The snippet to save from my celebration were words, "You're the kind of person who makes the world a better, brighter place ..." and stars from the card with which Roland presented me. I punched some additional stars with my own "star" paper punch, thank you very much! Can you ever have too many stars?

The other lil' item squeezed in came from a silly cooking session. We were attempting to get cumin to come out of this spice jar - to no avail. Upon closer examination, we learned there was a seal over the cover with holes. Laughing, we peeled it off and were charmed to see a cute logo of a boy in red with the addition of the cumin that had stuck to the under side of the seal. Plunk - right into my journal!

The finishing sketch on the far right was from a demonstration for a class focusing on "Creeks and Streams". You can find evidence of the white and turquoise wax crayon I'd initially used to save or accent areas as well as the reflections, rocks, twigs and cascades to replicate our Lithia Park Creek. The class and seemingly, the sketch were a success. And more smiles.

So . . . the moral of the story . . . "For more smiles, paint and journal more!"

Birthday Bliss Before Hospital Assignment

This was a day filled to the brim with extreme feelings ... I mean to the brim and running over. To start with, a couple of years ago a lovely young woman asked me to mentor her as an emerging artist for an assigned school project. Of course, I took the job, I was so honored. The more time I spent with my sweet young friend, the more I admired her. Smart, kind, dedicated, sensitive and very talented ... not just in watercolor. But that just sets today's stage ... her mom had secretly gotten in touch with me hoping I could attend a surprise birthday gathering for her. OH - what fun!

We met at a charming and earthy local haunt (Kiri's favorite spot) and then her mom was to chauffeur her from school for what was to be a mom 'n daughter lunch. Then, "SURPRISE!!" It was a table of six adults - I mean, how many high school student's have six adults who so respect and connect with her that they show up to spend quality time with? Eh? Well, we were all there and she was surprised! We ended up telling what times in our relationship with dear Kiri had touched us most. The endearing, heartfelt stories I heard from this family and friends furthered my awareness of what a close, supportive and lovingly creative nest this dear girl had grown up in. My heart was bursting to jump up and tell her to be aware and not take for granted what she has woven around her in love and what an atmosphere of wisdom and unity this nest afforded her. I was envious and thrilled at the same time ... and yes, for those of you who know me ... know how tears rolled down my cheeks without explanation. I did excuse myself first, because I did have an appointment. Really. But I had to let my emotions settle. Whew - and you thought it was just a luncheon.

My appointment was with my hubby. With the continuing pain in breathing and growing weakness, we found a new doctor and met with him. After listening to the saga and then, to his lungs, he told me to take him across the street to the hospital emergency room and get him admitted. Extreme pneumonia! And within a day he was scheduled for surgery. It went so fast it was like I was watching a movie. I won't go into all the mis-communications and mixed up litany with the day of the surgery ... let's just say I spent almost eight hours in the Waiting Room. Where I got to do this lovely sketch.

During the ensuing days, I attempted to care for home, Cody, keep my art commitments and spend time with the slow healing Roland. The surgery they'd hoped to perform orthoscopically had turned into a eight inch incision plus more you don't wanna hear about. For nine days I visited and watched him gather some sense of health back. When he came home he was so weak, it was unbelievable.

But life continued ... Valentine's Day came and went. I made Ro a card but the day seemed to just disappear by ... I commemorated it with the lil' dance of hearts across the bottom of the journal page. Just adjacent to my image of Ro in the hospital bed. Then to kinda add icing to the cake ... one of my favorite lil' ceramic critters (a colorful fish, with mouth wide open) where I daily put my vitamins - - yep, you guessed it - - it flew to the floor crashing into teeny lil pieces. I saved his eye and ... to end with a bit of humor ... "here's looking at you"!

A Busy, Busy Journal Entry

A flurry of life has been fluttering in around me . . . yes, blessings all, but, none-the-less chewing off big hunks of my time. So, although my blog and you, my dear followers, may appear forgotten, you are not. Nearly, daily, I think of things I want to share. But the process of doing, painting, photo-ing, getting to the computer (hurrah, I'm now adept at using the laptop, and no longer have to wait for my hubby to be off the computer!!) loading and fixing images and sitting down to talk with you all. WELL, I'm here, yippieeeeeeeeeee, and I've got a bursting-full-Journal page to share with you.

Way back from August 8th, I'd started and slowly finished the sketch, begun while I participated in the Shady Cove Riverwalk Art Show. It was a lovely weekend with lots of people. My site was just across from the soothing Rogue River. Although I had a fellow artist between me and the river, I "erased" his curtains and filled in the river reflections for you to enjoy. That's the image in the upper left of the journal page.

Next, I wanted to fill the window I'd saved for Shakira. When one of my other "Women's Mexico Retreat" participants arrived in the area for her month long "Artist's Sabbatical", she brought her beautiful dog, Shakira. This dog has the most gorgeous eyes, almost like she'd heavily applied maskara and eyeshadow, as well as eye liner. She was just the most sweet, pleasant animal to have around and even Cody, our fickel Golden Retreiver, found Shakira to his liking too. In fact, Roland spent several days enjoying two pups company while Lena and I played (thank you, Dear Roland!) I had to paint her portrait. She began like this . . . and with more hours, she completed like this . . .

The final image I wanted to remember and capture was actually a triple portrait. Yes, a big assignment, but I'm jumping into challanges seems these days! So here I go - - feet first. Bonnie, the other of the Mexico Retreat participants AND now, my studio-mate too, was having a gallery grand-opening. So Lena, the "mother of Shakira" and I planned to surprise Bonnie at her gallery event. Lena slid in smoothly, only to totally surprise Bonnie and a sweet reunion ensued.

The trio here is Bonnie, Lena (center) and me. I could nit-pick, "shadows in Lena's face need softening, the left side of my jaw needs softened and brought in" and on and on but, it's done! You understand :)

So for now, I'm anticipating being more available for the blog updates . . . and I'll aim at more frequent posts. I'm just loving your feedback and, believe me, not matter if you have a comment full of opinions and suggestions - or - if you just want to zip me off a note to say "hi" and let me know you are reading my posts, I treasure every comment.

Now, go off and revel in the amazement of our lives and - oh -be sure to be grateful for our blessings. That way, they are guarantee to multiply. Til later . . .

Journal Play

In preparation for my upcoming "Personal Journaling & Watercolor Sketching" Class, I'm busy filling in any missing or unfinished images in my Journal. Yes, some of them go back a ways.

This was our second and apparently, final snow shoeing day, May 6th. We returned to our favorite spot, the Natural Bridges turnoff on Highway 62 north of Medford. There is still plenty of snow and when we first start out it's crusty. But by the time we've picnicked and romped along the river awhile, the sun has warmed and softened the snow. And of course, we ended the days frivolity with a piece of homemade berry pie from Becky's! I loved the idea of suggesting some mileage traveled by trotting Cody's footprints across the page in my illustration.

Then I needed to complete an image from the trip I took back down to my ole romping (seems to be alot of romping going on in the blog entry!) grounds, San Jose. Yes, I did have a wonderful visit with my dear, much missed friends and although, with some frustration, got some shopping done - but - when I got home the only sight that I wanted to remember as my favorite sight of the trip - was leaving the Bay Area! Sorry, San Jose, I'm no longer feeling like any part of me longs for a revisit.

One of the last images I decided to attempt - was a portrait of one of the political faces. I'm doing more and more portraits in my journal and am feeling more comfortable with the results. So here is the resulting Barack Obama portrait. I've painted other African American portraits and am always intrigued by the beautiful dark shadows and rich colors of the complexion. I choose not to use any blues or cool tones, which sometimes can look "like bruises". Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the portrait although I think his head is a bit broader. But we're working on practice and personal expression here - so hurrah - I've actually had friends say it DOES resemble the man. To me that is success!

So, I continue prep for my class and wish you all - happy creating!