July Journaling!!!!

• 
• I have been journaling like crazy in my short time off of work. Jumping off the crazy carousel of year-round teaching left me drained and exhausted! I am trying to slow down, enjoy my family and just BREATHE!!! My journal becomes a happy place where I illustrate positive messages to myself. I recently sent off 5 finished journals to be considered for the Art Journaling publication. They were completed in the past three years. I could definitely see a HUGE learning curve. I had to cringe a little over my first visual journal. But, hey, baby steps right? I loved a few of those pages and hopefully won't be judged too harshly on my first awkward attempts. I am now working on 5 different journals that differ in size and paper type. It's fun to skip around and work in whatever journal I feel like grabbing ( or that fits into my purse, beach bag, etc.). I am hoping to start a journaling group with my friends at work as a stress management tool. I know it works for me and I am totally hooked on this form of self-expression.

• 

A Day At The Beach!

Ahhhh! Just what we needed around here a lovely relaxing day at the beach yesterday.Dave, Sera, Weston and I spent the day at Balboa Beach Wednesday. It was sunny and clear with a slight breeze. The surf was too rough for surfing or swimming, but it was great ti sit on the sand and watch the waves.
See that big huge wave behind me? I stayed on the beach.
That tall guy is my baby who just turned 17. His big sister just graduated from college!
This was the view from my chair while I drew in my sketchbook and read magazines.

If you haven't been to the beach lately and you are close enough to get there. Go lay on the beach and put your toes in the sand.

Awesome Class with Teesha Moore!

Yesterday I drove to Carson to the Rubber Stamp Convention all by myself because I couldn't get anyone to go with me. I tried begging, bribing, whining...NOTHIN'! So... I got adventurous because I really wanted to take the 2 hour visual journaling class with Teesha Moore. I had taken a mini-workshop several years ago and I knew I liked Teesha's artistic and teaching style.

I was not disappointed! We got to work on a single journal page which I put right into the journal I brought with me and did a double page spread! Teesha talked about the steps she uses and her take on paper, paints,markers, pens, journaling,etc. It is always fun to work alongside creative people.
The first two photos are the pages I worked on at the workshop.

The pages below are some recent journal pages I've done.





After spending most of my time and energy on work and hosting my nephew's wedding reception last week, it was great to spend some time journaling! Art rocks!!!