LAZY AFTERNOON PONDERING

The sky view from my chair on the deck

It is a lazy afternoon, peaceful and quiet on this last weekend of October here in the canyon. Clouds creep across the sky. Birdsong fills the air.A hummingbird whirs overhead. My mind drifts with the clouds as I ponder doors. There is a saying that when one door closes, another opens, and I have generally found that to be true. But what occurs to me in these moments is the question of when someone closes a door intentionally themselves.  Do the same things apply?  Is that other door out there? Or is it messing with the intention of what is to happen on its own?  Hmmmm.
Guess the lazy thoughts kinda go with the lazy afternoon...drifting along without intent or hoopla, just the peaceful quiet. All good.

CELEBRATIONS AND ENDINGS

Endings can be a little sad sometimes. Celebration of the ending can often alleviate some of this. With that in mind tomorrow one of the Round Robin Journal groups in which I participate is getting together to celebrate. We will toast to the fun we have had with this exercise, the new friends and old, the creativity, the pure joy, the discipline, the play, the exploration, the inspiration, and so much more.  We will toast to what's next as we move past this ending and on to new beginnings.  CHEERS!

WORKSHOPS AND MAIL ART GALORE

Mail art from 10/16

Loved the attitude on this young man! Reminded me of a certain kid that I know. And so it was fun to use this on the mail art card created in the Sunday Studio Workshop this week.  
We were a small group, but had a lot of fun getting to know one another and exchange ideas and more.  Now for the exchange of mail art created in the workshop. I can hardly wait to get mine!  Hope it comes soon.

BLUEBIRDS AND OTHER MISC.

Summer's doodling fun

I cannot believe it is already mid-October. Where does the time go? My resolve to keep up with blog posts also seems to have slipped away along with the time. What can I say?  It has been a busy couple of months filled with good things.
As I post this picture a phrase from a song runs through my mind:bluebird on my shoulder makes me happy. Yes!  While no bluebirds have perched on my shoulder, their songs and those of the other birds do fill me with gladness. Even as I sit here writing this the trees are resounding with the songs of wrens, finches, the occasional blue jay, mockingbirds, and the caw of my friends the crows. What good reasons to get up and go to it...a walk, set up for the weekend workshop, play in my art journals, and more. Tick-tock!

JOURNEYING JOURNALS

Envelopes can be fun too!

Thanks to long-time student Cindy Schaben I got started doing Round Robin art journaling a few months ago.  It sounded like so much fun to some of my other students that they wanted to start their own group.  So now there are two journals that I work on each month (Cindy does seven!) It can be a lot of fun to see what others are doing when the journals come around.
For me, I use the journals as a chance to try out new mixed media techniques that I might want to use in some larger art piece.  Others might use it as a way to get out some emotions that are fomenting. Some use it for practice, practice, practice.  However the journal is used by each individual, I think it is a great tool and thank Cindy for the push.  
It's also a fun kind of pay it forward thing as the post office employees seem to get a kick out of seeing the decorative envelopes being sent and the mail deliverers enjoy them as well.  Does it brighten their days?  I think it just might.