Weekend Journal

It's been a quiet week and a contemplative, melancholy week.  Winter does that to me and I don't like it one bit hate it.  It's like fighting an upper respiratory infection.  You feel the first signs - that tickling, scratchy feeling at the back of your throat, the slight heaviness in your chest,  but you try to ignore the symptoms and pretend you're going to be fine.  Of course, all the pretending in the world doesn't postpone the inevitable.  Before you know it, you're hunkered down in a pile of blankets trying to make sense of your surroundings as you try to mask your symptoms with medications that make you feel like you're in a Tim Burton movie.

So here I am, feeling like I've fallen into the rabbit hole and am late for afternoon tea with Johnny Depp.  "There all mad here!" (all the thoughts that rattle around in my brain), but I hold on to the little bit of sanity I have with journal and piano in hand.

FABRIC JOURNAL UPDATE

I've begun working on the pages for my fabric journal and I'm having quite a lot of fun with these pages.  I'm making the pages as bright and colorful as the cover.  Here are a few snippets of what I've been doing.  I'll show you the journal in it's entirety as soon as it's finished.

SKETCHBOOK JOURNAL

Remember the sketchbook Keith gave me during my birthday week and my pledge to sketch every day?  Well, it took me a while to get going on it, but I've been on a roll the last few days.

I couldn't get motivated to sketch at first, so I just began doodling and writing thoughts down.

I thought it might help to add some color to the background.  Good idea except I used water soluble pastels - NOT a good idea!  My pens weren't too happy on that surface.

I used a fine point Sharpie on the left, and General 's charcoal pencils on the right.

I brushed black India ink on the page and drew in the face with a General's  Charcoal White pencil

I used my General's Pastel Chalk Pencils (another birthday gift)  for this sketch

I'm now enjoying sketching in this book once or twice a day now.  Maybe I'll get a handle on using pastels by the time I reach the end of the book!

LEARNING PIANO

Have I mentioned that I've been teaching myself piano since early May?  I've wanted to play piano since I was probably four years old. (I say four because I know my brother wasn't around yet).  I recorded myself on video yesterday thinking that I'd share it with you.  NOT going to happen!  Even though I hit every note perfectly, I was quite reminded of Frankenstein's monster.  I'll spare you - for now.  I'm a little annoyed that I can't play like Mozart yet, but to my credit, he was MUCH younger than I when he began playing!

The truth of the matter is I may never become anything more than "competent" on the piano, but that doesn't matter.  The great joy it gives me is priceless, and it puts a smile on Keith's face as he listens to me stumble through my debuts on "the newest song I've learned".

So that's what's going on in my neck of the woods this week.  How have you been?  What are you doing in your journal?  Do you play piano?  What are your favorite tunes?  Do you have a favorite website for piano tutorials?  I'll see you again on Monday with mandala number 14.

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