Show and Tell

FINALLY . . .  I'm back....again.  Hopefully to stay awhile.  I was sick...............AGAIN.  No, I'm not kidding.  I can't make this stuff up -seriously!   I'm  cautiously optimistic that I'm going to stay well for awhile now........it's been just over a week.  So.....I think I'm just going to ramble between the photos of my daily journal.  I've left the images small so it doesn't take all day for them to load.  If you want to see larger images, just click on them, OK?

Once I commit, I'm in for GOOD.  No matter how pressed for time or crappy I've felt, I have created a page every single day.  Here are my pages for the month of January. 

I like this smaller format.  It's perfect for experimenting.  I never spend longer than minutes to an hour on each page.  I allow one page per day except for the center of each signature.    You'll see what I mean.
  

This has been the weirdest two month stretch I've had in quite a few years.  I'm not accustomed to being sick and feeling so awful.

Did I mention that I stopped smoking after my birthday week?  Yep.  I'm happy to say I'm now a reformed smoker.    OH.....here's what I mean about the middle of a signature.  I use both sides for one day.

So what do I journal about each day?  Sometimes it's an event from the day, or sometimes it's just a passing thought.  Below on the left, it's about Ro and me going to the beach (a warm day in early January!)  The right side of the page is about the new Bowie album coming out next month.  "The Next Day" is the name of the album.

I've been recording each day's date on scraps of paper that I've torn into "faux tags".  It's not an original idea.  I was watching videos of a store owner/art journaler, and she was stapling "real" date tags onto her daily journal.  I adored her work.  I wish I could remember who it was (her link is maybe on my old computer?)  I'm thinking she lived in the southern US.  If anyone knows who it could be, please leave a comment, OK?  I would love to look at her work again. 

I did get to judge the Lake/Geauga High School show again this year.  The work was FABULOUS!  (Incidentally, I got sick for the second time after attending this little outing)  We celebrated Nick's birthday at Melt Bar & Grilled on the following Sunday.  Did I mention that the new restaurant opened in Mentor and is now a mere 15 minutes away?  Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

So......in an effort to get healthier, I have attempted several things for the winter.  One is juicing.  The other is Zumba.  I haven't been able to stay well enough to commit to either one!  If you want to know the truth, I felt better when I was wolfing down burgers and smoking cigarettes.  Talk about discouraging!

Anyway, giving up isn't my M.O., so don't even worry about THAT!  After a little more research I've discovered that part of my "sick symptoms" could very well have been detox symptoms from nicotine withdrawal and/or juicing.  I was mentally and emotionally fine with all that change at one, but maybe it was just too much for my body to handle?
 

Meanwhile, in the back of my mind is the fact that I haven't done any Tuesday Tips and Techniques this year.  I'm working on a plan for those so stay tuned.  I'm thinking I'm going to talk about color theory.  I know....it sounds boring, but I think I can present it in a way that makes it exciting.
 

I've also been thinking about my Blogiversary coming up in less than a month.  It will be THREE years.  Yep...insert "flying time" cliche right here!   I'll be doing some type of giveaway.  Details soon.  Speaking of details.......I just love this "flying ME".  No matter how crappy I feel, I try to remain optimistic.

I really enjoyed making these little tag and snowman details, too.  I made the snowman from a toilet paper tube painted with white craft acrylic and a length of yarn around his neck for a scarf.

I immediately saw these faces (and the bird) on these pages.  I brought out the details with a black Inktense pencil.

I use scraps of stuff laying around on my table and in my art bags.  The color disc at the bottom is scrap from the new Game of Life that Keith recently bought for us.  It was fun to play it again after all these years.  Don't you love board games?

It's interesting to me to look back at the pages and see how much more elaborate they are when I was feeling well.  The faces "appeared" in the paint.  By the way.......I REALLY like these Inktense pencils.

I'm obsessed with circles.  I make them all the time in one way or another.  Circles just make me happy!

OK..........I'm about rambled out but it's been nice to finally catch up with all of you.  I've been mostly keeping up with your blogs even though I haven't much felt like commenting.  I'll be visiting in the next day or two.  I'm finally feeling more like my old, social self!

I have some other exciting news to share with you, but I'll be back int he next day or two.  It's not like I have to tell you everything in this one post, right? 

Meanwhile, keep creating, keep journaling, and KEEP HEALTHY!  To those of you on the east coast, I hope you're safe and warm and finally digging out from the storm.

And me?  I'm celebrating that I'm feeling better and I'm happy to be in a full-blown, creative fervor!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE