Journaling, Endings & Beginnings

I treated myself to the newest Antiquarian Sticker Book -- Imaginarium!

This page is the end of a journal I began in May.  While I was actively using it, I kept track of the inks I had in my fountain pens.  Now that I have no pages left, I say "thanks for the fish," and move on the the next journal.

I started journaling when, at 15, I took my first plane trip to visit my best friend.  I still have that journal, tho I've lost track of the number of journals I've kept since then.  A couple years ago I shredded about 10 journals.  They were a mess -- I'd only written in them to dump negative emotions.  My mom was difficult, marriage challenges, teenagers --  I'd never want my kids to read any of that, specially after I'm gone.  No regrets about the shredding at all!

But then I took this class with Susannah Conway and it changed the way I journal.  I still write when something's bothering me, but it's much harder to spew when I'm writing on a page with pretty images!

Inside front cover

This is my 4th journal since I started using this brand.

I used stickers, magazine pages, washi tape to decorate these beginning pages of my newest journal.  The journal cover is red, so I looked for images or embellished with red.

Next page

I have subscription boxes from Your Creative Studio and I'd seen a video recently by an artist who uses them to create small collages.  So with the addition of a few papers from France, I made the collage on the left.

You can see the contents of the box in the pictures above and below.

Inside back cover

This post is for my friends at Journal Love Club!  I'm hoping that my desire to include more than one photo in my posts to you will get me to blog again, cuz heaven knows I don't seem to do it for myself!

Day 4

 Texas, New Mexico, Arizona

Berke's family homesteaded 5 acres in the California desert when he was 5 years old.  He's loved the desert ever since.  Even if I might be more of an ocean and mountains girl, that love of the desert has rubbed off on me.  I'm pretty sure our son loves the desert just as much as his dad.

Monday our drive took us through that glorious part of the Southwest.

I think it was my favorite day of travel.

A large wind farm in Texas.

New Mexico scenery.  It speaks for itself.

There was a bit of rain this day too . . . 

. . . but it just made for some magnificent cloud formations.

Tomorrow we drive to California.

Day 3

Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas 

Many of the states bordering Missouri don't allow the sale of fireworks, so as you leave the state, these businesses flourish!

It was early in the day, but it started to get dark as we headed into Oklahoma.

Lots of freight trains.

The story of this day is RAIN!

Storyteller is my word this year and stories keep showing up!

I'm pretty sure it does not rain, torrentially, every day in Oklahoma.

But I'm also pretty sure I have never driven thru OK without hitting  some rain.

This is a photo of what it looked like to my camera :

And this is what it looked like to me:

Berke says it only rained this hard for 45 minutes.

It seemed like 3 hours to me!

Eventually the rain stopped and as we drove into Texas.  

The clouds were glorious!

Day 2

 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri

We arrived in Youngstown, Ohio last night, and woke up to breakfast at the hotel.
I cannot be responsible for clear photographs at 6 am

It really is beautiful countryside driving through Ohio.

Even the rest areas have pretty spots to walk a dog or eat a lunch.

The obligatory art-y photograph.

One of the challenges I'm finding in documenting what I see is how fast everything speeds by at 70 mph.  I see cool stuff and by the time I've turned on the camera and directed it out the window sometimes all I get is a partial image.  Still this is a cool partial image.

Through the middle of St Louis.

Not sure I'd want to live this close to I-55, but this row of houses is cool.

PS:  Let me know if these photos seem too large.  I tried larger images for this post.

Day 1

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio

Berke & I left Friday morning at about 6:30 am.  The car packed with suitcases, sandwich fixings, snacks.  Oh and cardboard boxes for packing up the things from my mom's house.

One last look at my fav Dogwood tree.  

By the time we get back the white flowers will probably be replaced by green leaves.

Taking non-blurry photographs from a fast moving car is not easy!

Often we were past a thing before I had a chance to take a photo.

This was my view out the front window for most of the driving day.  

I took a lot of shots, but honestly they all look about the same.

Towards the end of the day the sky in Ohio was glorious.

Another view out my window.

Road trips are all sorts of things -- fun; tedious; a chance to see the country, even if it's mostly from a fast moving car.  There are opportunities to talk - a lot; and then again, opportunities to be quiet.  We're going out for my mom's memorial service, so I've been thinking about her and my dad a lot.  

I'm glad Berke has never minded listening to my stories, even the ones I've told before, cuz well I keep being reminded of family stories and sharing them with him.  That is one thing I really liked about my mom -- her stories about her childhood.  She & her best friend used to get into the wackiest situations and I loved hearing them over and over again.

Day one done. One-fifth of the trip outbound is done.

California Dreamin'

 I once couldn't go on a planned trip to France.  But one of the woman always blogged about her travels and that time was no exception.  It was great to see her posts, it almost felt like I was there with the group.  So that's the goal on this blog for the next couple weeks, a day by day of what my travels look like.

On Friday I head to Southern California.  Home.  It's not going to be a fast-paced trip.  My plan is to post each day about what happened.  Take lots of photos.  Share the trip with my kids, as if they were there with me.

This picture, taken in Ventura, speaks to me of home because of how much my dad loves California.

He doesn't live there any longer and I won't see him, but he will be in my heart on this trip.

  

You're invited along.  See you in a couple days.

5 Day Art Journal Challenge

Well, dang.  Blogger has changed (again), so this post will probably take longer than I'm used to.  oh well.

This project came at an auspicious time for me.  Things had been weighing on me in January -- I was setting up a new journal and agonizing what sort of book/paper to use.  I was worried about the Presidential Inauguration.  Would it go off peacefully?  I was back to obsessively reading/watching the news.  Then just a few days before it started, there was a death in my family, and I learned my dad has alzheimer's, which explains why he doesn't always know who I am.   I needed time to grieve.  My heart could process while my hands were busy with ink and paper, paint and cardboard.

An art challenge with a favorite teacher was just what I needed!  The challenge is over, but you can go here to be notified the next time it's offered.  Or you can check out Marjie's other courses and groups

All the pages cut and ready to start.

The Cover

Words & images need to be added:

First page completed:

Second page completed:

My favorite page:

The image is a French postcard I got on one of my trips there.

So far the workshop scheduled for 2020 has been postponed --

not sure when I'll get to go, so "Dream" seemed 

the perfect word.

Fourth page

Love the brightness of this flower garden.

I think it needs words or a metal embellishment to finish it.

Last page I've completed:

A few pages that still need to be completed,

and a few pages for the next journal I do:

The hashtag for this project is #artjournalchallenge

Can you find blog posts by searching a hashtag?