well, hello!

hello and happy monday to you! in my post-painting haze (i spent the weekend painting the girls' room, which now looks like a bakery), i was stumbling around in my daily updates and found jen's darling handpunched HELLO card. it inspired me to cobble together my first treasury! such a friendly, powerful little word. please stop by and say hello to these Etsy lovelies if you have a chance. have a great day!

my way

*UPDATE* 8/27 - your comments are cracking me up! i've put the nicer version of the magnet and the print in the shop; if you want the spicy one, just let me know in the notes to seller.

a quick doodly-oodle about what to do with naysayers, idea poppers, sunshine squashers, whatever you want to call them! most of us know at least a few, and if you're a parent like me you may have even found yourself in the wretched role of having to be one every so often. anyway:



i couldn't settle on one version so i'm keeping both:

a medley

good morning all! how about a fresh haul of yummies from our farmers market to purge the image of swamp water from your head? thank the stars, the algae has subsided and it is old news; now the hot topic is the deer that took a dive into the underwear window yesterday at weaver's department store. exciting times in middle america! anyway, before i lose track of myself, i just wanted to mention a medley of communications-related things. i replaced my favorite links sidebar with a new feature on the left called "side trips" - a short, fun, fresh, rotating list of posts from other worlds that i hope you'll find inspiring. and, late adopter that i am, i finally joined twitterville. please stop by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood. hope you have a fruitful - or veggieful - week!

swamp water

around this time of year we get saddled with two sense-destroying annoyances, cicadas and algae. first the cicadas drive us deaf and then the algae come to party. they multiply. they plug up the river and the lakes. then they make our drinking water smell and taste like swamp gas. believe me, it is the hottest discussion topic in town. since someone (not naming names) demolished the purifier on our refrigerator well over eight months ago, and we haven't bothered to get it fixed, we are getting a direct assault from the tap. one friend of mine figures that she'll at least get a dose of nutrients and possibly even some photosynthesis in her americano until the algae go along their merry way. but i am not that strong, so on the eve of the worst of it, i skipped the water and went for the beer instead.

grit and moxie

i have an OK track record at realizing my small dreams, but when it comes to plucking bigger visions out of the vapor, i'm notorious for fizzling out along the way. this happens because i spend all of my energy in one burst and then lay in the gutter for weeks in lassitude. my self confidence bottoms out. i get frustrated and throw hissy fits. the distraction du jour comes to say hello and spirits me away. those sound like symptoms of some kind of disorder, which i probably have.

nothing that a little doodletherapy can't fix. i charted out the elements of dreaming-doing and found some interesting things. i have the dreams. i can come to the table with spirit and passion. i can be loud. the courage and pride are shy, but with baby steps i think i can coax them out of their shells. the fiery determination is fully invested in my four year old at the moment; still, it's there. but i am short on grit and moxie. way short. i'm convinced they hold the key to it all, but they are fickle bastards in my world, and i need them on a consistent basis to fight the plagues. it is time to put my inner wimp aside, get out there and hustle a steady supply of grit and moxie.

so there it is. my pain and my prescription all in one dual-pronged doodle. a dose of encouragement to my face, and a healthy kick in the butt. and p.s. i don't know how i forgot, but coffee and childcare should be on this list, too.

journals of transformation

"Journals and diaries often blossom when we have hit a rough patch in our lives. We go to our books when we are confused and searching. When life feels especially dark or friendless, a blank page offers refuge. There, we do our work. We play with paradox. We peek into the dark places. We respond to the questions that haunt or baffle us. And little by little we move forward. We transform."

My dear friend Jennifer New is back on the visual journaling scene - she is writing a new book, Lifelines and Road Maps: Journal of Catharsis, Revelation and Transformation, and she's currently accepting submissions from visual/art journal keepers for consideration. Topics of special interest to her include parenting, pregnancy, divorce, major career shifts, life stages, (e.g., teenaged years, middle life crisis, retirement), illness of all sorts, geographic journeys that had a major impact, and spiritual quests.

If you would like your work to be considered for Jennifer's book, or for more information, contact her directly at jennifernew42 (at) gmail.com (please send no more than five sample pages via jpeg or pdf). If you aren't yet familiar with her previous books Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art, and Dan Eldon: The Art of Life), treat yourself to one or both - they are must haves for any artist's library!

turning over a new looseleaf

it goes wholly against my personal grain to make resolutions over the new year. that's the time i want to hibernate, read, be creative, gaze into my coffee and see imaginary things. losing five pounds or revolutionizing my way of being is nowhere on my radar in the middle of winter. but what about making resolutions right now, at the beginning of a fresh school year? now that seems novel and attractive! so why not. here goes:

1) paint a room turquoise
2) start taking on custom work (gulp)
3 a) open this planner, b) use it, and c) not toss it in a drawer after three weeks
4) create a series of black and white drawings (like the journal shirt) and make a doodlewall out of it
5) open the drawer under the stove that's been stuck for two years
6) quit buying into the drama when my offspring fight
7) wake up and get completely ready for the day before they do (a biggie, as i'm no early bird, but it makes a huge difference when we aren't all running around getting ready at the same time)
8) re-clutter (i feel the minimalist phase coming to an end)

anyone care to join me with a resolution or two? or more? if you are a traditional new year planner, then call 'em mid-year resolutions if you want, and then you can give yourself a courtesy check come january 1!