Dawn's Journal

I have been working on Dawn's Sensual Journal. Deb Denton started this round robin journal group last year. Each participant created their own journal with a theme of their choice and then it was sent off to the first person on our list. Deb designed this exchange to be a real challenge as we are required to somehow incorporate four of the five senses! (Hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell.) By the middle of this summer we should each receive our own journals back and each of our journals will have been worked in by six other artists. (I am very eager to see mine!)

To create my background I used a Golden product I had not used before---fiber gel. It created a look on the page that reminds me of Venetian plaster. I colored the gel with fluid acrylics and I used three layers on each page. I applied the product with a old credit card and a palette knife. Both of the tools worked well, it just depended on the look you were going for. The finished texture is interesting and I like the look and feel. I will use this product again for other backgrounds.

Dawn's journal is beautiful and the theme she picked is "Blue". I had some trouble settling on my theme as I had several ideas in mind. I finally decided on Once in a Blue Moon. I really enjoyed doing the maid in the moon . I haven't done much with watercolors lately and it was fun to get back into that medium. I made a CD with songs, all titled Once in a Blue Moon to include. (Dawn included a CD in the journal with music to create by....it's was a great compilation disk and I played it a lot.) I'm fairly happy with my entries into Dawn's journal. I hope she is as happy with my work!

Grant Creek Weekend

This has been a weekend of discovery for me. My new camera is amazing and takes photos I never dreamed I would be able to take. And it's so easy! Sometimes you get just the right tool for what you are attempting to do and just the right tool for your skill level, and that's what this new camera is for me---the perfect tool at the perfect time. And the weather cooperated, too. Friday afternoon there was the most amazing rainbow, the brightest double rainbow I have ever seen. I took many photographs of it and the light show lasted a very long time.I also spent quite a bit of time this weekend working on the current journal I have for the Sensual Journey round robin that Deb Denton is hosting. The journal I have now has the theme of "Intimations of Immortality," apparently taken from a poem by William Wordsworth. I am, sadly, unfamiliar with the poem but we have been asked to "explore your senses and share with me that thing (or things) which exist in this world which are truly magical to you." Naturally, I have gone for water, sea life---wet and wonderful things. There is, and has been and always will be, something truly magical for me about being in the water (or even near the water). I am never happier than when I am snorkeling. I love the feel of the water as it glides over my skin, the play of light refracted through the watery lens, the underwater life that abounds and, especially, the silence---where my own breathing and heart beat are loud and any other sounds are muffled. I always fully expect to catch a glimpse of a mermaid or some fantastic fish.

Nonie and I leave for Florida next Friday morning. Really early. We will spend Friday night near the airport in Fort Meyer and then transfer to North Captiva on Saturday, with a stop first at the grocery store where our order will (hopefully!) be "boat bagged" and ready for us to pick it up. We will take Island Girl to the island and will be settled in well by this time next week. I am so ready for this break! Two weeks making art, taking pictures, snorkeling, shelling and just generally turning beach bum sounds like heaven to me. I can't wait!