I saw this in the shifting ground classroom today and it resonated so much with me. Worrying is definitely something I do too much of and I could not agree with this quote more so it needs to be upfront and center in my life.
Today was all about rest. And finishing touches. I added a few more touches to one of my layouts. I took photos. I finished up an art journaling page which was also homework for Soul Restoration. I watched a lot of TV and relaxed a lot. As well as working, taking David to school and back and taking Nathaniel to the dentist. But those are just part of a day.
We were all quiet and playing today in our own way.
I love how he surrounds himself with toys and then plays with each.
And I love this shot of David. He looks so wonderful, as he is.
And I really love how Nathaniel snuggles next to him at each opportunity. I love watching them sit together. I love seeing Nathaniel’s feet. I love how his fingers are inside the lego holes. I love how engrossed David is in reading. I love these boys so so much..
Tonight is all about more resting. Lots of journaling. Setting up newsletter for February. If you’re not, make sure to subscribe. I am going to be making new digital downloads this weekend. Any requests?
My plan is to catch up to all my homework this weekend. Draw faces. Journal. Make truth cards. Maybe even paint some. Let’s see how far I get. I might even scrap a page or two but just for me. I will likely print photos, too, so I am ready for more scrapping.
Oh, and, thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement for the running. Today was a much better day. I was able to go all the way without so much pain. I even felt like I could have gone longer if I needed to. That was certainly a good feeling because I worried I might never feel ok again. So it’s good to know it wasn’t permanent. As with everything else, I imagine it’s constantly shifting and adjusting.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that it’s the weekend and I don’t have anything I have to do. I work better when I am organized so I will plan some thing for the weekend before I go to sleep but if I end up “wasting it all away” that’s going to be ok.
2. I am grateful that Nathaniel’s teeth seem to be in good shape so far. He was very upset at the appointment but the dentist looked at his teeth and we’re good so far.
3. I am grateful for all my classes. Despite being a bit overwhelmed I am finding each of them very very valuable and I am grateful that I will now have more time to dedicate to each.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I read books on raz-kids {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played pretend (house) at school.
3. I am grateful that I played lego batman at school.
The last two days have been exceptionally hard on the exercise front. I feel tired and out of breath and close to giving up almost the whole time but especially during the running part.
One would think that after 110 consecutive days of exercise, it would all come easier at this point. Especially since I haven’t increased the distance or speed significantly. But here we are. I am tired and worn out. But I will still continue as I do each day. I will just sleep more and drink more water and eat more veggies and protein.
I want to be clear that this is still quite hard for me. Each day. I have to force myself to get off the couch, put my clothes on and just do it. Walking and running does not come naturally to me. It’s not something I crave or enjoy or look forward to. I am doing it because it’s good for me and not any other reason.
So much for all those sayings about 21 days to a new habit or whatever. 110 days in and I can still stop easily. But I won’t. I will get up and I will do it. For however long it takes. Every single day.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
Since I’m still working on CHA work and can’t post anything, I decided to post other art.
Last week, I was telling you about the classes I’m taking, so this week I wanted to show some of the work I’ve been doing. Please bear in mind that all of this is really new to me and I am learning one step at a time. I am ok with this and I like to keep it all here so I can look back on it over the years and see progress, evolution, change of focus, etc.
So let’s start:
Soul Restoration
This class is a lot about soul searching and so there’s a lot of journaling and art. I posted one of the pages I made yesterday and I will be posting more likely. I am doing all of my class in one journal that I made over. Here’s the front:
and the back:
Here’s one of the inside pages:
I will share more pages as I move along.
Shifting Ground
This class is all about the journaling, so there’s no art to show. But I’ve been doing the work. I’m doing it right in my daily planner just to make sure I don’t have any excuses. Just writing and writing.
Stephanie is amazing and I am finding this class to be thought provoking and ground shifting. She has a magical way with words.
Stretching Within
And finally, Misty’s class. Last week was all about drawing. I put it off for ages. It kept bothering me but I wouldn’t sit to do the work. I was dreading it. I have a lot of issues around drawing. My abilities. I can go on and on. Anyhow. I finally sat down and did some last Sunday. This is less than a quarter of the homework and I just used her examples to make it simple so I could stop making excuses for not doing the work.
Here are my drawings:
One of the assignments is to pick an image and draw it every single day for five weeks. This is my pick but I’ve only drawn it once. Pathetic, I know.
There’s doodling:
There’s drawing lines and shapes with shading:
There’s contour drawing:
Line drawing:
More contour drawing and some shading:
and a mixture of unfinished stuff:
And that’s what I’ve done so far. Buried in CHA work. Buried in homework. Buried in work work. More coming soon.
I just want to start by telling you that I am so sorry I haven’t replied to the comments yet. I swear it’s on my list. I have been working feverishly on CHA and my homework and faces etc. I am now officially done with CHA work. I still have a few more assignments for other things but I promise I will get to all the comments in the next few days. I apologize sincerely and don’t want you think for a moment that I don’t value each and every single comment.
Lest you think the little one is the only one who can pout. The big one comes like this, too.
But he’s quicker to change his mind.
And get silly.
And laugh at himself for being silly.
The little one is saying more and more words, showing more and more interest in things.
He loves looking through books.
And points my finger to things as he talks through them.
It’s hard being a mommy and seeing your kids upset. It’s hard working full time and then being there and being patient. It’s hard trying to teach and then not get frustrated when you get indifference or disinterest. It’s hard to not get caught up. It’s hard to follow your kids’ lead. There are so many challenges every single day. They come right alongside the joys.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that CHA work is finished. I am grateful that I will hopefully be going to the show and will for the first time get to see my work in booths. This year, I am blessed to be in four booths. I feel very grateful for all this opportunity.
2. I am grateful for book night. It’s always nice to go out and be with other book lovers.
3. I am grateful that tomorrow is Friday. This week flew by but I still need some downtime. This is my last non-busy weekend. Then I have CHA, visitors, birthdays for the next three weekends so I will enjoy this one.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did a snowman page in my book at school {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that mommy and i did workbooks
3. I am grateful that I played on the phone
I’ve been thinking a lot about this project. My thoughts are still not clear so bear with me. Btw, I appreciate all the feedback you’ve been leaving so please don’t interpret my silence as lack of appreciation. I go back and forth between my ideas. Part of me wants to just draw and not paint so I can focus on one thing at a time. Draw more with shading and charcoal for the whole thing. Then focus on painting once I’m really good at the drawing, shading, etc. Part of me likes the painting and doesn’t want t give it up. Part of me wants to draw these, more idealized, faces and part of me wants to make them more emotional, more real, more artistic. I am pretty lost. I will give it a solid think and then decide.
Actually I’m thinking I will move to just drawing them. What do you think? I feel like if I can draw them really really well with lots of great shading and blacks and whites and everything in between, then I can worry about the painting afterwards. First, I can learn to add emotion. I can learn to change expressions. Really really focus on the portraits. And then worry about the painting as phase two.
So with that here are my last set of six painted portraits for a while.
Here they are, painted:
and then here is the next three drawings:
and painted.
Let’s see how the drawing works out.. I make no promisses. I might come back to this. Or even do a different version. Who knows….
Six Portraits a Week is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
I have to make a plan to get out and take some photos. I’ve really been even more like a hermit than usual partly cause I am doing so much CHA work. But alas, it’s almost over and now it’s even getting warmer here. Lest you think it’s always laughter and roses here, today Nathaniel decided not to take his nap until much later. Then I had to wake him up because otherwise he wouldn’t sleep at night. So he woke up super cranky. And looked like this.
And this.
And this. It went on for quite a while. We went and got David and he was still crying.
The first thing he did was get David’s water out of his lunchbag which he does every night.
I snapped some shots of David.
And he acted all silly as he likes to.
Nathaniel watched suspiciously.
Then finally he started playing again.
But all that crying had gotten to me already. I feel tired and exhausted. Extra tired tonight since all the whining, wailing, and crying tends to wear you down a bit. I’m sure the little boy had a headache and I feel bad for him. I gave him lots of hugs and tried to play with him but he just needed to be alone and get over being tired.
By bedtime, he was throwing himself on the couch and giggling alongside David, of course.
Now they’re both sleeping and I am ready for bed myself. I have some organizing to do, some homework and a portrait to draw. Then it’s bedtime for mommy, too.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a good day at work. I got some important things moving and I felt good about progress.
2. I am grateful for a kind offer from a good friend. I am always filled with gratitude at the generosity of others.
3. I am grateful that a lot of people have signed up for my classes at BPC already. I really, truly love teaching there so I am very excited to have both my classes coming up. If you’re enrolled in either of my classes, thank you for taking a class with me. I know both your money and time are important and I truly appreciate it deeply.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did a project that compared sawdust and wood shavings at school {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with mommy (we did workbooks)
3. I am grateful that I picked the people to invite to my birthday. I struggled a lot with this since we can’t invite the whole class (there’s a limit where the party will be) and so we had to pick some and not pick others. I told David to not talk about his party at all at school so as to not make anyone feel bad.
Catalyst One Hundred and Twenty-Seven is: What’s your word/focus for 2011?
Thoughts:
“Let go of the past, be free to do anything you desire. Anything.” My word for 2011 is free. I plan to let go of all of what holds me down from my past and also let go of all the ideas I have in my head of what I can and cannot be in the future. My plan is to work on whatever I need to work on so I can clean the slate. Be free of any burden. Free to do anything. Truly.
Details:
Graceling was a pick from my Young Adult book club. It’s not the kind of book I would have ever picked up on my own. I don’t tend to favor young adult and I really do not like fantasy genre.
And yet I loved this book.
I felt the pull of the writing and the characters immediately and I cared about them. While it might not have been deep or intellectually stimulating, it was a truly enjoyable book for me. I cannot wait to read Cashore’s second book, too.
I’m a fan.
And back to work and back to school means back to our regular schedule. Up at 6, reading, eating, packing, dressing, bus, layout, etc. etc. And the little boy is still being funny.
So many people ask me how I get so much done in a day and can work from home. A big part of it is this.
My kids are just amazing. They play by themselves for hours. Happily. Every now and then they interrupt and we play together, we laugh and then they go back to playing alone. I am lucky, I really know it. Here’s David, showing off his gratitude journal.
And then having a bit of silly time.
I missed it but this is seconds after Nathaniel went over to hug him.
And then went back to playing.
And playing some more. He still into the blanket carrying of course.
And here’s David, playing on the iPhone which he gets to do after writing his gratitude, eating his veggies, and reading with mommy.
Nathaniel learned the word yellow today and he also started taking my finger and making it point at the things he wants. He’s getting more and more communicative and he’s so very cute. When we get food, he’ll nod yes or no and then point at his tray to show us where to put the food. Love that boy.
I have two more layouts to do and I am ready for CHA. Phew. I will like having something else to do in the mornings. I will like printing new photos out and gathering some stories. I need a little break after this. I will enjoy taking time to journal more and work on my classes more.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. Today, I feel a deep gratitude for my children. I am truly blessed as a mother. I have two incredibly nice, kind, loving and fun kids. They are so full of personality and character. I hope that it continues to be so. I feel so grateful.
2. I am grateful for another day of exercise. I must admit even after 109 days, it’s still really hard. I still have to drag myself to the garage. I still think I won’t ever get through it. I still feel tired at the end. But I do it. I am thankful and proud that I do.
3. I am grateful for a good, productive day. Some days feel out of control but today felt good. I have some todo items and I am woefully behind on email and replying to comments but still I don’t feel like I am drowning which is good for me.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got a card from school (it’s a photo id) {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played on the phone
3. I am grateful that I went to school. He had a good day at school and worked on some fun projects, he tells me.
Today’s page is inspired by the amazing Melody Ross. Nothing nearly as amazing as her work of course. This was the first homework for the Soul Restoration class.
This is a representation of my soul house. I won’t go into the details since it’s part of a class and paid content but I wanted to put it here since this particular page is a lot about the art. I loved how Melody used the different colored pages to create a collage so I wanted to try to do the same thing. Trust me when I tell you hers is a ton more stunning but I still love how this turned out.
I added specific truths that spoke to me. The ones that are a lot about my goals for 2011. I’ve made a few more pages for this class so far. And I love the class so if it comes around again, I highly recommend it.
Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
And here we are, already at the end of our long weekend. It’s 6pm which means I have this entry, a few more entries, a portrait, possibly some journaling and bedtime. And then it’s officially next week.
Our morning started with a trip to the dentist. Where David did awesome, as always. I took this with my phone.
I took another photo when we got home to show off his newly cleaned teeth.
Nathaniel made lots and lots of his expressive faces.
And laughter.
More faces. Oh uh.
Then he watched his brother play on the phone.
After nap time, it was time to take another family photo. As I set up, Jake ate some peanuts and, of course, Nathaniel wanted to be a part of that, too.
I cropped this out of one of family shots. He looked so wonderful.
There’s always much laughter when we do these shots. So we have a lot of outtakes.
and blurry shots.
Then, while I processed the photos, Nathaniel showed his dad some of his books.
And then spent some time looking through David’s notebooks.
While he played on the iphone.
I love this shot of both of them occupied and engrossed.
I spent most of the weekend doing homework and as of this morning I have a ton more (and even more is coming tomorrow). I decided I will have to come up with a schedule for all the homework I have in Misty’s class. I want to, scratch that, need to, spend more time drawing before I can move to painting. And same with painting. So once CHA comes and goes, I will spread it out. A month of just drawing, a month of painting, a month of collage, etc. Next month, I have the sketching class, too. Not to mention the two I’m teaching. Ugh. It looks like things will stay busy for a while.
Just the way I like it.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a quiet day. It was busy in the morning but I spent most of the middle of the day lying on the couch, watching misty paint. Can’t think of a better way to spend my day.
2. I am grateful that we took another set of family shots. We already have more photos of us than we did in all of 2010.
3. I am grateful that I made an appointment for Nathaniel at the dentist. I am a bit scared since it’s his first and we haven’t been so good about brushing his teeth but I am grateful to start taking care of it.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played on mommy’s phone {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that mommy and I read together
3. I am grateful that I did my workbook.
This layout is made with the December A Million Memories kit.
Journaling reads:
I snapped this photo while you begged me to give you some cookies. You were holding the box and looking at me. It is by far my favorite photo of you. It stops my heart on its tracks each time. I love you so deeply my son that it hurts. I am so thankful that we are blessed by your presence each day.
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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