Journaling and Tidying

I've journaled since high school - not daily and sometimes with huge gaps in time between writing my thoughts in various kinds of journal books. Last year I had earmarked several suggestions of journal prompts that looked to go well with the other kinds of "deep dives" I was doing through my reading and some webinars. I've always found writing to unearth feelings, answers and truths that don't seem to occur to me any other way. Art journaling, I have found, does a similar thing, but with fewer words and the addition of images and marks. It can be quite therapeutic! As Laly Mille notes after finishing her most recent spread:

"I often feel that it’s not just me playing and writing in my journal, but rather that my inner soul is writing to me on the page, telling me something I need to hear, providing gentle guidance and support from deep within."

So I knew working with these prompts was something I wanted to add to my "finish more" list, and that is what I've been working through this week, both in a blank journal and my altered book. All very personal so not much to show, but I did want to show you part of a page where I am experimenting with drawing right on the page in the discarded library book I am using for my art journaling. I've seen this done many times by some Urban Sketchers, usually using a black brush pen or marker, but I've also seen art journal pages done like I've done here, where the medium used in not opaque, yet somehow, the eye ignores the text in the background, it does not have to be covered over or blacked out in any way. I was surprised at how well it worked with my different colors of Sharpies.

I had lunch with a quilting friend this week, sharing that I was bound and determined to finish the large quilt just needing its borders quilted and had decided that it was up next. In the course of describing the issues with my machine stations when machine quilting a larger piece, it became clear that I might have to bite the bullet and move my machine to a different table, something I'd rather not mess with. But it would make my life easier in that everything to the left of the machine would be supported with a wall keeping it from dropping off the edge. Not so with where that machine is now, residing in a plexiglass table with a drop off to the floor. The quilt will need something to rest on, and I have vague memories of using my ironing board for that. Either way, I cannot proceed without clearing things off of either that other sewing station or the ironing board which I'd stacked with various bookmaking items. So I've also spent some time this week organizing directions for future bookmaking projects with suitable signature papers and putting away odds and ends, book board and the many pads of paper I now own and often use as weights along with coffee table books. In the picture, you can see them stacked on top of a tall box which holds my batting. I'd put my first pad of watercolor paper there back when I was using the thick paper to sew art quilts to before popping them in a frame. It was the only flat surface large enough to accommodate it. It's amazing how many more smaller-dimension pads of various kinds of paper I've accumulated thanks to my increasing interest in sketching, mixed media and bookmaking. Reminds me of my stacks of fabrics . . . 

Lady Liberty catching some rays

I also took a stroll down at City Beach the other day. We may still have piles of snow but the temps have been in the low 40's with the sun gaining some warmth. With no breeze it was a very pleasant place to be and as always, did a bit to restore my soul.