Monet, Me, and Miro

 

are looking over the journal I kept while two old ladies were on the road in Ogunquit, Maine

Day1: We stopped for lunch at the Shore Road Restaurant in York. I had a Connecticut lobster roll. Cooked lobster, served hot with drawn butter in a toasted New England hot dog bun (slit along the top and not the side). 

After lunch, we took the ubiquitous drive to Nubble Light. (The stop is more to use the facilities than to view the lighthouse)

We had planned to have dinner at the food trucks at Congdon's After Dark, but they didn't start until Thursday night. Bummah. We drove to the grocery store in Wells where we bought some breakfast and sandwich stuff.

We talked until midnight, early for us, and then settled down for the night.

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend a half an hour doodling our stress away. 

The suggestion for the class began with a quote from artist, Paul Klee. "A line is a dot that went for a walk." The doodle began with a border and a scribble. In the round or oval shapes, to draw petal shapes. The space behind the petals could be colored black or some other color.

We are always free to interpret the instructions as we wish. I wrote out the quote and then drew the petal shapes as flowers.

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend a half an hour doodling our stress away. 

The suggestion for the class was to draw a border.  Inside the border to divide the paper with a zig zag and then to doodle in triangle spaces.

We are always free to do our own thing. I saw pennants and then wrote some aspirations.

The Empty Page Journal

 

While working in the Empty Page Journal, I noticed I had skipped a page.  I found another tutorial on Youtube painting birds using a carrot shape.

I added the 1963 song, Surfin' Bird by the Trashmen. The song repeats the phrase, bird is the word. Sorry, Mackerull. Calli and Quill love to watch the birds, and today is their fifth birthday.

The Empty Page Journal

 

I'm taking a 6 month journal workshop called The Empty Page with Lindsay Ostram. It's an approach to get over the fear of staring at a blank page and not knowing what to do. In a live video class, Lindsay steps us through projects with suggestions for tools and how to make your own journal fodder.

This is the page we worked on in this month's class. Lindsay gave us the lettering to trace and then showed how she made simple 4 petal flowers. We made some flowers out of text pages, outlined with a Aquarelle Stabilo All pencil, and glued to the journal. When wet and painted over the pencil makes a cool shadow effect.

The class certainly has pulled me out of my comfort zone. A full page spread (11.5 in. x 16.5 in.) is quite large for me. I like working small. The color palette is also not what I usually choose for colors, but I am liking it and enjoying the class.

A couple of the four petal flowers looked like butterflies to me. I had some stamens that work as antenna. Still lots of detail to add which will keep me off the streets and out of Himself's hair.

Monet and Me

are showing off the last pages in the February Hearts journal

Thanks to N from Tennessee for posting this quote. "Don't ever be ashamed of loving the things that make your weird little, heart happy. Since my students were studying about Drolleries, the weird, little drawings in the margins of medieval manuscripts, I didn't think they should have all the fun. This turned out to be my favorite page in the whole book.

Elizabeth and Bleubeard were the inspiration for this page as they had made an origami kite. The quote on my page: Follow your heart.

May I use my hands each day to give more than I receive

To help and not harm

To create rather than destroy

I love my chubby birds on music pages.

"My heart is like a singing bird." Christina Rosetti

"Love is the only gold" - Alfred Lord Tennyson

The last page was Lindsay's prompt. A heart shaped filled with hearts and painted black/grey. I forget what quote she wrote around the edge. I used "Love never ends". The end.

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. 

This week's suggestion was to start with a circle border filled in with wavy lines. Instead of filling the wavy lines with patterns, I decided to use a couple of March quotes inspired by Robin for pointing out that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. Also added: No Winter lasts forever. No Spring skips its turn and March forth into Spring.

Monet and Me

are showing more pages from the February Hearts journal

On the left, a musical card from the Eldest and on the right the top of a box of chocolates from Teague.

Every heart sings a song incomplete

until another hear whispers back - Plato

This Lindsay prompt reminds me of a quilt square

Home is where your heart is

This was a mashup of Lindsay and a classmate's design.

The Empty Page Journal

 

I'm taking a 6 month journal workshop called The Empty Page with Lindsay Ostram. It's an approach to get over the fear of staring at a blank page and not knowing what to do. In a live video class, Lindsay steps us through projects with suggestions for tools and how to make your own journal fodder.

 "Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust. 

Monet and Me

are showing more pages from the February Hearts journal

The Supberb Owl

A Valentine from Nan. Her envelope with the sweet kitty Love stamp tucks inside the bag opening.

A Valentine from Deb over at Learning 2 Just Breathe. It was too big for the book, but worked with a little sticking out if I turned it sideways. I made a heart paperclip to hold the valentine in place.

Teague introduced me to this John Denver song: Friend, I will remember you, think of you, pray for you. And when another day is through, I'll still be friends with you. The teddy bears were stamped and cut out. The right hand page, slips into the tuck spot created by the bottom of the bag.

A Valentine from Calli and Quill: Rose are red, Violets are blue, Put food in our dish, And clean up our poo.

From my tablemate, Lee, when we took the 2017 Reggie Ezell year-long class. Lee always draws lambs and has sent me a valentine every year since our class. The envelope with the 2026 Love stamp featuring birds and hearts and a very clear Love postmark slips into the bag opening.

The Valentine from Himself was too big for the book. A little slice and dice solved the problem. The bottom heart acts as a pocket. When opened, it also has his signature. The top of the card fits into the pocket and is held in place with the paperclip.

Lindsays' suggestion was S.W.A.K. Sealed with a kiss. How we used to decorate the back of an envelope back in the day.

On his birthday in memory of Darrell, I met him in computer school, and he became the brother of my heart.  The quote from the Wizard of Oz to the Tin Man: ...a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you were loved by others. Happy 84th Birthday, Derry!

The Empty Page Journal

 

I'm taking a 6 month journal workshop called The Empty Page with Lindsay Ostram. It's an approach to get over the fear of staring at a blank page and not knowing what to do. In a live video class, Lindsay steps us through projects with suggestions for tools and how to make your own journal fodder.

Above is the February homework page. Lindsay sent her artwork to be traced, colored with water colors, and doodled.

On the opposite page is a companion piece, a work in progress. "Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust

Monet and Me

would like to show the February journal made from paper bags. This is the project I chose to do for the Creative Hand Lettering and Doodling with Lindsay group on Facebook. Lindsay had suggested decorating a small box, but I didn't have anything that would work

The title page is the group project page folded into an origami heart with pockets. Inside the pocket, an origami cat.

Lindsay's suggestion for the first page. Washi tape, watercolor hearts, and faux calligraphy

For most of the pages, I decided to go my own way. So celebrating Ground Hog Day. The nasty groundhog saw his shadow meaning we get 6 more weeks of Winter, and the groundhog goes back into his hole. In this case, the groundhog gets tucked in the flap provided by the bottom of the paper bag.

This idea was a combination of Lindsay using the John Lennon quote, "All you need is love" and a heart doodle that was done in the Monday Doodling for Stress Reduction class. To all you need is love, I added and chocolate along with a Love and Kiss stamp from an envelope I kept.

Lindsay did a tag with Start each day with a grateful heart, tucked inside a belly band on a card. I used a piece of origami paper for the background.

Lindsay had talked about the candy hearts with saying we used to get as kids. I punched out a bunch of small hearts, colored them with Tombow markers, and wrote the little setiments.

Another hybrid piece. Lindsay painted flowers and cut them out. I think she mentioned hearts and flowers, too. I colored a heart using the bottom of the bag as a tuck space for the flower. The sentiment was something someone had written in a photo album my mother had when she graduated from high school. "Hearts and flower go together, True friends part never."

I saw a meme that had and image of a heart which said normal person's heart

and my heart was a cat in the shape of a heart. Perfect image to go with soul. I was Ink's heart and he was my soul. It will be 10 years this year since he passed away. I still miss him.

More from the Junk Journal

Warning: Image Heavy

Pages 17 was a weekend day so there was no prompt. Penguins with a snowman built by the Young One when she was 5 years old and photocopied. "Are we having fun?"

The prompt for day 23 was sketchy, but I swapped that for day 18. I sketched the polar bear from a sticker and cut out the letter for No. As in replying to the penguins and snowman on the first page. Are we having fun? No

The prompt for the 19th was Clips and layers. An envelope from Finnbadger provided the backdrop. The large penguin was a thank you note from the grandniece and grandnephew. The envelope wrap holds a penguin sticker and is clipped to the penguin card.

On January 20, Lindsay showed us how to make a simple pop-up. The Eldest had sent me a clips of Harvey, the mailman, from the cartoon, Hey, Arnold. This was my inspiration.

The prompt for the 21st was Negative Space. Lindsay used packing tape to adhere some flowers. I used snowflake embellishments. With the packing tape, the snowflakes can be seen from both sides.

The January 22  prompt was Colors. White is a color. Snowflakes are Winter dandelions.

I swapped the prompt Sketchy on the 23rd. The 18th was a weekend day so my own composition. I had the pretty birch tree paper and a cardinal that I wanted to use. Cardinals make me think of my parents and a female cardinal had recently visited the bird feeder. Mr. Google provided me with a cardinal quote. "My cardinal song is a call to you, To tell you that I miss you, too." - Elle Bee

Maps was the January 26 prompt. I track a polar bear named Bobbie though the app, Fahlo. Bobbie is an old broad like me. According to her bio on the postcard, she's 22 years old and has raised 6 cubs.

The map is an image of her tracking signals.

The theme for the 27th was pockets. "Where does a polar bear keep his paws when they are cold?"

"In his pawkets" 🤣I just slay me.

A Christmas card with black-capped chickadees (the state bird of Massachusetts) and the remnants from the birch tree paper, provided this gem. The prompt was supposed to be stamps, but I swapped that for the 31 which was a Sunday and didn't have a prompt.

One chickadee asks, "What's the best thing about Winter?"

The other chickadee replies, "When it's over."

Fabric was the prompt for January 29. I don't really sew and didn't have any fabric. I did find some felt from craft stuff the Young One left behind when she moved. I fabricated a little penguin with googly eyes.

"I am wicked cold, but being very brave." I saw the saying on a tee-shirt. The wording on the tee-shirt was I am very cold, but I substituted "wicked" a quintessential Boston expression.

On Friday, a notecard arrived from Nan. Perfect timing because everything she sent was perfect for the January 30 prompt of Mixed Up Media and Mediums. Nan hand lettered and watercolored the card. She used the cute little girl dressed in red stamp. On the back of the envelope she had used washi tape which I used to adhere the card like a flap so I could still read her note.

She also included some painted and decorated snowflakes which I turned into a tag. The envelope made the perfect pocket.

I used the stamp prompt from the 28th for the 31st. I had a polar bear stamp. I stamped him 2 times and cut them both out. Pasted one down and then used mounting tape to make him "3D". As of the last day of January there are only 140 days left until the Summer Solstice.