California Journal

I haven't quite finished the journal I began on my Calfornia trip at the end of Janury, but I fully intend to.  My mantra everytime I wrote in it was "be fearless".  This was going to be an exercise in not worrying about how perfect I thought the pages were -- it was just a matter of capturing images, feelings and ideas on my trip.  And I don't like all the pages, but they did serve to capture a lot of what I experienced on the trip.  My goal is to finish it by Sunday -- too much time has gone by and the memories are fading!  (Guess I need to go back and get re-inspired -- I wish!)

The journal was hand-made by my friend Joyce.  She did a beautiful job, and the paper on the outside is from Italy.  Isn't it gorgeous?

I brought along colored pencils, some watercolor pencils, a few markers, scissors and a glue stick.  Here's some pages I made while there.  This first one I did in the airport while waiting to board the plane.  Outside I saw slushy snow.  But I was already dreaming of sunshine and the ocean.

Could anyone ever get tired of watching the sunset over the ocean?  I can't imagine it.

Trying to be more fearless about drawing, so this was a study in contour line drawings of tropical plants:

Just playing with a brochure I picked up at a nature center -- adding some thoughts and doodles.

Paging through this is a great way to remember those sun-drenched days.  (Spring is arriving slowly here in Illinois -- we're still in the mud stage right now.  But soon flowers will follow!)