Tag Archives: Artist’s Journal workshop

Creative Check-In

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So, it’s been a while. Seems like it’s time to try this again.

Last semester was horrid, and I finally gave up all hope of a creative life beyond book reviews and blogging. Due to some scheduling shifts, this semester holds renewed promise, however.

Knitting: I’ve put this on hold for the time being. It’s just too hard to get myself motivated to start a new pattern. I’m sure the urge will arise eventually. Just not now.

Piano: I’ve also put this on hold for reasons I will explain in a moment.

Cooking: I’m doing plenty of this during the cold winter since I can’t seem to keep the boys full, but I can’t say it’s terribly creative at the moment.

Painting: I just begun reading a wonderful book by Cathy Johnson called Artist’s Journal Workshop. I’m leaving with a friend for a weekend in the mountains, and I’ve already packed my paints and supplies and this book.

Writing: Now, this is an area where I seem to be making some headway. I’ve resurrected my blogs after the fiasco of December illnesses. I am slowly catching up on the ten reviews that are terribly late. Best of all, I feel that once I finish the reviews, I now have some room in my life for creative writing. I’ve rejoined the SCBWI and my writing groups. I’ve pulled out my old poems and children’s stories for editing and am itching to start something new.

Outdoors & Exercise: This is an area that has changed considerably. In December, I received the results of my annual physical. I have a currently mild issue which can be deterred by a careful diet and daily exercise. As a result, I have decided to forgo activities like piano practice to focus on my health. My new best friend is an elliptical parked in my great room. I am truly enjoying our 30 minutes together each day. Actually, I’m enjoying it so much, I’m toying with adding short, alternating yoga, balance ball, pilates and weight workouts. However, all of this goes out the window on weekends if I have the opportunity to go hiking or biking with the family or take a riding lesson.

So, that’s where things stand creatively at the moment.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an important meeting with my elliptical.

Creative Check-In

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It’s time for another creative check-in.

Knitting: In a continuing effort to clean up my UFO’s in case we move, I’m tackling the Priceless White Diamonds pattern in Leisure Art’s Our Best Knit Baby Afghans. I bought the yarn and pattern for this blanket on the day I found out my youngest son would be a boy. He just turned five in September, so I think it’s time to get this one done. In some strange fit of insanity, I decided to do this pattern in navy blue and teal, instead of white (or any other single color, for that matter), which should make for an interesting look, to say the least. I will say the boy I intended this for originally is priceless, so I guess that part holds true in some way.

Piano: I am taking piano lessons again. At the moment, I’m laboring over Hanon‘s exercises 2 and 3 and Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course Lesson book, level 1. I can now play When the Saints Go Marching In, and people can occasionally recognize it.

Cooking: This week, I intend to tinker with Stephanie O’Dea’s Italian Minestrone Soup recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking. I’ll update if my tinkering turns out well.

Miscellaneous: I’ve updated my sidebar to show my current reading material. I have a short stack of reviews due at the end of the week. I also took a class with a terrific friend last weekend where we made watercolor postcards. The class was awful, but it did pique my interest in playing with my paints again and dabbling in my art journal again. To that end, I ordered Artist’s Journal Workshop, which should arrive any day now. And with the fall weather finally here, I hope to get out of doors more with my camera.

And that’s where things stand, creatively speaking.