The reason for sketch journals

 Sketching or "journaling" has been for me a way to continue creating and remarking on my life's journey visually AND with notation now for a number of years.  So much so that my shelves now have collected a dozen or more of these visual/editorials on this journey I am completing... labeled by year.  

As they collect on the shelves...I enjoy now and then taking them down and re-living moments that captured my fancy as life went along.  It's amazing how vivid these memories are once you spent time drawing them.  Nothing at all like a photo.  The effort to "pay attention" as Mary Oliver as instructed, means that you capture the essence of an experience.  And that is all the difference.  Capturing mood and details that mean something to you personally.  Photographs are very non-committal.  A sketch, in contrast, gives over to your personal experience.

But as life rolls on I sometimes see that these journals will still be here when I am gone on alone to the next chapters of surprise. I'll leave these objects behind and I wonder about them.  I was reading Danny Gregory's thoughts on this same subject today...he decided he should leave a note...

“Dear whoever has to clean out my studio,

These sketchbooks have no value, but while I was alive, they brought me much richness. They taught me to learn something new every day, to take risks, to see the world, to understand myself better, and to play.

But all these pages are just the byproducts of that experience, and like me, they will one day be ashes.

Perhaps some of the pages will inspire you to make some art of your own, but if not, don’t give it a second thought.”

I think this is a lovely idea and I plan to replicate the note for the inside cover of my notebooks.  

Here are a few recent pages added to my sketchbook.. My daughter and I stayed in Little Elm, TX while we attended my granddaughter's wedding near Dallas.  View from 4th floor of the hotel.  

It was a lovely wedding...and so much fun to be with family sharing this happy event.  

I even did a little sketch on the flight from Madison to Dallas...this young man had an interesting tattoo on the back of his left arm!  

Then a few sketches in our 9 acre mini-forest here in Madison...the last of the early spring flowers as now we move into June and July...the leafy green paths are full of berries and mid-summer flowers and the prairie is beginning to grow on the edge of the forest.

The early berries of summer appear.  And I surrounded it with a frame of my home-made washi tape.  

Some sketches are indoor ones...a concert in the lovely chapel here at Oakwood University Woods.  

Perhaps some of the pages will inspire you to make some art of your own, but if not, don’t give it a second thought.”

 

Madison Wisconsin has it's party Dress On

 

Madison has its "party dress on".  So the saying goes in May and June.  All the trees are blooming and although the daffodils are almost gone, the tulip and peony are gearing up.  Lilac are wafting elegant perfume and birds are busy nesting. Happy bird songs float in the window.  

In the lovely 9 acre forest adjacent to Oakwood...the wild flowers are a sight to behold, a baby owlet is sitting on a branch, the baby goslings have jumped to their mom and a pair of sand hills cranes are nesting!

And frogs are crocking up a storm each evening.   

It's a wonderful diversion from what we read each morning in the NYTimes.   

This was painted in daughter Julie's garden on Mother's Day afternoon.

Our thoughts and plans drift toward grandson Mike's high school graduation this Friday evening and my upcoming flight to Dallas for granddaughter Abby's wedding May 30th.  Grandson Dylan was hooded with his masters last weekend.  And this coming weekend we'll celebrate grandson Ben's 27th birthday.  When you have 12 grandchildren there is something every week!!!  

And two more weddings this fall!

Also our thoughts begin to drift toward summer plans.  The kids will open the cabin on Memorial Day weekend.  And will begin using it in June.  We won't go up until July 1. But our thoughts drift that way now and then wondering if the loons are back.  

I am finished with my Physical Therapy for the new knee and am trying to collect lots of "steps" on my daily counter on my iPhone.  One day last week I got to over 4,000 steps!  

On the other hand our hearts ache for all the many many people suffering through endless wars, starvation, and uncertainty.  And we worry for our own country going through a morality crisis on top of so much uncertainty and anguish as well.  

I wish for you all a good spring and early summer. 

Keep in touch.

Ginny

On the Cusp of Spring in Wisconsin

 

A walk on the cusp of spring brings a slight sense of euphoria…The birds were so ecstatic that you couldn’t help but catch their happiness.  Late afternoon…my first visit out to the woods since my knee replacement 7 weeks ago.  That made me a little dizzy with happiness too.  The unusual 70+ temps had melted half the pond where a lone duck was swimming (surely with VERY cold feet!). But all the snow was gone.  My Merlin Bird ID app began recording bird songs while I sketched…doesn’t everyone have that?  If not, you must download it!  Nine bird songs popped up in the first 15 minutes!  But it was the Red winged Blackbirds that took over the show. 
 I looked for green but it’s too early for green yet EXCEPT for the lovely moss on the old boulders gathered at the north end of the pond.  I was drawn to that green and the long shadows in the late afternoon sun.  These old boulders look like they had gathered for a meeting to whisper ancient stories. I listened hard but the birds drowned them out.  For the now mats of thick leaves warm and protect the lovely spring flowers to come in a month or two  as the wild rains and bitter winds continue to howl their last under a blood moon.  

Thoughts for the New Year

 As the New Year is unfolding we are always inspired to think of the future and the past.  A perfect time to blog some personal thoughts, take a deep breath and think back on a worrisome and dramatic year in the life of our country and a war-torn world. Wondering how to survive what's ahead and how to be pro-active keeping courage. How to "cushion" our soul from being crushed by it.  How to take deep breaths and then push forward from sad to hopeful.  Giving up is not an option.  

My first thought turns to Wendell Berry's amazing poem:

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

And each of us has a personal life to balance while we keep larger thoughts of the community, the country and our world in mind at the same time.  Each of us has our own personal ups and downs.  It's amazing, isn't it, that we manage it.  At least much of the time.  

You all know by now, that creating art is a mainstay in my mental health..whether it's painting, sketching, or Zentangle™.  It's my personal way of "lying down where the wood drake rests".  Although nothing beats actually being out there in the woods and I go there as often as I can.  

Maria Popova writes: "What if we awoke each morning with the bright awareness that every atom in our bodies can be traced to one of the stars— a particular star in the infant universe that made this particular body to sinew this particular soul across billions and billions of blind steps each one of which could have gone otherwise — we would be too wonder-struck by the miraculousness of it all to deal with the mundane. But the dishes have to be washed and the emails have to be written, so we avert our eyes from the majesty and mystery of a universe that made them in order to look at itself, from the majesty and mystery of what we are."

Actually, you might have an inkling of this once in awhile if you are allowing yourself to make art or spend time in a woods.  

And in conclusion I have to say that this winter ahead will be one of a variety of challenges for Greg and me.  For one thing I have finally decided to have my 2nd knee replacement surgery done (January 21). It's a decision not without angst for someone my age.  Weighing all the options and thinking about quality of living in my last years.  Obviously I have done this before and so I pretty much know what's ahead...making the decision even harder!  My husband and family have stepped up to support me and Oakwood is a good place to recover in.  On top of this Greg will have some out-patient surgery on January 9 to replace his DBS chest battery.  So we BOTH have some recovery ahead.  Prayers welcome.

A few of my recent Zenangles follow.  But before I leave I want to send you my hope for a positive New Year.  I wish you courage and joy.  I wish you safety and strength.  I wish you good health and new insights.  I wish you rest in the grace of the world.  Ginny

  

Trees Are Poems the Earth Writes Upon the Sky

Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky

Khalil Gibran

A Refection by Ginny Stiles.

I recently read a wonderful story about the old cherry tree in Washington DC that had been cut back so many times it was nothing but a stump..but it still bloomed.  It soon gained the name “Stumpy”.  When it was scheduled to be cut down, folks had their photo taken by it, drew pictures of it,  left prayers on it and wrote stories about it.  

It got me to thinking about the good bye we just said to our old birch tree at the summer cabin in July.   You can say hello and good bye to a lot of things in this  life and more so as you grow old.   But even a tree can be a cause for a tearful memories and sweet good byes.  

Because of the location of the tree-- smack dab in the middle of our cabin lakefront shore line— it has been in every family summer lakefront photo for probably 50 years.  A very long time for a birch to survive.  I’ve probably sketched it 20 times at various summers in my life.  

It stood through wild storms and winter winds and heavy snow. Still that birch faithfully greeted us each spring with dappled shade and beautiful black and white patterned bark.  Under that tree our grandchildren grew up, we picnicked under it, we napped under it, read under it, sketched under it, wept under it, dreamed under it.  

Gradually however over the last 3-4 years the bark had begun to fall from it, branches began to slowly fall off into the lake and float away.  Shelf fungus began to appear on the trunk and it became clear that it was nearing the end.  We let it stand forlorn for a few summers not bearing to say goodbye.  A shadow of it’s former self now.  

Finally it was time to take it all down to make room for new trees…  for new memories to be made.  When I sit on the deck now…I remember its silhouette and the dappled shade it provided.  Just as I remember all my friends and family that have gone home before me.  

PS The day the tree came down was just an ordinary day.  People were doing what people do…they were getting born, and falling in love, and making soup, and fighting breast cancer.  They were climbing mountains and reading poetry, picking cherries and whitewater rafting.  Only a few people in this world were aware that an old beloved birch tree was finished giving joy on a small lake in Wisconsin.  But then nothing is ever really ordinary is it?  It’s just hard to hold that thought. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are a few images to share....

 

This sketch from mid August shows the stump 

where the old birch was located

 

Last summer in July, the summer just before the tree came down I sketched some of the bark that had begun to peel off and drop down on the pier and deck.  Another sign that the tree was saying good bye.

 

 

Summer Begins

Musings on a Friday morning in June…

one day into summer in Madison. 

June 21, 2024

Yesterday was the longest day of the calendar year.  Summer is officially here ―meteorologically at least.  We all know that there are a lot of ways that a day can feel VERY long without actual clock time being involved.  I’ve experienced quite a few of them over my 84 years.  And, to be fair, a day can be very short for the opposite reason.  I try hard to think on the delightful too-short days mostly now.  Einstein has tried (unsuccessfully for me) to explain how time is relative and actual physical time varies depending a lot of science.  How fast you are moving for instance.  But for most of us in the real world, it’s mental mood, physical well-being, and the surroundings that determine sense of time. 

The real way I notice these longer days is that when I wake up early it’s light.  Unlike those January and February mornings when it’s pitch dark at that same time and seems to take forever for dawn to break.  And it’s “summer light” which is different as it bounces off warm humid green things and not sharp light that bounces off cold snow and thin air.  

We leave for the Northwoods cabin next week.  Packing has started. That always gets me to thinking about time. It goes much slower up there for no particular scientific reason but instead it’s a combination of huge quiet, big skies, lots of water to look at reflecting that big sky, amazing sunsets, more open windows and the dappling light on the forest floor.  Also the smell of piney woods and wood fires and the sound of loons. Here's a sketch from last July.  

You can go into any gift store in towns up there and find hundreds of hand painted signs trying to capture the up-north feeling enticing you to bring it home to hang it over the fireplace or above the kitchen window.  Usually with a bear or a loon painted with it.  Everyone should get a few…it’s tradition.    

The spring/summer season has been climate changed now and we get a lot more huge weather swings…huge rains and then a lot more drought…wild variations that last too long. And this year a lot more heat…breaking records in southern WI with 90s even in May.  And a tornado to boot.  But we are so thankful to not have forest fires or floods as so many have had to endure!   

The older I get the more I anticipate the Adirondack chairs on the deck, the stacks of book by my favorite chair, the fun jig saw puzzles on the porch, chilled wine, morning coffee, my sketchbook and the quiet.  Family comes to visit there…and that is increasingly joyful as life goes on.  

Below are a few samples of some art work or happenings in Madison since last I sent out the blog.  

Here I am sketching at Madison's Olbrich Gardens in early June.

Our newest great granddaughter, Laikyn arrived on May 7

Here's the sketch I did at Olbrich Gardens in early June here n Madison

A sketch in the Oakwood Forest in early May

A sample of the many "triangle" Zentangles done during the latest project pack.  

I did this sketch fairly shortly before we had a tornado come through Madison.  This old tree made it through but we lost a lot of beautiful old trees during the storm.  

A little gouache painting I did of our anniversary flowers.  

We celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary on June 17.  

This is a new medium for me so it's pretty experimental.  

Here's a note of memoriam to my old friend Margaret Gregg who passed away unexpectedly in May.

Greg and I and Julie will attend her memorial service 

next Tuesday in Williams Bay.

Life will never be the same without this dear dear friend.  

Cinco de Mayo

 

So begins the month of May...here are the many examples of Zentangle frames that I used for the class on May 3rd at the Monroe Street Art Center here in Madison.  Later I'll show you the students work.  They were AMAZING.  

I am anxious to get outside more to get some sketching in...my life has just seemed to be full of obligations and I do NEED to get out there.  I know the spring flowers are up and joyful...at church this morning the lilacs were in full glory!!! Does anything smell more lovely?

Here I am at the art center (using my new computer) and all the new cords I had to buy to get everything hooked up!  No better way to teach though than using a document camera and screen!  

The gals who were students did a really great job...stuck to it.  Julie was with me as my right-hand gal and did coaching, passed out materials and made sure the room was as I wished it.  

These gals were beginners!!!  I was really impressed!  I did supply gold pens for them as well.  Just a little extra special glitter.  

This week we will have some rain showers several days...but also some nice sunshine.  We will celebrate our newest family member on Tuesday as our 4th great grandchild is going to be born that day! 

 Can't wait to meet her.  

We'll celebrate our grandson Ben's 26th birthday on Friday with a family get together.  And Mother's Day with a brunch at Julie's home after church.  The church choir I so love, will finish up the season on the 19th of May.  We then take a summer break.  

We've begun to think a little about the cabin...at least in terms of getting it open and ready for the family.  Although Greg and I don't plan to go up until late June after the swarms of mosquitoes and ticks are finished up (we hope).  A friend walked the property this morning and texted us that no trees are down and everything looks in good order.  When you leave a property for 7 months you worry a little.  

Our lovely sycamore tree here in Madison is finally leafing out.  It's always one of the last ones. I wish you all a blessed May.  

End of April Notes

Today I am posting on April 29...the end of a month long riot of weather in Wisconsin that made spring very difficult to find! But the daffodils and bluebells did arrive briefly in Julie's garden and she brought us beautiful gift bouquet.  And out in the lovely woods at Oakwood here in Madison...the bluebells, spring beauties and crocus come just before the trillium.  Bird song is loud and joyful.  

I close the month of April, though, with generally happy thoughts about art and family.  Around here lot of joyful things are on the calendar...a new great daughter due on the 7th, a grandson graduating from high school and some spring birthdays...Maddy and Patrick in April and Ben in May.  I got a new computer and Julie and Mark made is safely back from their winter trip west.  

  

    The new Oakwood art library is beginning to fill in with furniture, paintings, and other joyful accommodations.  Hoping for an open house in June.  

Julie and I are teaching a Zentangle® class at a new venue in Madison at the Monroe Street Art Center this Friday.  I plan to theme it around this book: We entitled the class "Dingbatz, Frames and Cartouches."

Here's how one of sample frames might look (Maddy's Birthday Card).

 

You'll notice that the frame I tangled is around Layla (Maddy's dog) and then the Dingbatz is in the corner of the envelope.  Which, if look closely, can be cut off and used as a bookmark!  Dingbatz are actually sort of "placeholders" usually in text or poetry to divide spaces, announce new chapters or sections, or otherwise enhance a lot of text.  Or tucked in the corner of an envelope!  

 I'll post more images after the class so you can see more examples.

We had a fun little art exercise here at Oakwood Art groups thinking about the characters from Beatrix Potter.  I picked Mrs. Tiggywinkle who is a hedgehog.  Sketched her into my sketchbook and then sent a copy to 5 year Violet (my great granddaughter.) The hedgehog is holding an iron in her hand (she does the laundry for the forest animals).  I told Violet to ask her grandmother what an iron is.  Would children even know?  

This was just a short blog...to let you know Greg and I are still around and learning new things. Tomorrow night my chorus has a performance and I have two more Sundays in May at church with choir to the end of the season.  I'll miss the music.  

Hoping you are all well and you have a good May.

 

 

The Oakwood Art Library and spring

 So here we are on April 4 in a full blown 3 day snow blizzard in Madison, Wisconsin!  AH spring. 

The crocus and daffodil have been up for a few weeks thinking that the warmer days back in March (even February) signaled a new season.  the robins are back and the lovely mother goose is sitting on her next in the middle of the pond. The grass is green and the Easter Bunny came.  

But alas, we've had about 5"+ of wet heavy snow over the last few days involving street plows and shovels (again). All the local lakes and even our up-north Tippecanoe Lake have opened up early think...haha SPRING!  Foolish as we are, we even began dreaming of "maybe" putting away our mittens.  Foolish people!  I heard from friend Barb that Tippecanoe Lake up at our cabin actually re-froze.  OHmygosh!  Certainly confusing the local turtles and loons!  

So, it's a time for thinking about finishing up inside winter projects.  And just keeping in mind it's predicted to be 60 here by next Wednesday and the community street vendors will be back on April 14 at the Outdoor Markets down the block!  

My latest project has been in trying to complete the new Art Library here at Oakwood University Woods.  Yes we have a great "general" library that is full of wonderful fiction and non fiction and it also has circulating books from the Madison public library!  BUT now we also have 3 satellite libraries here: A Nature library, a Spiritual library and now an Art Library.  

I've been busy collecting furniture that folks have been willing to donate or that already belong to Oakwood but are just stored in hallways unused.  You can see one big bookcase I found but I have an order in to purchase two more as many books are still waiting to be shelved! They will go where the plants are currently sitting. 

Hopefully as we proceed some art work will begin to appear on the walls to cozy things up and I am looking for a foot stool for the sweet chair.  A stamp and stickers to label books have been ordered and the committee will help with that.  In addition I have created a sign to announce the library. It is Zentangle of course!!! This was part of a project put out by Zentangle HQ to help demystify the concept of illuminated lettering.  

You could buy a "kit" of materials for this but I just looked at the project and sort of plagiarized the concept to my own purposes.  Still I followed along with the videos for ideas.  If you are interested you could just do a YouTube search for "Zentangle Project Pact 23" and all of the videos are available publicly.  My project is about 12 x 16.  I drew everything myself and did not purchase the kit which does get mentioned in the videos.   

So here is where it is framed and hanging now

So I am off to fix some hot breakfast for Greg.  We are looking forward to "real spring" and I hope to be out sketching soon!  Hoping all is well with you.  

Fun With Journaling

 I am posting today for a couple of reasons...one, I am behind in posts again (oh no).   AND I would like to post some of my favorite books about journaling for a presentation here in Madison in March so the class can just come here for the resources.  

So let's begin with the books.  All of these are available although I will mention that two are out of print and you have to buy used. 

Here is the list of fun book resources for journaling:

1. How to Make a Journal Your Life by d. price

2. Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory

3. How to Draw without Talent by Danny Gregory

4. Draw Your Day by Samantha Dion Baker

5. The Complete Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn now out of print but available used for about $7.50 including shipping

6. An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory

7. A Life in Hand by Hannah Hinchman (1999 available still...roughly $15 for a used copy.  This book is, I think, considered a sort of "journalist's bible".  Hannah is sort of the founder of modern journaling. Note Danny Gregory reviews this book here.  You might actually find this even better than getting the book!  I believe it's a two part video if you want to watch both.  

I'll finish the blog today with a few photos of some of the Zentangle® valentines I used to inspire the classes I taught here at Oakwood in February.  Here are 3 I created for my great grandchildren!

And here are a few more assorted ones to inspire my class.