Journal Prompt #1 for 2015

Having fun with a weekly Journal Prompt Challenge for the new year.  This is a very small journal..5 x 8".  So I decided to use a double spread for the first one.  

First Journal Prompt

 Of course we are free in this journal prompting experiment to decide how to respond to the prompts in our own way. How one prepares the background (or not) is optional.  I had seen a recent video of someone who put blue painters tape down and then used water soluble crayons for the color between the lines of torn tape.  I had not used my wc crayons in so long, the box was rusted shut!  (hahaha).

Incidentally, since the paper in this inexpensive journal is not heavy paper, I gessoed the pages first.  I used a palette knife to thinly coat them and let them dry overnight.  There is no way I could have painted on this paper any other way!  And the side benefit is that I could also "lift" paint off in areas that I wanted to.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun wc crayons are!  I'd forgotten!  Very nice intense color!

So then when dry, I peeled off the painters tape leaving white stripes and spent a little time lifting off some of the stray paint that had crept under the tape. I just used a paint brush, water, and paper towel.  With the gesso on the paper it wiped right off.

The prompt had us begin to think of a word for our first entry.  One word that we wanted to focus on for 2015 or at least for this journal.  

It was suggested we make a list of possible words first and then choose one.  (mine were Remember, Glorify, Collaborate, Memory, Narrative, Imagine, Enchant, Soul, Playful, Quirky, Eclectic).  

Finally I chose "Attentiveness" (which you will see is just also under the heading of my blog in a quote by Mary Oliver.)  Becoming more attentive then would be my focus and goal in this journal.  And in this 2015!  

The prompt suggested we draw the letters on the page in any creative ways we wished using the letters as "strings" in a Zentangle to define space and not necessarily in order to read it.  Then tangle or design  between the letters.  I would challenge you to even find the original printing!  And I am not through with the tangles yet.  

Finally we were to put the word we chose in larger print somewhere on the page so that it could, in fact, be found and read.  I decided just to type it on the computer so it would stand out.  

And to use found spaces on the page to write about why we picked that word and even list the words we didn't chose.  

I still have some room to write a little more about that.  
The prompt group is being led by Cherryl Moote and she has a Facebook group (now closed) in which the members will post. I do not know if the group posts will be available to non members to look at or not.  I will find out as I think the results will be very fun. I know there are well over 100 people in the group.  I don't plan to post this for a few days since it is really not finished.  

Some of the members consider themselves "journal virgins" and I guess for this kind of journal I am one too…although I have done wc travel journals…and I guess they count too.