I am posting the photos of the two samples of the Zentangle fish being made at Oakwood in July.
And a photo of everyone working on them.
This is the first, wildest, wisest thing I know: the soul exists...it is built entirely out of attentiveness.
I am posting the photos of the two samples of the Zentangle fish being made at Oakwood in July.
And a photo of everyone working on them.
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...
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.
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 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.
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