I hope you had a lovely day! I enjoyed every minute of it. We went for a walk, cooked, listened to music, read books, played art. It was sooooo good.
Hana is in a phase where she analyzes and scrutinizes every single little thing about her appearance. She takes numerous self-portraits and dislikes most of them. On the other hand - I love them all.. This one inspired me to create today's journal page.
I sketched a face and I knew how I wanted to use pieces of wrapping paper, but I couldn't draw the hand at all. I had no idea where or how to put the fingers. Most of the time I have to have a reference to draw... Luckily, the real artist of the family (Hana) doesn't have the same problem. She drew the hand in a minute (and wasn't happy with it, while I stood in awe). I asked her to play a little more with the pencil... she changed the hair style, lips, nose... We both concluded that I should leave it in pencil and play with the background. So there it is - a mother-daughter collaboration in my journal. Something for me to treasure forever. I love moments like that!
I want to share another page with you. Thirteen days ago I grabbed my camera and sketch book and went for a quick walk in the park and on the beach. I returned refreshed and started a journal page with the photos and sketches from the walk. I quickly got frustrated because it looked horrible, so I closed the journal and went to work. Fast forward two weeks... and I love it! What I thought was an unfinished mess looks exactly how I wanted it to look.

Hello!!! How are you? I miss you all so much! I don't remember being this busy in years. I was working long hours and weekends and days and nights would pass without me noticing them. I'm sorry to say that I didn't have time to visit blogs, check my email, or even regular mail. I'm not complaining. It feels great to work the old brain and challenge it to learn new things quickly... (and it feels great to be paid for it too). It wasn't all work... there was a doctor visit for a really bad cold (Hana), the boy turned 21, the girl became a teenager...











I have 2 1/2 days off and I plan to use them wisely. The tree needs to be decorated, presents wrapped, cookies baked... I want to visit blogs, see how you're doing, open my mail (thank you for sending the Christmas cards even after I said that I wouldn't be able to reciprocate), answer emails. I also want to take long walks... and maybe even pick up a brush to see if I can still paint (I've been painting in my dreams... isn't that funny? I dreamed that I bought red ink and dripped it on a top of a journal page).

I should be working on Christmas cards... but I can't. Please don't send me any because I'll feel bad for not reciprocating... It seems that my journal is the only place where I can make honest art right now. This is what surfaced today.

This is the fastest journal spread I ever made. I was in a big hurry to create, dry, scan and post it before I go to work. Why? Because while I was blog-hopping this morning and following links, I read that today is wish day - a perfect day when everything is aligned in the universe for wishes to come true. Doesn't that sound great? I wanted to post it during the day so that if you read it you have time to make a really good, strong, happy wish....
I may add or change things on this page later... Now I have to run. Happy wishing!

Not only my journal spread, but me.. I am a work in progress. You are so thoughtful and so right, my dear blogging friends. You read the underlying thoughts on my journal pages well. Your comments brought me comfort. As most people, I am not as gentle to myself as I am to others. It must be the change in my routines that makes me overthink everything... I am probably more tired than I'm willing to admit. I thought that learning to juggle work, home, kids and the need (everyday habit) to create will be easier. It probably takes time. I'll try to find my 'growing edges' as Rebecca said and accept them as something positive.
Please don't mind the blue moments... I try to be honest in my life, journal and blog. That will inevitably bring all colors of emotions to play.
Have a happy week!