The Journey of Journalfest

There is always something exciting about
a beginning.... the Journalfest Retreat debut
was an extremely delightful way to recharge
the batteries and fill the creative well.
Attending was a reward to myself for a year
of hard work growing my art business.

Each of the workshops were wonderful and
unique. I learned so much and the best part
was the skills, tips, and techniques I gleened
were ones I would use again here at home.

My adventure began on Thursday with
The Painted Word, taught by Alex Shur.

The image at the top of this post is my
absolute favorite! It is a picture of Ruby,
a Butterfly Fairy, amidst a lovely cottage
garden. Her beau, the Butterfly Man, is
pictured below.

Alex was a master at gently guiding her students
as we fleshed out such lovely little creatures,
like Ruby, from random painted blocks of color
on a page imbued with poignant words as
texture in the background.

I plan to frame my picture of Ruby and
her garden, and I have even considered
creating a few more, possibly spinning a
a small story from my efforts... wouldn't
that be FUN?

The following days were spent with Stephanie
Lee. On Friday I participated in Handbook of
Elements.

After vending next to Stephanie at Artfest in April,
and coveting her luscious soldered journals, I just
knew I had to make one for myself.


I am so pleased with the results. I just
need to finish binding the pages and
decorating the spine with bits of lace
to have a fantastic solder journal of
my own!

On Saturday, Stephanie moderated a writing
workshop, Unraveling Word.

It was an insightful day as individuals pushed
fear aside, writing honestly, then sharing words
and thoughts with our group of twelve.

I am happy to report that the experience
help to jump start me back into a writing
habit. I even created a small space in my
studio for just writing and journaling,
nothing else.

And GOOD NEWS, Stephanie is now offering
a month long, on-line journaling workshop similar to
her Unraveling Word class. If you are interested in
participating find out all the details... here!

The entire event ended with a Saturday night
Journal Jam, complete with a live band to
entertain us.

The place was ROCKIN' in mere minutes,
once they started to play.