Have Journal Will Travel

It seems that the majority of my arting has been done on the go. While I continue to try to get my art desk under control, I haven't spent much time at it. So I'm getting pretty good at creating wherever I am and in mini-bursts. More often than not, time at my art desk is focused on preparing materials to be made on the go.

Last pocketbook buying trip was focused on getting a bag that could not hold the kitchen sink. Naturally, it has become apparent that if it can be stuffed to overflowing it will be. There is space for a sandwich sized zip-lock bag with two mini books and a handful of gel pens. The mini-books have already had a layer of collage or paint and now it is time for embellishment.

Another bag is stuffed with a host of materials for collage, a variety of art pens and water soluble crayons. This bag is taken when there is any suspicion that the day will have down moments or even a visit to a tea or coffee establishment. 

You may have noticed that I have a favorite tea shop to work in. Kung fu Tea in Providence, Rhode Island is my new favorite journaling spot. I go there whenever I have a chance (which isn't nearly often enough.) I love the environment and Oolong Milk Tea is nothing short of ambrosial. 

I still love journaling in Starbucks. I'm plenty happy pasting layers and adding pen in the car. 

Lately I have found that our nearby hospital has a lovely waiting room where I spent some time  while waiting for a family member's tests. Pages were completed there. Callous you say? Art journal pages are a great way to process the feelings you are having whether they are fear, joy or confusion. Art journaling eased my worry and helped me to be more present for others. I'd say that is a win all around. 

I've also discovered over the past few months that I have gravitated to posting on instagram. It suits the out and about nature of my days. Actually it was through instagram that I was inspired to get serious about making art on the go. Jogatheringwild regularly creates art in her car before work. This inspired me to really get started. Check her out. 

What are your favorite tools for art on the go? How do you manage fitting art making into your routine? 

Art on the Run

On the run. 

All the time. 

Art comes along for the ride now. 

Little books made in coffee shops, 

in the car and 

waiting for something I had to wait for. 

No longer remembered, but taking time.

Bits ready for paint, or glue or stamping

can go with me 

and turn this waiting

into playing. 

The coffee shop was crowded

full of people talking

of themselves and their special knowledge. 

Snippets heard and pondered

like the information about how to outrun an alligator, 

fell upon my ears, 

though I bade them not to come. 

The world of ATCs was fresh

an unknown form

lots of fun to try. 

Discovered I like it.

ATCs, little books, envelopes

small treasures of uncertain worth

easy to carry, compact and succinct. 

Color, color, shapes and color

layers, patterns, expected and unexpected

More to come.

Travel bag of paints, pencils, and ephemera

Now my best friend. 

Blogging for Connection

From time to time most bloggers ask themselves the question. 

"What question?" you ask.

That question. 

Why do we blog? 

If you are asking this question, pull up a seat and have a cold glass of peach infused ice tea. 

"Why this tea in particular?"you may well ask. "Why not plain? Why not coffee? "

Because this tea is the answer to your question. I hear your confusion. 
"Get to the point already, will you?" you say with a slight irritation in your voice. 

I will oblige you. 

I have never in the whole of my life had peach infused ice tea. Never given it a backwards glance. When the recipe was shared by Ricki Jill of Art@Home on her post for this year's Mad Tea Party I was intrigued. I had to try it. If you ask around, and I beg you don't, you may even learn that I became a bit obsessed with giving it a try. 

The ingredients I bought at a local farm. South Carolinan peaches were chosen over the white ones. Locally grown mint was procured. 


As we sat and sipped and proclaimed over the tea I mused upon the ties that bind us as bloggers. The richness of experience we are granted for the inspiration and kindness from each other, persons unknown to each other in our local, everyday lives. The tea was, and remains, delicious. Ricki was astute in mentioning that the recipe can last a while, but won't because it will be finished long before it's expiration date. For the record, I drank more than one glass. 















Blogging, instagram, and a variety of other ways of connecting are a blessing to those of those who stick with it, who engage and who share. It requires a certain level of engagement, however, and that connection does not come without effort. We blog to see and be seen, to inspire and be inspired, to express and find expressions that help us understand our own experience. We blog to send beauty into the world and to fill our lives with that beauty. 

These are all things I am thinking as I muse over the beauty of the connection we gain from blogging. There is so much more. I need not be complete in this post. 

Dear reader, thank you for being part of this blogging experience. Ricki Jill, thank you so much for this recipe. So delicious! 

Why do you blog? Why do you read blogs? What do you get out of the experience?

The Mad to Glad Tea Party

Welcome to the 

Mad to Glad Tea Party 2016

These days there is so much to be mad about, sad about, absolutely devastated about.

Wherever I look I see people questioning why...

wondering how we got to this place....

wondering if the things they do matter...

if they matter....

and they do.

They do matter. 

You matter. 

So as I pondered these things, along came the time for

Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist to post the invitation 

to her annual

Mad Tea Party. 

Each year I look forward to this wonderful party. The loveliness, the creativity, the joy of it all. 

As I pondered these things I decided to hold a 

Mad to Glad Tea Party this year. 

First we must entice a rabbit with a bouquet of basil and fresh dill. 

Everyone knows that rabbits are great for inspiration. 

Sir Fernly Fern and I thought a long time. I stroked his silky fur. He nuzzled me and nipped me when I stopped petting him. Sir Fernly Fern doesn't shy away from comfort as we humans sometimes do. 

The idea to turn Mad to Glad came to me as we snuggled. Tea, friendship and art journaling - the focus for this year. 

I used craft paper instead of a pretty cloth so we could spill as much as we wanted, or write, or paint. 

Guest tags were replaced by black sharpie free flowing names on the table. Naturally we set a place for the Unexpected Guest. 

Three kinds of tea. Why not? A taste testing adventure.

Silly labels made us laugh. 

And we can't forget to stop and smell the roses.

While I know that a cuppa tea can often change my mad to glad, I had more planned for my party friends.

I gave each friend a piece of cold pressed watercolor paper and told them to write what was making them mad or sad or anxious or worried. Like 18th century letter writers would conserved paper, we turned the paper and wrote crosswise. In days gone by the paper was expensive. We used it as a design element. 

After choosing some colors to paint over the words we picked up our cards and spread paint.

My spot at the table after painting a few layers. 

Collage ensued. Scrap paper. Paper bags. Paper from presents last Christmas. Magazine pages. If it could be pasted down it was fair game. 

More color. More layers. We stopped only when it became apparent that our pages needed to dry before adding any more. We hope to continue these now glad pieces. Pieces that inspire us to move forward when it seemed hard to move a muscle.

Here's hoping that you have some inspiration to turn something mad into something glad. Thanks for joining us.  

Please be sure to visit A Fanciful Twist for links to see all the Mad Tea Parties that are happening today. Just click on the invitation to zip over there. 

Mad Tea Party 2016

It is that time again. Mad Tea Party Time! This year is a unique year. So a unique interpertation of this theme seems in order, don't you think? I've got something up my sleeve and I'm excited to share it with you. So sneak around by on Saturday and see what is cooking on the blog. I assure you it will be Assam. Oh Darjeeling, you must drop by.