Artistic Journaling Workshop

I have been in somewhat of a lull lately, artistically speaking.  The grandkids and I did two  paintings with watercolor pencils when they were here last week, which I forgot to scan before sending them home to Mommy and Daddy.  Yesterday, I signed up for an online workshop with Jodi Ohl at Creative Workshops.  Jodi did a workshop at Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh recently, and although I did not attend, I started following her on Facebook and reading her blog.  She lives about an hour and a half south of me in Southern Pines.

This workshop is offered continuously, so you can join in any time and work at your own pace.  The lessons are on video.  Last night I did my project for the Doodling lesson.  We started with circles, doodled designs, added text, and then added color.  I was using my Field Watercolor Sketchbook and failed to notice that the first page was sketchbook paper, not the heavier watercolor paper.  So, I just used watercolor pencils dry to color my page.

The text in the lower right circle reads, "Do my doodles look like quilting designs?"  That is what I tend to doodle, and it is good practice for machine quilting!

I already had almost all the supplies on the class list, but decided to go to the nearest Barnes and Noble yesterday since they carry Moleskine journals.  We were advised to purchase the "Lavender Stripe" kind.  Duh, I kept looking for one with lavender lined pages, wondering why we would want a lined page for an art journal.  Finally, it dawned on me what she meant.  Note the packaging:

Yes, the different styles of journals have different colors on the labels.  The lavender stripe version is called a Sketchbook, The legendary notebook of Hemingway, Picasso, Chatwin.  Sounds like good company!

Since I also have two more April birthdays in the family, I browsed B&N for a few more gifts, visited my favorite clothing store, did a few errands.  By the time I headed home it was "Rush Hour" traffic.  Stop and roll, stop and roll.  All of a sudden:  BAM!  Something struck me very hard from behind.  Oh, yes, it was a BMW sedan containing a family of five, including an infant.  No one was hurt, thank goodness, but Sweet Sue the Subaru sustained some damage to the rear end. 

But,  you should see the other guy!  The BMW's whole front end was destroyed and it had to be towed.  The young man driving said he had been "distracted."  Sigh.  I have an appointment Monday to get it inspected.  Although I drove it home, the damaged fender is perilously close to scraping the right wheel tire. 

Don't think I'll be driving it around until it gets fixed.  I thought I might be sore today, but so far, so good.  By the way, doesn't Sweet Sue look shiny and clean?  DH Charlie just detailed her for me on Sunday.  She looked very nice when she attracted all the stares from the Lookie-Loos who passed by on Capital Boulevard.