Lists, Lists, and More Lists

By Cathy

Ideas for a blog post can come from several different places, maybe an article that was read, an experience, thoughts, feelings, or as in this case – a suggestion. In my last post, I mentioned my Journal Of Lists. Pam, one of our faithful readers, left this comment, "The journal of lists sounds excellent. Can you do a blog post about that?" Yes, Pam I can! I would love to share a few things about my journal.

Lists are a delightful thing to me, no matter what type of list it is. I even like my grocery list and I love to mark things off on my Will Do list. I keep a Book List where I record details about books I’ve read; the title, author, main character’s names, and the year it was written. Daily I try to add something to my Blessings List. I think you get the picture! I love lists!

My Journal Of Lists is a simple, 6" x 8.5" black, spiral-bound notebook. It was rather dull looking so I put stickers on the front and tied on a few metallic ribbons to spiff it up a bit. In it I keep lists of everything: words, feelings, colors, phrases, observations, and memories.  I’ll share a few of my titles to give you an idea of what’s written on the pages.

• In A Jar
• Orange
• I Am
• Sounds AT (wherever I am)
• Favorite Scents
• Today I Celebrate
• Signs In The Library – I go to the library all the time, but have never stopped and looked at all the signs. I quickly found 20.
• Words, Words, Words – a continuing list of words I find that make me happy
• Delightful Phrases – a continuing list of phrases from books I’ve read
• Through The Binoculars – I listed ten things that I saw through my binoculars, not common things like trees, but things I would not have noticed without the use of the binoculars, like turtles on a log across the river.
• Crayon Names – This one was just for fun, because I love Crayons and love their names: granny smith apple, thistle, maize, dandelion; just to mention a few.
• Down Under – I turned over a large rock and recorded ten things I saw under it. Finding ten things was harder than I thought it would be.
• Pick One – I picked one thing, my grandmother’s crystal goblet, and recorded everything I saw in detail.
• Multiples – After collecting six rocks I listed 25 differences.

In case you're wondering where I get my ideas for lists, I have a list of list ideas. Although some of the ideas or mine, I did search Google and found hundreds of list ideas.

Keeping a journal of lists is a simple thing, but the benefits are huge. Lists can be a short way of journaling, where I list where I am, what I’m doing, what I see, hear, and taste.  I can look back on the list and recall a fun day or activity. It’s also a valuable tool for strengthening and training my eye for photography and challenging my senses. For instance, one of my most recent lists was, Observations From The Hammock, where I wrote down what I saw above me, below me, to the left, to the right, and what I heard. Lists can be short or long, although I do try to always list at least ten things.

I hope I’ve inspired you to start list making. It can be a fun activity. Lists get right to the point and they're easy to write. You could get a really cute notebook and use different colored pens. You could sketch, doodle, or paste pictures along with your words. The possibilities are endless.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today is officially the first day FALL. This is the start of FALL in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Today, the length of night and day is approximately the same. In celebration I will take my Journal of Lists outside and record my observations of this first FALL day. Even if you’re not a list maker, take a few moments today and celebrate FALL. You might even want to share a FIRST DAY OF FALL picture in our Flickr photostream.

It is the summer’s great last heat,

It is the fall’s first chill.

They meet.

~ Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt

Telling Your Story in Many Ways

by Carol

I suddenly find myself fascinated with painting. OK, It's not sudden. Besides a library, an art museum is my favorite way to spend a morning. (I really should do that more than once a year...) It's just that - I never thought that I could actually paint. I've written here before about playing around with different kinds of art. But the thing is, it's more than that. I think it's my age. And I also think it's on-line learning. When I was younger I never consciously felt like I was afraid of other people's criticism. But I guess I was, because I never even tried to do all the things I loved.

 In recent years, its been a "what the hell" attitude. I try free tutorials in everything that interests me. There are so many of them on Pinterest, and You Tube. I've tried paper-making, and collage,and acrylics,etc.  I try them at home and if I am terrible at them ------OK hold on there  ---- that is an old message. People are not naturally terrible at things - they just don't know how to do them. And it takes time (which none of us have) to learn them.

Then last summer  when I attended the cross discipline workshop in Rhode Island (which I wrote about here), the artists were so encouraging, that "can't" just left my vocabulary, and as Yoda says, suddenly there "is no try," - I simply "do" Somewhere along the way, I think I just decided that these things were a fun way to spend an afternoon. Just as in photography, I can get into the zone and a morning can pass just like that. Last summer I invited a friend to join me at a photography workshop. She likes photography, but her love and her background are in painting, and since retiring recently, she's been diving back in. I've been spending a few days a month painting with her, and it's really fun.

I also have expanded my journaling. I have always liked to write, but never consistently journaled for any extensive amount of time. But in Rhode Island, when the artists opened they're colorful journals full of quotes and scribbles, and washes of background blues and greens, I fell in love. The other day, a friend of my daughter's who was an art major, showed me her gorgeous travel journal. She recently went to Spain, and kept a journal.

So what do you think of when you hear "journal?" Mine are filled with words - my whole trip to France last year full of facts and anecdotes, with photos pasted in sometimes. I know many of my FOL sisters keep scrapbooks with the history of their activities. But this little travel journal was a revelation. It was obvious to me that this young woman thinks in pictures as clearly as I think in words. One page would have a pen and ink sketch of one of those beautiful, ancient buildings in Madrid, full of turrets and hallways, and arches. It was a sketch - nothing more - it had a few watercolor highlights on its facade - but it spoke volumes. The next page would have a picture of the four of them sitting around a table. And you could see exactly the European style meal they had shared. One person was laughing. There were little cutouts from tourist brochures pasted into corners. One page was a freehand topographical map of their route. I'm telling you, it was like reading a book about their trip - completely understandable to this novice. Even more fun, her other journals just followed her interest - little hands depicting the sign language alphabet on one page, the planetary symbols on another - then ancient runes. Whatever she bumps into she really looks at.

I've been keeping a collection of artist's journals in Pinterest. I've  doodled in one since January. I took  a course by Jane Davenport (which was not free - but she has free tutorials on you tube) which was called "Supplies Me." It exposes you to different mediums and how to use them, and I've been filling the pages with that. But after seeing and digesting all the possibilities with journals, I just signed up for an art journaling class. I'm sure mine will not be all art. It will have lots of writing, and I will follow my interests. There will definitely be some photographs in it - but all that color makes it so much prettier! So I guess I'm a closet artist now - unbelievable!I will tell my story in words and in pictures, as well as with my first love - photography.

Do you journal? Do you use words or pictures? What methods and styles do you use? I'm looking for ideas, and would love to see what you do. Post some fun pages, would you please? And please don't forget to follow your dreams!

Art Library

by Carol A.

The snobbish truth is that I thought that there were reader-writers and visual artist types in this world. I suspected that the right-brained types maybe weren't so interested in communicating with words, and maybe were not quite as talented in getting their point across. But my viewpoint wasn't intentionally snobbish since, as a reader-type, who could casually throw off a college essay in an afternoon, I also felt that I was useless in the art world - and unable to even draw a straight line. (The grass is always greener....)

Then I started to grow into and with the internet. I started to see it as the miraculous teacher that it is. In the privacy of my home, I can try anything out - without the hassle of the commute, the peer pressure of other students, or having to persist through the occasional bad teacher. If you don't like a course you're taking or your enthusiasm for a subject wanes as you get deeper into it, you can simply stop with no explanations due. On the other hand, I'm not a total recluse - I do believe in human interaction, and the happy accidents that happen with real communication. Even in a disappointing class, you can meet a mentor, friend or contact that furthers your goals in life, and you can learn from the other students; from having the access to materials. Sometimes you learn life lessons from all the machinations you go through just to get to class! So when I do find a subject that I enjoy in an internet class, I pursue real world classes and opportunities with greater focus and passion.

What I have discovered is that I could not have been more mistaken about the differences between visual artists and wordsmiths. I should have known from my occupational expertise, and my years of child study team consultations, that learning is an individual pursuit and that there are as many pathways to learning successfully as there are people. For the most part there are not bad teachers - just people who teach in a way that is not conducive for your personal learning style.

The rise of the blogging world or at least my discovery of the blogging world that I can relate to, just puts the "final nail in the coffin" of my out-dated conceptions. I mean really, with teachers like Kim Klassen, Tracey Clark, Matt Kloskowski, Xanthe Berkeley, Scott Kelby, Julieanne Kost to name just a few - can anyone discount the ability of artists to teach? With writing out there, like our own Kelly's month-long writing exercise challenge (happening right now here), like that in my favorite photography journals Stone Voices, and Lenswork  and with engines like Google, Goodreads and Pinterest to help you search out someone with expertise in just about any topic, you can find more instruction, passion and inspiration  than you could read in a lifetime. Even if an artist writes only one wonderful essay about his or her personal passion - we all have access to it! That's why I love blog posts like Dotti's last one, that offer favorite blog suggestions.

At the last workshop I went to, art and photography books and journals were scattered on the coffee tables for us to page through whenever we had a minute. I purchased several when I got home. I have also spent some lovely afternoons at the library paging through some beautiful art and photography books and exploring new journals. An afternoon like that can open a whole new world to you.

So this post is just a long way of asking you for your book and journal recommendations, as a follow up to Dotti asking what your favorite blogs are. Would you add to my winter reading list? I'd be grateful!

"Everyone is a reader. Some just haven't found

 their favorite book yet."

                                     Ashley Lighthizer