Hey friends!
The first thing I need to tell you is that I WAS TOM HANKS IN THIS SCENE when I made this bread. You must watch the clip (go to about 2 minutes in) to fully understand what was happening in my kitchen. Yes, that was me lol. I used my bread machine to make the dough using this recipe (which was excellent) but I used these instructions to make it look like a pumpkin that my husband didn't realize was a pumpkin. (It's clearly a pumpkin.)
Look at me living my best life with my Dorothy Hamill haircut lol.
So how are you faring as we head into Thanksgiving week? Do you have your menu all planned out? Is your playlist ready? I can tell you I am NOT listening to Taylor Swift ever again because I've had Anti Hero in my head for weeks now.
My brother and I are having a sleepover at my dad's house before the big day and plan to spend all Thanksgiving day cooking together. I love hanging out and laughing with him and my dad. Our family's irreverent sense of humor is a visible thread that connects us. Last month we all got together to press cider and it was a blast. So it's been my goal since then to have some kind of activity for us to do whenever we're all together. This Thanksgiving my brother is bringing his drone so we can get some good aerial photos of the property and spy on the neighbors. And then we'll eat a huge feast that my brother the chef has cooked and all I have to do is make pumpkin bars and green beans. Easy peasy.
I've been thinking a lot about the evolution of my art journaling practice recently. Because I've finally shifted into a place of comfort and joy rather than comparing myself to allllllll the art journals and sketchbooks I see on instagram.
Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love getting peeks into other people's sketchbooks! I love seeing the elaborate spreads in their journals because it amazes me! Because it looks so GREAT and you can't edit it in photoshop right? You have to get it right the first time.
So. Much. Pressure.
For the longest time, I wanted to be an art journaler. But in my brain is the voice of the person I was 10 years ago who was sitting in my cubicle and longing for a creative practice like other "real" creative people who were not me.
I've shared a bit about my creative journey here in this blog but in a nutshell: the person I was ten years ago before I ever picked up a paintbrush is very alive in my head. And that voice would always tell me the same thing: You're going to mess up and then you can't post it on instagram. And then you can't do one of those cool flip-through-your-sketchbook videos because you only have three pages in yours because you tore them all out.
Sigh.
Can you imagine? Tailoring your art practice around Instagram? Well, yes, that was me.
So I've felt compelled to share this because if you don't already keep a sketchbook, art journaling really is fun and impactful and a meaningful creative practice when you aren't over-analyzing like me lol. At some point (maybe because I'm 50 and at this age I've just let a lot of that kind of sh*t go) I just said, I really like keeping this journal and I'm going to keep it just for me.
Like for this page I'd never used oil pastels before and I can't say I'm a fan yet but hey! It was fun to try something new! Just for that reason alone. And I didn't know what to draw so I just traced my hand because you can't go wrong with that, right? People have been tracing their hands on cave walls for thousands of years so I think I'm in pretty good company.
So friends, I plan on sharing my art journaling here more often and maybe we can find ways to art journal together. Here are some titles I'm considering for future art journaling courses:
- How to make friends with your crooked writing and blobby art style.
- Journaling without the panic attacks.
- How to be an art journaler if you never thought you were an art journaler kind of person.
- How to finally use all the art supplies you've hoarded.
It's a work in progress...
Do you keep an art journal or sketchbook? If so, how does social media or outside comparisons affect your practice? Are you interested in online group art journaling courses here?
