Category / journaling

by Janet

Kaleidoscope Dreams

I thought that the letter “K” deserved a visual illustration rather than a story. Whenever I’m in the midst of feeling like things aren’t coming together perfectly, I step back and try to do something colorful. It’s a form of venting for me.

At first, when considering the Alphabet Game, I wanted to use the word Kumbaya. The problem I had was that there were so many different articles, meanings of, and thoughts about Kumbaya that my idea suddenly lost its luster. Then I had an idea for the barbershop series – a character named Kitty – but things were dragging on the story end.

It’s possible that I’ll come back to both of these ideas someday, or at least use the images that I made for both of them, but for the time being it seemed like a really good time to do an illustration for the word I settled on – Kaleidoscope.

My illustration is colorful and dreamlike, like a kaleidoscope. It’s funny that I always refer to my dreams as colorful though, because color is probably one thing that I never remember about my dreams.

Anyway, this began as a girl in a rather large, floppy hat. She is now doubly exposed, which makes sense because – according to Merriam-Webster – kaleidoscopes have two mirrors in them. Another dictionary defines kaleidoscope as a continually changing pattern of shapes and colors, which actually describes life – when you think about it.

I like to think of the illustration as something that represents how I see myself – because it’s difficult to define and label. I’ve spent time trying to do just that… define and label myself... and it was eye opening to realize that attempting to do so was not only counterproductive, but that the process itself can stifle, suffocate, and paralyze.

Like the kaleidoscope, we undergo constant change, and fluidity is the key – not definitions or labels. That’s what I finally realized, and I like that. I like it a lot.

So… I think that’s about all for now.

Thanks for coming by, I hope you enjoyed my illustration and my thoughts on the “K” word.

I’ll be back again soon… for the letter “L.”

Until then,

Peace & Love!

by Janet

The Dilly Dally

I thought I’d have a little fun with the letter “D.” One reason I chose Dilly Dally is because I enjoy the sound of it. More than the sound of lollygagging. Another reason I chose it is because – as I’ve mentioned here before – I live with my mother.

Well, she is 86 years old and in good shape for her age, but if there’s one thing that makes her seem old to me… it’s the fact that she dilly dallies. Ok, maybe she’s just slow. But if you ask me… she just likes to take her time.

So, lately I’ve been trying to change my mindset about this. With everything my mother has ever done for me, for my sister, for her grandkids and now her great grandkids… the woman deserves to dilly dally. I started thinking that maybe I should dilly dally a little too. I mean, what’s the rush?!?

I looked around at all of the definitions and explanations of “Dilly Dally,” and pretty much everything I read says that it’s a waste of time. But… how can anyone else know what a waste of our own time really is? Is it a waste of time to stroll rather than to speedwalk? What about hiking? I’ve gone hiking before and I literally had to RUN to keep up with the others.

Why do people hike so fast? To get it over with? I just don’t understand that. I hike to view the scenery, to take photographs, to watch the birds and any other wildlife that might be around, and to breath in the fresh clean air. And there they are… these fast hikers… practically running to get to the top.

When I think of it this way, I see that dilly dallying might be in my genes and perhaps I do it myself- to a certain degree. And if I’m going to dilly dally when I am 86, like my mom, why not get a head start and do it now? So, this coming week I’m going to be more mindful of my speed. I’m going to slow down and dilly dally more – just to see how it goes.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do an illustration of someone dilly dallying so I created a woman smelling flowers in Illustrator:

And then I placed her in a garden photograph that I found and added all sorts of paint effects to blend it all together:

I guess you could say that I spent the evening dilly dallying. Ha! I think that’s about all for now. I’ll see you around soon for the letter “E.”

Until then,
Peace & Love!

Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
by Janet

The Funny Side

Does Anybody Remember Laughter? Robert Plant

I signed up for a fabric designing tutorial recently and the woman who authors the website and videos (Bonnie Christine) offered her readers a free gift – a printable pdf of daily art prompts for the entire year. This morning I decided to mull through it and I thought it would be fun to combine a few of the prompts to create something fun.

In the meantime, I realized that today’s #bloganuary prompt fit in well with my humorous theme: What brings you joy in life?

There are many things that bring me joy, but laughter wins the prize because it’s like a secret weapon. When I was struggling – feeling down and out and completely lost – my friend Gil would always be there, ready to respond to my text messages, and somehow he always managed to make me smile and laugh.

It wasn’t that the laughter removed any hardships that I was experiencing, and it wasn’t like I was trying to pretend that the difficulties weren’t real, it was more about the valuable lesson that I was learning… that hard times and laughter can coexist. And that laughter helps us keep plowing through.

Of course, we also need friends like Gil who take the time to be there for us – and actually make us laugh – so I’d have to say that friendship is right up there as well… tied for first place.

So, the art prompts I chose today were Unicorn, Storefront, and Sale Banner. I thought they made for a funny combo. I’ll tell you one thing though, illustrating a unicorn is no walk in the park. And by the look of things… he better skedaddle quickly before someone snatches his horn!

That’s about all for now. Thanks for reading or checking out my illustration!

-Janet

(love you Gil!)