Journaling - My New Project

Yesterday I went to The Goodwill used bookstore and bought several hard cover books - novels and non-fiction.

You can follow this metamorphosis as I cover over the words of this book with drawings, collages and paints to reform a book of my own.

I have chosen one, originally titled, The Book of Eleven, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and I am going to transform it into my own personal journal. The only reason that I chose this book was because I liked the size (5"x 5") and when I randomly opened the book, I read:

"I WANT TO THANK Dr. Seuss and his classic My Book About Me for introducing me to the process of putting thoughts down on paper, resulting in self-examination and unwarrented self-importance."

I LOVE Dr. Seuss!!!! His work has influenced me throughout my life.

Day 1:
I removed the dust cover and collaged a picture of myself and I have retitled it, The Book of Power, Goodwill, Hope: Understanding, Treatment and Resources.

Day 24: Dr. Seuss House

I love the architecture of Dr. Seuss.  I want to live in Whoville!! This drawing is whimsical and structured at the same time.  That is what I want to be.

I've been thinking lately, "What three words would I want to describe the person I am and strive to be?" (this is inspired by a challenge from Brendon Burchard of "Experts Academy" - check him out!!!).  I decided that my three words are,
Healthy
Creative
Curious
Maybe I am not all those things every moment of every day, but that is the person I seek to be.  That is the role model for my daughters that I want to portray.  Everyday, in each situation, I ask myself "Am I being/presenting Healthy, Creative and Curious?" This one simple question challenges me to be better...

Day 61: Red Orange

Only three more days - three more colors to go.  Wow.

I Love Dr. Seuss!  I like to draw his architectural fantasies.  I would like to live in one.  I have made a few paintings of my own houses in the Seuss style.  That's fun.

Notice the bed in the upstairs window.  I am writing this from my bed (even though I did not draw it while in bed).  I am tired.  I have jet-lag.

Day 6: Spring Green

Sawyer, my daughter 15 year old, picker out this color. It was a difficult color because it is so light. I had a hard time getting much variation in tone until I started melting the crayon. (Amy, my sister, liked the smell of the melting crayon). About half way through I wished I had drawn on colored paper -I will do that for the next light color. Sawyer says this is her favorite drawing so far because there is so much going on and she wants to look at it all. This is my least favorite because there is so much going on - it feels chaotic and disjunct (have I said that about a previous drawing? Yes, I said that Blue Green was chaotic too). So far, with everyone of these drawings, I have not liked the drawing as I was creating it, but became attached and appreciative of its uniqueness after the fact. I need to stop being so quick to judge.

I started with the heart in the middle and everything grew out of that (I like the way that sounds metaphorically - "start with the heart and everything grows out of that"). I do like the combination of the organic and the architectural. For the past 16 years (from the time that Sawyer was born) I have really liked to draw stairs and ladders. They seems to be going somewhere - even if they're not. There is a scene in a 1953 musical fantasy film (5000 Fingers of Dr. T), by Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), where the main character is running away from the bad guys, and he climbs up a huge ladder that goes nowhere - so he has to climb back down. I love that idea of the climb to nowhere. Its unexpected and nonsensical.

Maybe that is why I have always felt a deep connection to Dr. Seuss' drawings. I need to embrace my inner chaos and nonsense. This project so far has been great for forcing me to commit daily to something, and it has also ripped me out of my comfort zone (crayons have never been my medium of choice.)

Your thoughts?