Challenge #26:Hopes and Fears

What are the fears that are holding you back from living the life you hope for?

We have dreams about where we want to be in five years, ten years, or maybe even twenty. However, the things that we want most are sometimes the things we are most afraid to go after. We wish for big things, but are afraid they will not come true. There is always a reason we put off receiving the joy and the happiness we deserve. Many times it is other people telling us why our dream is too lofty and sometimes it is our own self-talk that gets in the way. Subdue the fears and focus your energy towards realizing the hopes and dreams that you value and hold closest to your heart.

What do you want to see yourself doing with your life? What are your biggest hopes and dreams? How can you achieve them? What are your worst fears and nightmares? Are they legitimate or imagined?

Challenge #25: Getting It All Out

Life is finally calming down, and I am finding time to begin the challenges again. The theme for the month is Facing Doubt and Just Letting Go, and what more appropriate theme could there be for wrapping up another year.
 

What emotional baggage do you need to unpack?

We all have things eating us up inside. There are moments when someone does something to us and we want to give them a piece of our mind, but hold our tongues. We bury the pain and hurt deep within ourselves. Bottling up these negative thoughts and feelings can be very unhealthy. When something is bothering you, just get it out, vent and dump the emotions. View your writing as a conversation with a close friend or a way to get a full release from these energy-draining burdens. Unburden your soul, and get it all out.

What do you have pushed down and buried deep within? What negative thoughts do you harbor inside your heart or mind? What frustrations do you need to uncork and pour our?

Remember to share a link to your response in the comments.

New Cover and Other News

A recent search of Amazon showed that the new book is listed for pre-order, so I figure that I would share an image of the cover. The book should drop in July or August 2012. Can't wait.

 

As for other news, Dave and I have just wrapped up our busy fall with a weekend at the Virginia Art Education Association's Fall Conference in Roanoke, VA and another weekend at Art of the Carolinas in Raliegh, NC. The conference was great, and we conducted two presentations and two hands-on workshops. All were well attended, and we got a lot of positive feedback.

Art of the Carolinas was a blast, and our two workshops went very well. Strathmore Artist Papers sponsored the workshops and generously gave each participant one of their 9"x12" mixed media Visual Journals. They were more conceptual in nature, and we focused more on process than product. We even implemented a few new techniques that will probably become pretty standard in our workshops. One was the idea of stream of consciousness doodling. Similar to stream of consciousness writing, this creativity exercise enables one to let the ideas flow. Thanks to Strathmore rep Don Bradley for setting up the weekend for us.

Along with the workshops, Jerry's Artarama conducts a huge art sale filling a ballroom at the hotel with every conceivable art material. I took advantage of the discounted prices and picked up a 72 color set of Derwent's Inktense pencils. Similar to watercolor pencil, Inktense pencils are water-soluble ink pencils, and I have been having fun this week experimenting with them. Some of my attempts can be seen in the photo above.

Busy Fall

Dave working in his journal during lunch at the Brandywine River Museum.

It always seems that I'm writing about how busy I am, but this fall has been one of the busiest. So the JFJ Challenge has been put on hold again as Dave and I present at fall conferences and finish up the manuscript for the new book. I hope to start it back up in November or December, but for the time being there is just so much going on.

So far, we have presented for the Delaware and North Carolina Art Education Associations, and we are scheduled to present at the Virginia Art Ed. Conference in a couple of weeks. We gave a well-received presentation to about 65 art teachers from Delaware at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA, and we got to tour the museum which features a large collection of the Wyeth's work including N.C., Andrew, and Jamie. We want to thank Jen Boland for setting up the opportunity.

Dave at the Mint Museum in Charlotte

In Charlotte, we presented about the approaches, applications, and assessments of the visual journal in the classroom at all levels. We also presented a hands-on workshop to a small, but enthusiastic group. And Dave gave an update for his 100 Visual Journals for North Carolina Project.

But our travels and presentations are not over yet. In November, watch for us at the VAEA Conference in Roanoke where we present four different times. Our hands-on workshops are already nearly filled, and we are looking forward to sharing new ideas during two general presentations.

Dave sharing his journal during the hands-on workshop in Charlotte.

All through this travel and presenting, we have been working on the manuscript for the new book. We sent off the finished manuscript yesterday and will be tying up some loose ends throughout the week. We can't wait for it to hit bookshelves in 2012.

And if this wasn't enough we have Jerrt's Artarama's Art of the Carolinas coming up the week after the VAEA Conference, November 12-13, where we present two 3 hour workshops. On Saturday evening we present Visual Journals: Personal Mythologies, and Sunday Morning, we present Visual Journals: Compulsions and Obsessions. If you are in the Raleigh, NC area, we still have room in both workshops. We would love to pack each one.

That's it for now. I just wanted to get a quick update out there.

Upcoming Events

I'll be part of a book signing this weekend as part of the Waterford Foundation's annual fair. This annual fall festival is one of our favorites, and my wife and I try to go every year. The Waterford Fair is a celebration of the historical heritage of Waterford, VA with 150 juried crafts people, food, entertainment, and Civil War reenactments.

The Book Nook will be hosting signings by local authors all three days of the fair. I'll be signing copies of The Journal Junkies Workshop, working in my journal, and sharing my process with people from 10 AM to 2 PM, on Sunday, October 9.

If you are in Northern Virginia this weekend, I highly recommend stopping by the fair, and if you're at the fair, stop by and say hello.

See the Waterford Foundation's website for more information.

Editing

The deadline for the new new book is quickly approaching, and Dave and I are in the middle of some majoring editing. Meeting up halfway between Boone, NC and Purcellville, VA, we sequestered ourselves in a hotel in Roanoke, VA this past weekend to plod through the first half of the book.

We split the book in half, and each wrote six chapters. Although we both have read, reread, and edited our respective chapters, we wanted to make certain that one voice speaks throughout. Slowly we made our way through the intro and the first chapter. These two sections by far took the longest time, mostly because they were written when we first proposed the book back in March, long before we had the photo shoot, sat and discussed the outline, and before we wrote the bulk of the book. But we hit a groove with the chapters after that. We have two and half weeks to get through the other chapters, and are confident that it will be done. There is nothing like a looming deadline to motivate you.

But we feel really good about this book, and it's nice to work with someone who you are so in synch with. Time and again this past weekend, we finished each other's sentences and had the some thought or idea. And the vision of the book became clearer and clearer as we worked. We are really looking forward to this thing hitting stores next summer, and in some ways it is a much better book than the first - at least a lot different and more focused.

We'll the keep updates as frequently as we can, but we both have been very busy.

Challenge #24: Inner Connections

How can we connect with others if we don’t connected with ourselves?

Much of contemporary life seems to be aimed at doing anything and everything so that we are are never left alone with our own thoughts. We seem to find a million and one distractions. We text,  email, surf the ‘net, read, play games, crank up music, and turn on the TV. Sometimes we do all of these things at one time. When was the last time that you sat in complete silence, alone, and connected with yourself. Perhaps we are afraid of the self talk - the never ending loop of negativity and put downs. Perhaps we are afraid of what we will discover if we are alone with our thoughts. What do we run from?

How do you connect and reconnect with yourself? How do you disconnect from yourself? How do you distract yourself from meaningful dialogue with yourself? How do you find the quiet space to hear your inner voice? Do you run from yourself? Do you wallow in negativity and untruths about yourself? How can you make those authentic connections within?

Challenge #23: Challengers

We all have people in our lives who challenge us, and not in the inspiring, nudging kind of way. These challengers are people who push and provoke us, who may be down right mean and rude, and who do not elicit any warm and fuzzy feelings from us. These are our challengers and at times our arch nemeses. It might be a mother-in-law, a brother, a nosy neighbor, an office bully, or our boss. We may even call these people enemies believing that their main purpose in life is to torment and provoke us. Buddhists believe that our enemies are our greatest teachers because they provide us the opportunity to show compassion and understanding.

Who are your challengers or enemies? Why are they challenging to you? How can you see these people as fellow human beings who, as you do, desire happiness and joy? What can you learn from these people? How can you regard your enemies as your teachers?

Challenge #22: Inspirations and Nudges

We can’t do it all alone, and at times, we all need a little nudge to get us going. Whether it’s in our art or at our job, we need a bit of motivation that can only come from someone else being there to prod us and encourage us. It is always a good to have collaborators and accomplices in anything that we do, but especially in our creative endeavors. These are people who support us, encourage us, and at times, pick us up and carry us when we need them the most. These are our everyday heroes.

In your everyday, who inspires you and nudges you? Who shows up like magic when you need them the most? Who has your back and is always on your side? Who is your hero, your mentor, your collaborator, and your accomplice?

Challenge #21: Connections and Misconnections

How does the time slip away so quickly? It has been quite some time since I was able to post here because life has gotten extremely busy. With the end of summer, the beginning of a new school year, working on the new book, working at the gallery, and arranging a variety of workshop and presentation opportunities, I am back with a gentle nudge from a few readers. I am starting up the the challenge again, and have some new things to share. So enough of the "Oh I have been so busy" whining and on with the challenge.

We seek connection in our lives. Many of us have spent an amazing amount of time seeking a spouse, a significant other, or a soulmate. Many of us have found that person, and many are still searching. Whether we have found that special connection or not, our lives are still filled with connections and relationships from family and relatives to friends coworkers. Sometimes we connect and sometimes we misconnect.

What are your connections in this life? What are your misconnections? Who are you most connected to? Who are you least connected to? How have you connected and misconnected with people in your life? What do these connections and misconnections mean to you? How can you deepen the important ones and disconnect the not so important ones?

What role do connections and relationships play in your life?

Don't forget to include a link to your response in the comments.