31 Days of Writing - Day 1

Day 1 of 30 Days of Writing

“Never put an age limit on your dreams.”

This quote by Dara Torres really resonated with me, especially as my goal I to be ultimately be published.

When I retired 2 years ago after 35 years of teaching, I began to take courses in art and writing. I wrote and I created and enjoyed both.

At times though, the doubts have surfaced and the dreams have seemed too unrealistic. Yet, so many people have dreamed big and achieved goals others doubted.

Dara’s life story is a testament to her dreaming big.

Dara has lead an exceptional life as an Olympic athlete, winning 12 medals in sw3imming, as a commentator and as an author. Her memoir  “Age is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life” was published in 2009.

She is a wonderful role model and this  collage is dedicated to her. This quote inspires me to hold fast to my dreams and keep moving forward.

31 Days of Writing - An Intro

Hard to believe it is the last day of September! This month has sped by.

October begins a new challenge - Writing for 31 Days. This daily challenge during October has been held for several years now and I have decided to join in the fun with hundreds of others.

The challenge is to choose a topic that you want to explore and write every day for 31 days.I have taken part in a number of daily challenges - AEDM in November (an art challenge), March Slice of Life and even my own. They provide a community, a challenge and fun.

I have chosen to focus on ispiring words - and to use art and photography to highlight those words. I have collected so many quotes through the years and filled numerous journals. Here's just a few of them:

I have created small art quote cards and journal pages with quotes and I want to continue on a larger cards.

Turning to a favourite quote can often help boost my spirits or inspire me. I hope the quotes will inspire you as well.

Here's one of my favourite ones:

ABC Wednesday - L and WOYWW

This week at ABC Wednesday, L has centre stage.

L is for letters - both those pages we write to the ones we love and the ABCS we use to write them.I still enjoy writing letters, but especially love receiving them. And I save them, as well as cards.

The background is copies of letters I have received, then stenciled letters were inked on , next letters were stamped and then letter stickers were put on. Finally I added two quotes - one for each definition.

Be sure to visit here to see what others around the world did for L.



WOYWW

Time for the weekly sharing of work spaces at "Stamping Ground", the fun weekly meme hosted by Julia Dunnit..


The first photo is of my desk as I finished the first round of letters.

Then I added stickers and stamps and then the quotes(as my work table got messier and messier)

Here are the two sides of the journal spread.

Shadow Shot Sunday

What a lovely week has been for the beginning of autumn. As I picked tomatoes, I captured a few shadows.

I couldn't resist a shot of the lilies I bought for our dining room table.

Be sure to visit here to see shadows from around the world.

Art on Friday

Friday mornings I usually finish some of the projects I started through the week. I find that having challenges to complete pushes me to create most days.And there are many challenges, both weekly and monthly, through blogverse.Here are a few I am participating in:

Show Your Face
Kim Dellow's weekly "Show Your Face" is fun - and an easy way to focus on faces. This week I was inspired by Jennifer Orkin Lewis at "August Wren" and her stylized faces. Quick and fun - using watercolour and sharpie pens.

Journal
This week I created my autumn vision board (check here to see more about it)

The theme for"Collage Obsession", is "Trio". As I was looking up quotes, this one inspired me, especially as I had created a tree already this week and it is fall now.

My trios:  Roots, leaves, fruits;  thoughts, words, actions.

Collage
I created several collages this week - this was my favourite:

ATCs
I am working on several swaps this week and here are the first three I created:

Photography
Here are the latest flowers for our dining room table - lilies. Love them.

Linking as well with:

Paint Party Friday

Express Your Creativity

Art Journal Every Day

Sky Watch Friday and other Photo Challenges

We are into our second day of fall and the weather is lovely, with blue skies with wispy, intriguing clouds

Visit here to see wonderful skies from around the world.

Other Photo Challenges

I love peacock feathers - for the colour, the size, the intricacy. A student gave these to me many years ago after a visit to an exotic farm.

Shared with:

"Little Things Thursday", where we share those t\little things that mean so much.

and

"Theme Thursday", where the theme is feathers.


Thursday Challenge
The theme this week at Thursday Challenge is "Sun"
Here are some of my favourite sunsets.

Autumn Vision Board

For the past several years, I have created a vision board, to focus on goals for the coming season. I find it necessary and powerful.

I find that thinking about these goals, and seeing the vision board, helps me to refocus when I need to get back on track.

I found an excellent article at "The Art of Simple" about journaling and writing out autumn resolutions. Katie Clemons poses four questions to help with creating these resolutions. The first really is one to think about:

"What could add to my life this season to bring more pleasure?”

Here is my focus on writing:

and art:

I am looking forward to the challenges, the daily acts of creativity, a healthier lifestyle and lots of reading and learning.

ABC Wednesday - K and WOYWW

This week at ABC Wednesday, K is the letter of focus.

K is for keys. When I taught, keys were great for sorting, patterning and for art, so I have many of them.

When I looked up a quote for keys, one by George Washington Carver really struck me. Here is the journal spread I created.

Be sure to check here for ways that others around the world focused on K.



WOYWW

Julia Dunnit of "Stamping Ground" hosts a wonderful meme every week - WOYWW - where artists from around the world share what they are working on and what they are creating.

Here's my art table before I started to tidy and put paints, clean brushes and put other supplies away.

Shadow Shot Sunday

With so many sunny days this past week, I was able to capture quite a few shadows. Which is just as well, as today is cloudy and shadowless!

Be sure to check here for shadows from around the world. Join in the fun - you'll soon be addicted!

Art on Friday

This week has sped by as we near the end of summer. High temperatures for the last full week of summer - 30C most days. 

I've done a bit of art - collages, a face, a journal page, some ATCs. Here's a glimpse:

Journal

Robin Williams has been a favourite of mine for so long and this quote by him resonates.

We need change in the world - and need ideas and words that can rock our assumptions and prejudices.



Show Your Face
Kim Dellow hosts a fun weekly challenge to share faces you have created each week. I took a long break from doing just that, but I have missed the challenge. Here's a watercolour face, using a magazine model.

Collages
I'm continuing my own challenge to play with papers. This time I did not include stamps or stamping. Next week I want to try a canvas collage.

Photography
I enjoy taking photos - of flowers, skies, and odd things.

Linking also with:

Art Journal Every Day

Paint Party Friday

Express Your Creativity