The Willy Nilly Drop In Journal Book

The Drop In Journal Book, one friend calls it

The Repository. It's a place to toss in

various photos, clippings & cards.

Another blogger friend who inspired this post 

calls them "Odds & Ends". 

My own notes & sketches mixed in with 

images of others...

Patterns to what I collect emerge...

I seem to be fond of grids & squares & rectangles.

This has been going on for years.

 A beautiful card from a special someone...

It could be filed in my box of received cards.

But it needs to be here because of the image.

Some photos & sketches 

of my old Christmas card designs.

Some rough draft remains from 

The Language Exchange logo.

(Not all of the pages are grids and squares.)

 Images of postage stamps.

I had tossed a bunch that I'd kept in a box, 

&  preserved some in the book. 

More little squares, little charts. 

For my naturally nonlinear brain 

they are soothing. 

On the left, a copy of Sara Midda's work. 

On the right, someone's paintings from a magazine

(I should have recorded the artist's name.)

More of my notes & sketches,

 mixied in willy nilly to the Drop In Journal Book.  

This book is just about filled, & I have a new one,

also coptic stitched, standing by!

Pop On Sun

 Just a simple petit rien...

I have cities on my mind lately...

And, apparently, pop on suns!

Spring Flowers on the Dining Table

After I had finished a tightly rendered commercial art project,

I found relief by drawing loosely with quill pen, India ink & watercolor. 

They are flowers from a friend, a gift.

The photo process turned the yellows of the daffodils to green. 

Either I need a new camera or a new photo program...

This color distortion happens too often.

Any advice?

It's the lightness of these flowers, & the vivid colors, 

that were most important to me, as they sat, 

Princesses of the dining room table, 

backlit by southern spring time sun.

Mini Landscape Lake Scene

 Yesterday, in the midst of many projects,

I stopped to draw a mini landscape

 in my old style (actual size).

It's a loose interpretation of a place a friend of mine

 loves, drawn from a photo she took.

I hope she'll like my little card, even though it no longer

resembles her actual place.

The Handmade Card

What I love about making handmade cards for friends

is gearing them specifically to each friend.

Above, it's for someone who loves and celebrates 

the flowers of spring (among many other things.)

A card for a friend who is recovering from a fracture. 

Polka dots make her happy.

They made me happy as I was polka dotting them.

And, they brought back some happy 

polka dot memories from childhood.

It's like I get to borrow a bit of joy from my friends,

and return it with some of my own mixed in.

The Art of the Handwritten Note

Je souhaite à mes amis Francophones et Francophiles 

un joyeux 1er mai! Je vous envoie un brin de muguet virtuel!

Speaking of virtual cards verses the handwritten: 

The book, The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication begins with: 

"When I mention the handwritten note to any group of otherwise optimistic and intelligent people, I almost always hear someone say, 'It's a dying art.' Wrong! It's not dying, it's healthier than ever. But it certainly is an art, because it brings out the best in both the person who creates it and the person who looks at it."

I am blessed to participate in this art. I sometimes lapse in keeping up my end, even though I so love creating, sending & receiving handmade notes, cards & letters.  I also resort to typing sometimes because of easy editing, spell check & dictionaries, especially when writing in French. I do understand why computers have pushed out writing by hand.

But what's this about penmanship no longer being offered in public schools?? Perhaps someone can explain this evolution to me...We're not all talented for calligraphy, but aren't there times when we still need to write by hand? Perhaps a former generation bemoaned the day when inkwells were taken out of the schools, & I am just an old fashioned member of my generation.

For me, those letters for copying that were posted above the chalkboard in grade school where magical. I grew up seeing my grandmother's handwriting, she being two generations before me & European, & I loved it. Below is a page from one of my grandmother's journals. She was Polish, but it is a poem by French poet Rimbaud. (THAT is a WHOLE other story.)

My cursive writing has degenerated these days & I've been re-inspired by a gorgeous handwritten note from a penpal  (Merci, mon amie!)  The Art of the Handwritten Note is also reminding me that handwriting is not only a means to an end for me, it's pleasant in its own right. Or should I say, "In it's own write."