This Saturday I hopped over to Reidsville where a group of lovely gals gathered to learn about Visual Journaling.  Everyday Art Gallery hosted it…many thanks to Teresa for giving me the opportunity to share this wonderful art form with others.  The workshop was designed to inspire them to chronicle their lives and thoughts through image, either collaged or painted & drawn images.  Here is the cover of one of my sketch journals, and a page from the inside.  I fill my pages mostly with sketches of things that draw my attention…either to document moments or illustrate thoughts.  This sketch of our cat Lucy gazing out the window at our bird feeders made me think about my own life: “From her perch Lucy dreams of chasing and conquering…I wonder if she’s grown accustomed to living with her dreams and is OK with never being able to act on them…In this, she is much like me…though I’m not sure I’m ok with it.  1/23/09”  This was written/drawn on one of many days in my life where I feel intensely the overwhelming demands on me from so many areas of my life–motherhood, church-life, household chores.  We had a good time talking of these and many other things this Saturday at our workshop and I encouraged them to make visual journaling a part of their everyday lives in hopes that they too will experience a connection between their creative life and their everyday life.  When the stuff of our everyday lives becomes the inspiration and subject for our art, then we approach a more integrated self.  Conversely, as we say yes to being creative, we find we have more energy and motivation for the “everyday” stuff.  It becomes a fluid cycle where each fuels the other, instead of fighting against each other.