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Fill a 60-Page Moleskine Notebook in Two Hours? Impossible!

Mia at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder asked me if I could provide a sample journal for my Journal Juju class there. I didn’t want to release one of my own notebooks, so I made a counter-offer.
I’d pick up a Moleskine Japanese Album and see how much of it I could fill in two hours. Using the methods and exercises I teach in my Journal Juju class, I’d see how far I could go.
Now, my class is NOT about speed or competition or doing anything quickly. It’s about slowing down, enjoying what’s around us, and using all of our senses to record that in a little notebook. It’s fun. It’s easy. It’s play and it doesn’t require art skills.
I just thought it would be fun to see how far I could go in two hours, and I filmed myself playing in the notebook at The Kitchen Next Door in Boulder. Here’s the video, speeded up for the sake of time.

The next Journal Juju classes at Two Hands Paperie are on March 16th and April 7th, 2013. These classes fill quickly, so call Two Hands Paperie to register today:  (303) 444-0124
Don’t worry; we won’t be rushing or trying to fill the notebook during the class. We’ll be slowing down, tuning in, and having a great time together.

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Confessing My Notebook Obsession

I’m here to confess: I’m a notebook geek. In this video I dish on my obsession, letting you into the pages of the various notebooks I use. I also share some great resources for journal lovers and at the end of this long-ish video, something unexpected and funny happens.
 

If you’d like to be this geekish with notebooks, join me in filling your pages on a daily basis. In my popular Free Write Fling class, we write every day for at least 15 minutes. This is guaranteed to get you past the fear of the blank page and help you overcome that tendency to fill only the first few pages of a notebook.
Join us now to write every day in March.

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Back to Class: Designing My Art School Curriculum

I always loved school, but I didn’t love getting an F in high school art. Now that I’m gearing myself toward making art, I am eager to learn and improve. I’m also eager to be financially prudent.
So it’s back to school for me, with my own art school curriculum.
I adore this concept of earning my A from Rosamund and Benajmin Zander’s wonderful book The Art of Possibility.
Current favorite podcast: Design Matters by Debbie Millman.
Books resource: Denver Public Library, for which I am eternally grateful, otherwise I’d be penniless from buying so many books. Check out more books in my art school reading list.
Other specifics:

  • Daily sketching
  • Weekly urban sketching excursions
  • Weekly illustrated column at Original Impulse blog
  • Weekly Friday art show and share
  • Continued learning about processing for digital sharing
  • Monthly meetings with art buddy
  • Continued absorption of the wonders of the world and openness to juju, guided by intuition and enthusiasm.

 How do you focus your ‘side project’ work? Do you use the frame of a curriculum or something else? Share in a comment below, and if this article inspired you, share it with your friends with one of the buttons below.