I thought I’d do one big post when I finished the course, but I’ve decided against it for two reasons: first, I’m making such slow progress that it might be June before I ever mention it again, and second, I’m taking a lot more photos/scans than I’d expected. So I’ve decided to talk about the prompts and exercises I’ve completed over the last few weeks.

No, I don't know what day Thursda is. Shut up.

Exercise 2 involved writing about someone special to you. The example was about a dog, so I made mine about my cat, Echo. It’s easier to write mushy things about animals than people, I find.  The “kitty” flap opens twice:

I used a lot of old book pages for this one. I am not the sort of person to wantonly destroy books, but when two old paperbacks started shedding pages by the dozen, I figured it was time for them to be recycled. One was an Isaac Asimov novel (I don’t recall which one just now – maybe The Martian Way) and the other is 1001 Arabian Nights, so they make for interesting backgrounds. The other ephemera I used includes art from an old star chart calendar, printables provided with the e-course and from Creativity Prompt, and a print of some of my own artwork.

The task for this one was to write ten honest and interesting things about yourself. This is not easy for me: I’m not very interesting when I’m honest. First off, yes, that photo is of me. It’s from a photobooth at Centraal Station in Amsterdam. I think I look frightened, but I wasn’t sure what else to do with four identical pictures of my face, so I used one to help fill this spread. Most of the other bits are either more of my own art or assorted clippings from my stash. The facts are not in order, nor are they supposed to be. The sheep at the top of the right side are from an advertisement that regularly appears in one of the optics magazines I receive, and I felt it was fitting, this being a kind of internet survey and all.

This prompt was largely about our childhood loves and how (or if) they’ve transformed as we’ve become adults. The photo is me again, probably around five years old. It’s one of my favorites because I look like a Muppet. (Specifically Prairie Dawn.) The background was from a magazine; between it and my gingham I look like I was raised in rural Kansas. Both the butterfly and the Hollywood Bear fold out:

I was pleased when I found the Hollywood Bear notecard in my stationery box, both because it was small enough to fit below my photo, and because I was such a sticker fanatic as a child and Lisa Frank was a particular favorite.

That’s all for now. I find art journaling to be very therapeutic, but too time-consuming to replace my regular written diary as my primary chronology. I’d hoped to finish this course before the first of the year, but it looks like that’s not going to happen. And that’s fine. There’s no rush.