It's really strange how things work out sometimes...so we had a rash of tornadoes in Norman on Friday evening

NEW BLOG

My recent journey has been beyond anything I thought I was capable of - thanks to the power of Visioning®. Since completing the training, my inner marketer has lit a fire under me. The first step was to create a new blog. In an attempt to keep things as simple as possible, most of my posting will be done from there. It's good stuff...click here to get there.

Fall Workshops

Double click on image for a larger view of our Fall workshop lineup.

On a Roll

(Iiris Bjornberg, Dr. Lucia Capacchione, Amanda Joy Wells, Raimoda Pironti, Dr. Marsha Nelson)

Last week, I returned from Cambria, California as a certified Visioning ® facilitator! I began this training process six months ago, which prepared me to offer this AMAZING authentic vision- setting method. During the final training at Dr. Capacchione's home (creator of the Visioning® method) I developed three workshops that I will be offering throughout the fall. Click here to learn more about them!

Spring Workshop

Double click on the poster for a larger view. Register here

Group Mural Facilitation

As Creative Director of Sublime Signs LLC - I have been integrating Creative Journal Expressive Arts and my mural creation and supervision expertise into a type of creative collaboration program. Here are a few pictures of some projects I've done this fall:

The above mural was envisioned by a group of parishioners from Capitol Hill Nazarene in OKC.

This is a segment of a large mural that was developed for the Respect Diversity Foundation's tenth anniversary, located at the Oklahoma Science Museum (Omniplex). Over one hundred students contributed ideas & images. For four days, students of all ages came in small groups to paint the 300 + square foot mural.

Refresher

I JUST GOT MY PLANE TICKET TO MISSION TEXAS! I graduated from the year long Creative Journal Expressive Arts program 2 1/2 years ago and I am cashing in my free intensive at the end of October....I AM SO EXCITED! Now that I am integrating CJEA into my role as an A+ facilitator as well as Creative Director for Sublime Signs, where I have been mainly facilitating groups in the collaborative creation of murals. I am aiming to integrate CJEA practices into team building mural projects for families and small businesses with the aim of collaborating in developing and creating murals for their home or business. Why pay someone to design and paint a mural when you can pay someone to teach you how to design and paint a mural? Just a thought...

BIG workshop

When I was an Americorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) with Learn and Serve Oklahoma, the school I was posted at became an A Plus school. I was able to attend their first week long summer institute and I became fascinated with the process. In a nutshell, Oklahoma A Plus is a research-based whole school network with a mission of nurturing creativity in every learner by training teachers and school support staff in incorporating the A+ essentials into their curriculum - the essentials help teachers formulate quality curriculum by incorporating art, multiple intelligences, collaborative opportunities and experiential learning(read more here). Anyhoo, I've been in training for the last year and in a couple of weeks I get the opportunity to lead a workshop. The teacher I worked with for two years as a VISTA is co-facilitating with me. A Plus has been interested in incorporating Service Learning into their fold...so Kathy and I are hosting HELPING HANDS: WHEN SERVICE BECOMES LEARNING THE A PLUS WAY at the A Plus Statewide Conference. She and I got together over the weekend to work out workshop details and we created this Helping Hands collage, which will be the main project in the upcoming workshop.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Upcoming Workshop

I am excited to announce the first OFFICIAL workshop with Sublime Signs Creative. I have presented this workshop before and I am VERY excited about offering it now. School is about to start which leads right into the holiday chaos...why not learn some great centering tools through process oriented art exploration and creative journaling exercises.

Sign up at www.sublimesignscreative.com/rsvp

It's been a while...but

I've been busy! Sublime Signs Creative is beginning to get off the ground. At the moment I am facilitating a group of teenagers in creating a series of murals for the Shawnee Library.

I think the thing that has been most enriching about this process is hearing the kiddos say that they can't believe that they created something so awesome!

I LOVE IT!

Merging Minds

Many of my friends and former bosses are husband/wife teams. During the time I was imagining what kind of partnership I envisioned being a part of THIS was high on my list. My favorite couple to see in action was Dan and Marsha Nelson, who own El Rocio Retreat - where the Creative Journal Expressive Arts intensives are held. I used their personal and professional relationship as a template for the type of marriage that I wanted. They gave me such a strong and focused vision that it wasn't long before Jason came into my life, who has always been intrigued and supportive of my Creative Journal work. The whole business of merging our lives has been a full time job and required me to set other endeavors down for a bit but when I was ready to focus my full attention on Creative Journal workshops and programs, Jason suggested that I become Creative Director of his business - Sublime Signs llc - and create an outreach department that provides creative programming for our community. He is well connected with many of the organizations and institutions that I would be approaching and he is an amazing marketer and networker.

So, click here to visit our new Sublime Signs Creative website.

Jason and I have been nesting. Click here to visit our home blog, the Wellstead.

Marriage and moving

The wedding was AMAZING!!! After raining for two solid weeks and everyone (except for those who know me particularly well) was sure that the wedding would get rained out. "It's not going to rain, but bring an umbrella if it will make you feel better" I would say. Whadya know, it didn't rain...for the wedding. It rained before the wedding and after the wedding but the wedding (save for the dirt) was dry.

My inner child was singing that day...I was wearing fairy wings after all! Click here to see the photobucket gallery of the wedding pictures my friend Andrew took. It can portray the whimsy far better than my words can.

Soon after the wedding, Jason and I moved in and began renovating our new home and, guess what, I started ANOTHER blog that is documenting the process. Click here to get to the WELLSTEAD blog.

One GREAT thing about our new home is that there is a GIGANTIC workshop in the back where I can host Creative Journal workshops!

My Dear Friend

I found out this morning that my dear friend, Diana Bacher, suddenly passed away in the night. It has not fully settled within me that she is gone...come wedding day I will feel her absence poignantly.

When I entered the Creative Journal Expressive Arts program, Diana seemed more excited than anyone that I was embarking on this adventure and as soon as I returned from the first intensive she immediately became my willing guinea pig. In the months that we worked together, her creativity blossomed (read Diana's Creative Journal adventure here). Since then, she became a full fledged painter... EVERYTHING revolved around her need to express her creativity and she had built up a sizable body of work that was intended to become her first art exhibit.

I am grateful to have known this woman. She was not afraid of evolving way beyond her comfort zone and for that she will always be an inspiration to me.

Five Days

I've been having trouble sleeping with all that's been going on and still yet to happen...at about 3 am the other night I decided to make the best of my awakeness to write out my vows. I'M TOTALLY GOING TO MAKE JASON CRY. Also, he's got his outfit as well as his son's - the ring bearer...it's just like a man to wait till the week before the wedding to get it done:).

It has rained every day for the last week and more rain is scheduled...so the backyard where we are getting married is EXPLODING with life. I'm trying not to freak out about the possibility of rain on our big day, but Jason doesn't seem to be worried. But, if you would, say a prayer that IT WILL NOT RAIN. Thank you.

HOLY COW I'M BUSY

It's nine days till the wedding and I'm feeling that a clone or a robot would really be helpful. Besides the full time job of getting ready for the BIG DAY, I'm wrapping up the McFarland mural project, preparing for the unveiling ceremony, working out details for the McFarland summer mural project - which is a HUGE project to be done in a fraction of the time - and the fundraiser to gather needed supplies. On top of that Jason and I just bought a house 5 days ago... so add paperwork, inspections etc. into the mix. I've concluded that my idle days are officially over. I hit the wall today. Jason is so busy trying to keep up with all the orders coming in at his business that I've been assisting him in getting caught up... (I feel like I'm needing to vent, thank you) ... NOW I KNOW WHAT "THE PROBLEM OF ABUNDANCE" MEANS. So many amazing things are happening at one time that I'm having difficulty soaking any of it in. Poor me.

So back to the mural project... it has been such a spectacular experience that I want to figure out how to do this all the time! I get to do it again on a larger scale in about a month. The McFarland branch YWCA has a 60 foot long wall on the side of the building - which faces the youth garden project - that is BEGGING to be painted... so we are hoping to team up school kids from the area with tenants of a nearby senior center, as well as a handful of community artists to paint a mural with the focus: CULTIVATING COMMUNITY. I'll keep you posted.

As far as the wedding goes, my wings are made as well as Tillie's, the rings have arrived, I'm almost done sparklfying my dress, Tillie's tutu is here, the wedding space is shaping up beautifully...in a whimsically rugged sort of way and the ring pillow has just been made (it's purdy). We still need to get our lisence, Jason and Jesse need to figure out what they are going to wear, I need to write my vows (as does Jason, I'm sure), we need to figure out where all the out-of-town people will be staying, and a whole lot of other things. Oh, and IT WILL NOT RAIN.

About the house... Jason passed by it last Friday morning when he was detoured (or Divinely redirected) from his normal route due to construction. We were taking a tour of it by 2:30 that afternoon and by six that evening our realtor was faxing us the contract which was approved at 8:30 the next morning. It is a total granny house (no offense, Granny) with white aluminum siding and a clothesline in the back yard...as well as a peach tree, a plum tree, two pecan trees and a rasberry vine/bush. The stove in the kitchen is harvest gold and the living room walls are covered with faux wood panelling. HOWEVER, the oak floors are immaculate, the garage has been converted into a den, there is a tiny loft in the house and a humongous workshop out back. The inspector said that we've got a real gem of a house. We don't close until May 15th and I've already got the paint colors and the floor tiles picked. It's a bit early but the decorating seems to be having a calming effect on my current state of FRANTIC.

I'm done writing.

Creative Journal and Learn and Serve

I decided to serve a second year as an Americorps*VISTA in the Learn and Serve program. My function has been to help students and teachers implement service learning projects into their curriculum. Since I bring 12 years of muraling experience with me into this position, it seemed only natural to create murals as our service. THIS IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE. Most of my first year in service was spent groping for ideas to bring the students together in a way that they can effectively collaborate, which we have done (with a modicum of success) from time to time, but it seemed like a coincidence when things happened to work out and had little to do with the plan that I had put into place.

Last September I met with the Volunteer coordinator with the YWCA to see if they would be interested in having student murals grace the walls of one of their local centers. We quickly came up with a multi-school mural project that centered around the following idea: EMBRACING UNITY THROUGH DIVERSITY AND GAINING STRENGTH THROUGH ADVERSITY. After a helluva time of trying to gather willing teachers from various schools to participate and four months after the plan was set into motion, the schools that REALLY committed opened their classrooms up for me to come in and begin the task of ACTUALLY DOING THIS PROJECT. I decided that Creative Journal Expressive Arts was the way to get their creative juices flowing. We started with a reflective activity. I asked the students to journal about the following question: IF YOU HAD NOTHING STANDING IN YOUR WAY OR HOLDING YOU BACK, HOW WOULD YOU USE YOUR HANDS TO UPLIFT YOUR LIFE, YOUR FAMILY'S LIFE, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR WORLD?

(One students example of the reflective activity)

After seeing the quality of reflections coming from the students, I decided to not insert my ideas into their creative process. I proceeded as a workshop facilitator, designing exercises that encouraged the sharing of ideas between students and they voted, as a whole, on the elements that they wanted to express...and the ideas that they came up with collectively were far richer than any ideas I had coming into this process. My only function has been to put their ideas together cohesively for them to vote on. The next step is to figure out how to inspire them paint the murals together with openness and mutual respect. I'm sure the CJEA tools will be instrumental in this phase as well.

This has been one of the most educational and enriching experiences that I have been involved with and it has shown me that I want to design a profession where I can help people (families, schools, businesses, churches, etc.) to incorporate the art of collaboration into their lives. We are doing it all the time anyway, so why not be intentional about it.

Lots to say...

Last Christmas I was able to make gifts for my loved ones. I usually pic one person per year do do a BIG gift for. This last year my Dad was the BIG gift recipient. I had been promising that I'd create a painting for him and his wife for years...I'm glad I waited. This is the first painting (above) that I have done with my dominant hand since I'd gone through CJEA training. It is amazing how different my dominant hand paints when it knows, at any time, my left hand can jump in. My right hand doesn't exert the control it once did in creative endeavors and I am pretty pleased about that...so I think I will give my right hand its expression for my next exhibit.

On another creative note, I was FINALLY able to spend some time doing a project that has been in my mind since the fall intensive of 2007 when one of the CJEA participants brought a Soul Collage deck to share. Since then, I've had the urge to give some shape and texture to my 'inner family'. It is shocking how un-visual I am as a visual artist. I can't seem to conjure up an image in my mind. I have to create it in order to SEE it.

(from top right: Higher Self, Inner Child, Fun Gal, Nurturer, Whole Self, Muse, Critic, Protector, Introvert)

This deck has been very helpful when I am having an issue about something and need a certain aspect to speak up and, perhaps, have a dialogue with another aspect. I plan on making another suit of cards that represent 'the nine emotions' from the "Sound of Feelings" CD by Jesse Allan Cooper to be done with the Dancing on Paper exercise.

I Recently came across a book while at Powell's Book Store in Portland entitled: FOCUSING by Eugene T. Gendlin, PH.D. I love how books pop into my life EXACTLY when I need them. This book goes through a six-step process on getting past the mental aspect of a problem and into the 'felt sense' of it...much like Creative Journal Expressive Arts does. I finished the book yesterday and will start reading it again tonight. My goal is to use both of these processes in tandem...somehow. This new tool has been really helpful in getting to the core of an unidentifiable feeling that crops up quite frequently in this new journey I have been on in merging my life with my future husband. I use these tools in random moments when I an wanting to stuff a feeling and I don't have the ability to journal. One such time popped up when I was watching a movie with Jason: HENRY POOLE IS HERE. One scene really hit me in a profound way and I was stuffing down the urge to have a balling session. I can't explain the process, but let's just say something SHIFTED and I feel a bit different for having allowed that process to unfold. I don't know if anyone else will think this is a profound movie, but I highly recommend renting it. (Write me and let me know what you think of it when you see the movie)

Settling in pretty well now

This picture represents, at least symbolically, a typical day in my new life... chaotic and colorful. That sounds just about right. I've heard people say over the years about getting married: they mourn their old life. I always thought that when I finally found my partner I'd be SO DAMN READY that I would gratefully and easily surrender my old, single life to the past. It didn't exactly work that way. Now I know what those people were talking about. MY LIFE IS NOT MY OWN ANY MORE. I had a pretty significant meltdown a few weeks ago about this new reality I find myself in. I get it. My life is not my own anymore, but it has a greater significance now. I am part of a new order. I am involved in the evolution of two beautiful young souls. I am a helpmate just as I now have a helpmate. It's HUGE. I had no idea... and I am probably only grasping at a tiny part of this reality, but if I was instantly illuminated to this MAGNIFICENT WHOLE, I would probably explode. So, I'll be content with receiving it a bite at a time.

On a different note, I was able to do the "Sound of Feelings" exercise with a hundred high school students. It was AWESOME. Also, my Learn and Serve supervisor - Kathy Smith, art teacher at Santa Fe South - got lockers and locks and journals for all of the art students and we will be beginning our Creative Journal altered books soon. WOOHOO.

IT FINALLY HAPPENED

(Creative Journal drawing of my vision of my relationship
with Jason, done during the ice storm back in December)

I'M ENGAGED! Jason proposed to me last Friday evening and I, without hesitation, said YES. I'm spending the week at my apartment, sorting through the eight years of stuff I've accumulated... at least half of which will be sold off. Now that I'm in the midst of this process, I'm freaking out a little bit. Part of me is surprised and another part welcomes it in like an old, dysfunctional friend. I guess it's really not shocking or rare... I'm making a HUGE transition. I've lived in this little apartment for a quarter of my life (which is longer than I have ever lived anywhere before) and now it is about to pass away... it's something akin to a death and I suppose mourning it would be valid and even necessary. Many years ago, a friend of mine told me of his deep mourning over letting go of a bad drug addiction. It made no sense at the time, but I've since come to understand that even the not so very good things, if they are with us for long enough, become our comfort... and leaving them behind leaves us without that sad security. (Phone call break) Lucia just called to congratulate me on my engagement... I now feel much more comfortable with my discomfort. She reminded me: "If you don't feel any fear over great changes, you're not really growing". Oh yeah. All I need to know right now is that God answered my prayer (very specifically, I might add) and all I need to do is move forward and let it blossom. AMEN.

Add another to the pile

I just counted the number of web pages I have:
11 blogspot pages:
1 official website
4 Myspace pages
1 Facebook page

Most of them are scattered throughout this blog or in JOY ENTERPISES.

Since 17 pages is CLEARLY not enough, I added another to the pile. I created a place to put my Creative Journal art, which has been previously spread out over all my other pages. Click here to get there.

One breath at a time

Well, life is smoothing out. The last year has been full of so many changes that I could not find my center. The journaling has helped. I realize that I've been searching for a center that doesn't exist anymore, so I'm seeking a new center.... and it seems to be constantly shifting, like a top. The "Where am I at?" exercise in The Creative Journal has been particularly helpful in uncovering where my balance exists from day to day.

My relationship with Jason is... well, I'm relaxing into it finally. It's been a struggle to accept the fact that such a wonderful and accepting man really loves me. I realize that whatever ideas I've had about what a relationship is supposed to feel like are not necessarily true. I've heard that relationships are hard. Now I understand what that means. For me, it's about being present and available in it... and not believing everything I think. THOUGHTS ARE NOT FACTS. There are alot of old beliefs that I am having to release in order to be present and available. I've had these beliefs for so long that they have become my security... it's alot of crap to wade through. I just need to remember, from moment to moment, where my security really lies.

A New Chapter

I can hardly believe it, but I GRADUATED!!! I've never completed something so huge before... it makes me wonder what else I can do.

Marsha highly recommended that I continue this blog for another year, so I can see and share all of the changes that are yet to happen as a result of learning and applying the Creative Journal method. It was not hard to talk me into it. So here is my first official 'next phase' entry.

The first thing I did as a certified Creative Journal Expressive Arts facilitator was make a website. Click here to see it.

As soon as I got back from Mission, TX, I went to Minneapolis to attend the National Youth Leadership conference, which was AMAZING. I went to some illuminating seminars on reflection tools for service learning, which will really help me in designing a workshop for the teachers at Santa Fe South high school, entitled: "Reflection as an Integral Process of Service-Learning". I also had the great pleasure of seeing Desmond Tutu give a lecture... he is so inspiring!

Things are SWIRLING. I'll share it as it happens.

So, What Now?

On the very day that I posted my last blog entry, love swept into my life... although I did not know it at the time. LOVE is a scary word for me, but it is something I have been journaling about quite a bit. CJEA has certainly opened me up to dreaming bigger than I ever had before, but now that my dreams are coming true I don't really know what to do with them. I very rarely hear this side of things. Lately, with "The Secret" being such a hit, it is now quite popular and acceptable to manifest the life of our dreams... I am beginning to think that a common reaction to people's desires coming to fruition is: OH S%!T, WHAT DO I DO NOW? Dreams are very different from reality. Our dreams are safe... they can be whatever we want them to be. But when they work their way into the world of form, they have to contend with our fears... like: Do I really deserve this? Am I going to drop the ball? How are other people going to react to this? Is this really what I want? When our dreams begin coming true, they unquestionably stir the pot as life is being restructured to accommodate them. It may feel like chaos. We are stepping out of the familiar world and into a space of infinite potential... which, for me, feels like being dumped into the middle of the ocean with three miles below me that I cannot see and all I can imagine are the sharks moving in on the smell of my fear. During the fall intensive, Lucia said something that has helped me immeasurably: CHAOS IS SIMPLY THAT SPACE THAT EXISTS BETWEEN AN OLD ORDER AND A NEW ORDER. This simple statement keeps me moving forward through those moments when my thoughts and feelings are trying to make me run back to the world I know. So I journal. ALOT. And I pray that the fall-out of Love's fruition becomes the fuel I need to grow into the woman that God intends for me to be.

Welp... as I suspected, after I returned from the CJEA training, all of the lovely little seeds I had been tending to have begun sprouting..... FAST. My first art exhibit was a total success. Three paintings already sold before the opening, and another four sold by the end of the night!

While I was at the training, my friend Lauren called to let me know that she met a woman who is wanting to have her art students paint a mural but needed a crew supervisor. So a week after I got back home I set up a meeting to chat with the teacher about the mural project, which sounds AWESOME. Somewhere in the middle of our discussion she mentioned that her school is looking for a VISTA, which is a position obtained through Americorps (click here for more info) where I would work at a school doing, among many other things, Creative Journal Expressive Arts with the students! Both the teacher and the Americorps representative are intrigued by the method. I go in later this week to fill out the remaining paperwork and leave for training in Austin on Monday. I AM SO EXCITED! OH, and the best part is, after a year commitment I will receive an education award that will cover the cost of completing my degree! WOOHOO!

So far, that's it... but that is ALOT. I'll keep you posted.

"My Secret Garden" Art Exhibit

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 16th @ 7pm
WHERE: Sauced on Paseo Dr.

THIS IS MY VERY FIRST ART EXHIBIT!!!!!

Every piece of art in this exhibit was created (at least in part) with my non-dominant hand, which is a major aspect of Creative Journal Expressive Arts. As a result of doing the CJEA method and going through the training program, my creativity has exploded and my style has completely changed. Until I started doing Creative Journal work, I never thought that I had it in me to pull off a show. All I can say is THANK GOD WE EVOLVE.

SHIFT WORKSHOP

ARE YOU FEELING

A SHIFT?

Do you want to learn some
tools to identify and utilize
these intangible stirrings?

Go from FUNK TO FUNTIONAL
with
Creative Journal Expressive Arts

Date: Sunday, November 25th
United Life Spiritual Center
3332 N. Meridian Ave. OKC, OK

Love Offering recommended
R.S.V.P at amandajoy74@hotmail.com

Shifting Latitudes

I'm heading off to Mission tomorrow morning and I am about to jump out of my skin with excitement! I remember my last walk around the grounds at El Rocio soaking in all of the lovely little details... thinking how far away October 27th seemed. Although time flew, the Spring Intensive seems quite distant... so many changes have happened in the space between then and now. I feel like a different person in many ways.

I've been getting down on myself lately, not sure why my external world is not expressing the massive internal shifts that have been happening within me. Although I feel different, I'm still messy and broke and inconsistent.... but I woke up with a strange feeling a few mornings back: this Intensive would bring about as much change as the last one did, but in different ways. I feel like the first half of my time in this program was spent pulling out weeds and planting seeds... and the next half will be about tending to the sprouts that pop up into the world of form. This makes me realize that I still have alot to learn about faith and patience.

On a more practical note, I had my supervised workshop last week and I did quite well for a novice. I am going to be offering this particular workshop again on November 11th at United Life Spiritual Center... It's a SHIFT workshop. I've been hearing quite frequently people saying "I'm feeling a shift and I don't know what it is or what to do with it." This is the first of a three part workshop series meant to help the participant figure out the shape and texture of their shift, and how they envision it manifesting in their lives. I've gotten some great feedback from the participants. E-mail me if you are interested in participating or if you would like me to host this workshop at your venue.

Sleep calls... hopefully it will take me over.

Then there's...

You know, donations are a wonderful thing... but it occures to me that I can offer a service in exchange. I am a painter/muralist, after all (visit my work website here). The art that you see on this page is only one creative style. If you are interested in commissioning a painting, pop me over an e-mail! I must also let you know that I am having an art opening on November 16th at "Sauced" on Paseo. As well as offering large paintings, I will be seeling prints of some of my journal art. All of the sales from this show are going towards my CJEA expenses.

ALOTALOTALOT

My friend John came out and videoed a recent ALTARED BOOK CLUB meet-up and we spent the next few weekends editing it down... and here it is, above.

I've been crazy busy lately trying to get funds together for the upcoming intensive at the end of October that I'll be assisting at. As if I don't have enough to to, I went through crisis training at the YWCA last week to: 1. Do art with the mothers and children at the battered women's shelter, and 2. Be a sexual assault advocate. The latter was not in my plans, but that little voice kept telling me "THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO". Okay. I go in later this week to talk with the volunteer coordinator about how I can incorporate CJEA into their program... namely ALTARED BOOK CLUB.

Also, a few friends and I recently started a group called THE SHIFT COLLECTIVE as a result of us each feeling great shifts happening within us, then realizing that we were not alone in this SHIFT... and we keep hearing people discussing their own shifts. SO now we have a radio show - run by Lauren Zuniga, who I will soon be teaming up with to do some workshops. Click here to get to the SHIFT COLLECTIVE web page.

What else... too much to write out at the moment... except to say: I am struggling to raise the necessary monies to get through the training program, so I will be adding a "DONATE" button to this page for anyone who would feel inspired to sponsor me with a donation of ANY size. This has been a spirit-lead process for me, and spirit suggested that I ask for support. So, there.

ALTARED BOOK CLUB

The OPEN BOOK I've been working on has stirred up the interest of some of folks that have looked through its pages... so, I started a club for anyone interested in creating their own altered book. Click here for more information on the ALTARED BOOK CLUB.

21 Days of Solitude

I'm having difficulty finding words... all of this journaling has facilitated a HUGE shift. I was able to spend three weeks holed up in my home, trying to make sense of these stirrings. Yesterday was the first day I've been able to put some shape and texture to it in my OPEN BOOK:

I'm going to start having regular "Altared Book Club" (yes, ALTAR-ED) get-togethers, where we will do a creative journal activity before playing in our books. E-mail me at amandajoy74@hotmail.com if you are interested in attending.

I had my first Creative Journal workshop a couple of days ago and it was a beautiful success. I have another workshop scheduled for this Sunday. The last open seat has been filled! I am close to meeting my next tuition payment requirement. I am making the goal that the remaining $3250 for tuition and expenses will come from workshops... and any generous spirits who wish to sponsor me in this adventure.

Impromtu Worshop at "United Life"

My friend Lauren invited me to be a part of "Here and Now", a wonderful gathering she is getting off the ground with a handful of other like minded folks at "United Life" church on N.W. 33rd and Meridian in OKC. I am really looking forward to seeing how this gathering evolves. Anyway, I was able to share my experience with Creative Journal Expressive Arts. I invited anyone who was interested in learning more about it to sit with me at my table, which was set up with paper and art supplies. I had a great experience sharing a few CJEA tools with the attendees... and it was a wonderful opportunity to prepare for my first 'official' workshop a few days later.

Okay... lots to say.

First off, I will be having a second Creative Journal workshop on July 29th... and the location has changed for both workshops. The Blue Moon has closed its doors, so Lynda Toney-Bahr has offered her "Art of E-Motion " studio located at 4309 N. Western ave.

Next... doing all of this Creative Journal work has caused a HUGE shift. I feel completely transformed. I tried to sum it up in this OPEN BOOK entry:

(Original photo taken by Paul Medina... I added the dress)

After doing the dual hand exercises in "The Power of Your Other Hand", my art has shifted yet again. When I first started painting with my other hand, my dominant hand kept wanting to take over because it was getting frustrated at the lack of painting skill in my left hand... so I kept on painting until that urge passed. Today my dominant hand wanted to get in on the action and I finally let it. They are working together beautifully:

Below is what the painting looked like a couple of days ago... if you can tell by looking at it, I wasn't in the best mood. What a difference a day (or two) makes... and letting both hands work together.

Open Book

I've been working on a proposal on doing a traveling workshop for young teenagers (hopefully through the OKC Public School System) incorporating CJEA with the journaling style and personal idealogy of Dan Eldon, who's legacy has had a major imact on my life. Click here to see Dan's journals and learn more about this amazing person. Anyway, I thought I should start a journal of my own as an example. I found an old hard cover book and, well... see for your self.