My New Year starts NOW!

I am very excited to be taking part in a couple of things this year: The Sketchbook Challenge and Brave Girls Soul Restoration.

The Brave Girls course starts on Monday, so I will be back with that as soon as I know more. In the meantime, if you are interested, click on the button to the right, and it will bring you to the site.

The reason the Sketchbook Challenge interests me is because I have been sort of keeping a sketchbook over the past year, starting with my Suzi Blu classes and I love it. This challenge is free, it just started and runs all year. Why not join me? Click on the button on the right for more information

I know that practicing a skill makes it a habit and it also teaches. There is so much I want to learn! I want to try a bunch of different mediums and see what speaks to me the loudest. I want to force myself to experiment without worrying what others will think of my work. I want to live my life as an artist, to see, to think, to DO things mindfully.

For Christmas I received a bunch of new supplies and have only just now opened them up to have a look since my kids were here from January 2nd to the 6th.

My husband got me some vine charcoal in my stocking because I have been very excited to try sketching with it. My daughters got me some oil pastels and watercolors and some sketchbooks.

Our January sketchbook challenge is Highly Prized, and I made a written collage page, listing a bunch of things that I value in my life- that one is not complete yet, I will show it soon.

But for some reason yesterday I felt compelled to use my charcoal and this is what I did. It took a short time, I didn't think- I just did. And I am pretty pleased with my first effort!

Highly prized: Me. Because my husband takes time to tell me every day how important I am to him, and also because I am learning that I need to value myself too, in order to be my best self.