Daily Challenge Book Update

It's been a while since I mentioned anything about the book of daily challenges that I've been writing, so I wanted to take a moment and give a little update.

I have been slowly working on writing the 365 challenges, and I'm up to 223, so I am a little over two thirds of the way through writing it. I haven't gotten very far, though, in designing the book and getting it laid out. The issue has been that there has been a lot going on over the past few months, and I haven't had the time that I would have liked. I was really hoping to have it ready for publication by late summer just in time for teachers to start off the school year with it, but that's not going to happen. Besides, I really wanted to publish it with one challenge per page, and a full-color book with more than 365 pages would be extremely expensive. So, I've come up with an alternative plan.

Here's my plan.

I'm looking at releasing two versions of the book - an ebook version and a physical version. They'll have the same content, but they'll be formatted differently. For the ebook version, I've broken it into 12 parts, one for each month of the year, and my plan is to publish a new part each month that will be sold for download through my online store for $5 a piece. Each part will be just under 40 pages in length with one challenge per page, in full color. That'll be over 400 pages when everything is released! And at some point within the next year, I would like to follow up with a 144 page, physical book with 3 challenges per page that I'll hopefully offer through Amazon's CreateSpace for $25 each.

My thinking was that there are probably teachers out there that would love to use the challenges with their classes at the beginning of a new school year in the fall, as well as artists who just don't want to wait another 7 or 8 months for something to be published. So, come August 1, 2017, I'll release Part 1 of The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge as an ebook, Part 2 will come September 1, and a new part will be published each month there after. As an ebook, you'll not only be able to view it on your computer or any of your devices, but you'll also be able to print the book in a variety of formats. If you print it with 4 or 6 pages per sheet, you'll be able to create a perfect set of challenge cards for yourself or your students. If you'd like a physical book, you'll have to wait a while longer for it.

Part 1 is almost done, and I can't wait to share it with you in a month and a half!

Hawaii

One week ago, I was in the midst of teaching a Summer Institute with David for educators at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului, Maui. I must say that it was spectacular to be invited to teach in Hawaii, and I spent part of the trip in disbelief that I was actually there. It was extra special since my wife was able to tag along.

After a rather grueling 16 hr trip from the DC area to Maui and a snafu at our reserved condo that left us locked out for a couple of hours, we settled in for the night so that we could be rested for our Maui adventure. We built in an extra day to acclimate to the time difference and to enjoy ourselves a bit, so we got up early the next day to explore the island.

We headed to Haleakala, the dormant volcanic that dominates east Maui. The peak of Haleakala is just over 10,000 feet, and the 40 mile drive took over an hour and a half from our condo at sea level in Maalaea. But it was well worth the twisting road, the steep climb in elevation, and the dozen or so cyclists who were determined to bike up the mountain. The crater was completely other worldly, and provided a stunning 360 degree view. We didn't go early enough for the sunrise, an activity so popular now that you have to make a reservation with the National Park Service, but we spent a good portion of the morning there taking in the breathtaking views. Later in the day we headed to Lahaina to see the western side of the island and to explore the historic part of the town on Front Street which is lined with a plethora of shops and restaurants. Of course, shave ice was on the agenda!

After our day of play, it was time to get down to business, and David and I spent six days at the center teaching two groups of teachers while the wives got to explore the island and the beaches. Monday through Wednesday was a group of just elementary teachers, and Thursday through Saturday was a group of elementary, middle, and high school teachers.

Both groups were very eager and very open to the process of the visual journal, and everyone seemed comfortable with diving in. We did hear later that some of the teachers were a bit nervous about it being an art professional development class, but hopefully David and I quelled their anxiety as we started. To be honest, no one seemed nervous, and they all took to process quickly.

It seemed that by the end of the first session those nerves and anxieties were gone, and it became difficult to get the participants to stop. Even at the end of the day, many of them just did not want to stop, and would stay until we had to kick them out.

We even heard tales of people spending hours at home or in their hotel rooms working in their journal and staying up too late. It's always nice to hear that people get so into the visual journal. The word "addicting" came up a lot throughout the week, and I think many people came to better understand our name, the Journal Fodder Junkies!

It was an amazing experience to connect with those sixty educators who ventured out to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and it just reaffirmed for me the power of the visual journal and the power of art. 

Of course, it wasn't all work. For my wife it was a just a vacation, and she hit up the beaches almost every day, but we did get to enjoy the beaches together both in the morning and in the afternoons. We stayed in an ocean front condo that was walking distance to a beach that was perfect for morning walks, and we were able to hit up a few beaches in the afternoon when we were done with class.

Maui was a truly remarkable adventure, and I am full of gratitude to the universe for taking me there. One year ago, when I stepped away from life as a public school teacher, I had no idea where my new adventure would take me. I couldn't image that it would take me to Maui where I could have an impact on thousands and thousands of students through their teachers. It's such a humbling thought.

I am appreciative and truly thankful to Chadwick Pang, the Education Director for the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, for making it all possible by bring us to Maui; to Bianca Rajan, the Exhibits Assistant for the center, for all of her help during our week; and to all of the teachers who came out to explore the journal with us. It was an amazingly remarkable experience.

Mahalo!

The Universe Answers

It has been nearly a year since I handed in my resignation from teaching in the public schools, and nearly eight months since I received my last paycheck from the school district. And I must say that things are going well as a self-employed artist. That doesn't mean that it's been smooth sailing without bumps and stress, but the bills are being paid each month and I am finding steady opportunities.

There is one thing that I have come to understand through all of this. The universe always answers. I have become a firm believer that our thoughts and our beliefs create our reality. If all we think of and feel is a sense of lack and overwhelming scarcity, then the universe answers. We feel that we never have enough, and it always seems like we are not getting our fair share. However, if we believe that the world is one filled with abundance and opportunity, then the universe answers. There always seems to be enough, and opportunities seem to be plenty and seem to come up out of nowhere.

I have seen this happen again and again over the past year. I have seen how the universe has answered.

When I resigned from teaching, my wife and I had saved a good chunk of money, and I figured that we could survive on it for seven months if nothing came through - if I didn't earn any money. But here we are, eight months into it, and for the past three months we haven't had to touch our savings, and looks like it will be the same for the next handful of months.

From the beginning, I adopted an attitude of abundance. I firmly believe that there's enough in this universe where I can not just carve out a living, but thrive. Now I haven't just been sitting back and doing nothing relying on the universe to provide. I've been out there hustling, and making opportunities happen, but more often then not, things just seem to come up. Opportunities materialize seemingly from thin air sometimes. Now I know a lot of those opportunities have come about from the connections that I have made in the past, but it's been amazing to see how many opportunities pop up at this time. From my part time job as Program Manager at the Round Hill Arts Center to presenting for the Art of Ed Online Conference, from chances to exhibit my work to providing workshops, many of these things have simply come up. The universe has answered, and I am extremely grateful.

There's probably no bigger opportunity than one that came up at the end of last year. Back in November, I got an email that completely took me by surprise - someone asking if David I would like to come teach a workshop for teachers. There's nothing too unusual about that, but this wasn't an ordinary workshop. We worked out the details and finalized everything a couple of months ago, but silly me just hasn't shared the news.

I am quite excited to announce that David and I have been invited to Hawaii at the beginning of June to teach the Summer Institute for Educators at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center for an entire week. We will lead a three-day workshop for elementary teachers and a three-day workshop for secondary teachers. We will share the power of the visual journal not just in the artroom, but also in other classrooms. The institute is for all teachers, not just art teachers. We are quite excited, and we are very much looking forward to it. I can't wait. It's about a month away!

What an amazing opportunity, and an awesome example of how the universe answers!

Galax and the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts

Last week, I had the pleasure of going to southwestern Virginia to teach in Galax, VA at the Chestnut School of the Arts. It was my third time teaching there, and David and I first went in 2015. I absolutely love teaching there. Though the classes tend to be small, there's such a special energy to the classes.

Galax is rather small, and there's not a ton of local attractions, though in the summer, it is home to the Old Fiddler's Convention as the city lies in the heart of old time, bluegrass music country. But Galax has a quaint downtown with shops and restaurants, and it even has a popular brewery, at which of course, I always find myself.

But probably the thing that I like the most is the accommodations. When available, the school puts instructors up at a nearby log cabin owned by former board member Mary Guynn of Guynn Furniture. This tiny cabin sits next to Mary's house, just five minutes from downtown, but it might as well be out in the middle of nowhere because that's the way it feels. It's in a peaceful neighborhood, and I really love the peace and quiet. Though there's a tv in the cabin, I never turn it on, and I sit and relax by a fire each night reading, working in my journal, or just losing myself in the flames and the crackle of the fire.

Of course, I am there to teach workshops, and I enjoyed two days of wonderful workshops. On Saturday, I taught Mapping the Journey, and this mixed-media workshop focused on using life as inspiration for making art, and I lead the four students through a process that looked at key moments and people from their lives. Then they worked to build rich layers using mapping marks, such as grids, highways and roads, borders, and boundaries. Unfortunately, I was so into the workshop, I forgot to take any photos.

On Sunday, I taught Luminous Liquid Layers, and it was the first time that I had taught this class. I was a little nervous about that, but we had fun building layers using liquid acrylics. We specifically used Golden High Flow Acrylics. We were even joined by one of the student's dog, Hank.

We definitely made a bit more of a mess in this workshop than we did the day before, but using a variety of techniques and application processes, the four students and I were completely immersed in the work. I did remember to stop from time to time and take photos.

Working on a multitude of surfaces, we splattered and scraped, dripped and stamped, stenciled and painted. All in all we had a good time playing and exploring.

Thank you Patty, Penney, Martha Sue, Chris, and Christy (not pictured) for making the weekend wonderful! I hope to see you all the next time I go to Galax to teach.

If your interested in taking a workshop, check out the Events page for a complete listing.

The JFJ Invade NYC for the NAEA!

We got back late yesterday from New York where we presented a few sold out workshops and one extremely crowded talk for the National Art Education Association's annual convention. It was an exciting week, with lots of connections, journaling, and a bit of mischief.

We took the train up from Baltimore on Tuesday, and began the convention with a sold out, full-day journaling workshop. It's always great presenting the visual journal to a group of eager art educators, and there was a lot of creative energy flowing the whole day.

I am always astounded by what participants in these workshops do, whether they're art teachers, professional artists, or creative hobbyists. I love connecting with them, and sharing my passion.

But the journaling wasn't confined to just the workshop spaces, and at any given time we could be found working in our big books or our pocket sketchbooks, both at the convention hotel and out for dinner and drinks.

This convention was pretty special, too, because we were able to connect with some vendors, who graciously donated some awesome materials for our participants. A special thank you goes to Nasco Arts and Crafts who not only supplied us with paint and glue sticks, but also arranged for watercolor pencils and markers from Jolly Austria and brushes from Royal & Langnickel. Another special thank you goes out to Canson who supplied small sketchbooks for our collaborative journal workshop, tet[R]ad - Draw and Play Here. The teachers were so excited to walk out with these materials.

Of course there was time for adventures, silliness, and a little mischief. David met a new friend out and about on the streets of NYC, and even bed time was an adventure with roommates like Sam.

But for me the best moment was when we filled our talk, Confronting the "One and Done" Mentality to beyond capacity. Now we weren't the only presenters to do this. Many of the the rooms were on the tiny side, and there were over 7000 attendees at the convention. But filling a 200 seat room with around 350 people was pretty awesome, and there were many people standing out the door trying to hear our talk. It was a great feeling to have the support of so many!

If you were one of the unfortunate ones who stood at the door, or wanted to attend, but just couldn't because it was too full, then please see our website for a free download of the PowerPoint and notes.

We are grateful to everyone who came out, sat in a cramped room, and wanted to hear what we had to say.

Even on our last day in the city and on our way home on the train, we found time to journal, doodle and draw.

Thank you to the NAEA for accepting our proposals to present, to the vendors who donated materials for us to share, and mostly to everyone who attended a session, who talked with us in the in-between spaces, and who shared their passion, enthusiasm, and creative energy with us. It is that connection that keeps us doing these things.

Southwestern Virginia Workshops

Time is moving so fast! I can't believe that it's February already, and that means that in just a month and a half, I'll be heading to Galax, Virginia to teach at the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts.

I want to invite you to come and create with me one or both days. For the past two years, I have had the pleasure of teaching classes at Chestnut Creek, and I have absolutely loved teaching there. It's a wonderful space, but the people make it so much more. It's always a grand time and so much fun. I'm excited to go back with two new classes this year, Mapping the Journey and Luminous Liquid Layers, and I'm looking forward to sharing new ideas and new techniques.

I hope that you can join me in this small southwestern Virginia city for an awesome weekend of making art!

Check out the the Chestnut Creek website for more info and to register.

To see a complete listing of the classes and workshops that I'll be teaching, some solo and some with David, check out our Events page!

Virginia Spring Workshops.

I invite you to join me at one of my workshops this spring in western and southwestern Virginia. I'm excited to go back to Galax in March for a weekend of workshops and to add a Saturday workshop in Harrisonburg during April.

I'll be returning to the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts for the weekend of March 18th to present two full-day workshops. On Saturday, March 18th, I'll be presenting Mapping the Journey. This mixed-media workshop is adapted from a couple of workshops Dave and I have taught in years past, and we'll be mining our experiences to find inspiration for our work. Participants can choose to work in journals or on stand alone works or both!

On Saturday, March 19th, I'll be presenting Luminous Liquid Layers. In this acrylic painting workshop we will focus on using Golden High Flow Acrylics to create richly layered works on canvas and paper. This is a pared down version of the two-day workshop that I'll be teaching in Asheville, NC in May.

On Saturday, April 22nd, I'll be repeating my Luminous Liquid Workshop in Harrisonburg, VA at Larkin Arts. This is a new venue for me, and I am looking forward to taking this exciting workshop to a different audience.

I hope that you can make it out this spring. I'd love to share my experiences, ideas, and techniques with you!

Check out the Events page for a listing of all our workshops and events.