NCCAT and NBPTS

Dave and I successfully rocked another season of NCCAT (North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching). It was an awesome week with 20 teachers from all over the state of North Carolina. Some were already familiar with the visual journal, and some were not. All participants gelled very quickly with each other and with the journal.

A real highlight of the week was the chance to meet author Patti Digh. A year ago, Dave and I were introduced to her book Life is a Verb, and we had the chance to hear her read passages from her book. The premise of the book is simple: If you had 37 days to live, how would you be living those 37 days, and why are you not living that way now? Life is a Verb is full of stories, advice, and activities to lead a richer life. We were honored to have her stop by our seminar room and check out what we were doing. She even included us on her blog. Thanks for the shout out. I highly recommend Patti's book if you are looking to live a higher quality life.

Part of the art bomb that was dropped during the week.

A journal spread by Amy, a.k.a. A-Shon.

A sparkling spider web on a bronze statue outside of NCCAT on the last day.


The week ended on an even higher note, I found out today, that I passed my National Boards.

Pages and NCCAT

I wanted to share a few more pages from journal #11. The above two-page spread uses watercolor pencil, ink, collage, solvent transfer, and acrylic paint. The page below contains a rectangular window in the center that shows the previous page. The rest of the page is simply black ink using one of my favorite pens - the uniball Vision. Sometimes it is simply fun to use a single medium on a page.


Dave and I are gearing up to teach at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT). It has to be one of our favorite places as we spend a week teaching 24 participants about the visual journal. It is always a lot of work, but very rewarding. Amazing things happen there. We are grateful to the center for having us back for the fifth time and to those who keep signing up to attend.

Natural Conflict

This is a new piece that I created over the last week. I first cut a piece of Aquarelle Multimedia paper to 11"x14" - the same size as one of my journal pages. Then I began layering various colors and shapes using Prismacolor watercolor pencil. I allowed the paper to dry in between layers, and after the last layer of watercolor pencil, I began developing the image further with regular Prismacolor pencil. The image above shows the piece in process after all the watercolor pencil had been applied, and just as I began using colored pencil. The image below shows the completed piece. This piece is part of my excavation series, and I wanted to experiment with a new idea by combining the organic froms with the geometric.