After a week break on my blog, I’m diving into blogging again – refreshed after the crazy busy (but fun) last week of 2018… yep, the Top 2000 blogparty was a great succes. You can look back on the music-inspired journal I made here and see all seven blogpost crammed with art from participants here.

And now it’s back to bussiness… although I had a bit of a hard time to get started…

WOYWW #501

Yup, right… I worked on this page (for a collaboration project) all day yesterday and it got worse and worse… I kept on adding pictures and paint and crayons but nothing could satisfy me or save the page so in the end I smeared gesso over it. To make matters worse, I knocked over that can of mod podge. It’s a new one and really full, so there was a large puddle of glue on my desk. I managed to save a lot and put it back in the can.

Was it a waste day then? Well, no… getting back into creating is never a waste and I enjoyed the process (except for the glue-cleaning part.) On top of that, the layers underneath the gesso add extra texture to the page. I am eager to dive in and work on it again today.

Now that 2019 has begun, I also started working in the new Chronicles art journal I bound… but first let me show you the last pages in my 2018 journal.

The Chronicles of Marit 2018 – Week 51

The Chronicles of Marit 2018 – Week 52

And this is the new Chronicles journal that I will use in 2019. I showed you several photos of it back in November, right after I bound it. You can see those photos (with pics of the back and details of the spine) here

The first page in my Chronicles is a single page, and I always use that to reflect on my ‘Word of the Year’. You might be familiar with that concept? The tradition of choosing “One Little Word” (or OLW) instead of making resolutions at the beginning of a year first started with Ali Edwards. She inspired a lot of people who follow the ‘One Little Word’ tradition now. The idea is to choose one word to symbolize the intention you have for the new year. Just one little word that you can focus on, mediate on and reflect upon. A word to use as a touchstone…

I had difficulties finding my word for 2019, I thought about ‘rise’ and ‘bold’ and ‘intuition’ (in Dutch) but then it came to me… “GUTS has it all – it includes the ‘bold’ and the ‘intuition’ and it comes with a bonus: the “belly-part.” I can do with a little weight loss and neet to eat healthier – so “Guts” is just the perfect word for me! There is no Dutch translation for it that includes all those meanings, so I go with the English ‘guts’ in 2019. It suits me!

Now that I had my word, I could create the first page in my journal. I never pictured my portrait on my ‘OLW-page” before (I always save the last page of my journal for a selfie/photo) but Effy had a lesson in Book of Days (where I am a bonus artist, you can still sign up for it – see badge in side menu) and her lesson inspired me – I first transferred a photo but after adding the text, the transfer seemed a bit pale/vague so I painted over it to get the balance back on the page.

The Chronicles of Marit 2019 – First “One Little Word” page

And this was the (rather long) kick off blogpost of the year, let’s rock 2019!

The first year I started with this OLW tradition (2010) I choose the word
SMILE, because my life was in a dip and I was rapidly heading towards
becoming a grumpy lady. The word stayed with me all year and made me
focus on the good things in life. Even my artwork became brighter and more
colourful.

For 2011 my word was AWARENESS
(read my considerations and reasons why in this blogpost)

..

The word AWARENESS has been on my mind a lot lately. Although it was
there all year long in the back of my head, last months I seemed to really
NEEDED it! I faced some major changes, both in my personal life (my son
moving out) as well as business-wise (teaching a live workshop, starting up
FEATURING – my own magazine) This word kept me sharp. I often said it
to myself: ‘are you truly aware?’ It helped me look further, taking into account
everyone’s emotions, showed alternative ways to go and possibilities and
made me alert to oversee the consequences of different approaches.
Wow, it’s a powerful word!

Last week, out of the blue, my new word for next year arose.
It’s early, I know, it’s not even December yet! It probably has to do with
my new goals for next year.

The due date for the FEATURING team submissions was last week and I had
to make choices. Which people fit the team? It’s never easy to make a choice
and that’s when this word popped up: CORE.

I have to stay close to my core. My wishes, my dreams – what I want this
magazine to be – are the most important thing and I choose people for the
team who I truly feel are capable of helping with that. Reading their resume
and the test-article they wrote, it felt like they had the same vision and view.
My feelings were confirmed by Annemarie, who agreed months ago to be my
text editor and is helping me with the magazine ever since. Annemarie had
chosen the exact same names and had the same ideas about the content of
all the submissions we got! AWARENESS and CORE worked together on this!

Oh, and don’t worry… the new members are informed and the names will soon
be announced on the FEATURING website…

That’s a lot of text I wrote there… hm, time for a picture then.
(yes, there’s only one page to show this time)

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 46

(23 x 31 cm - 9.1 x 12.2 inch)

I know, I know, there’s a lot of blurred text. I had a lot to reflect on and
spit out on the page last week, and I rather keep it private. But you can
see the overall ‘feel’ of the page, right?

And that’s it for today dear ones.
I wish you all a nice week.
Be AWARE and guard your CORE!