Catching up

And...to get you caught up, here are weeks 1, 2 and 3.

January theme: The blank page and how to face it.
Week 1: Art challenge: Book paper, Journal prompt: Be your own goalkeeper.

 Weeek 2: Art challenge: Gesso  Journal prompt: "The beginning is always today. " -Mary Shelley

 Week 3: Art Challenge: The color wheel. Journal prompt: "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way..." -Georgia O'Keeffe

Documented Life Week 4

I am participating in the Documented Life Project again this year. Last year was so much fun. This year is even more fun if that is possible. Every week I impatiently wait for Saturday to find out what the week's challenge will be. This year is a little different. There is a monthly theme, an art challenge and a journal prompt. This makes it a little more challenging and I have to get a little more creative, which is very good for me!!

Here is week 4. The theme for January is "The blank page and how to face it. The art challenge was writing and the journal prompt was Words with Friends. I really like how my page turned out. The background was done with inktense pencils and baby wipes. Then I drew my girl (doesn't she look so sad?) I then went around the outside of her with gesso to tone it down a little bit. Then I journaled with a Uniball signo white gel pen. I didn't want the writing to take over the page.
I struggled with the journaling. The subject was painful for me. But it was something I needed to do so when I was finished, it felt good. The best pages come from strong emotions. Don't you think?

It has taken me a year to get back here. I have thought a lot about it and would come here and stare at the page, not knowing what to say. 
I don't live that exciting of a life. I am married (29 years), I have two kids, a daughter, 21 years old and a son 18 years old. They are good "kids" and I love them with all my heart. I have a full time job at a large medical clinic working in the medical records department.
I was thrilled when I got this job. I was working in another department to begin with. Our clinic has about 20 doctors and I believe 4 nurse practitioners. So my job was to answer the phones. There were at one time as many as 6 of us girls on the phone lines and on some days our phones never stopped ringing. You took call, after call, after call. Now I work in the much quieter but very repetitive department of medical records. My job is to scan the patient's medical records into their electronic chart. There are days that I have trouble keeping my head from hitting the key board. You do the same thing over and over. I get so bored and this job is just not the most fulfilling of vocations.
But, I cannot forget what a God-send this job was when I was hired six years ago. I hadn't worked for 13 years, busy raising our two children. I was very blessed to get to stay at home with them when they were little. But money got tight and it seemed like the right time for me to go back to work. But man, was it an adjustment. 
My dream is to one day be able to quit my job and maybe work from home. I don't know if or when I will get to do that. But a girl's gotta start somewhere. So I started this blog in hopes that I could share my life and my artwork with you.

This first sketch I am sharing with you is of my husband. It is one of the first sketches I drew. I was more surprised than anyone at how it turned out.