Ring in Spring Workshop

Ring in Spring was the name of the all day art/sketchbook/journal workshop presented by Brother Brian, a Marianist. The location was at the Marianist Retreat Center in the Marycliff House. Brother Brian made me want to smile more with his own non-stop enthusiastic smile. There was no doubt that he absolutely loves what he does, and that spills over… in turn, inspiring the group.

We started with breakfast. After we ate, we gathered at the table, and we all introduced ourselves and why we came. Such interesting and lovely people.

I had learned about this workshop last year from my sister Ruth and her husband Buddy, but I was unable to go. When I heard what I missed, I made sure I jumped on it this time. It was interesting for me because earlier in the week, I had visited another monastery (The Abbey) in Conception, Missouri for a few days of writing. Two beautiful places in one week... how blessed I am.

Buddy is nephew to the late Brother Mel Meyer, artist extraordinaire. My best friend from grade school, Susan is Buddy’s sister. (Are you confused yet since Buddy is also my brother-in-law?) I grew up around the family, in the presence of “Uncle Mel” not realizing what an amazing, prolific artist, and man he was.

Brother Brian worked with Brother Mel, so I knew this workshop would be awesome and inspiring.

After introductions, it was time to play and have fun – a requirement of the workshop. And that we did with a warm-up exercise.

Warm-Up

Then we did blind contour - you're not to look at your paper, only keeping your eye on the object while drawing.

blind contour

Brother Brian took us step by step with basic shapes to draw a cartoon. Boy, my Bugs Bunny is no reflection of his direction, but I ended up having fun with my bunny anyway.

basic shapes - cartoon

We did ‘imagination and abstract’ by free drawing and then filling it in. I remember doing something similar to this as a kid and always loved it.

imagination/abstract 

Brother Brian shared parts of his personal journals and went through all the different ways you could keep a sketch journal. I journal everyday with writing, but never thought to incorporate drawing with it as well. I’m so inspired.

How quickly time flew by, and a delicious lunch was served. After we ate, we were free to explore the Marycliff House and the grounds. We could go wherever we wanted. When Brother Brian said there were swings on both the porches, I knew where I wanted to go first. I love swings. Now this swing was the swing of all swings—handcrafted, and it was more like a ride. Jessica, Rita (my two daughters) Buddy and I swung and drew. Even though it was a little chilly, it was so worth it. By the way, Ruth had another commitment and had to join us later.

Here are my sketches from the swing. It's kind of hard drawing while in movement. Bud has the "Mel" gene and clearly, he had no problem.

  Jessica and Rita on swing

 cartoon on swing

I could have stayed on the swing the entire two hours of free time we had to explore, but I made myself get up and roam around the house. I ended up on the upper porch to check out that swing. It was more like a regular porch swing, but the view of trees was awesome. As a lover of trees, I did a blind drawing (sort of – as I’d look up now and then). I filled it in with some free drawing.

tree one

While doing the above “filling in” it was quite contemplative and I had a lot of ideas rushing through my head which made me want to stop and draw another tree, but I heard “patience” and “be in the moment” and so I finished. I also wrote: “It doesn’t matter which way we go, as Soul, we all make our way home to God. Our journey is to experience LOVE.”

My next tree, I stole the design from my friend Sioux and her zendoodling. But I knew I had to finish this later or I wouldn’t have time to explore outside. I recalled seeing this cool old stone structure when we pulled up and I wanted to check it out. (When I got home, I finished filling in the tree.)

 tree two

I walked around the house and ended up sitting on an old stone bench while sketching this cool birdhouse.

birdhouse

Then I looked to my right and in the wall of the stone was a chain. Inspiration from a chain, go figure.

chain

It was pretty chilly, so I made my way back inside, but before I got there I spotted a group of daffodils. I plopped down on the sidewalk and did some blind drawing.

daffodils

Blind drawing, for me, allows me permission to draw without feeling the need to be perfect. Not that anything I draw could ever be perfect, but it sure took the pressure off. It was so much more freeing.

I went back inside to the first (way cool) swing and filled in one of my windows (abstract) that I had drawn earlier on the swing. (I filled them all in when I got home.)

windows to spring

Brother Brian had a T-shirt on that said: Earth without Art is just “Eh”

And isn’t that the truth?

Brother Brian conducts these workshops throughout the year, so if you’re looking for some creative inspiration, I highly recommend you check it out. He has a blog: abz paperless sketchbook journal. Even if  you just sat and watched Brother Brian, you’d be inspired just from his beautiful smile.

Thank you, Brother Brian!

The Next Big Thing

Tag! I'm it! Sioux from Sioux’s Page, tagged me. She answered these same questions on her blog. Because Sioux was so kind as to say that I inspired her to write her book in progress that she wrote during this year’s NaNoWriMo, well… I wanted to oblige her.

And like Sioux said, after you read my answers, hopefully Pat Wahler will accept being "it" and will post next Tuesday. I know Pat has also participated in NaNoWriMo more than once. Also as Sioux says, “Inquiring minds want to know...”

You’re tagged Pat: http://critteralley.blogspot.com/

And here are my answers:

What is your working title of your book? The Locked Heart. I haven’t changed the title since I wrote it last year as a NaNoWriMo project.

Where did the idea come from for the book? Originally it was to be the thread in a previous book that I had written which was an accumulation of one-sided letters written to an aunt in a nursing home (who was unable to write back)… but I needed something to tie all the letters together and thought this idea would do it. However, it turned out to be a story in itself.

What genre does your book fall under? I wanted it to fall under epistolary, guess that would be fictional epistolary, as that’s the structure of all five drafts of my books – in some form of letter writing/journal writing/diary type form. But about half way through the book, the story just took over – so the first half is in journal form while the second half is in regular (?) form. Now I have to decide which way I’m going to go…

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Ellen DeGeneres comes to mind to play one particular character. I’d love for Viggo Mortensen (that one is for you, Sioux) to play a role, and gee, I have no idea about the main character. Any thoughts WWWPs?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A niece and aunt resolve their estranged relationship over preconceived issues and the magic of a locket opens the door to truth neither wanted to accept.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I’ll consider either when that time comes… who knows what the publishing world will be like then. But if there’s an agent out there interested, bring it on.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Less than 30 days. Like I said before, it was a NaNoWriMo project that I wrote in 2011. I’m still working on it – that’s the hard part: rewriting, revision, rewriting, editing, rewriting. Did I mention rewriting?

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I have no idea. I’m pretty sure I’ve read every epistolary type book that is out there and I haven’t read anything like this.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? I’ve been inspired by so many people. One leads to the other that leads to the other… over the years I’ve been blessed by so many writer and non-writer friends/family that have been supportive. You all know who you are… and a huge thank you to all of you.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? I think there are a lot of different layers of universal themes running throughout… or that’s my hope anyway. Love, intimacy/non-intimacy, prejudices, misunderstandings, misconceptions. People are most important regardless of their beliefs concerning anything. It’s all about the love, no matter what kind of love.