This past weekend smelled of spring here. Sixty degrees, sun shining and no need for the fireplace, it was a damn near perfect weekend. I even dragged my lazy butt out the door and took the dogs for a short brisk walk. It was great.

I also journaled for the March Art Journal Challenge. The idea is to journal every day for the month, not to finish a page or spread but to journal in some manner everyday. So far so good. I haven't completed a page a day but I have been working in my journal and its pretty good to step back and NOT finish a page, or feel pressure to do so.

I made a journal just for this challenge with just over 30 spreads in it but it looks like it's going to take me longer to fill it than normal. I used stonehenge paper and while I like it for larger work or watercolor it's a little more difficult to use with pen and ink. I may switch to a different media for the rest of the journal, or gesso the pages, or seal them somehow. I like the journal a lot though.

I have not been making many journals lately. I've been focusing mostly on art, journaling, ning and getting ready for grad school. Part of it is a trade off but part of it is also burn out. I used to make a lot of journals, it was a large part of my income. Now it's much less so and I'm okay with that. I've still got a ton of journals up on artfire,if you are interested, and I'm going to continue to make them but less of them. Last night I had an idea for making some larger one of a kind books using mostly recycled materials. I made a test book, it's rough but if I like how it turns out I'll make a few more. They will be pricey but hopefully worth the cost. What I've got so far in this one is neat. I'll post some pics tonight or tomorrow. I realized that I also like working on pages that are not white. There is a whole thread on artjournaling.ning.com about junk journals and much of the discussion is about working on pages that are not blank.

The Challenge is going really well, lots of discussion and sharing of images in the group. Anyone can join, it's a free workshop and there is plenty of room. It's a no pressure kind of group, few rules other than cracking open that journal everyday. head on over!