Art and Animation in Wisconsin
I'm back from my trip out to Wisconsin. Besides seeing my birthfamily again, I would have to say the highlight of this trip was my visit to Door County. It is an artists' paradise. Beautiful scenery to draw, paint, photograph. Art Galleries, schools. Fishing towns with quaint little shops. There is a school in Fish Creek called Penninsula School of Art. Their current temporary exhibition was The Art of Animation. (How did they know? I always wanted to be a cartoonist/animator when I grew up) I was so happy that this happened to be their current exhibit! It didn't disappoint, either. All of the artists were so talented, but I especially loved this story. "Flawed", by Andrea Dorfman. She is Canadian, as were all of the artists in this exhibit. I'll share it with you. I also have to say, on a side note, that this is a very busy few weeks for me. I will be writing more soon but I did just get back from my trip. And I've been non-stop since I've been home. And I'm taking my son to see the band Incubus tomorrow night. And we're bringing our daughter home from college on Friday, driving up to Boston and back in one day. I love keeping busy though, so no worries! It's alll good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDbFsLu_lRo

De-clutter
I am short on time to write this week. I'm getting ready to fly to Wisconsin to visit my birthfamily again!
This will be my second trip out there. I'm so excited! I thought I would show one of the very first pages I ever did in my art journal.  I did this two years ago, in June 2010, around the time I started my birthfamily search. Making that decision was one of the most difficult, scary, and rewarding I have ever made. But first I had to get rid of all of the bad thoughts, negative voices that kept creeping into my head. 
This page reflects that time period. I enjoy art journaling not only because it is an actual record of a certain time in your life, but also the release it gives. Ahh, clean swept, clutter free.
Just doing whatever you feel like doing on the page, whatever you feel like writing, just throwing it on there. No rules. No boundaries. It's your own.
You transfer the junk from your head onto the page and help to free your mind. 
That is what art and writing do for me.