In these pivotal, overwhelming times...

As we all deal with this situation in whatever way we can--and who am I to judge what make you feel better, gives you courage, keeps you sane?--I find I am both heartened by the goodness and generosity and courage of my fellows, and overwhelmed by their offerings.

Not just the kindness of neighbors and friends, the offers of shopping or sharing, but the huge, global outpouring of offerings, opportunities, encouragement, information, classes. Novenas from Abbey of the Arts. A Virtual Retreat from Philip Carr-Gomm. Wisdom from my shamanic friends. Prayers from my Christian friends. Buddhist wisdom. Whimsy.  Music offerings.  Blog posts. Painting and drawing how-tos or sketch-alongs.  Information on home made masks. Gardening advice for those who have never gardened, and those who have. Herbal information. Exercises to stay in shape when the gym is closed.  Posts from doctors, nurses, researchers. Videos. Recipes. Humor, tragedy. The human condition.

So MANY want to do what they can to help. What we can. So many want to make what small contributions they can. I've made videos available to artists, and an eBook for those who want and need to keep a journal of these days--I am, a Pandemic Journal.  I've got half a dozen blog posts in the pipeline here, drafts waiting to be finished, photos found, published...and yet...

Are you feeling overwhelmed?  I am.

Perhaps it's time to step back and focus. Slow down.  Step away from computers and devices.  Pet a cat. Take a dog for a walk. Sew. Chop vegetables. Watch the sun come up again, tomorrow, as it will.  Breathe. Be.

Keeping an Artist's Journal Class--FREE

Many years ago, I offered a very popular interactive class on the old Yahoogroups (remember them?) called Keeping an Artist's Journal--as you know, that's been a passion of mine for many years.

Afterward, I made it into a CD for those people who still wanted to take the course when it was no longer interactive--and then turned it into an e-Book!

Our artist's journals are so important...for our own sanity, for practice, for experiencing our world, for responding to our lives.

In these challenging times of a global pandemic, when we are all learning to cope with the sweeping changes in our lives and in our days, with fear or paranoia or growing courage, when we are seeing the heroism of so many helpers, when we see neighbor helping neighbor and many offers of assistance, help and encouragement (from a safe distance), when our healthcare workers, lab researchers, first responders, veterinarians, grocery store workers, janitors, farmers, truck drivers and so many more are on the front lines doing what must be done to keep us going, our journals will see us through.  Artists are good at coping, I do truly believe.

One of Mark Alan Anderson's delightful coping sketches...

 My friend Mark Alan Anderson is using his sketch journal to cope with self-isolation and the virus by using gentle humor at himself and his situation, as we covered in this post.  It's an inspiration!

Our journals and sketchbooks may also be historically important, as I've said elsewhere.  Think of diaries and journals an personal and tribal records through the ages that have let us have a window on peoples' lives...Anne Frank comes first to mind, but there are so many more!  Audubon, Lewis and Clark, early naturalists and explorers, herbalists, prisoners of war, Lakota winter counts, cave art (not all journals are on the pages of a book!)

Our journals can be a place to record the days, our ways of coping--recipes, observations, research, suggestions, garden plans, projects, a place to capture the images of our loved ones and pets and wildlife, birds at our feeders, imaginal journeys, meditations, prayers...

Write, draw, collage, paint, press flowers...whatever records your days, your lives...it's important, and, I believe, healing.

And so, to that end and to offer help and suggestions and hopefully inspiration...my downloadable eBook, Keeping an Artist's Journal, is free for the duration.

Please, help yourself. http://cathyjohnson.info/ebooks/artistsjournal.html  

The free option is at the top of the page, please be sure to use that!  One lovely gentleman paid--and of course I refunded his money.  Free is free, for the duration of our shelter-in-place order.

(If you've been on this page before, you may need to hit "refresh" to see the free offering--I did.)

This is different from my mini-class by the same name, and from my book, Artist's Journal Workshop. There may be some of the same art, but with more step-by-step illustrations and a different format, as well as a number of "extras."

This journal was made from a single sheet of watercolor paper--instructions in the YouTube video below.

Or cut a long strip of paper and fold it zigzag-wise.  SIMPLE!  Sketch on both sides...

If you don't have a stack of empty journals or sketchbooks on hand, use what you have!  A stack of printer paper will do.  Cut up art paper and make your own--that can be as simple or as complex as you want.  Here's my little YouTube Video on the simplest kind you can make!

The zigzag or accordion-style journal above is the easiest...but so versatile!  Here's a YouTube video of my old California journal.

Feel free to share the book and save to your hard drive. We WILL get through these hard days.

The Importance of Sketching in Challenging Times...

It occurs to me that our sketchbooks are an amazing tool for entertainment, practice and even mental health and more, especially if we are in lockdown, or self-isolating, or quarantined during the COVID19 response.

A friend of mine, art teacher Mark Alan Anderson, is using his sketchbook to keep his spirits up--and ours!  The cartoons are funny, poignant, and all too honest...and he's given me permission to share (thanks, Mark!) A light in dark times.

I look forward to his sketches every day...you can find him online in our Artist's Journal Workshop Facebook group and other places...

You can see more of Mark's ongoing and delightful coping mechanism on Artist's Journal Workshop on Facebook, or on his always-inspiring blog, here.

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Once during a particularly difficult period in my own life, I kept my sanity and my sense of humor by creating what I called my Fantasy Journal--or maybe I should have called it a Sanity Journal!  My mother-in-law was suffering from dementia of a particularly angry and paranoid sort, and we would get several phone calls a day from her, from her caregiver, from Joseph's sister...it got so I couldn't bear the sound of the phone!

Enter the Fantasy Journal...I kept it right near the phone, with my art supplies, and when I could tell it was One Of THOSE Calls, I'd sit near my poor husband and draw another page!  It made us both feel better.

You may have seen it before, but the current situation reminds me--maybe it's a good time for another one!

You can find the whole journal here on YouTube.

Our journals really can help us find our way through stressful periods...my old sanity map helped me to see I had a lot more choices than I thought I did!  Maybe we could map our way through the days, now...

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Think about it.  Someday our journals from this time may just be historically important, too.

Think of how many journals and sketchbooks artists and writers and everyday folk have kept during wartime that give us an inside view of what life was like for them--how they lived, how they coped. Some cartoonist/soldiers that were incarcerated in WWII let us see their lives and times--and their indomitable courage--in a way that newsreels never could.

Think of the Diary of Anne Frank.  

Think of the Native Americans' winter count images...

Think of Medieval monks toiling away on their illuminated manuscripts, sneaking in drawings of cats or or rabbits attacking mounted horsemen.



There are literally dozens of sketch journals kept by farmers, housewives, schoolgirls, travelers and explorers, as well.  They're treasures!

Why not record your own life and coping mechanisms during difficult times?  Fantasize, draw where you'd like to be or what you'd like to be doing.  Draw what you ARE doing.  Draw your toilet paper, if you like!

If nothing else, you will have a record of courage and survival your children and grandchildren will treasure, and that you can look back on and think "Yes.  We survived.  We are strong."

Don't feel up to making a big deal of it?  Feels too overwhelming?  Try quick sketches, or tiny ones to fill a page, in a grid.  

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And of course there are also any number of groups and individuals stepping up to this challenge, offering prompts or sketchalongs if you're stuck, and those too are valuable.

But think of this as your opportunity to win a moment in history.