2 unusual fellows strolled past and i took their pics to paint later…
it seems right that i post the last of my travel journal pages on the same day as i receive word from the school district that i’m to report back to my last school on monday. but wait! then i got a call from the vp at the school in chinatown where i taught for a year and a half and they need a 3rd grade teacher for the entire year. rama lama ding dong! my school future is looking brighter by the minute. hopefully the district will allow me to return to my old chinatown post. we’ll see!
i present the very last of my stockholm travel journal. i must tell you that at the conclusion of each travel journal i am so sick of looking at it that i am ready to fling it up up up and far far far away. thus continues the paradoxical love hate relationship with everything that is created. beginners might not be aware of this love/hate see-saw and might wrongly conclude that they suck. everything they make sucks. and everything they ever do will suck. so dear reader if this is you, let me assure you that you will find love again! and the really good part of this story is that you will find it with the exact same thing you previously thought was suckable.
if you are a more seasoned artist you will know of what i speak.
so with that, i close this travel sketchbook and stack it on the shelves with the others. done!
Hello!
Yay! For the call to return to that school, where you taught before. I hope everything works out for you, with your district approving it.
I love your travel journal. Your blog is ALWAYS inspiring, uplifting and a Joy to read.
Thank you.
My two hands are clapping WILDLY for all these delightful travel sketchbook entries! Oh thank you MAM for snapping photos for us to pour over and ooooogle at, even though you are so sick of seeing these works, you are bringing us SO MUCH JOY! I love love love those maps you painted, especially the one in the last post with the little buildings and houses. I adore your “selfie of the narrator,” so so good. And your portraits of Ingrid and Sister are absolutely fabulous. And finally, 3 cheers for Wyatt being healed, hip hip hooray! Thanks again for shining your bright creative light into the world, we are so lucky to have your luminous torch!
wow thanks suki, so nice… i can feel your warm and wonderful cheering all the way down here in so cal 🙂
Bravo I say!! After a few weeks it is such a delight to look back- vacations form our creations are SOOOO necessary! I am keeping my fingers crossed that you will get to go back to Chinatown. Where ever you end up , they are so incredibly lucky to have YOU!!
I think that it would be very satisfying to turn through the pages of this journal, but I know what you mean about giving it a heave. At least you finished it – there are some things that I have left mid-project. All my paintings are terrible when I finish and it is not unusual to look back after a while and think, “Why did I find that so awful?”
SOO happy to hear about your school assignment!! I love hearing about the kids that you teach!
Hope that all works out for you!
Your journal is SOO beautiful!! I love how you mix papers and maps etc in with your
paintings. You somehow know how to always make it look so right!!
I especially love your self portrait and the portrait of the king and queen …
SOOOO good!!
Thoroughly enjoyed the journal pages. You and Sister know how to live all right. Think I’ll review some of your previous journals now that I’m in the delicious-journal-pages mood. Thanks Mary Ann.
I have loved seeing your travels! And you could not be more on target: by the time I’m done, I hate everything I’ve done….I could’ve done so many things so much better! Somehow the art fairies visit my work while it enjoys a good long rest on the shelf, making everything look a little brighter!
oh so perfectly expressed! yes yes yes!!!
OMG I thought I was the only one who had to spend hard-earned cash on airplane self mismanagement. I was so proud of saving money on a flight to L.A. and discovered a day or two before I left that I had me coming back two hours after I arrived. There went the savings and a whole lot more. I do read your words in the journals and even take notes if I know I will be in the same vicinity one of these days. Currently looking through your Paris posts and journals as I am going solo in October. Congratulations on having a job you will enjoy – 3rd grade is a nice one!
2 hours after you arrived! ha ha ha ha ha!!!! that’s a good one!
paris in october. SIGH.
i want to go to there.
I so agree with you! When I finish a big journal I do ‘t want to see it EVER again! In time, though, it (can) become more precious than gold!
XO
Thanks for sharing your wonderful adventures with us. Does your sister even smile while she is sleeping?!!! Hope you get to go backm to the chinatown school. I know you loved that and I enjoyed hearing about the children.
Mary Ann Moss–I love this journal. Your drawings are so good and they do not suck. Your selfie is particularly good, too. So there! I still have not started blogging again. You are much more interesting than me, anyway. Great to hear about the upcoming school year! Xoxo
It’s a treasure! Love every page!
That b&w self-portrait is amazing! Like your royal portraits, too. Fingers crossed for Chinatown.
you made me laugh out loud whilst envisioning your travel book flying through the air. Towards the orange chair which I covet btw.
orange chair hasn’t made an appearance on blog lately. i must remedy that!
Congratulations for finishing your beautiful travel journal!
And i am happy to read also ‘the great MAM’ can have the feeling it doesn’t look good and the pages suck!
Thank you for being so honest about this and your kind words for us,
Have fun with your next projects!
Fantástico! El final con el autorretrato de la narradora es lo más! I am waiting for your next trip…maybe Spain?
Thaks for sharing your last trip , i enjoy it so much.