3 Jul
Before the Creative Process
On Losing One’s Mind and a Giveaway (Not Necessarily Related)
“It may be when we no longer know what we have to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.” ~Wendell Berry
Excerpt from My Watercolor Journal
Just some thought sharing for those of you who may be wondering why you are wandering. Trust in the process of life.
Questions are often times more important than the answers themselves. In our questioning we shake off the answers that were given to us by someone else and open the door to the light of our own wisdom and understanding.
P.S. A brief update for those of you who may have been wondering what I’ve been up to—I wish to heck I could tell you!! I counted up and realized I’ve traveled most of this year (4.5 months). The last 40 days spent in Europe working on…well, there’s the rub…what happened in Europe stays in Europe. At least for the time being 🙂
My most treasured moments by far? The people I’ve met. From the small face of the child who pressed her nose against the window pane to watch me paint… to the perchance meeting of 87 year old Gelsa, widowed some fifty years, who led me to her mountain top rose garden overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
Some real. soul. encounters.
And a personal moment on a balcony off the coast of Italy when it hit me that my desire is to live braver and truer.
More brave.
More true.
You with me?
Always a worthy endeavor..heading into the unknown that we might lose our minds and find our souls 🙂
On my travels I picked up a few things. One sweet, petite treasure that I purchased two of. One for me and one for you. An itty bitty journal. Suitable for drawing, watercolors and small but mighty thoughts. It’s handmade leather and filled with luscious Fabriano watercolor paper.
Doesn’t get any better than this…all handmade, perfect for the pocket!
One last thing—my online painting class will be opening up again for new peeps September 6! Over 700 took the plunge in January 🙂 What are you waiting for?? Learn more>>
While on a road trip to the deep south with my adult daughter several years ago, she taught me how to keep a small painting journal- whoever wasn’t driving got to make notes and capture the scenery before us, not with a camera, but watercolors and pen. It was so fun to do, and I think our memories are deeper because of it. I would keep a journal of exceptional daily moments captured in scrawling ink and paint.
I would fill this journal with treasures from my heart and blessings of love and joy in my life! Thank you for sharing your life in such a beautiful way that has touched and changed mine
I envision my favorite subject – lovely botanicals drawn with pen and painted with delightful watercolors from nature. Each page would be dedicated to a simple flower, fruit or vegetable and maybe the occasional whimsical butterfly or bumblebee. What a beautiful way to journal God’s magnificent creation. Thank you ahead of time!
I can only imagine the joyfulness of creative collaboration with you on the pages of that treasured journal, every page infused with your love energy, inspiring me to dig deeper into my heart and allow the magic within to flow onto its waiting pages, words that butterflies dance to, lines that produce imagery that rainbows speak of, colors that sing the butterflies’ songs and forms that play in a space of borderless magical wonderment. Love, Joy, Gratitude, silliness (a bit of chocolate for good behavior) and Aloha ~Fannie ;-D
How generous of you. My journal will contain thoughts and inspirations. Sketche and paintings that perhaps later will make it to a full size painting – poppies, sunflowers, tulips, umbrellas, shoes etc.
The journal will be timetabled into my journeys – so entries are made not just thought about.
Thanks Dreama – your generosity and words of wisdom are an inspiration
Cheers
Myrna
I challenge my fellow elders to put a colorful color in their hair…This spreads joy and conversation to complete strangers. Let’s spread our joy aroung the world.
Love this!
How precious is life for those of us who seek out the smallest sweetest parts and pieces, my first thought is to paint and write about how to live each day to its fullest. I too have been on a quest. My hopes are to conquer my fears and expand my faith. Being creative in all aspects. I started painting two years ago. For sure it will be the smallest sweetest parts and pieces! Thank you Dreama. What a fun contest!
I would fill it with lovely memories of the 15+ years my family lived in France and Belgium. Thanks so much for your generosity! Looking forward to painting with you come September…it’s my birthday present from my hubby ; ).
This is so adorably sweet! Drooling over the possibilities! A thought in my head, put it on paper, a barn to sketch…a bird to paint…a quick, colorful sunsetn oh yeah!
I would love to start a journal of this journey I only just began on Mother’s Day. I have fallen in love with oil painting. I would love to journal tips, lessons learned, and paint in favorite color combinations to see at a glance.
Oh what a beautiful journal. I’m a journal junkie and winning this one would be so amazing. Thank you for your kindness.
Please enter me for that journal giveaway.
THANK YOU for all you do, Dreama. It’s so inspiring.
Sonya
It’s lovely! It wonderful to win. Thank you for the opportunity to win.
What a sweet little journal! I think I would paint a flower on each page.
Interesting that after I finished Dream, Love, Paint (in oils) I started doing more water colour again! I was thinking about the ease of travelling and journaling and checked out Dreama’s tips to get started since I hadn’t watercoloured in years. It has been an exploration that has already led me down surprising paths! It is indeed thoughtful of Dreama to give away a tool of inspiration like this!
How exciting to not only see your fb page in my newsfeed suggestion, but to also see a chance to win a fun art book. It’s beautiful! Can’t wait to see more and learn more about painting. Your style is gorgeous!
little watercolors of the things I see..floweres, trees, bugs and butterflies. My thoughts on life.. it’s just the perfect size..to carry on trips..
A most beautiful little journal. It would be a great place to do a pictorial diary of life. Or random thoughts and ideas for larger works. Now that I’m retired, I hope to have more time to devote to my art and be able to discipline myself a bit more as well. I truly would like to create a diary to pass on to my children someday. Hopefully they would cherish it.
Sounds like you have been on an amazing journey of discovery Dreams! Beautiful painting….l would probably use this sweet journal for my nature drawings.
Everything you do speaks to my soul, your words, your paintings, your colors.Can’t wait til your online course starts in September!
Fabulously delightful little journal ~ I’d enjoy filling it with love and hopes and dreams and inspirations as I continue my journey with you, Dreama! So inspired by all you share with us and looking forward to the next steps….
This would be such a great little journal to take on little trips to the nursery or out in nature for sketching and little watercolors.☺
I just did the SAME thing but found the little mini booklet’s @ Michaels Arts & Crafts and made bracelets with them for the (3) of us that will be in Le Vieux Couvent soon for the Artworkshops!
Your journal paintings are beautiful little jewels. Anxious to hear about your next new adventure! I can’t tell you how wonderful your e-course was. Thank you.
This would be something new for me. I can’t wait to get started, and if I don’t win this beautiful little sketch book, I will buy one, even though it won’t be as nice.
Have been wondering what you’re up to! Still beautiful as ever and the paintings are beautiful too! XO
A lovely little journal. I would fill it with my life – those things that inspire me, details and observations, beliefs, musings. And color, lots of color.
An intimate little treasure of insight into our heart.
What a beautiful journal! Headed to a workshop in England this fall and this would be perfect addition for my artistic journey.
What a great little journal! It would be great to write scriptures and inspirations along with little works of art~something to cherish and pass on! Thank you for all you do for us Dreama!
I love that quote! Thank you.
And that is just the sweetest petit journal
I am a journal freak. Seriously. I can’t seem to walk past an empty journal on the shelf. I would give my journal to my son, who is making his living at painting…..and then copy it so I could have one of my own….or keep this one and make on for him. 🙂 Thanks Dreama for always making life a journey…(journal journey)
So glad you were able to get some well deserved R & R in, and aRt. Lovin to travel sketch myself, I know the paintings that will result will be dreama Perfect!
Those little treasures from Europe are so precious. Oh, if I’d had this to sketch in during my semester at the Sorbonne! This would be a perfect place to sketch the best of my adventures en Paris!
I’d love to use this journal to challenge myself to be bolder, sketching in public. I’d love to keep track of the beauty around me in my everyday life.
what a perfect little garden journal! and Fabriano paper!!! ooh!!! fave!
A tiny journal just begs for spontaneous, mindful posts that are artful and soulful. Whether the posts are made on a journey to far-away places or from a nook at home, the journal allows you to tap into a special place in your heart to savor or share with others. It’s a joyful gift from a gifted artist!
I am able to spell correctly. I meant a new journal where there will be more times I’ii use color sketches as well as my reactions to the day. There is another handmade paper journal full of things for my children..family stories from my dad & grandpa & Grannie plus those they may have been to young to remember in their own lifetimes; things I feel important enough to share that I felt, believe, discovered, laughed about, cared about, some ink drawings of anything at all & directions for embroidery stitches, special recipes, poems they wrote in elementary school & afew I wrote (not so many that they want to close the book & go for a run-in other words, my homemade ephemera for when I’m gone. OH! & what I can,t resist: advice in the form of Bible quotes, wise words, funny events, &, God, loving care for me, neverending & there for everyone.
I am going to paint my path to life’s purpose here in this sweet little journal.
Thank you for taking me traveling & seeing ,seeing with feeling, with you. I’e started my journal at last.
If I did not love my life so much I might be envious of yours! I hope someone who really needs your special touch of love receives your gift.
Love seeing your name in my inbox. Living vicariously through your travels and paintings takes me away from the hectic life even for a few minutes. I’ve never had a true journal before and would love this one. Thanks for the breath of fresh air.
I see compositions all around all the time, and do paintings in my mind. It’s important to carry a little book around that one can draw and paint these inspiring moments.
Thank you for this chance to win! I’m in such a creative fog right now and could use all the help anyone has to offer to get back on track. Your work always inspires me❤️
I will fill this beautiful perfect little journal with visions of my dreams in living vibrant color …. my thoughts will meander like wisps of delicious fragrance amongst the paintings and dance like a child through a sunlit field of wildflowers!
what a super little journal. thanks for the chance to win
I would paint many birds and flowers onthis mini journal 🙂
A lovely little journal…perfect size for ‘taking with me everywhere!’
Would love to own that little journal. Perfect for sketching!
Such a generous and sweet thing to do! I would love to use the journal as a place to record the little gems I find on my nature journeys!
Paint all the joy I see in the everyday!
Beautiful thoughts and illustrations. First page, a big “thank you” to you, Dreama, for sharing the beauty of our Creator.
I will fill the little journal with paintings of things in my home, plants in my garden, and beautiful scenes of early morning or early evening in the woods behind my home.
I want to fill the tiny journal with WABBITS!!
‘cuz they are so cute
Sue
Would love to have this petite watercolor journal. I have been teaching myself watercolors and I’m loving it. I could certainly practice sketching and journaling.
What a treasure!
So beautiful. I would fill it with the animals that I’m passionate about. (Carpe Dori on IG)
Wonderful thoughts and images – thank you for sharing! This is a very important message and I’m sure MANY can relate! xo
This little gem can be my visual autobiography, filled with things that represent my happy life.
What a precious journal. A lovely thing to save small sketches and sayings. So looking forward to your classes this September.
Sounds like you have had an amazing time. I love that . . . “live braver”…. I too would like to live braver.
I would fill the journal with favourite quotes and inspirations with illustrations of course. 🙂
I’m not sure, but l know there will be lots of color!
If I win the darling little journal, what would I put on its pages? I would fill it with watercolor sketches of Tomboy and Abby Cat, sketches of each grandchild, small impressions from an upcoming wedding of one of our grandchildren (She’s 20….what do you call a grown grandchild?)….I would also paint flowers in my garden, kitty paw prints on my kitchen counter, kitty “nose-art” on the windows and my computer screen, that little bridge on the greenbelt trail through our woods, the ferris wheel on the pier on Galveston Island, Texas bluebonnets next spring, those fuzzy pink weeds along the roadside…….then I’ll write wise, funny, inspiring, silly words and thoughts right on top each painting.
I would fill it with affirmations of love and positivity, snippets from poems that call to me, prayers, and pressed flowers from my nature walks. I would surround that all with gentle colour. What a beautiful and generous gift you have offered, Dreama. Thank you for always being so thoughtful, so giving, so loving of heart and spirit.
Always beautiful words as well as paintings.
This journal is just the right size for secrets! Love it!
Thanks for sharing one.
Thanks dear Dreama Perry for sharing this personal thoughts with your Dreamettes! We really love you and your guidance!!
What a gorgeous notebook!
Taking notice you are an inspiring role model!
What a treasure of memories! Each has its own meaning! I love hearing about your experience and how I relate!
“All who wander are not lost! (Provoked by your above comment.0
Lovely!
Would love to own something like this to start journaling. So kind of you to purchase 2.
I would illustrate the encouraging messages and songs that are often dropped into my soul during my quiet time into this little hand made journal.
Treasured thoughts of love and joy—-blessings and beauty that surround me that I refuse to gloss over or ignore, thanks to the beautiful witness of a very special artist, Dreama Perry!!!
I just read “The Happiness Project” and would put a daily gratitude in it plus ideas for paintings. I’ve found that painting brings me joy and happiness. I’m greatful for that.
Dreama, you’re always surprising us, your online class, with extra bonus material, interviews with special people in your life and personal stories. Thank you once again for your thoughtful opportunity to provide someone a little treasure from your time in France! It’s a perfect souvenir of an art/painting trip and will always remind the recipient of you, your painting course, etc. I LOVE blank canvases, paper and journals. They create joyful anticipation of what’s to become, enticing and stirring within me the creative process. What fun someone will have filling those pages with their own personal inspirations.
Not sure…I need to be braver and truer with my art…less tentative.
Watercolors of my little dog Lily. My husband and I make up little adventure stories about the life she led before we rescued her. She lived in the Australian outback. She traveled thru Europe when she was young. It’s just a fun little thing we do. One of us will start and the other will add details. The truth is, she came to us with a healed broken hip that never received medical treatment per our vet. She did not wag her tail for about a year. We were so happy when we saw the first tentative little wag. She has come a long way!
What a beautiful journal! I can only dream I can sketch, paint and inspire like you! I keep trying! What a thoughtful gift for someone to win!
My best self….. and my not so best one too… bird feathers and muses of the day. thoughtful encounters….. friendship -all life’s inspirations
I love that Dreama got me started on journaling…would love to add to my collection!!
I’ll write joyful notes & paint & whatever comes to mind when I pick up my new journal!
Oh gosh… After I wipe the drool off of it I will continue on the watercolor journal expedition I started back when you first taught me how, Dreama! I love the one I have created so far and my daughter recently asked if she could please have that left to her someday. (My children playfully argue over what will be left to them…. I have a 3.99 ceramic frog that they keep crossing each others’ names off of the bottom of so they can claim it. Such a cute little battle they have going). I can’t wait for France, Dreama! I sure hope we get invited to the rose garden overlooking the Med! Xoxo from New Mexico! I hope you are home now relaxing with your loved ones. Love the entry about your love – Ron. He’s a goody! And I’m sure your Eds and Maggie are happy to have you home. Happy 4th of July weekend! God Bless America!
I’m looking forward to traveling to Europe, specifically France and Italy, in the next couple of years.
Yup. Pick Me! Pick Me! This looks like a true treasure ! Someone is going to be very happy to hold such a treasure !
I’d love to fill this beautiful journal with treasures <3 Pick me Pick Me! Oooh ooh ohh! ~ LOL
I’d love to fill this beuatiful journal with treasures <3 Pick me Pick Me! Oooh ooh ohh! ~ LOL
I just love little books, I love to write Haikus, so in this one I would draw something from nature, a little bug, the sun, and then write a haiku. This is my plan with this book, (which would be the coolest) or another book found when just the right moment.
Oh, I would put tiny flowers and jewels of life in that tiny journal!
Can’t wait until the secret life of Dreama is revealed- the art parts anyway
Always so thoughtful!
Beautiful paintings, The little journal is perfect to sketch, save a thought, scribble a quote and to treasure forever! Thank you!!
Not only do I love your paintings, your blog on journaling, but your inspirational writings!
Jilly the Journal would live in pride of place in Milly the Motorhome, both ready for journeys out, to be filled with treasures found in the nooks and crannies of France, England, Scotland and Wales.
Love to start an art journal in one like this. I may just get busy and make my own.
What a beautiful little treasure. I am building a cabin in the mountains, with an art room. What a beautiful way to document my journey
Oh, I would put flowers in that tiny journal, and dreams of places I’d travel if I could!