Valentine Journal Page

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know I'm a day early, but I was ready and I've been eating chocolate!

Today is Friday which means journal page day and I'd like you to meet
Mr. and Mrs. Dragon on their wedding day.

A few presents for you! (Thank you Dover!)

Cute little Valentine Putti is clip art for you.

Another clip art bouquet for you.

I think the swans are my favorite clip art.

The next chapter in The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women is titled Conquering Saboteurs. "In order to leverage your creative growth, you need to defend yourself from saboteurs, both internal and external". In order to do this McMeekin suggests that we value our natural abilities, overcome the fear of criticism and others, but it was these two that I *felt* the most. She talked about gremlins -- those persistent little voices of doubt. The gremlins suddenly turned into dragons that needed slaying. I laughed. Interesting what symbols mean to people. You see, my imaginary friend when I was a kid (a very long time ago) was a dragon. Sort of a dragon of the Puff the Magic Dragon type, with a nice big belly that made curling up easy and comfy with his wings draped around me. My dear Puff has changed over the years. Sometimes he was a fiery monster that kept all the bad *stuff* away, but he always was on my side.

My natural abilities were never nurtured at home. I had a chorus teacher in grade school who recognized my perfect pitch. I still kick myself for not continuing voice studies, but the finances weren't there -- the support wasn't either. I quit singing in high school. I hum a tune every now and then. I loved Barbara Sher's quote "A good teacher is the holiest of God's creatures." Amen. To all you teachers out there -- bless you!

My father had the most beautiful handwriting. He was taught in school the Spencerian Script. It was hard to read with all its flourishes, but what an art! He should have been an artist.

I've always been interested in *things*. I've always *crafted*. I don't think of myself as an artist -- craft person is ok with me. Is that a gremlin sneaking in and telling me I can't do it? Good question!

When this month is over, and all my talks and tours are given, I'm going to take a kid's art class. I have the books and I'm going to be a 5 year old going to my first art class with my crayons and pencils in tow. Don't worry, I'll share!

One more quote from this chapter: "To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another." ~Katherine Paterson, writer.