I’ve toyed with being a child for IFJM month several times,
but always talked myself out of it – but the idea kept resurfacing. It was so funny that my sister Joan decided
to be a kid this year also. As I stated
before we began, I haven’t decided what
I want to be when I grow up, so I thoroughly enjoyed being and thinking like a
10-year-old for a month. Actually, the
thinking wasn’t too difficult – I still think that way a lot of the time. And I really got into the dialogue – and the
writing. LOL! I had a lot of fun tilting my letters and misspelling words.
I kept my goal simple – to enjoy myself. I tend to start things and not follow
through, so it had to be fun or I wouldn’t stick with it. (10 year old thinking???) I knew from having
11 grandchildren that kids like to use markers, and as a rule, they jump right
in without preparation or reference photos.
The real me sneaked in a few times and used some reference material, but
I tried to keep it as natural and spontaneous as possible. I liked using markers, and I think I will
continue to use them occasionally. They
are simple and portable, and worked well in the Strathmore Visual Journal with the Bristol pages. I don’t remember having markers when I was a
kid – I guess my childhood predated them.
I wanted to keep a similar format for each page – and since
kids sometimes stick to “rules” the
visiting artist in the first post showed them to “draw something, write stuff,
and make a border”, and this is what I/she did.
I only missed one day.
I had an emergency root canal, and was on pain meds that made me
groggy. I could have just made it up on
another day, but…..chose not to.
I loved following the other artists’ journals. Such widely different, original, creative
ideas, and they pulled them off so well.
I looked forward to seeing what they came up with each day. This was my 7th year participating
in IFJM (I counted them, and I think it is 7 for you too, Joan),and it’s always
a lot of fun, and sometimes a lot of work too.
Thanks, Roz, for “inventing” this fun yearly journaling party, and
inviting us all to join in.
