Journal Improv in Claremont, CA

(Article reprinted from the Stamp Your Heart Out e-newsletter, click HERE)

Word of the week: Improvise: Anyone who cooks knows the momentary panic which results when a recipe's key ingredient is missing from the pantry. Oh, the tap dancing begins. So we patch and fill, make our best guess and, with luck and a bit of skill, produce something not only edible, possibly superior. In any given 24-hour period, we are likely called upon to just "make it up" in order to solve a problem, a challenge, a frustration. Art forms may be the birthplace of improvisation; a forgotten line, not remembering how to spell a word so choosing a substitute, using the like-new tube of green instead of the intended, but depleted, blue. And on Saturday, May 8, fellow "True Colors" artist Lisa Hoffman and I will take a bold step and present a lecture/demo at Stamp Your Heart Out which we are calling JOURNAL IMPROV. In the privacy of our own minds, we are generally quick on our feet and we trust that ability will not desert us as customers and friends arrive with lists of materials for which they have no clear purpose. Our intention is to come up with suggestions for puzzling supplies which will make your journal pages (time to begin, if you haven't yet) sing. The presentation will begin at 1 p.m. and will include prepared technique samples, and the advertised thoughts on how to improvise when you feel lost, discouraged, stuck, blocked or simply uncertain. Please come and say hello; join us for what we hope will be a lively exchange.