The Journey Daybook, Inc.

Post Irma Adventure in Cedar Key

September 17, 2017

This month our Alumni Adventure held its set date of 16 September. The annual Pirate Invasion was cancelled because the Pirates were need to do their volunteer work helping Irma survivors elsewhere in Florida; however the weekend will be rescheduled to December 1-3. Six of us were beautifully organized in City Park by Patty. After one and a half hours of work and a lovely lunch provided by our precious Martin and Terry at 1842: The Daily Grind, we settled for a very meaningful Review. Overwhelmingly, although none of us was affected in large measure, it was agreed that we were all exhausted emotionally and physically from the aftereffects of the hurricane. Robin even spent several hours in the early morning working on the “Coastal Cleanup” project! All of us had small and inconvenient damage of some kind: a damaged shed, leaks, broken and downed trees, days without electricity, etc. Without realizing it, most of our work reflected our feelings around this tremendous storm and the huge damage that it caused. As we talked about our pages, we were astounded to realize the effects of Irma on our psyches. Everyone’s pages showed something of our individual disturbance, once again, showing us the therapeutic value of the Journey Daybook Process.

Elise Engler

June 12, 2017

I stumbled on the work of Elise yesterday when I glanced at a rerun of “CBS Sunday Morning.” Elise Engler, who works and teaches in New York has been making small, narrative watercolor paintings for several years. In 2015, she first exhibited a series of her work in which she painted every block of Broadway over a year’s time. She even made several pieces at night! This work really appeals to me because for several years I have loved working in series and have made journey daybook pages documenting several physical journeys – across the state of Florida, across the US, and in Europe.  I hope that you, too, will be inspired by Elise’s exciting work.

Check out an this article from The New Yorker and the video from CBS Sunday Morning. If you wish, you will be rewarded to surf the internet a bit.

January JDB Adventure: Train display at the Walkers

January 18, 2017

On Saturday, 12 January many alumni and one guest were treated to several beautiful miniature train displays housed in a Gainesville residence. Richard and our alum, Maryann, have been building these model trains, street cars, and villages for many years. I am told that this year’s display is one of the largest that they have ever constructed, spreading into several rooms. The Walkers house is transformed for the holidays into a fantasy land of motion, lights, and bell sounds. The fantasy was so perfect that I had trouble perceiving that one of the villages occupied their garage!

Maryann treated us all to a lovely lunch. What a perfect Christmas present the Walkers gave each of us!

I hope that other alums will post photos. In the meantime, I am posting a very sweet journey daybook page made by Pamela Barry –

Fall 2016 Introductory Retreat

September 09, 2016

An invitation, including a description and costs, is posted on the Activities Page.

The Pirate Invasion

September 08, 2016

Yes! A real Pirate Invasion will be the subject of September’s Alumni Adventure in Cedar Key. This charming Gulf Coast island community took a terrible hit from Hurricane Hermine last week. A few Pirates have been in Cedar Key for the past week volunteering with the clean-up and restoration effort.  Many of the businesses have worked hard to open and provide services for visitors.

On Saturday, September 17th. we will have the opportunity to celebrate with local and invading Pirates the yearly take-over of Cedar Key and City Park. Patty Jett is the Journey Daybook hostess for the day. If you like to draw people in interesting costumes, this is an event that will give one that opportunity. We will meet at 10 am at Cedar Key City Park pavilion. When you come into Cedar Key on Hwy 24, you will turn left at the first stop sign you come to (2nd Street) and follow 2nd Street to City Park which will be on your right. The pavilion is the large gray building that houses the bathrooms and has picnic tables under the covered breezeway.

We will draw and then meet back at the pavilion. (meeting time to be announced) to review our pages. There are several restaurants in Cedar Key that are open but there is the good possibility that they will be crowded so Patty recommends a sack lunch or going early to order a lunch to go. The restaurants that are open are Holey Moley (2nd Street), Tony’s Seafood (2nd Street), Annie’s Cafe (HWY 24), Away From the World Cafe (on the dock) You can google these if you want more information about them.

RSVP to Patty Jett at jett32625@yahoo.com. We look forward to seeing you next Saturday!

Journey Daybook Adventure at the Harn July 16 2016

July 17, 2016

Thank you Pamela Barry for hosting a JDB Adventure at the Harn Art Museum in Gainesville on July 16, 2016. There were seven members and two guests who enjoyed viewing a new exhibit of photographs of Frida Kahlo. We were inspired by her life story of suffering great physical pain from childhood illness and injury, but persisting with great determination to live a creatively vital life. We reviewed our pages in the foyer; they were a compilation of images and themes from her exhibit, as well as from other beautiful locations in the Asian Wing. We enjoyed lunch at the Camelia Cafe also at the Harn. We are so fortunate to have this first-class art museum in our community and Journey Daybook friends with whom to enjoy it! It’s a wonderful (and cool) place to spend a humid summer afternoon.

A Report from Last week’s High Springs Adventure

June 17, 2016

One of us works in the shade at the park

Pam organized a beautiful Journey Daybook experience on a clear summer day in High Springs last Friday.There were 5 of us who worked in the public park and nearby museum until just after Noon when we gathered for our usual review back in the museum. Pam arranged an introduction to the museum and to the Springs Institute, the office of which is located on Main Street. We walked very quickly in the hot sun to the Great Outdoors, a restaurant in the center of town that has served delicious food for years. We enjoyed the presence of Dot Harvey for lunch. Dot is the Communications Director of the High Springs Chamber of Commerce and a great ambassador for North Central Florida. We felt so welcomed by Dot, the museum volunteers, and the proprietor of the Lanza Gallery and Art Supply store, where we each did a little shopping before leaving this beautiful town at 2 PM. Thank you so much Pam for making this Adventure very special for us!

Peggy’s page

Sue’s page of St Bartholomew’s Church

Photos versus Scans – a note especially for JDB Alums

June 11, 2016

Cynthia and her journey daybook

We always want and need your images to post on this site. The administrators are not always so prompt in posting but we promise to post your art in the blog or in the gallery in a timely manner once we receive the images. I am sorry that I may have given a misconception that the images need to be scans. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Photos made on digital cameras, including iPhones, iPads, or other smart phones, work just as well – sometimes even better! Notice that the photo above showing Cynthia Williams, an inmate and early JDB Alum at the Florida Women’s Reception Center, tells a far better story that a simple scan could ever do!  So, please don’t be deterred in sending images to me if you don’t have a scanner. Also, follow this link to images made by Urban Sketchers – https://www.facebook.com/groups/urbansketchers/. Most of these people from all over the world, many of whom are not at home, photograph and send their images by means of their digital devices. THE MESSAGE – Get busy and send photos of your pages!!!

Making Journey Daybook Pages in Nature

Patty’s Memorial Day page

I was motivated for this heading by a new video by Urban Sketcher, illustrator, and painter, James Gurney, who has produced several teaching videos. His work is well-known. His use of the expression of working in the wild implies to me of working in the world as we experience it rather than working from staged set-ups, posed models, or photographs. I enjoyed his most recent video this week, “Portraits in the Wild,” where James draws and paints at a fair, at a horse farm, and at a concert. This kind of work is exactly what we do, but, Oh! James does his work so brilliantly!!!

Several of us have been making journey daybook pages informally by ourselves and in community with other alums. We do this at the Florida Women’s Reception Center with the inmates. Several people meet informally in Gainesville. A few of us who live in and around Cedar Key have met the past few weeks on Sunday afternoons at 3 PM at my house. On Memorial Day we worked on the porch of a new on-the-dock restaurant, “83 degrees West,” where we enjoyed some delicious snacks as we drew and painted on the porch. Last week we visited another restaurant, Steamers. Three pages from these days are posted here. I have also posted several pages that have been made by alums over the past month. If any JDB Alums want to join us on Sundays, please call me so that we can expect you: 352.543.6127

Lois’s page showing Sophia

Milli page of Sophia

Peggy’s page at 82 West

Barbara’s page from the FWRC

Friday 10 June Alumni Adventure in High Springs, FL

June 03, 2016

Pam Feaster, our hostess for our June adventure, sent these details for the day –

If you haven’t been to Hight Springs recently, you are in for a treat! It is an interesting small Florida town that always seems to have something new as well as the old and historic sights.

We will meet at 10 AM in the Women’s Club parking lot of HWY 27 on the right just past Main Street. Then we will go across the street to the new Florida Springs institute, which has information about our unique springs and some great artwork as well as a nice little garden where you may sit. We will give you a map, which suggests some interesting places to inspire you for your journey daybook. Tina Corbett has agreed to open Lanza Gallery & Art Supplies (usually closed on Fridays) and promises to have cold water for us. Bring a chair, your jdb and supplies and a hat and water – a good idea as you well know in this Florida heat!

At 1 PM we will have lunch at the Great Outdoors Cafe on Main Street unless you want to bring a picnic or try True BLuc Cafe or your other favorite HS restaurant.

Call Pam Feaster – 352.256. 1764 to let her know if you will join us, if you have any questions, or need a ride. You can email Pam at phfeast@AOL.com.