Workshops at Ghost Ranch

Page decoration: painted workshop nametag extended into full painted page, with facing page repeating the colors in an abstract design, waiting to be written upon.

Materials and techniques: on left, watercolor with saran wrap texturing; on right, painted watercolors with salt sprinkled into sky to represent the Milky Way (sorry it's not clearer), silver metallic pen

Artist: Carol Zika, 2007

Ghost Ranch, www.ghostranch.org, is an education and retreat center with two locations: Santa Fe and Abiquiu, NM. Northwest of Santa Fe in the high mountain desert is Abiquiu and Georgia O’Keeffe country. Of dinosaur fame, too. It is there that I will be presenting two weeks of Artful Journaling workshops. I can only describe the setting as a sacred space, and visitors return year after year to see old friends, make new ones, and replenish their spirits. Workshop offerings are varied and stimulating to mind and soul. This is a family-friendly place, with supervised programming for youth during adult class times. And yes, one can see the silvery full moon, the Milky Way, and stars upon stars in the night sky.

Artful Journaling I - July 27 - Aug 2, 2009
This first week is a part of the Creative Arts offering, which pulls together a gifted faculty from across the country, and includes writing, painting, music and drama. Imagine five mornings, surrounded by crimson and yellow rock mesas, writing from the heart and playing with art materials! After this first week, participants are invited to stay around for the encore session.

Artful Journaling II - Aug 3 - Aug 9, 2009
The second week can be taken separately, and will be co-lead with poet Anita Skeen, who is an inspiring writing teacher with many longtime devotees. As life-long friends, we have lots of fun with our collaboration, and the class members are the beneficiaries. I could wax poetic about Anita as a teacher, but she’s the poet, so I won’t go there. So, imagine five mornings, etc., etc., with the added plus of a skilled writing muse.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud..."

Writing assignment: From a basketful, select a slip of paper with the first line of a poem, then use it as a topic sentence to develop its theme.

Page decoration: watercolor wash, illuminated capital 'I', embellished with gold composition leaf, ink

Artist: Carol Zika, 2006

Artful Journaling is where I have been channeling my creative energies these past few years. As the movement has grown (a surprise to me), I have been fine-tuning my own concept to include creative writing topics that serve as a reflection of one's life, values, thoughts and attitudes in a non-linear and very entertaining way. We concentrate in writing in our own voices, rather than on form, using what writing skills we bring with us. One recent retiree said to me, “I’ve been teaching first grade my entire career. I’ll sound like a first grader.” And so be it, I responded. It will be authentic.