A cheesy title… but it is very true for this period of my life. I began journaling when I started teaching. My former Co-worker did them every Friday with her art classes, and as the new teacher I felt I needed to do the same thing, and I am so glad I did. Since this was the very first page in my very first journal I really wanted to create a page about change. When I was flipping through some National Geographics (my FAVORITE magazine to find amazing images in) I found these interesting images of sting rays. I decided I wanted them to look like they were transforming from stingrays to leaves on the next page:

I really liked the way my first page turned out (I love ripped paper and piecing it back together, it creates an interesting texture… That technique is slightly overused in my journals…). However, I have never been satisfied with this one. Often I like the concept a lot… but not so much the end result. As I have become more experienced with journaling I deal with that issue less and less… but it is slightly painful to look back at my early pages. To try to bring it together I tried tracing the shapes with colored pencil… eventually I just moved on…