Twelve Plus Months In The Making

     Over a year ago, I saw a post on facebook asking people if they wanted to participate in the first ever Rhodia Journal Swap. This sounded right up my alley, so I applied and was chosen as one of the 12 to receive a free journal from Rhodia, fill 6 pages and include a prompt for the next participant, send it to the next person on the mailing list and wait for another to show up in my mailbox. At the end, we should receive our own back filled with lots of goodies from 11 other artists/writers spanning the United States from California to Maine. The theme was "Favorite Things," and the only rules were to 1) be creative, 2) mail journals at the end of each month, and 3) post your pages on Tumblr (If you would like to see the other participant's contributions, click here).
     Some of the artwork presented was breathtaking. I was definitely in the company of some seriously talented people and felt a little dwarfed in the skill department by their pieces of work. Yet, they inspired me to branch out and do more than I would have. I have crossed paths with eleven strangers and really the only thing we know about each other is found in the pages of our "Webbies." It has been an unusual and rewarding experience, one I was proud to be selected for and glad to be a part of, yet one I would never do again. It was a great artistic outlet, but it took time. Two people dropped out which added a lot of confusion to the flow, but I was true to my commitment. This husband, father of three, pastoral counselor and president of a non-profit organization did all his pages. Here a some of them...

 

   
     Some participants have already received their own Webbie back. I can only hope mine makes it home. It has travelled all over the country. I wish I could have gone with it.