Exploding Joy!
A How To
Dear Friend and Fellow Maker,
Recently I’ve stumbled into a Joy minefield! I thought I’d share with you so that perhaps, you might also be able to find some of these joy mines. Sometimes we come upon them unaware. Other times I think we can intentionally step into a field that appears promising. Here’s how:
If you by chance write and illustrate a book, you’ll want to ask around for some willing kid’s to listen to it.
And if you happen to find two classes of 5th grade students1 who are willing to listen, then you might give them an illustration to color in as they listen.
And as you begin tentatively to read the first few chapters, you might notice their faces begin to engage.
And then it happens! Joy explodes inside of you as you hear them tell you what they’ve heard, as they articulate questions they have about what might happen next or things they are curious about. These precious children have opened their hearts to the Spinning House world that you love so dearly, and they are getting to know Genevieve and her grandmother Nonni, the mice - Macy, Purl, Marisol and Eleanor. And they are looking forward to you coming back to read more!
Afterwards, I think I floated out the door, down the hall, out to the parking lot. It’s a wonder I found the right car! I was overjoyed! 🎉 I’m so looking forward to Monday when I get to read more of my book to them. I did not expect to experience such a joy explosion in this!
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And if you sit with your sketchbook and pens at the end of a long day and put it in your lap as you sit with whatever is on the TV, you just might start to draw what you see around you. (This is a kind of joy bomb in and of itself…just the act of drawing.)
And if you draw what you see around you, little stories might begin to emerge about the goose named Mary on your mantel, or the large stuffed sloth we named Kolo2 and the crazy squawking and musical rooster (we named him Rosco) that your mother-in-law gave your husband for his birthday. 😂 (Another joy bomb as objects that sit around your house seem to take on a life of their own!)
And the next morning, with freshly drawn pages from the night before, you just might add gouache and markers and anything else that brings the drawings to life. (Yet more Joy exploding as color leaps off the page at you!)
It is my firm opinion that joy mines are everywhere in our daily lives. Some of them require very little effort other than looking out the window at the light falling on a tree or the lawn or the neighbor’s house. Other joys seem to require that I step into them, make the effort to create a book, to read it to children, to sit down and draw, then add color to the drawings. Ordinary things that sit around me, seem to come alive when I draw them!
I hope you are able to step into a field of joy mines this weekend friends! If you see me next week, after reading to the 5th graders, I will likely have exploded into a zillion stars and butterflies. Oh my heart!
With gratitude for your presence here,
Jennifer
P.S. Yet another joy bomb has been the recent addition of a beautiful new grandbaby girl named Lucy! I think this photo of me says it all! Welcome to world little sweet pea!
I work in a marvelous Charlotte Mason school where I was once the Art Teacher many moons ago. Though I now work at the front desk in the office, I enjoy getting to see the students and am especially grateful to be permitted to read my books to the classes every now and then. 💖
This crazy stuffed animal is as large as our 2 and 3 year old grandgirls! He is so fluffy and floppy! My husband named him Kolo which is short for Kolobadactylus, which has a meaning and history all its own. 🤪
oh yes someone said the j word
Oh my goodness—how not to almost burst with delight. A gorgeous healthy wee grandgirl, your own book, and thoroughly engaged kids. Your pleasure pours out of your words. Thank you for sharing it!