Tag Archives: sidewalk cracks

Sketchbook Revival 2025 ….. Binge Fest Extravaganza!

June 16, 2025

What a whirlwind celebration! Sketchbook Revival (SR) 2025 Binge Fest was so much fun. And Wow! Two jam packed weeks of creativity was over in the blink of an eye! 

Karen Abend, SR creator, host extraordinaire, and wonderful artist, came up with a brilliant idea for the SR 2025 session. I would swear the creative gears inside her head were spinning with delight as she declared, “Yureka! I’ve got it!”

Beginning on May 27th thru June 9th, Karen generously opened up the SR historic vault and set free all of the workshops conducted the first 5 years of SR (2018-2022)! That unbelievable offering came to more than 130 one-hour-long workshops of inspiring, hands-on, and creative  play time all instructed by well-known experts in artistic fields associated with Sketchbook Journaling.  

Challenge presented ……. Challenge accepted.

Since I’ve been participating in SR each year since 2018, and attended most of these workshops in the past, my goals and strategies to tackle the challenge were these: 

  1. Complete a minimum of 4 workshops daily;
  2. Two workshops should involve a project outside of my comfort zone, such as portrait drawing, fantasy, word play, collage, and properly stitching my own SR sketchbook so it wouldn’t fall apart during the 2-week challenge, etc.;
  3. Two workshops should involve projects within my comfort zone, such nature subjects, urban sketching, whimsey, and lettering, and those using watercolor pencils, graphite, and ink;
  4. Develop fresh, interesting, and imaginative sketches during the workshops;
  5. Allow Flambé to play along;
  6. Slow down, breathe, and enjoy the 2-week marathon without becoming overwhelmed;
  7. Recognize and gather take-away tips and techniques to bring into my Nature Journaling practice and Zentangle storytelling. 
  8. Keep sketching and sharing.

After two weeks of play, I was able to fill up my handmade and successfully stitched SR 2025 sketchbook! With a total of 46 pages completed (doubling up workshop projects on a handful of pages), including several pockets with inserts, I was pretty happy (and a bit exhausted). 

If you’ve participated in SR in the past, or maybe took on the 2025 challenge as your first time, you know how intense (in an exhilarating way) it can become.   If not, and would like to learn more, check out this link 

This link will take you to Karen Abend’s website where you can ask for more information about Sketchbook Revival. https://karenabend.com

Hope my collection made you smile and laugh! I certainly got a kick out of the experience.

Well, until Sketchbook Revival next year, thanks for coming along! 

Front and back of the concertina book that tucks into the pocket above.
My hand sewn, one signature SR 2025 Sketchbook.

Always Remember to Explore the Cracks!

Sidewalk Crack Discoveries

October 12, 2024

Roy had a doctor’s appointment one morning in late September, at an office right off busy I-25, near the ABQ airport. Instead of hanging out in the sterile waiting room, Luna and I spent our time exploring the areas surrounding the office, just to see if there was anything worth observing.

For 2 miles, we wandered about the not quite urban/suburban/industrial/residential neighborhood ….. me looking for a sketchbook entry; Luna sniffing out messages left just for her by visiting dogs, squirrels, or bunnies. 

Interesting discoveries seemed lacking, until Luna caught whiff of something irresistible. Tugging hard on her end of the leash, she urged me to run with her as she zeroed in on the source of the smell. 

By a parking lot light, on the pavement next to a cement curb was an explosion of feathers, but Luna kept leading me on to something better.  There! Lying on the curb was a still wet and bloody bird foot barely connected to what remained of the thigh. All clues pointed to the very recent drama, where a raptor (possibly a red-tailed hawk) had swooped in and nabbed the hapless victim (a feral pigeon), killed and then ate his prey from the platform atop the parking lot light. The inedible remains fell to the ground as a group of 2 dozen “relieved-it-wasn’t-me” pigeon friends looked on.

Quickly solving most of this puzzle in the time it took to pry the pigeon foot from Luna’s mouth, gave me the idea of sketching not only the foot, but to look for other unlikely nature discoveries in this urban/suburban/industrial/residential neighborhood setting. 

Mentally armed with a keener power of observation and purpose, we retraced our earlier route with excitement!  Now it was obvious an abundance of interesting and beautiful plants were growing from every sidewalk crack and along crumbled pavement edges throughout the ‘hood.  How had I missed seeing these beauties? 

And that’s how my idea for this 2-page layout was born, along with a reminder that finding bits of nature doesn’t have to occur at a botanical garden, wildlife preserve or national park. Nature is everywhere. If you just slow down and really look, even in the most unlikely places like sidewalk cracks, there’s always something to discover. So Remember to Explore the Cracks too and let me know what you find!

As always, thanks for stopping by!