I don’t mind saying that the elegant trunk, twisting branches and feather-like leaves of the Japanese maple tree occupy my imagination and also intimidate me.

I walk this route often, and for some reason I never noticed this gorgeous creation. Maybe it was because my mind was filled with worries and my focus was on the things in life I have no control over.

The instant this tree made it’s way into my life I knew that I wanted to draw it. But I couldn’t quite imagine how I could do it justice. I tucked it away until the weekend.

Normally I set aside time to write in my journal during the weekend. But – this past weekend, after writing 11 pages of web content and six blog posts the last thing I felt like doing Sunday evening was writing in my journal. So I pulled out the colored pencils and took a stab at the Japanese Maple in a low stress way.

What’s really funny about it is that I misspelled “maple.” ah well – no one is perfect.

Last night I turned once again to my writing journal and once again instead of writing my thoughts I drew them.  As it turns out, the journal entry ended up including a few words.

Sometimes being alive means……

Filling the Pages Between Anger and Hope

With Dreams