"The Big Reveal..."

Of my COMPLETED Maruman sketchbook

"Journey"

I cannot wait until the rest of the Maruman sketchbooks
are completed and safely return home to their respective owners...
What joy and excitement they will bring!

Thank you Anita, and Nina, and Jennifer
for sharing your talent and your little corner of the world with me.
Personally...
this has just been the most wonderful,
liberating...
endearing and imaginative
artistic experience ever!

“Every production of an artist
should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.”
~William Somerset Maugham

PHOTO#1...ARTISTS' CREDITS:
Pages 1-6...Margaret Storer-Roche (Me)...Arizona U.S.A.
Pages 6-15...Nina Johansson...Sweden
Pages 16-20...Jennifer Lawson...Maine, U.S.A

PHOTO #2...ARTISTS' CREDITS:
Pages 21-22...Margaret Storer-Roche
Pages 22-26...Jennifer Lawson
Pages 27-35...Anita Davies...U.K.
Pages 36-37...Signature stamp "petals" of all 4 Artists
Pages 38-40...Margaret Storer Roche :)

"Anita's Artistic Gift..."

...in my book Journey!

What a delight to at last open my own book

and find all this beauty inside!

Thank You Anita!
(Click on images to enlarge)

"The greatest gift is a portion of thyself."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

P.S.

I was so secretly hoping that Anita would paint one of her famous

English roses in my book...and she did!

WooHoo!

She never disappoints!

"Brand New Peeks...! "

And...Here they are...Fresh from the scanner...
A few teensy-tiny peeks (to assure the surprise of the reveal)
of my 10 new pages in Anita's Maruman sketchbook
"A Taste Of Home..."

Stay tuned...
our little adventure only gets better and better and better!
I cannot wait to get my next book!
JOY!...Margaret :)

"JOURNEY...On Tour Now..."

...with Nina Johansson...in SWEDEN...

travelling out and about the countryside north of Stockholm...

Ahh...Sooo Sweet!

Read all about the

Awesome Artistic Adventures and Antics of
Anita Davies, Nina Johansson, Jennifer Lawson, and myself

in this summer's

Maruman International Sketchbook Exchange
here.

Posted below are the full views of my 10 pages in

my little Maruman "Journey."

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE :)

"She's..."

GONE!
"Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday,
Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang!
Gone like a '59 Cadillac...
Like all the good things
that ain't never coming back,
She's gone...! "

But...unlike the song... my "Journey" will eventually return home.
Nina now anxiously awaits her in Sweden,
and I sit here in the desert night
just reflecting and thinking
about how wonderful this all is!
Ah-h-h-h.
My artspace sits calmly now, awaiting the possibilities of a new day
and the arrival of a very special package from England.

"Gone" by Montgomery Gentry from the You Do Your Thing Album

"And So I Begin..."

It has been said:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Lao-tzu 604 BC-531 BC

So in that light, my first step is

to introduce you to JOURNEY, my little Maruman friend,

born from and centered around the quote:

"I go to Nature to be soothed
and have my senses put in tune once again."-John Burroughs

Journey's theme or central focus will be zen-botanical...

keeping her open to historical, realistic or

imaginary floral/botanical journeys of the artistic spirit.

I hope you will each enjoy this new adventure of ours

and have your spirits renewed

as we journey together 17,566 miles across the seas

and

into our imaginations...Ahhh!

Follow our artistic adventures over the next four months at

out Maruman-X blogspot! :)

And,

last, but not least...

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I love you!