Author Archives: Bobbie Herron

About Bobbie Herron

I sit here in my loft studio, surrounded by watercolor brushes and paints, fountain pens, sketchbooks, journals- wanting more than anything to write and paint at the same time. I am the fourth generation of journal-keeping women, starting in 1862, and I have read their words and between their lines. This blog was inevitable: thoughts on the unsung glory of women whose lives were recorded and transformed through their writing and art.

Learning Another Sort of Shorthand

Posted on March 31, 2019

Google the word ‘shorthand’ and go to the Wikipedia page. There you will see a series of symbols that made perfect sense to my mother as well as thousands of secretarial workers in the mid-20th century. As a child I … Continue reading →

Posted in Pen and Ink, Sketchbooks, Storytelling, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Cafe Wisdom: Who Inspires You?

Posted on March 24, 2019

Ah, the best laid plans, even if written with care and a calligraphy pen in a leather-bound journal, are sometimes no match for distractions no bigger than a bug. Sunday afternoon blog posts every single week? Good idea, great intentions, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cafe Wisdom, Life Insights, Sketchbooks, Watercolor | 4 Comments

Café Wisdom: Follow Your Gut

Posted on March 10, 2019

I was walking back to my table at the café after having picked up my sandwich order at the server’s station. Suddenly in strode five police officers leading a homeless man in from the cold to interrogate him at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cafe Wisdom, Storytelling | 5 Comments

[Hand] Dancing in the Dark

Posted on March 2, 2019

We’ve all done it. Woken up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea, grabbed the pencil on the bedside table and that scrap of paper, and scribbled down a word or two before they slip away. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Art-Making, Pen and Ink, Sketchbooks, Uncategorized, Urban Sketching | 3 Comments

Falling in Love Again

Posted on February 18, 2019

The next logical step after “not giving up” is “falling in love again.” With life itself. This morning I decided, much to my surprise, to call my local art school and sign up to teach another series of sketchbook classes. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Pen and Ink, Sketchbooks, Urban Sketching | 8 Comments

Introducing ‘Cafe Wisdom’

Posted on February 13, 2019

My mom and I had a very close relationship for most of my life.  We shared many interests (painting, writing, travel), and it was normal to mark the end of a day with an evening cocktail. Mom liked her one … Continue reading →

Posted in Cafe Wisdom | 4 Comments

Why giving up doesn’t work

Posted on February 7, 2019

A few weeks ago I posted a piece called “Final Chapter…” At the time I had every reason to believe that I would need to discontinue my blog, sketching, teaching art, reading for pleasure… most of the activities that had … Continue reading →

Posted in Life Insights, My Story, Storytelling, Uncategorized | 11 Comments