Artistic Dreamer

Recent Notebooks

2012-01-11T21:46:00.000-06:00

Here are some notebooks I made in a flurry of production last month.

Northern California trip

2012-01-11T21:17:00.000-06:00

Trinidad Head

I was lucky enough to spend the holidays with my sister. We traveled up to Northern California and experienced Nature in her wildness. We also got to spend some time doing creative things together~such a treat!

Trinidad Head

Redwood Forest near Humbolt

Newest Leather Journal

2011-12-19T22:29:00.000-06:00

Here's the latest leather journal I made.

It was a big one, with six signatures, three kinds of paper, three different colors.

With three of my painted pocket pages.

Making Business Art Cards

2011-11-22T13:23:00.000-06:00

20 Different Business Cards showing My Journals, Notebooks, & Paintings

After meeting my new art friend Jennifer Martin she pulled out one of her business cards. Although I have read about other artists praising MOO cards I finally got to see the lovely work in person.

But, I decided to make my own version. Using Avery labels purchased some time ago, I finally wanted to try them out. It took a long time to select and insert photos of my work, to match the orientation of the photo to the text on the back, to align photos without showing any white space or bleeding onto its neighbor card (still haven’t perfected that yet). I can see why ordering online would be quicker. But I like the amateur results!

I used Microsoft Word and Avery White Two-Sided Printable Clean Edge Business Cards, #8871. Once you print both sides, they snap so cleanly and feel like heavy cardstock. I’m very impressed with the product and wonder why it took me so long to try these. But, it’s great to be inspired by another artist!

Book Pockets Turn Into Paintings

2011-11-20T22:41:00.000-06:00

Untitled 1
12" x 18'
acrylic on paper

I've been working on some new paintings I thought would become pockets pages for some journals. Instead, these pieces wanted me to complete and unify them and make them into paintings. Who am I to get in the way of the Muse?

Untitled 1
12" x 18'
acrylic on paper

FTB Journal #3

2011-11-06T18:37:00.000-06:00

The raw material for Full-Tilt Boogie Journal #3, a Keith Smith chain stitch on the spine, came from an antique hardback book I bought at the same time with a vintage photo album (which I have yet to use). I loved the title of the book, “The Romance of Archaeology” and the decorations on the spine (a column) and cover (a vase) and decided to use the theme to explore archaeological places I have visited.

At first, I wanted to use a mixture of papers like FTB Journal #1, as well as some personal photos, but all with an ancient places theme. Scanning old family slides and photos, I began with my earliest adventure with my parents, Pompeii, and finished with last year's Ireland trip. But as I gathered, sorted, tore, and arranged various scrapbook paper, my own paintings, and sections from other books, I changed my mind. After seeing the very jumbled and busy signatures together, I was glad nothing was sewn together yet. In addition, the size of the book made me fold folios that diminished the impact of images from books and calendars.

So, the weathered brown pages in the old book inspired me to use tan colored BFK Rives printmaking paper I had on hand. Finding, scanning, and altering personal photographs, I changed them all to black and white and increased the contrast so the images would be more minimalist.

Trying photo transfers and getting mixed results, I was disappointed. Instead of an interplay between the brown paper and the black photos, too much white paper remained for that sharp contrast. I considered making gel skins but then I read about printing on book pages with Golden digital ground medium (from “The Creative Photographer” by Catherine Anderson). Alas, I did not have the glossy type that allows the background to show. At this point, I almost walked away from the project.

But, wait. Why not print my photos on the book’s original pages and attach them to the individual pages? It might not be highly archival, but since this was in a book and not hanging on a wall, it might be OK, at least for an experiment. Mary Ann Moss is all for experimenting! So, I did.

Before sewing the signatures together—a mix of the tan paper, some cool scrapbook papers, some of my paintings on paper, a few bits from calendars, and my own photos—I arranged where my printed photos would go. When the printed pages were a bit large, I decided to tear them (another suggestion from “The Creative Photographer”) and discovered what a joy the 1929 paper was to rip! It was almost brittle in parts but so very different than modern paper.

The journal is almost complete. I planned the pages, photos, and chronological arrangements to tell the story without words. Perhaps later I’ll add dates and identifying place names, perhaps do some journaling. I also deliberately printed on pages in the original book where my personal photos were from: Rome, the Great Southwest, the British Isles. Turning this into themed journal was a challenge but the problem-solving ended up being fun. And, I really liked the looping sewing down on the spine, too. A very good project.

FTB Journal #2 Redux – Celtic Steampunk Style

2011-10-30T16:10:00.004-05:00

This is my second attempt to make a hidden binding journal from Mary Ann Moss’s Full-Tilt Boogie online class. My first attempt was not entirely successful.

This journal started life as a used book I found in Rockport this summer. I was attracted by the Celtic-like knot work on the cover and the spine. You don’t see such intricate decorations on hardback books much anymore.

After removing the text block, I tore down 90 lb. hot press Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper into signatures to fit inside the book and sewed it together (by itself) over some painted watercolor paper tabs. At the time, it sat perfectly into the spine area.

The book block sewn over tapes before gluing in

Front end papers from my painting

I needed to completely cover the endpapers (line drawings of the book’s subject) because it would distract from the streamlined Celtic steampunk theme I’d decided to try. Adding two gears and a washer directly over the printer’s initials on the cover, I also wanted to hide the splayed brad inside. Looking through some paintings I had done on watercolor paper, I tried to find any with a steampunk theme. I found a perfect one and decided to use parts of it to become both front and back end papers that would also attach to the first and last pages.

That’s when I ran into the same difficulty I had with the practice version. The painted end paper was 140 lb. watercolor, adding too much thickness to my perfectly-fitting sewn book block. I struggled to get the back end papers to both attach and close. Now I know to not use thicker endpapers!

Yet, it still looks cool despite its imperfections. You can turn the gears on the front cover and the end papers look steampunk.

I might have to make several more of this style of journal to really master it. Maybe thinner end papers or none at all would work better. Although I like being able to recycle old books, especially when there is a great design on the spine, this is not my favorite style of journals to make.

Back end papers

Healing Hands

2011-09-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

Hand and Leaf
acrylic on paper
9" X 12"

The set of artistic tools we are born with—two hands—can be used for well or ill. And from ancient times to the modern era, we can see the results of both.

In my personal history, I have seen the positive power of touch. Both my parents were nurses, dedicated to helping and healing people.

In the last few months, as my Mom recovered from a heart attack and by-pass surgery, I again witnessed the importance of healing hands in the medical field.

Some of these thoughts occurred to me when I worked on my recent painting, “Hand and Leaf.”

Practice FTB Journal #2

2011-08-12T16:32:00.001-05:00

Over the 4th of July weekend (yes, well over a month ago!), I got a lot of creative things done. One thing not planned was setting up an Etsy shop...but I did! Currently, I have small blank notebook listed, but will add larger journals soon. I’ve been thinking about this step for years.

A lot of motivation was from my friend Lyn and the attitude of the online class, Full Tilt Boogie. There’s a “Just Do It” spirit that is so infectious from both Mary Ann Moss and her students. It’s very catching.

So, I was a bit behind in the class and felt like catching up. Not using the vintage photo album nor a vintage book, as instructed, I created several roadblocks. Deciding this was just a practice book, I went too far off-road, too, selecting a small, modern, falling apart, 50 cent mark-down square hardback book with a thick spine.

Original Book used

Inside book with text block removed

After cutting away the book block, I knew the cover needed help. When I tested a FedEx-type envelope I had already painted and it fit perfectly, I had a match. Not using my “good” Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, I cut up some student grade paper in 11” x 15” tablet size. But folding folios with the grain, these papers were so thick and bulky I could only use two folios in each signature for a total of five. I wanted more papers and pockets but it would have been too thick. Adding any collage would have been unworkable. Didn’t have book cloth tape for the spine, so I used silver duck tape.

Note the wonky 1st signature (on left)

My troubles began with gluing in. I struggled with that hard and thick spine; it was impossible to either close the book or open it flat. Even pulling up the glued end papers didn’t help. If the spine had been thin or made of fabric, it probably would have laid down nicely and not pulled so much. Ah, well! Decided to do the Mary Ann Moss thing and go with the imperfections.

Now for the finishing step. Couldn’t use the button and ribbon closure but needed to keep this yawning journal cinched down when not in use. Auditioning a lot of hopefuls, I finally settled on this combination leather strap and turquoise doughnut.

You can learn from anything but especially from your mistakes. So, I learned a lot! Really love this class and fellow classmates—everyone is making such beautiful and unique journals.

Relaxin' in Rockport

2011-08-11T18:40:00.001-05:00

After a stressful month of dealing with my Mom’s health problems, we got away for a few days of rest and relaxation at the coast. It’s not Hawaii (where I lived as a child), it’s not Ireland (which I dearly love), but Rockport is very nice. Even in August, it's 10 degrees cooler than our megacity.

We loved the place where we stayed, just a few steps from the water and a marina. Brown pelicans and seagulls live here, too.

At the Rockport Center for the Arts, we saw a new exhibit called “Standing Out” having pieces from five different artists. I loved the variety, the setting, the friendly people here. The building is on Aransas Bay.

Jamie Speck (below) has a lot of 3-D works on both wood and canvas. Her work really appealed to me.

Mary Downing enlarges vintage photos and postcards, prints them on canvas, and then paints chickens around the focal points. Very original and fun. “The Preacher and the Chicks” (below, left) made me laugh.

Speaking of unique, Ed Boyd’s medium is vinyl film—I can’t imagine how long it must take to cut and apply strips to create paintings on frames, surf boards, and boogie boards.

I was energized after seeing this exhibit—been too long since I’ve seen new art!

New Etsy Shop and Treasury Feature

2011-08-01T22:22:00.000-05:00

Just last night I listed my very first items in my Etsy shop. Today, one of my notebooks is featured in a fall-themed Etsy Treasury. How cool is that?
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTI0NzA2NDR8NTE4OTE5NDcw/lets-do-a-fall-trip?ref=pr_treasury

Full Tilt Boogie Onward!

2011-07-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

I’m having so much fun with the Mary Ann Moss online class and virtual community she’s gathering around her. (See previous post with link.) This new art journal had a face-lift. It started life as a 1889 bound volume of “The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine”. The spine was practically gone, making it perfect for Journal #1 since we just needed the covers. Setting myself the goal to learn and use a sewing machine this summer, I sewed these fabric tapes during a sewing group. Red just happened to be on the machine and I began loving the contrast! So, I wanted to repeat it in the closure.

This library book, and three others, was rescued from destruction many years ago after being withdrawn and set into the trash.

I love book closures. So many sketches in my art notebooks are devoted to book closure ideas—some practical, some not so practical. It might go back to having a diary with a key. The interactive nature fascinated me as a child…and still does. So, I had several ideas and it took me forever to decide on a closure for this first journal. I didn’t sew over it when binding the book together because I made the tapes pretty wide. Plus, I wanted to allow the book room to “grow” with lots of collage, photos, inserts, etc. The red lace is soft and easy to untie and completely remove for journaling, painting, or collaging.

Although I’ve made this type of book before, this one really has a diversity of papers. And I love using special paper ephemera, such as birthday cards as well as travel brochures. The mix is so exciting when you open the art journal and see them compared and contrasted on the page spread. This is going to be a fun book to work in.

One of the many positive things about this online class is the encouragement to use materials you forgot you had. Another is the incredible community of like-minded souls sharing their works as well as tips and techniques. There are good vibes here!

Blogger Comment Problems

2011-07-04T15:27:00.000-05:00

Blogger has been acting strange lately and every time I try to comment on my own blog, it calls me “anonymous”, kicks me over to the sign-in page again (while I’m already signed in), and still won’t let me comment. Going on Blogger help and FAQs, others have this problem, too, and it still hasn’t been fixed.

I was going to reply individually to commentators by e-mail because I’ve been going crazy not being able to comment on my own blog, nor to any others. BUT, today, I finally found an answer that works:

Do not check that box in the original sign-in page that asks if you want to save or remember your e-mail address and password.

It finally works now!

New Journals, New Online Journal Class

2011-06-19T14:49:00.002-05:00

Here are some new journals I completed recently. This one is for my friend, Lyn. She liked the one I made for her son and wanted me to make a similar one for her. It’s a leather travel journal with my handmade painted pockets inside. She loved it so much that she made a video out of her photos!

This is an adaptation from I class I took at Southwest School of Art a few years back. Originally, we used a cover of special handmade paper that I knew I would not be able to duplicate. So, I’m experimenting using 140 lb. watercolor paper as well as canvas. This is the paper cover, painted with acrylics, and folded back to double and strengthen the cover. It’s basically a sewn on tapes type.

Here is the same type, only with a canvas cover. I haven’t sewn the “X” stitches that attach it to the cover yet.

Hiding out from the continuous and oppressive 100 degrees plus temperatures outside, this weekend I began gathering materials for Full Tilt Boogie. This is the newest online class from Mary Ann Moss. Even though I’ve taken several online and in-person bookbinding classes, Mary Ann’s is by far the most helpful and downright FUN! She goes to great lengths to demonstrate the binding techniques, both in the print and video versions. The first journal structure is something I’m familiar with but she has a new idea that really adds to the structural integrity of the book. And, there’s her spirit of adventure and experimentation! For a bookbinder, the fact that the materials are not necessarily archival and acid-free explorations has me gleefully digging through my studio for papers I’d never thought I'd use, in all sizes and types. And, heaven knows I need to use up my paper supply—from old greeting cards I couldn't part with to commercial scrapbook papers from last year, from the guts of old books to my own paintings on watercolor paper. It’s very freeing process and I’ve only started the first week!

Recycled Notebooks

2011-05-30T13:12:00.000-05:00

These two notebooks are an experiment. Can you guess what the materials are?

Give up?

Cardboard from tissue boxes, stationery pad paper, buttons, linen thread, and duck tape! They are really cute and fun to make. Now I need to use them and see how sturdy they might or might not be.

Séraphine

2011-05-29T23:47:00.000-05:00

This foreign film, set in France from 1914-1935, depicts a woman who labors by day and paints by night. It makes you slow down and pay attention to the rich details. The beginning shows more than tells with dialog, unfurling Séraphine Louise’s hard life of walking from job to job, through a small town’s architecture to the rural open fields and trees. She is so driven to create that it seems the balance to her many housecleaning jobs. Once her obligations are over, she retreats to her small apartment to paint flowers and fruit rather than saving money for heat or paying rent on time. When art collector and critic Wilhelm Uhde takes a room in the boardinghouse Séraphine cleans, the woman’s life is forever changed. See the trailer here: http://youtu.be/HpK_qugNHCM
Highly recommended.

The Tea Bag Chronicles, Spread 1

2011-05-25T22:15:00.006-05:00

Here is the first spread in the large book I made recently; I'm calling it "The Tea Bag Chronicles." I love the texture going on here! (For some reason, uploading this close-up photo changed it--after repeated attempts, Blogger keeps turning it on it's side.)

Steampunk Fun!

2011-05-08T14:55:00.009-05:00

Last weekend was the first ever Steampunk convention held in Texas. Very intrigued with the idea, I decided to fashion a costume to wear and attend the gathering.

Steampunk has grown from a sub-genre of science-fiction novels (think of the Victorian era with Jules Verne, steam power, gears, H.G. Wells, and then add a twist) to fashion and furniture, to do-it-yourself (DIY) accessories and creations regressing technology and giving it a soulful playfulness. It’s all about having fun. When I attended a panel discussion about creating a persona in the steampunk universe, the main theme repeated was: “If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?”

I first found out about steampunk last year reading about the bookbinder Rhonda Miller creating cool steampunk journals. Then I read Steampunk Style Jewelry by Jean Campbell as an introduction to the genre and to some nifty jewelry fabrications.

After reading about the Aetherfest on Thursday, I didn’t have much time to cobble an outfit together. Friday after work, I went to a thrift shop and opened my mind to all kind of possibilities. Finding a simple sleeveless black dress with slits up the side, I decided this could be a base for more layering. I found a beautiful crinkly black silk blouse with a hint of red at the cuffs that I wore in colder air conditioned rooms. A great black belt with metal circles that could be draped diagonally was a last-minute find. I also bought other future possibilities including a dark navy vest with leather in the front and corduroy in the back. At a favorite upscale discount establishment, I found a great black bag with rivets and pockets as well as a pearl bracelet with a black rose.

On Saturday, I made a pair of steampunk earrings with a filigree flower and vine pieces and some cogs. I had planned on adding more pieces, perhaps a mini-key and heart but it was already pretty long since I used the flower piece vertically. The funky fusion of nature and technology gave it a hallmark of steampunk. Looking through my closet, I found a perfect old-fashion dark wool hat with three swirly flowers and added an old pin my Mom gave me for a costume I created as a teenager. Rummaging through my jewelry box, I found penny farthing bicycle pins (being a fan of the TV show The Prisoner). One was very gaudy with fake diamonds and a big wheel than actually spun--perfect for one of the dress straps!

Then, I took a handful of antique keys—some real, some craft reproductions—and strung them on some matching brass ball chain. I loved the sound the keys made clicking against each other. Two more necklaces were added--a string of pearls my Dad gave me years ago as well as my handmade photo collage of my Irish great-grandmother. My pair of sturdy lace-up boots and thick Irish wool socks jarred with the dress and was perfect steampunk attire. I felt very creative assembling a costume, making earrings, and finding steampunk-ish accessories. The great thing about steampunk is the rules are very relaxed and non-elitist. You don’t need this, that, or especially the other thing to be wild and crazy.

Sunday afternoon I went down to the St. Anthony Hotel, the elegant 1909 downtown venue for Aetherfest. It was a perfect place to hold the gathering, with its ornate décor and fabled history. I felt very different in my costume and had a blast watching and listening at the panel discussions, mixing and mingling in the vendor’s room, and walking around the hotel. Taking advantage of an empty ladies room, I snapped some self-portraits, too. It so great the way so many dressed up—the panelist, the writers, the coordinators, the vendors. It gave an instant feeling of comradeship.

Even after the event, during the following work week, I snuck some parts of my costume into my wardrobe. It brought back the fun and creativity. Now, I’m contemplating making some steampunk notebooks and journals.

Steampunk. Have you caught the fever yet? Tell me about your air ship adventures! Have you crafted any steampunk elements—jewelry, clothing, accessories? Oh, do tell!

Emerald Swirl

2011-05-05T21:33:00.006-05:00

Emerald Swirl

18" x 20"

acrylic on paper

Raw Materials, Tea Bags Part 1

2011-04-23T13:28:00.006-05:00

“How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” Annie Dillard

Have you ever really looked at a teabag? Or even taken one apart? It seems the humblest of materials but it can be re-used by artists. I was inspired to look closer at them after Bridgette Guerzon Mills was experimenting a few months ago printing on tea bags and using them in her beautiful encaustic works. She, in turn, had been inspired by other artists. Isn’t it amazing how ripples of creative ideas spread outward and how each artist plays and changes and passes on the wave of inspiration?

So, I started saving and drying each morning’s bag. One day my husband, seeing all the dried bags on the table, created a Standing Tea Bag Circle, knowing my love of ancient stone circles! Guess it was time to either toss all those bags or do something with them.

There is a kind of quiet meditation in taking a tea bag apart. Once a bag has dried, gently pull the string and it will release from the mini staple. Pull one side of the folded area near the staple and then another; this will loosen the paper and you can easily remove the staple. You now have a long rectangle with two sections of tea. The whole thing is held together with a simple crimp running down the center. Gently loosen one end so the tea inside can drain into a dish or bowl and run your fingers to loosen the crimped seam. Then scrape the rest of the tea off the paper. What amazing paper; talk about being in hot water! This paper can take that heat and still hold together.

So I made a stack of papers, a pile of staples and string with tags, and bowls of tea. What could I do with these raw materials, truly the stuff of everyday life? Hmm…

Yesterday, I started playing with some tea bag papers. Stay tuned to see what happened…

Starfield

2011-04-17T22:10:00.005-05:00

Starfield

12" x 18"

acrylic on paper

Journal Spread

2011-04-03T14:14:00.007-05:00

Journal spread

acrylic on paper

5.50" x 8.50"

I’m experimenting in a commercially-made journal, the Strathmore Visual Journal. This is the 140 lb. watercolor one. Not sure I like the spiral across the spread but it does help working completely flat. I found this quote last week and really love it.

On Keeping Art Journals and Making Art Journals

2011-03-30T22:03:00.006-05:00

For those who enjoy keeping an art journal, there are some great online options right now. First is the free series by Strathmore Paper, Visual Journal Online Workshop Series , which started in January, is self-paced, and will be open until August 1, 2011. Three different instructors give video lessons with printable hand-outs.

In a few days, Roz Stendahl begins her 3rd Annual Fake Journal month. She already has her dedicated blog up and is advising about all aspects of keeping a Fake Journal during the month of April. I’ve participated for two years and even won the grand prize in the give-away last year—a handmade journal from Roz! It’s 90 lb. hot press Winsor & Newton watercolor paper with an odd size of 3 9/16” x 7 7/8”.

This journal I found in a gift shop in Ireland last fall. I love the size, the fabric cover, and the color—it’s iridescent green on blue. http://www.hubertbookbinding.com/ 3.50” x 5.25”

Although those two journals are still blank, I am working in one below, which a dear friend gave me many years ago, “Awaken…to the beauty of your journey.” 7.50” x 7.50”.

Still fascinating with the hand motif, I’m playing with wonderful India henna stencils and Mandala illustrations. It’s mostly blank pages, a few with colorful Mandalas by Holli Zollinger and a scattering of quotes. Pitt pens on both pages shown.

How do you approach art journaling? Although I’ve read a lot of books and blogs about the subject, I cannot say I fully merge my words and art comfortably. I’ve kept written journals since my Mom got me my first diary as a child in Hawaii and I have done a lot of experimental paintings in spiral watercolor books. But in my mind words and art seem separate beasts. I am slowly trying to integrate the two. Driving home from work today, (don't we get good ideas doing such things?), I thought about using poetry I wrote many years ago and merging photos of myself at the time.

Do tell me your approach and your successes with art journaling!

Hands

2011-03-13T19:30:00.006-05:00

Blue Hand

part of a larger spread

acrylic on paper

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about hands. It might have started with watching a demo from Traci Bunkers using some henna stencils in her art journal, including one of a hand. I love the way she develops a technique and uses something in a different manner than it is intended; it’s very cool and creative recycling.

Red Hand

approx. 12" x 18"

acrylic on paper

The next day, I saw the stop pedestrian sign at the cross walk and, yep, it was a raised hand. Using hands in art goes back to ancient cave paintings. As artists, we depend on our hands to translate visions in our mind into something tangible onto a surface.

I remembered and found a few older paintings I did with my palm print on them.

Untitled

9.50" x 7"

acrylic on paper

Reaching Out

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

How do use your hands in your art? Do the hands, as symbols, appear in your work?

Happy Valentine’s Day Eve!

2011-02-13T14:58:00.006-06:00

Do you remember Valentine's Day when you were a child? Buying a box of cards for your whole class, exchanging them, and coming home with a bunch of heart-shaped greetings? That's the feeling I wanted to convey when I thought about creating a design that I could copy and send out to family and friends. How best to do it? Carve a stamp? Create a painting and then scan and copy it onto cards? No, how about a collagraph! I had good results the first time I tried it which yielded a Celtic Horse.

Looking up collagraph in "An Introduction to Art Techniques (DK Art School)", I read that a collagraph is like a texture stamp, where you build up materials on a base such as sturdy cardboard and then ink up and print. I didn't have a design in mind but started sketching on a piece of thick cardboard that would fit some Strathmore Creative Cards. With a pencil, I marked four corners where the collagraph plate would center on the card but, as it turned out, I didn’t need to do this because I did not use it like a stamp.

Cardboard plate

Once happy with a series of hearts, I traced the design using a squeeze bottle with a fine-tipped stainless steel tip filled with gloss medium. I let it dry overnight.

The next day, I began printing the cards. The only red ink I had on hand was a dried up ink pad, so I experimented dabbing on fluid acrylics with a cosmetic sponge. After using the plate like a stamp, I saw it did not capture any design details so I left the plate right side up and pressed the card into the plate. Using my fingers, a hand baren, and a plastic card, I traced the raised lines into the paper.

The fluid acrylics did not work well because they dried too fast. Adding a little water only smeared the design. Using too much pressure with the baren and plastic card made the card paper stick to the sticky plate when I pulled the card off. After seven prints I tore the cardboard plate. Yikes! This might have happened because I was trying to clean it off after each print and too much water probably weakened the cardboard. Also, I had not sealed the entire cardboard either. But, since I’d used a cheap material—cardboard—I also wasn’t surprised when it did not perform.

Pastelbord plate

So, I rummaged around and found an Ampersand Pastelbord and did the same type of design again, this time reversing the placement of the big and little hearts. Yes, I’d forgotten when designing the plate that the printed image would be reversed. Another day went by waiting for the plate to dry and I decided to try materials better suited. At craft stores I bought a tube of block printing ink as well as a pigment ink pad. As Scotty on Star Trek would say, “the right tool for the right job”!

The new plate and the new supplies were successful. Trying both the ink pad (rubbing the pad over the raised plate) and then the tube ink (squeezing out and dabbing with a sponge), the details came through much better.

Next time, here are other things I plan to try:

Use string instead of gloss medium
Use gesso instead of gloss medium
Use bits textured fabric
Use a larger nozzle, if using gloss medium
Use different card material, such as heavier weight watercolor paper
Use smoother card material instead of the very pebbly paper surface

Ah, well. I wanted that hand-made, imperfect look. And the feeling of getting a special Valentine.

And, I think I got both!

Snow Day!

2011-02-04T12:54:00.003-06:00

The Vast Beyond

9” x 12”
acrylic on paper

The past several months have brought so much upheaval and change. Since the Fall and my overseas trip (definitely not a vacation), my situation at work (seven jobs were eliminated, a co-worker died and his position was not replaced, and another co-worker broke her arm, and I volunteered to help out), and my Dad dying last month have all zapped a lot of my energy and enthusiasm.

But today we have a snow day and the city is closed down. Although it might not seem much, compared to the massive blizzards in other states, our city isn’t equipped to handle ice and snow, and its consequences. It’s made me very happy to be home, grateful with a roof over our heads and heat in the house. We had rolling blackouts earlier in the week—twice at home, three times at work—to conserve energy for the whole state and it never really warmed up in our offices. Now I have warm clothes on, including one of my lovely Irish wool sweaters and thick Irish wool socks, and have lots of hot tea. There are art and craft supplies at hand, and I’m grinning and dancing around the house. What a great way to start the weekend!

Stay warm and safe everyone. What projects are you working on?

My First Journal Commission

2011-01-02T17:13:00.007-06:00

Last month, my art friend Lyn asked me to make a journal for her son for Christmas. At first, I was terrified. But thanks to encouragement from my husband, sister, and Mom I decided to take on the challenge.

Lyn had loved the journal I made myself for Ireland and wanted a similar one, so I met with her and showed her samples of paper and leather I had on hand. She chose a brown cowhide leather, tan colored Canson BFK Rives 104 lbs. paper, a Kell Dragon concho, brown leather cord to tie around the book and fasten around, brown Irish linen thread, four signatures, six hand-painted pocket pages (in her son's favorite colors), and a light brown envelope.

blog post about it. The way she posed the completed book made it look alive!

The journal came together quite well. Lyn really loved it and took some beautiful photos of it using her table light tent, writing a lovely

This was a great experience for me. I learned I did not have to suppress my own artistic style doing a commissioned work, I could work within the deadline, and I could turn out a satisfying product. Having my acrylic abstract paintings turn into pages and pockets is a great way to see and touch the texture in a piece.

A book format can become a place for conversation and interaction—turning pages, touching paint and texture, tucking items into pockets, releasing tickets and notes from an envelope, and using pages however you want (writing, drawing, making lists, using collage, painting, etc.).

Thanks, Lyn, for having faith in me!

Fall

2010-11-26T22:08:00.001-06:00

Fall

acrylic on paper

12" x 18"

Fragments of Life, of Death

2010-11-13T12:12:00.005-06:00

Fragments of Life, of Death
14” x 20”
acrylic on paper

Last Sunday, saddened after hearing about the sudden death of a co-worker, I began this painting. Thinking only of creating a background for notebook covers, I realized the more I worked on it the more it was destined to become a painting. The above might be the best orientation but I also like it flipped 90 degrees to this:

Which do you like?

I have my first commission for a journal! An artist friend wants me to make a journal for her son for Christmas. So next week I’ll show her samples of books I’ve made and we can talk about what kind of paper, size, and cover would be appropriate.

Turning Seasons

2010-11-06T18:09:00.003-05:00

Turning Seasons
9” x 12”
acrylic on paper

Lately, I have been trying to use up paints bought when I was first learning about color. I bought some color theory books and some recommended tube and fluid acrylics. Since I didn’t complete color charts or delve into examples, many were never used or became favorites. Thus, I was surprised this week at the lovely orange resulting from Cadmium Yellow Light and Napathol Crimson.

Besides playing with paint, I have been making hand bound notebooks and journals for my soon-to-open Etsy store.

A good book about bookbinding is Gwen Diehn’s new “Real Life Journals: Designing & Using Handmade Books,” which I am reading now. She takes each individual’s need and use into consideration. What is your current favorite art or craft book?

New Landscape Painting

2010-10-17T14:05:00.004-05:00

After too long a time away, I returned to paint and paper. Inspired by my recent trip, here is a new one.

The Rolling Hills of Eire
acrylic on paper
9” x 12”

Return from Ireland

2010-09-26T17:56:00.006-05:00

I spent most of September getting ready and touring around the west coast of Ireland. Here is a special journal I made using blank 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, as well as already-painted folios. The outside cover is upholstery leather with an inside green fabric fused to it with HeatnBond. Dark green linen thread sewn in a long stitch holds the 6 signatures of 3 folios each in place. There’s a Celtic button and round leather string to close it up. By folding up a recycled painting and hammering in some mini-eyelets, I created pockets. My intention was to take this journal with me everywhere and to write poetry, prose, thoughts, feelings, and lists, as well as to sketch. Spacing the signatures far enough to allow for thick collage, I planned for an all-purpose travel companion.

Now, here’s the ironic part. I did one sketch, in Doolin, the first day, and then nothing. Nada, zilch, nothing! Although it was a small tour group—four paying customers, the tour guide and her boy friend—it was exhausting. So much to see and do and feel. Although the pace was better than a commercial tour, to me if felt like non-stop go, Go, GO! It didn’t help the boyfriend would voice anything that popped into his head and often got into arguments with the girlfriend while the “tourists” became uncomfortable witnesses. Stress was thick when we were all crammed into the one mini-bus. Being an introvert and a Highly Sensitive Person, I found the atmosphere akin to an endurance test.

There were a lot of physical challenges, too: climbing up ancient forts and mountains on slippery rocks and slick grass, hiking here and there, being outside in much cooler (and lovely!) weather, navigating unfamiliar city streets.

Using this small notebook (below), first intended to hold art ideas, I wrote daily activities even on bumpy roads. Thus, my new camera became my main creative outlet for the twelve days. Eventually, with reflection and time, using fliers and brochures, I will transform my unused book into a travel journal.

The Irish food was all good and nourishing; I even acquired a taste for Guinness! The land and weather became a comfort, the people helpful and friendly. And the changeable light—dark clouds, rain, sunshine—illuminated and obscured distances. Ireland touched my soul since I first visited in 1982. So, regardless of the trials of this recent trip, I know the frustrations will fall away, leaving only good photos and good memories.

Fire Dancer 2

2010-08-28T17:54:00.003-05:00

12" x 16"

acrylic on paper

Contention

2010-08-02T21:56:00.002-05:00

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

Threshold III

2010-07-11T17:07:00.003-05:00

12” x 18”
acrylic on paper

The Threshold series is an interesting to work on. Using similar colors and compositions, each work is a different interpretation of space boundaries.

Threshold II

2010-06-20T15:26:00.004-05:00

12" x 18"

acrylic on paper

Threshold

2010-06-09T22:18:00.004-05:00

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

Rain Lilly

2010-06-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

New Painting

2010-05-20T21:59:00.001-05:00

Nebula
9” x 12”
acrylic on paper

Mystical New Painting

2010-05-08T19:33:00.002-05:00

Initiation

9" x 12"

Acrylic on paper

Last week I returned to painting. It’s been a while and remembering how to play with paint again, this piece of watercolor paper began yielding something wondrous.

This has happened before. I’ll be mindlessly rolling paint around when light and shadow will appear and I will be filled with delightful discovery. Since nothing was planned, I often feel like an archeologist finding an object in a dig and need to clear away the encrusted surface to bring a treasure to life.

If I had consciously set out to paint this mystical image, it would not be nearly so powerful to me. It might lack great technical skill or refinement since I’m often afraid to overwork such a piece thus losing its raw intent. So, I might not have nailed this one. It might not communicate effectively what I felt, but I’m pleased to have uncovered it.

IFJM Ends and Summing Up

2010-04-30T21:23:00.006-05:00

Here are catch-up spreads in my Fake Journal.

Unlike last year, I got an idea two weeks before April 1 but felt I couldn’t start in it yet. It might have helped if I had, at least gotten some of the design clients decided and some color swatches and magazine samples done ahead of time. Because by the time I started, my enthusiasm began to wane.

However, some good things happened in keeping a Fake Journal this month:

I experimented with a new medium: Inktense pencils with stamp pad backgrounds.
I discovered a way to make a “stamp” with the pencils and had fun playing.
I learned about steampunk, which knew nothing about.
I enjoying using a larger version of the Hand Book (just the second; 2009’s Fake Journal in a smaller green was the first). I liked the way the paper took gel pens, gel brushes, Inktense pencils with water. It’s still too scratchy for Micron pens, though.

With muted enthusiasm, I almost quit early but I still had a few more spreads in Sydney’s book.

Crafting a Coptic Book

2010-04-25T15:06:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, I attended a Coptic Art Book class at a local stamp and scrapbooking store. Completing my first Coptic stitch recently, I was curious to see bookbinding from a crafting point of view.

The three-hour class was taught by a cheerful and enthusiastic lady and it was well attended—11 students. Assorted book covers, already with designs on them, were in a package from the company 7 Gypsies. Boxes of distress ink pads and chalk colors were passed around and everyone promptly began inking up their covers. I tried some sample stamps--one with wheat stalks and one with an oval vine--but since the boards were a bit warped they didn’t take the impressions well. I wondered if book board was underneath and if they’d cause problems later when we did the stitching.

Instead of finding the grain and tearing down large sheets of paper, we collected 16 sheets of colorful cardstock. I chose 4 colors each of light gray, light tan with deep chocolate inside, dark green, and deep purple. Folding each page in half, we nestled two together to form one signature, and using paper cutters we trimmed those to 5 ¼” x 6 5/8”.

The last hour we spent doing the assembly and stitching. To punch four holes on the covers, there was a scissors-like tool I’d never seen before, probably a scrapbooking item. Using an awl, we punched four holes in each signature, too. With two pieces of waxed linen thread and four needles, one on each end, we started sewing from the back cover and last signature upward.

At the second or third signature, our teacher called out “Whoops--I forgot to mention you hook back to the previous signature! But you don’t have to pull out what you’ve done so far.” Everyone was a little confused after that, especially me since I began doing a double stitch (going back two previous signatures as well as the one above). So, I ended up with a much thicker but kind of cool stitch. I ripped one signature a little and promptly remembered to sew and pull the direction of the sewing and not straight up.

The good-natured teacher went over any question patiently, checked everyone’s progress, and stayed afterwards helping anyone wanting to do the signatures the correct way. She even pointed out my unique stitch to everyone, calling it the Mitsdarfer stitch! It was fun going to this class. Bringing some drugstore magnifying glasses to wear over my contact lenses, I was able to keep up and finish the project (something that bogged me down in previous bookbinding classes). Afterwards, I browsed the shop and one of the owners demonstrated a form foam that, when heated, can press into any firm material and become a stamp, something I’d read about in Maggie Grey’s book Paper, Metal & Stitch. It looked like printmaking on a small scale and something I want to investigate further.

It will be interesting to see how this book functions and what kind of medium to use on the dark cardstock pages.

More Fake Journal Spreads

2010-04-20T21:56:00.004-05:00

Sydney reveals more of herself, her clients, her life in her journal.

More Fake Journaling

2010-04-17T17:13:00.008-05:00

Here are more of Sydney's mix of daydreams and client designs, part of the fake journal I'm keeping for International Fake Journal Month.

Fake Journal

2010-04-11T21:50:00.004-05:00

In commemoration of this year’s International Fake Journal Month, we peek into the journal of Sydney Greene, a 30-something interior designer living in Santa Fe. In this journal, Sydney keeps track of her many and diverse clients as well as occasionally sketching and trying new art media. It’s her catch-all for ideas, inspirations, designs, elements, thoughts, and daydreams. She doesn’t use this to give presentation for her clients; it’s for her eyes only.

Misty Dream Time

2010-04-04T17:46:00.006-05:00

Nothing quite beats the combination of a trip to a used bookstore and a little time off work. Although I love the convenience of buying books online, the tactical quality of taking tomes off the shelves and handling them, bending, reaching, and squatting at various subject areas, and the sheer joy of looking at books is something best done in person.

All weekend, I’ve been in a dreamy state of mind. I recall other times leaving bookstores—with or without purchases—feeling so awed by all the knowledge and wonder and possibility wrapped up between two covers. Tingling with that familiar brain-buzz happiness, I came out of the store on Thursday afternoon and saw trees green-yellow with new growth and an overcast blue-gray sky, giving a mythical wash to my thoughts. My choice of books only added fuel to that fire.

Driving home, the city awash with bursting colors of wildflowers, budding trees, and swooping birds, I felt such a connection with Nature and yet also cautious to distance myself from pollen and allergens. I felt so much a part of the Elements around me and also, paradoxically, a longing for ancient places across the sea.

This push and pull reminds me of things I wanted to express while trying to be a writer and not knowing art techniques. So, I may delve into that as well as continue my Fake Journal book (soon to be unveiled). A large painting is also beckoning.

So many paths, so many interests, so many means of expression. I wish you a happy Easter, a lovely spring, a wealth of possibilities. What is pulling you these days?

Cheers to the Art Blogging Community!

2010-03-28T14:57:00.003-05:00

Roots 1
9” x 12”
acrylic on paper

I haven’t done any new paintings this week since I’ve been sick with an upper respiratory infection—spring is in the air but my nose doesn’t seem to like it! But here is an older painting.

While doing a Google search about some art pencils today, I refined my search to blogs only and got a wealth of tips, techniques, and step-by-step instructions about the type I was researching. I love the art blogging community—I have found so many generous and nurturing individuals!

So, a big thank you to all you wonderful art bloggers out there—your helpful and sharing nature have lifted my spirits. I lift my tissue box to you!

Ladies & Gentlemen, Start Your Fake Journal!

2010-03-21T22:03:00.006-05:00

Do you enjoy looking at artist journals? Do you like keeping a journal yourself? Have you ever kept a journal as someone else?

The 2nd International Fake Journal Month is approaching! Started by Roz Stendahl last year, she has a blog encouraging and describing what fake journals are all about. I jumped in at, literally, the last hour and had a great time. My character was a young wife and mother in 1960’s Ireland and she tried to sketch and jot down things going on in her life; you can see them here.

You could do a fake journal in a media you’ve always wanted to try, in a voice you’ve always been curious about. Last week, thinking and jotting possibilities down, I got excited about one in particular. I won’t give it away just yet, but encourage you to play along if you’d like.

Forgotten People Series

2010-03-15T18:04:00.004-05:00

Phillip

9” x 12”

acrylic and toner transfer on paper

This is the first painting in a series called Forgotten People, which I did a few years ago and will feature occasionally. Using scans of old photographs bought at an out-of-town antique shop, I was fascinated by their strong faces and period clothes. I created a name for each person, wished to respect their dignity, and wondered about their life story.

Memory Triggers

2010-03-07T17:01:00.009-06:00

Fuchsias remind me of Ireland, where I first saw them. Yesterday, we got two small ones along with herb and tomato plants. I love their brilliant colors and intricate blossoms.

Thinking of travel memories, I’ve been wondering what do with old postcards. Do you save postcards, too? What do you do with them? What do they mean to you?

I could simply sort and display my collection in clear scrapbooking sleeves, or bind same-sizes ones into a book. That might involve punching holes or altering them, which might work for the blank ones. But those with correspondence are special. Originally meant as a cheap, disposable souvenir, a travel postcard evokes memories of those who sent them. With people writing and mailing fewer letters and cards, these old cards become personal historical documents.

What if I began integrating them into art journals, theme books, or stitching them to stretched canvas? What if I began mixing them into different projects instead of placing them together? They could evoke an active and interactive role rather than passively sitting together. They could spark journal entries full of memories.

Like the fuchsia plants did yesterday.

Fluttering About

2010-02-21T16:51:00.010-06:00

I seem be an artistic butterfly lately, fluttering from one craft to another, barely staying long at any one.

Last year my curiosity about bookbinding focused on taking classes and learning different binding styles. Here is a recent effort, my first try using coptic binding with hard covers.

Binding signatures into leather covers blossomed into designing book closures and adornments, so I landed in the green field of wire and jewelry-making. Here are some of my designs in copper and wire.

Gliding over to join a friendly sewing group, I am starting to darn socks and take up a crochet hook again, wondering if I might make a giant migration and try a sewing machine.

Which is a bit strange, given my history. With a grandmother renown for her skillful and creative stitching skills, a mother who often made us clothes, and an artistic sister, I was a bookworm not interested at all in sewing. Yet, I tried embroidery as a teenager and my step-Mom taught us how to crochet one summer and I made simple throws and bed spreads.

I am intrigued by sewing paper as described in craft magazines and books, art blog posts and online class offering. Rhonda Miller sews Christmas cards into a book and sparked an examination of my hoard of cards and postcards from decades past. Mary Ann Moss has an online class “Remains of the Day” that utilizes daily paper ephemera and special photos to machine stitch a journal together. Both D.J. Pettitt's and L.K. Ludwig's online classes, although different in approach, encourage introducing your own photos to create meaningful, authentic journals. Although I have not taken any of those classes, I am moved by their general concepts.

Rationalizing that I only have so much time and room to create, I have resisted learning how to sew. But, given how butterfly fickle I've been lately, perhaps I'll soon relent and begin sewing old cards and letters onto journal pages, start making photo transfers onto fabric as well as paper, and maybe appliqué a memento to adorn a book cover.

Re-reading books about art journals, I like ideas that use personally significant pieces. Sorting old paper and fabric pieces, I am gathering ideas how to showcase them in mixed-media journals or paintings instead of filing or boxing them away.

But, first and foremost, I need to clean up my studio. You don’t know what a mess a fluttering butterfly, with projects all over the place, can make!

What’s So Great About Fluid Acrylics?

2010-02-07T21:55:00.004-06:00

In the Tall Grasses Behind the Dunes

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

Having bought small bottles of fluid acrylics--first for learning color theory and later for a watercolor workshop--I have been experimenting lately.

Using ideas from Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam, I used the acrylics watered down and washed over various dried mediums and gesso with good results. She also has interesting projects using an acrylic retarder medium.

But having handled them for about two weeks, I wonder what all the fuss is about. I find them cumbersome to work with. When diluted with water, they can be like watercolors (I’m guessing here since I haven’t tried tube watercolors). Undiluted, they are very slippery and glossy. They do not travel well and dried paint clogs the spout openings. Often, flecks of paint splash onto a piece I’m working on rather than in a tray; both of these paintings have them! When wanting to only use a few drops, some bottles squirt a long stream instead.

Although I have mixed them with my heavy bodied acrylics, I honestly don’t understand the attraction of using fluid acrylics. I do not like the way the big washes and dilution warps even watercolor blocks (glued on all four edges). While some of the unintentional puddling can later add some exciting features in an abstract painting, they can almost ruin landscapes. Their drying time varies greatly.

Once I use these bottles up, I’m not greatly encouraged to buy more. Am I missing something? Who wants to relate their love for fluid acrylics?

Full Moon at the Dunes
12" x 18"
acrylic on paper

Storm of Creation

2010-01-24T16:48:00.011-06:00

Arctic Cold Front & New Moon
18” x 12”
acrylic on paper

Have you ever calmed yourself down by doing art? When you are feeling strong emotions, do you channel it into creative expression?

Crevice
12” x 18”
acrylic on paper

Recently on Mary Buek’s blog, she mentioned "art will save the world" and I believe it! Because it can save you, me, and countless others by re-focusing our current emotion—whether it be pain and turmoil or elation and joy—and coming out the other side with art born from pounding the keyboard, flinging paint, gouging stone or wood, or flooring the sewing machine pedal. Being such sensitive souls, artists have chosen to express their deep feelings by creating, not destroying. When our inner storm has passed, an expressive, heart-felt, even break-through piece of creation can be held in our hands. Looking closely, we may be even be communicating with ourselves, seeing a message only we can discover.

Beneath the Dunes
12” x 18”
acrylic on paper

New Paintings

2010-01-16T13:09:00.005-06:00

Guardian

12" x 18"

acrylic on paper

These two images signal a return to painting. I am reminded once again how much I love flinging paint around. Unlike craft, there is no pre-planning or pre-sketching with the reward of a theme or symbol emerging in the finished abstract. It is a direct connection to the unconscious.

A few additional pieces, not shown, suggested various figures which I am trying to develop using water-soluble crayon. It is easy to erase lines or whole sections with a wet sponge. Using marks on top of dried acrylics has opened my mind to mixed media, beginning with an under-painting of acrylics. Returning to Mary Todd Beam’s book Celebrate Your Creative Self, I see her examples of refining designs using colored pencils. More discoveries!

Explosion
12" x 18"
acrylic on paper

Avatar

2010-01-09T17:45:00.004-06:00

I just saw Avatar and it has just become one of my favorite movies of all time!

Artists will appreciate the gorgeous scenery, flora, and fauna of the alien world Pandora as well as the natives themselves. The colors are beautiful, brilliant, vivid. The movie has strong reminders of my favorite science-fiction books—especially “Midworld,” by Alan Dean Foster and The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey—as well as my favorite movie, “Dances With Wolves.” Some themes come straight out of historic reality, though, such as the military-industrial-corporate complex, the Vietnam war, earth-based/Goddess-based religions, and current events. Even with those reminders, this movie is a fantastic and believable story knitted together with strong characters, a strong plot, and a strong theme.

Great Goddess

2010-01-03T21:29:00.006-06:00

Several years ago while walking, I found this on the ground. With its shape, rust, age, and dirt, it struck me as an ancient prehistoric Goddess figure. For a long time, I had it propped up near my work computer. Can you guess what it once was?*

Once I figured out what it was, I bought some new ones and today I played around making a more modern version of the Great Goddess. Using a magnet, a star-like washer, and a pair of ball bearings, I placed her into a mint tin I’d already altered with paint and tucked in a soft brown fabric. Perhaps later I’ll wire the figure into the tin so she can sit propped up.

*It is a battery connector for a car!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T21:25:00.009-06:00

Spiral Mountain & Moon
7.25” x 4.50”
Ink on paper

Taking an idea from a recent Cloth, Paper, Scissors article about zentangles I did this doodle. I was quite pleased with the results. I had wanted to try more doodle-type sketching and it was fun to make.

The doodle is in a small notebook I made with unlined sketch paper and a cover recycled from an acrylic painting on watercolor paper. Sporting blue Irish waxed linen thread and some blue seed beads, it’s a favorite place to jot down creative bursts. Because of their small size, these Art Ideas notebooks get filled quickly; I needed to make three last year.

There is a freedom in working so small. The size is perfect for capturing fleeting ideas and has really contributed to my creativity. My drawings are getting better as I try to express myself in sketches rather than words. I love being able to make my own now rather than using commercial notebooks with their thin, lined, acid-full, ink-bleeding pages.

Lately, I’ve been pondering what direction my art will take in 2010. Have you decided what you are going to concentrate on the next twelve months? Will you try something new or refine a certain technique? Will you branch out or stay with a beloved medium?

Wishing everyone happiness, health, and heaps of creativity in this New Year!

Book Closures and Jewelry-Making

2009-12-28T23:54:00.005-06:00

While going through paintings to create a 2010 CD calendar, I realize I did not create many new ones this year. My focus has zig-zagged from taking two bookmaking classes and making different book forms, to sketching a fake journal, to my current interest in book closures and embellishments, which has extended to metal and jewelry making.

Recently making this journal for my sister (below), I considered using red lace, a red leather dog collar, or an Art Nouveau button for the closure. After using my New Mexico journal, I learned the closure is best when it is out of the way of the pages! I’ve had to un-screw the conch while working in the book. This got me thinking about the many ways a simple leather book could be adorned. I’ve begun sketching the possibilities as they pop into my mind.

Like other things, jewelry-making seemed mysterious to me. Of course, painting once did too, before I actually began playing with paint. After sketching various ways to close leather books, I got interested in using charms and symbols.

Having just received “Wire & Bead Celtic Jewelry” by Linda Jones, with many lovely Celtic spirals, makes me realize I can make my own charms that have more meaning than anything I could buy. “The things I want to know are in books,” Abraham Lincoln said and I have been reading several that can teach me much. The once-mysterious ways of jewelry-making is becoming something I can actually do!

Isn’t it interesting how the Muse can pull you in certain directions? Often, my logical mind resists and does not wish to venture into a new art field. But, wire and metal have been calling and I have no choice but to follow.

Where has your Muse led you lately? Did you listen or did you hesitate? What were the results?

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-21T22:12:00.004-06:00

Original photo altered

May everyone enjoy a happy holiday season!

Autumn Leaves

2009-12-06T20:55:00.004-06:00

'Tis fall and seems only natural to collect leaves on the ground and roll them into acrylic paint. All are 9" x 12" on cold-press watercolor paper.

Pulled toward Leather

2009-11-29T16:52:00.009-06:00

As much as I love painting, there are times I need to work on three dimensional projects. A few times, I have combined a painted canvas with some assemblage attached. Other times, I like to play with assemblage, bookbinding, themed art journals, shrines, painting glass and ceramics, and such.

Since last year, I’ve taken baby steps learning about leather, making little leather purses for gift cards using using random leather scraps. Online, I found instructions for simple things like setting a snap. Here is the practice one I kept:

The next ones, I measured with a ruler and an awl to get evenly spaced holes for the lacing.

Leather art caught my eye at my very first Renaissance fair many years ago. One vendor had leather journals, checkbook wallets, belts, mostly in a Celtic theme. I was overwhelmed by the choices and finally settled on a refillable Celtic journal in turquoise. The intricacy and details of Oberon Design reminds me of that craftsmanship.

When I saw these unique wallet and handbags in a GaelSong catalog recently, I was very intrigued.

Thanks to the wonderful Internet, I discovered C. L. Whiting. Since I love using leaves in my own work, I am drawn to these designs. This artist’s works are amazing, exquisite, and fabulous!

Curiosity about this tough, flexible material intensified after discovering it could be used as both the support and cover for handmade books. Having made a few books now, I am fascinated with color combinations, detailing of spine stitches, and closure styles (buttons, leather strips, buckles, latches, etc.).

From the little I’ve researched, you can stamp emboss, carve, paint, dye, and even brand leather. I have one of those multi-function heat tool that can burn leather but haven’t tried it yet. You could really get creative and use your own designs on untreated leather ovals, squares, rectangles, and bookmarks.

It’s odd that leather isn’t more prominent in mixed-media books and magazines, isn’t it? Does it still have connotations of being a craft that only the boy scouts or summer camp kids use? Are there any leather crafters out there? Tell us about your experiences.

Art Surrounds Us

2009-11-22T19:28:00.002-06:00

Last week, while serving on a jury downtown, I discovered art and architectural gems around every corner. Although it was overcast and I was using an unfamiliar camera, I had fun!

What have you discovered recently?

Experimenting with Collagraphs

2009-11-07T18:48:00.008-06:00

Celtic Horse
Collagraph

acrylic on computer paper
8.50” x 11”

Have you ever tried making a collagraph? It is a type of printmaking where you build up the surface, rather than subtracting (as in making a stamp). You can use any kind of firm material for the base (cardboard, mat board scraps, canvas board, etc.) with various glued down flat objects (leaves, fabric, coins, etc.). With such a range of ingredients, it can be very creative.

Long wanting to make a collagraph, I could not settle down and decide on a premeditated design so I looked on my shelves, thinking about what size to use and found an unfinished painting on Gessobord. It had been an experiment—the first time I had tried using an acrylic medium called string gel. Dipping a palette knife in the jar, I then lifted it and swirled it over a section of the rigid surface.

Now, I was curious—would it make a good collagraph? Since it already had a raised design on the surface, I wouldn’t have to wait for everything to dry overnight (or longer). Bonus--I could play now!

Trying various papers and full-body acrylic paints on hand, I first tried rolling paint on a brayer and transferring it to the raised design. It didn’t work very well, so I switched, using a brush to put paint on the hardened string gel. This yielded much better results.

Limiting myself to just three colors (blue, teal, brown), I began to see a horse’s eye, a muzzle, and then an abstract body. The swirls reminded me of Celtic knots and spirals. Cool!

I tried other variations, using Cotman 140 lb. w/c paper, inkjet translucent vellum, and beige cardstock. Surprisingly, the plain computer paper showed the most details.

Happy Weekend

2009-10-24T21:46:00.004-05:00

Floating

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

Another Landscape

2009-10-10T18:43:00.004-05:00

Way Home
9” x 12”
acrylic on paper

Switching from quick brayer paintings to lingering brush paintings, I played with abstracts this week. Then, a mountain scene from my imagination wanted to be painted, a river/road wished to appear, trees grew up in the distance, and lovely La Luna rose in east. Do you sometimes feel you are just a conduit for what paper and brush and paint want? I love it!

While taking an online class at work, I discovered

something about Picasa that might be helpful to other artists using Blogger. Also learned how to post Flickr photos directly to your blog. If you are at all interested in learning more about high technology, these 12 Steps are easy to understand with great visuals. Highly recommended.

Tell me, are fall temperatures encouraging your art? Are more fall colors popping up in your journals? What are you working on?

New Mexico Frame of Mind

2009-09-27T13:51:00.007-05:00

New Mexico Enchantment

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

The above new painting is the result of thinking and dreaming of New Mexico lately. 20 years ago next month I first visited the Land of Enchantment, staying in B&Bs, renting a car, and driving around to pueblos, museums, hot-air ballooning events, and national parks. It was the first time I had ever done that for a vacation and it was immensely liberating and enjoyable. I’ve been in love with New Mexico since.

Did you see the Lifetime movie about Georgia O'Keeffe recently? What did you think of it? It has me heading to book shelves to dig out "Portrait of An Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe" to re-read.

I've viewed her paintings at the local McNay museum, the Santa Fe museum devoted to her, and the Art Institute of Chicago (where I took the above photo). Although she hated being called a woman artist, she did blaze the trail for gender-breaking acceptance.

Voyage of Discovery

2009-09-19T18:26:00.005-05:00

Each time I play with acrylics I am reminded how much I love them! Especially on watercolor paper, and most especially on hot press. There is just something magical I cannot touch with other media. I might get intrigued with other art or craft forms, as I have with bookbinding lately, but oh, to work in my new journal!

On my last post, Leslie asked what I was going to put in my new journal. This is my New Mexico Journal, which will chronicle all my visits to the state next door which I adore. Using the bold colors I love, I realize these are also New Mexico colors. In my heart, I know I am destined to live there one fine day.

For me, playing with a few tools (brayer, plastic cards, palette knife, paper towels, water bottle, putty knife, scraps of fabric) begins a mini vacation, a holiday of artistic proportions, a voyage of discovery. Layering acrylic colors onto hot-press watercolor paper and then impressing, scraping, spritzing, and wiping back to earlier, lighter colors ignites shadowy forms to emerge, patterns to appear, stories to whisper.

As well as continuing brayer paintings, I am trying all manner of things on these pages—petroglyph stamps, watercolor crayons, gel transfers, journaling, and collage.

I have also discovered some lessons. One is to protect the inside leather cover while doing page spreads involving water using wax or freezer paper. Another is to perhaps save the closure decision until you finish working in the book. I had to remove the large southwestern concho on the cover because it interfered with the left-sided pages lying completely flat.

What voyages of discovery have you found in your art? What media ignites your excitement? Did you have to alter a technique to make a page or piece work? And, what is your favorite place, the one that speaks to your soul?

New Journal

2009-09-07T13:21:00.007-05:00

Here’s the new leather travel journal I completed yesterday. The thick leather cover comes from a distressed leather journal kit from Volcano Arts. But, I modified it by setting aside the brown thread, button, and paper and substituted Fabrino Artistico hot-press watercolor paper, a different spinal sewing design, a concho, turquoise beads, an eyelet, and four corners. Six signatures of four folios each needed trimming on three edges to fit this cover and I toned down the shiny silver-finish corners by rubbing some black acrylic paint into the grooved etchings so it would match the Southwestern screw concho.

Overall, I’m thrilled to have finally finished this project. Although I see some flaws to correct on future book, such as centering the signatures better and spacing them closer together, the latter problem may be solved once the pages expand with paint, collage, transfers, and layers.

Since I have become enthusiastic about limp leather bindings with long stitch spine sewing, I researched types of leather and wasn’t sure about purchasing bookbinding leather as it was too thin and needed to be glued around boards. The good news is I found a local source for leather and embellishments. There is a Tandy Leather Factory in town and upon my first visit last week I was pleased by the helpful staff and abundance of materials. Pulling out my yet-unworked piece of leather as well as another commercially-made leather journal as examples, I told one staff member what I was looking for and he showed me different choices in full hides, adding the owner might be willing to cut them in half.

It was small but fascinating place to see all the various colors and thicknesses and finishes, to hear Texas-accented customers asking for project materials, to smell intoxicating leather in every aisle. There were leather scraps, kits, and rolls, and hardware such as conchos, buckles, belts, rivets, tacks, clips, eyelets…it was dizzying. They carried every kind of leather, from hair-still-on-the-hide pieces to untreated hides ready for tooling and leather burning, to dyed and treated leather suede, upholstery, and rawhide. There were also scrap bins, some with exotic skins mottling such as ostrich and crocodile (or merely tooled sections? I couldn’t tell). Perhaps they could function as straps or tapes to sew on for future projects?

Selecting a stoned oil cowhide in a neutral brown, I asked if I could buy half of it. With such a large piece I could cut up various rectangles to fit my torn-down papers. The owner obliged, spread out the hide atop a table piled high with others, folded it, drew out a sharp knife from his belted leather knife holder (naturally!), and neatly sliced it into two as if he was cutting butter. Wow, what a display!

Along with my rolled up cowhide piece, I also bought Southwestern and Celtic conchos. Now I can really play!

Journal Painting & 'Fraid of Fractions

2009-09-01T22:00:00.009-05:00

Procession

acrylic on paper
8 1/4" x 5"

Dad was right—you’ve got to spend more time on those subjects that are tough, like math. He told me that at a very young age, when I was baffled and perplexed by “Modern Math” as well as basics such as fractions. Math never came easy for me, ever. It wasn’t like history or English, which I loved and got good grades in. No, math was like studying a foreign language from another planet; it never made sense in my brain. A lot of it still doesn’t! Did I miss those sections in elementary school? Am I forever doomed to not understand fractions?

Because I’m so enamored with bookbinding right now, I have to force myself to learn something about those wily fractions I so detest! Baffled and perplexed when instructors in two bookbinding classes said to measure 3/16” or 18/32”, I looked in vain on the standard ruler. Yikes! Ugly fractions rear their nasty head again! Shall I give in and learn fractions? Or shall I cheat and turn the ruler over to the metric system? Much more logical, really. Or shall I remain blissfully ignorant and get some of those brass measuring rulers I’ve seen advertised on vendor’s sites?

Although numbers rule, I don’t find them very fun nor creative. But, in order to finish some books a-waiting, in order to create other books, in order to keep the door open to bookbinding, I must get past this obstacle. Seems the more I try to fight it, the more I put up a sign inside my mind: "This doesn’t make sense!! I HATE Math!!"

Sigh. OK. First, I remove the sign and leave my mind open. Check. Now, I do a Google search about easy way of learning fractions and how to use a ruler measurements. Check. Ohhhh…. It’s beginning to make sense. Check. I think I got it. Allright!

Do you have math horror stories to relate? Have they interfered with you creating? How have you worked around your problems?

The above brayer painting is the result of needing a purely creative and color break from altered book collage and bookbinding. Testing a new watercolor Moleskine notebook, I like the paper and how acrylics work on them but not thrilled with the landscape size.

Books on My Mind

2009-08-24T17:12:00.007-05:00

It was bound to happen. I have always love books. I work in a library.

And now I have been bitten by the bookbinding bug. Re-reading Gwen Diehn’s The Decorated Journal recently, with Dorothy Simpson Krause’s Book + Art always at hand, referencing Alisa Golden’s creative series, I am now leafing through Jeannie Stein’s Re-Bound.

Waiting for some ordered supplies--Irish linen thread, sewing needles, an awl, two book kits from two different vendors, 5 different kinds of paper--I’ve been thinking and sketching and researching what kind of books to make. Any and all ideas for book structure, book themes, book combinations, and book closures get jotted down. I even made a signature-punching cradle out of some chip board.

So, it’s possible I have book fever, don’t you think?!

Do I blame it on incessant heat and drought this summer? Sure is a good excuse to stay inside on weekends, drool over wonderful blogs featuring bookbinding, and join Yahoo groups that discuss book arts. Am I taking a break from painting? Or perhaps waiting to splash into tomes where I decide the paper choice? And dreaming how much fun it will be to play, paint, sketch, write, or collage in those books?

Waiting for supplies and time to devote to bookbinding, I have altered a photography book of Ireland using only two methods: cutting and collage. With several sharp tools and a glue stick, I have changed the shape of pages, introduced new elements, as well as collaged over them entirely. Materials are culled from Celtic and Irish art books, calendars, and magazines. A lot can be learned about book structure by removing pages and adding thicker elements.

Something New, Something Recycled Journal Cover

2009-08-04T22:04:00.006-05:00

Don't you love being able to re-use something?

While auditioning pieces of fabric to dress up my journal cover, I happened upon this combination--a wonderful fabric that is iridescent and a recycled piece of leather. Can you guess what it once was?

Give up?

Straps from a beloved pair of sandals. Not sure why I cut and kept them, but it makes a handsome latching on an otherwise plain black hardcover blank book.

How do you like to decorate your journal covers?

Hero Brothers Shrine

2009-07-26T18:31:00.008-05:00

The Hero Brothers Shrine

11" x 7.75" x 5.50"

mixed media

I enjoy seeing shrines other artists make and realize I have not written or shown any of mine. Here’s a mixed-media shrine I sporadically work on. It’s a tribute to the Kennedy brothers, my childhood heroes.

When I first saw the center wooden piece with two shelves on a clearance at Michael's, I automatically thought of creating a Kennedy shrine holding a small ceramic bust of JFK my Dad gave me decades ago.

At another craft store, I found wooden pieces shaped like a book having a drawer at the spine. I attached two to each end, acting as bookends. Auditioning other wooden pieces, I thought of using a door that could swing open at the bottom.

On wooden 1 ½” blocks, I found photos fitting that size from my collection of old books and magazine articles, brushing each side with clear acrylic medium.

Plastic glow-in-the dark stars were transformed with patina metal pieces and topped with copper foil. Carpet tacks loosely hold two coin medallions of Robert and John Kennedy.

This is what it currently looks like. A Kennedy coat-of-arms is draped between the two coins. Two purple candles sit on the bottom back shelf. Not happy with the painted back arch and first shelf, I attached blue velvet fabric instead.

Celtic knot and font designs were embossed on copper strips and painted with black acrylic paint. They are attached with small copper nails on the side as well on the first shelf where the words “The Hero Brothers” appear.

Since I have learned how to do acrylic medium transfers, I plan to make mini-books to fit inside the book drawers, filled with speech quotes and photos. For now, they hold pictures.

Recycling Clutter

2009-07-19T17:06:00.010-05:00

Resolute
acrylic on paper

9" x 12"

I've not been creating as much as I’ve been destroying! After cleaning up my desk at work, de-cluttering has continued at home.

Isn’t it amazing how much stuff we accumulate? For a reader, it is magazines and books, for the mixed-media artist it is interesting items, for the archivist it is newspaper or magazine articles. Since I am a little of all the above, I am amazed at things I’ve hung on to for years.

Do any of you remember old scrapbooks? Those large books from the dime store with dull gray or brown paper, held together with either screw posts or heavy thread? You could get refills and make very thick books. They were pretty ugly specimens. Unfortunately, it was long before the current scrapbooking craze introduced acid-free materials.

I still have some of these dinosaurs, including my first one started 40 years ago celebrating the historic 1969 moon landing. I continued the format, making other scrapbooks—current events, favorite television shows, the space program, etc.

Being in that saving and preserving mentality, I continued clipping interesting articles. But as I got older and busier, I never put them into anything but large folders.

Other forgotten folders held chapter drafts of my first novel. Why did I keep so many drafts, I wonder? Fear of losing the originals or to prove my ideas? I excavated first drafts written in longhand, second drafts typewritten, third drafts from my dedicated word processor, and succeeding drafts from my first computer. Historically, it shows how long I’ve worked on the still-unfinished novel and how technology has changed; even electronic back-ups range from 3.5 floppy discs to a USB drive.

Having a reverence for paper made me think it is too precious to part with. Yet, so much I saved was never looked at again. It ceased to be precious and became clutter. Now, if I decide to clip something it is going into my current journal or other book project.

To that end, bags of shredded drafts will help mulch a few gardens this fall. Old catalogs and magazines are being recycled with some images re-birthed in two book forms. One is an altered book of Irish photos with collage and cuttings. The other is the black page album, where collage mixes with drawings and affirmations.

Four Classes & Three Books

2009-07-05T18:35:00.005-05:00

In a recent class on basic bookbinding, we made three books in four class sessions.

This one has six signatures, with an envelope as the last “page.” Even though I had to complete it outside class, I think it’s my favorite. The cover is handmade paper, flax I think, with thin leather tapes we sewed over (at the spine) and on (the "X"s on the covers). The flax cover has tough texture and strength, but folded beautifully with a bone folder. I like the cut squares on the spine showing the sewing and the slits where the tapes are woven through and then sewn on the cover.

The second book we made is a Moleskine-type travel journal with a ribbon bookmark, a folding envelope, and a piece of elastic to close it. We sewed the signatures and then attached it to Davey boards, cutting a tip off the ends and sanding them to round the pages. Those rounding paper punches would do a better job than I did!

The last is an album with a sewn concertina, making it expandable for photos, collage, or other thick items. We used paste papers provided (we didn’t make them).

I’ve learned a lot from both book binding classes I’ve taken this year. Although I’m not destined to be a book binder, I do love the book form to put art in and to make artists books around. After returning to painting, I’m also altering a photography book using cuttings (scissors and a cutting tool) and collage.

An inspirational book, Book + Art: Handcrafting Artists' Books by Dorothy Simpson Krause, will keep me on the book-making path. It is a very artistic, classy, upscale guide to making art within the book form. I’m impressed with the muted palette she uses—brown, black, and red. It transforms her work with a dramatic, chic, old-fashioned, aged, timeless, wise, and somber tone. The style is far elevated from common crafty-cute styles and a departure from my own love of wild colors. You get a definite aura of being in a rich, private library, sitting in a deep leather chair, classic leather-bound books spilling over solid wood shelves--a comfortable but elegant room for serious studies. She also picks serious subjects for her artist’s books, probably prompted by her international travel and academic background. Highly recommended!

Evolution of a Painting

2009-06-28T13:27:00.005-05:00

After concentrating on making books lately, I took a detour and began a new painting. Or, more accurately, recycled an old painting. It was one I started after my first acrylic painting class, based on an Irish landscape photograph in a book. I added a couple on horseback using clip art images and used student-grade paints. My title was “Riding the Hills.”

I never really liked the painting since the imagery was based on other people’s work. And, at that point, I really didn’t have a lot of experience painting or much skill doing realism. My favorite part was the real sand mixed with acrylic medium and spread over the canvas with a palette knife. It represented stone walls.

Falling asleep one night, I had a vision of painting over the whole canvas, only leaving the sand area. I could abstract the initial idea with a blur of green hills the riders might see on horseback as the landscape whooshed past.

So, I got out all my green paints as well as favorite yellows and blues to mix green from. I extended some of the sand walls with white paint but accidentally got some on the very brown sand. I liked the effect and decided to paint over all the sand sections with white. The texture was fantastic!

Turning the painting on different sides, those former stone walls could be a branch, a twig, a tree, or some other vague organic shape. Then, I began filling in the other areas with different green segments. After a while, that seemed too stiff so I began mixing the greens all over the whole canvas. The piece began to have some movement in it.

Some sand areas I greened over entirely. I liked how it looked. Working on my mixed-media nature sampler books heightened my connection to Nature; the evolving image appeared to be a very simplified and streamlined statement of nature and Her attraction. Not a romp through green hills, but a close-up of a very small segment of Her grandeur.

The next time I worked on it, the white seemed too jarring, so I covered it with various browns. It still seemed too green overall. So, I darkened the interior areas and being freer with my big bristle brush. Where I had been so careful before, keeping within the lines, now I was swishing it around until I found some color combinations I like.

Seedpod

acrylic on canvas

24" x 30"

close-up

Functional Works of Art

2009-06-20T16:13:00.006-05:00

These lovely wool bed socks were made by my friend Nancy. She made the wool from a felted sweater and the top inner lining is in white cashmere. Exquisite embroidery adorns the tops, the edges, and the bottom joining foot beds. They are gorgeous works of art!

I am so inspired by fiber artists, like Nancy. Whenver I receive my latest copy of Cloth, Paper & Scissors, I am awed by the beauty brought about with thread, needles, sewing machines, patience, careful hands, and great imaginations. My grandmother was a great one with a sewing machine. There's a family story of her coming home from work, clearing the table, and making an outfit to wear on date that very night!

Mixed-Media Nature Sampler Book Part Two

2009-06-14T15:30:00.017-05:00

Here are more pages from one of my nature sampler book. These get more into the mixed-media theme; all photos are ones I've taken.

acrylics on watercolor paper (left) and painted Ginko leaf encased in vinyl over cotton mesh (right)

ink jet transfer on fabric with staples (left) and hand stitching on fabric (right)

hand stitching on fabric with leather pocket and tree coin

handmade copper leaves on a twig over heavy upholstery fabric (left) and cotton fabric (right)

flower-patterned fabric over glossy photo (left) and photo printed on embossed scrapbooking paper (right)

more of my photos printed on watercolor paper (left & right)

part of a poor, sweet butterfly I found on the ground lying in two parts sandwiched between two mica pieces attached with brads onto copper mesh (right)

watercolor paper with acrylic (left) and gelatin print on watercolor paper (right)

gelatin print on brown paper (left) and plastic fabric flower pattern (right)

metallic crayon rubbings on gel pen paper (left) and Inca dove in tree printed on watercolor paper (right)

dried and pressed Evening Primrose on paint sample chip (left) and Black Swallowtail caterpillar chomping on fennel printed on velum

Mexican Sycamore trees, long view (left) and close-up (right) on ribbed card-making paper

Esperanza (Yellow Bells) on velum paper (right)

small wildflower and baby Mexican Sycamore leaf under clear packing tape on paint sample (right)

Yesterday, I went with a friend to a local pottery studio. She was interested in taking a class so we went and talked to the very nice instructor/owner. They have both wheel throwing and handbuilding classes each month. Clay is calling to my friend and I think she’ll answer the call and begin a wheel throwing class in July.

While I’m intrigued, I don’t hear clay calling me. At least, not right now. I’m much too interested in book binding (I’m taking another class) and painting.

Natural Beauty and Nature Book (Part One)

2009-05-31T17:27:00.023-05:00

Gathering slate blue skies bring needed rain.

A visiting Western King bird surveys a field.

Wildflowers, not as numerous as previous years, curve around a walking trail.

Baby barn swallows stretch their beaks for food under the house eaves.

Trees begin shedding their winter barks.

Young mockingbirds squeak and squeal on the back fence, getting flying lessons.

The last of the spring flowers push up and spread before the crushing heat of the summer.

Sunsets glow in ephemeral colors before quickly fading.

All this month of May, I have witnessed the scope and grandeur of Nature. I am inspired, nourished, refreshed, uplifted, and delighted by Her presence around me.

In response, here are some mixed-media Nature samplers I created.

When I began, I listed a range of materials that might be used for the signature “pages” and how (and if!) they could be bound into a book form. Some things worked; some didn't. As a result, pages are made from watercolor paper, felt with a adhesive backing, thin cotton fabric, dark gel pen paper, various types of tulle, handmade paper I made last summer, gelatin prints on various substrates, transparencies, fabric with photo transfers, cotton mesh, vinyl, upholstery fabric, copper mesh, transparent plastic with flower designs, paint sample cards, vellum, scrapbook paper, and photo paper.

Attaching items or backing thin pages, I experimented with brads, hand sewing, staples, copper wire, glue stick, and fabric glue.

When I began, I could not decide whether to put blank surfaces in to use as a journal but settled upon making a sampler. As I drew close to completing the signatures, I also realized more could be done by layering over the existing pages with paint, markers, colored pencils, gel pens, sewing, buttons, metal pieces, natural items, and other embellishments. So even though they have been completed and bound, in a way, these nature books can be expanded.

And isn’t that similar to Mother Nature, who is ever changing?

Experimental Journal

2009-05-19T19:15:00.003-05:00

Acrylic gelatin print on canvas
9.75” x 11” album cover

Looking through some of my collage and journal-making books, I felt like doing something quite different. I remembered a blank “Just-the-Pieces” album I’d put together with the gelatin print cover. The pages are sturdy black cardstock, intended to hold photographs. Last year, Andrea Platt demonstrated some wonderful drawings she did on black paper using colored pencils and gel pens and-–YES!—that’s what I decided to try!

Appropriating part of a magazine cover having a wonderful array of blues and greens, I cut and glued that to the first page and began playing with the colored pencils. It is truly amazing how the black page is so utterly different and how it becomes part of the design.

I used green, blue, and white colored pencils with some gold metallic gel pen highlights. Nothing was precise or planned but the squiggles and lines and blips were mark-making of the highest form of fun! It was very relaxing, too, just doodling in different colors and allowing the strong black background speak for itself.

Fire Dancer

2009-05-10T17:00:00.005-05:00

Fire Dancer

9" x 12"

acrylic on paper

Back to painting this week, I was trying a technique in Mary Todd Beam’s new book The Creative Edge: Exercises to Celebrate Your Creative Self using pieces of plastic to make rock-like texture. When I tilted this first try, I immediately saw a figure, perhaps a tribal dancer wearing an elaborate animal costume, holding a flaming torch.

Right now, I am of two minds—add some more defining facial features (but I'm not confident or comfortable drawing people!) or leave it as an abstract figure.

What do you think?

April Fake Journal Ends

2009-05-03T16:01:00.004-05:00

The International Fake Journal Month is over and so is Ashling's journal. It has been wonderful thinking about my character's life and sketching in her journal last month.

I will miss hearing about her life in a small town in Ireland, back in 1961.

But, there is some room left unfinished in the little green journal where black pen sketches and longhand written entries graced the slightly-textured buff colored pages. The door is left ajar, in case she has more to share or draw.

More Fake Journal Sketches

2009-04-26T22:33:00.008-05:00

As the International Fake Journal Month winds down, I've done more drawing and writing in my book, or Ashling has. It has been tremendous fun doing something I didn't know I'd like to do--sketch--and also to be a bit of a novelist inventing this person, her family, and her life.

Keeping a fake journal can allow you to step into another's shoes and view the world through their eyes, something we rarely think about as we go about our daily lives.

The last few sketches I've relied more on my travel photos from Ireland than from other sources. Probably, Ashling wouldn't have been able to visit the length and breath of the island like I did several years ago but doubtless some of the countryside she'd have recognized.

Starting a fake journal, I did not pre-plan whose life I would live for 30 days. But it has reminded me of the struggles we all face, especially women, as fellow human beings sharing the planet regardless of time period, economic position, or national origin.

Fake Journal

2009-04-19T21:48:00.005-05:00

Since April Fool’s evening, I’ve been keeping an International Fake Journal for the month, suggested and encouraged by Roz Stendahl (http://officialinternationalfakejournalblog.blogspot.com/). My best creative work usually arrives from not thinking too much so I decided at the last moment to dive into this. Near the end of the day, I looked on my shelf for a blank journal, and got out a Sakura Pigma Micron black pen, brought up a photo I’d take on an Irish beach, and began—gasp!—sketching.

I don’t sketch! Well, I did play around with drawing when I bought the original Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. But I haven’t done much since, except when I sketch an idea in my Art Idea notebook. I don’t really count that as sketching because I’m not looking at anything as a guide to the drawing.

But, as soon as I did the first sketch, I turned the page and wrote the first entry. Slowly, a story unfolded, written by a married Irishwoman. The next day I discovered she had three children. Using either a photo of mine or one from a book, I would sketch an Irish scene. The next time I opened my book, something new would appear from the pen.

So, who is she? Her name is Ashling McDurmut, which means “dream” in Gaelic (perfect since she’s my made up dream person), she’s in her thirties, married to Ryan; their children are Sean Patrick, Ann, and little Kerry. The year is 1961. Frequently, Ashling doesn’t have time to finish a sketch or journal entry. Her husband wants another child but she does not want a large family, even though three isn’t considered large by any means in her time and place.

Choosing a blank book I haven't worked in before—a small Hand artist’s journal (3½" × 5½", portrait orientation) with a green cover (perfect!)--I find the paper is good for sketching but the Micron pens (05 and 02) are very scratchy for writing.

Last week I tested some Sakura Brush pigment pens, something new to me that I really liked, and was tempted to introducing them into the fake journal by suggesting Ashling received a gift of watercolors. But, I decided to keep this fake journal pure with just the black ink pens, which would be in any case heads and tails above anything available in her era.

Although we have little in common, although we are separated by time, culture, distance, and of course, reality, I think we have a connection.

I like Ashling and I’m enjoying my first fake journal.

Nature Books, Artists Books, Fake Journals

2009-04-05T15:47:00.009-05:00

Spring Splendor (Red Bud Leaves)

Gelatin Print (acrylic on watercolor paper)

9” x 12”

This print was done last summer and seemed appropriate as I continued making pages for a small (4” x 4”) nature book. Inspired by L.K. Ludwig http://gryphonsfeather.typepad.com/the_poetic_eye/ and her book Mixed Media Journals), D. J. Pettit (http://www.djpettitt.blogspot.com/), and Judy Wise (http://judywise.blogspot.com/) , who all spice up their books with fabulous fabric, sewing, photos, drawings, gelatin prints, 3-D items, and so much more, I’ve decided to make a Sampler Book and see just how many materials I can make “pages” from.

Although I haven’t finished pages nor bound it/they (it might be one very fat book with several signatures or several small books with 1 or 2 signatures), I brought some examples for show-and-tell at the beginning of yesterday’s book sewing class. When I showed our instructor, Linda Draper, various cover possibilities (fabric, canvas, leather, etc.), I got some good feedback. All could work for sewing and she also suggested putting a backing on the fabric, such as fusible webbing, that would make the cover and spine stiffer and easier to sew through.

When I asked Linda how she used the books she made, I was surprised to hear her say she did not use them to journal or do art in; some she gave to friends. That had never occurred to me--making a blank book just to make it. Since I've loved books since I was a child, I have expanded my definition from an object to read to an object of art. I love creating travel books or daily painting books or theme books using commercially-made hardbound sketchbooks or spiral watercolor books. I love altering the covers, using different techniques on the papers, trying some different things with different tools. Collecting several types and sizes of blank books, I’m exploring what I like and don’t like, what mediums work or don’t work on various papers. Although I like the idea of Altered Books, I have found the paper very frustrating to work in (acrylics don’t work very well in them) and have yet to complete a single one I’ve started!

Creating more of my own books, I enjoy learning and exploring the form. Here is a simple accordion book I made my sister almost two years ago called “In Praise of Trees.” It has two Davey board covers. The folded pages are one long section of a watercolor sheet; you can see the deckled edge on the top.

I’m tempted to take another bookmaking class this summer. Linda showed us examples from a basic bookbinding one taught by another instructor—a travel book that looks very much like a large Moleskine with elastic band and pocket (although with a lovely green cover and endpapers!), another with a paper cover with stubs and envelopes, and a photo album that allows for expansion when photos are added. One of the latter two had a wonderful paper cover with a strip of other paper cut and woven through it with signature sewings showing.

Since I love to keep a journal for writing and for art and for everything in between, I began my fake journal this week, jumping in with others inspired by Roz Stendahl's International Fake Journal Month. For now, I’m holding off revealing details or art in the journal, to keep the creative fuels burning. I will say that I’m really surprised at the medium I chose and how this fake persona is being revealed to me each time I open the special little journal. So much fun!

International Fake Journal Month

2009-04-01T23:08:00.007-05:00

Want to get out of your artistic rut? Tired of your old journal? Roz Stendahl http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/roz_wound_up/ is shaking things up by encouraging everyone to keep a fake journal in April. She's even created a special blog to track progress for those wishing to share. http://officialinternationalfakejournalblog.blogspot.com/

Wanna play?

2009-03-30T21:49:00.005-05:00

Untitled

11” x 14”

acrylic on canvas

Sometimes on a weekend, I find I can either make art or blog about art. Since I didn’t post yesterday, guess what I did?

I’m working on some experimental books. Since my last book sewing class is this week, I’d like to try something and show it around and get feedback. What’s unusual is that I’m making the pages ahead of time and then will sew them to the cover binding (leather? fabric? canvas?). There are so many options, I’m not sure I’ll finish in time!

So, here’s a painting from a few weeks ago. It might be done. It might want more. It definitely needs a title.

Small Art

2009-03-22T17:35:00.007-05:00

Wondering

4" x 6"

acrylic, toner transfer on paper

Any time is good time for Small Art, don't you think?

I’ve sent a challenge to art friends around the country to make some Small Art. Using envelopes from last year’s wall calendar, I encouraged five others to create small pieces and send the creativity on. Pieces could range from an Artist Trading Card (ATC) size to 9" x12" and involve any substrate with any media.

Since the New Year, I’ve been working in my studio, cleaning, clearing, sorting, tossing, and organizing. I’ve had a bad habit of tossing finished acrylic paintings, whether they worked or not, into a large box sharing space with gelatin prints and handmade papers. It was quite a mess and mish-mash! So, I separated pieces that could fit into two binders--letter-size or 12” x 12”—and placed two pieces each into plastic sleeves. Now, I can see what I have and cull pieces ready for recycling into collage or book pages or Small Art.

Some of these pieces were created by cutting down larger works on watercolor paper. Using some of my photos, I tried toner transfers or altered them with Microsoft Word.

Cardinal in Tree
4" x 6"
altered photo on watercolor postcard

Growth

4" x 6"

acrylic, fabric on paper