Updated Journal Cover

After using my new journal for a while, I decided to change the cover. Adding more of my acrylic painting (on watercolor paper), I tried to complement the circular silver design on the original covers. Replaced the original jute cord with brown leather closure, too. I like it MUCH better!

Newest Leather Journal

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.

My First Journal Commission

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.

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

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!

Return from Ireland

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.

Fluttering About

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!

Voyage of Discovery

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

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!

Something New, Something Recycled Journal Cover

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?

Playing with Initial Images

Having read books and blogs from artists who do wonderful journals, I looked at my daily brayer paintings with new eyes and decided to take an initial image and extend it. Here is the original which I think came out too dark.

Ginkgo Leaves in December

acrylic on paper

7 1/2" x 8"

After scanning, printing, and gluing it in a journal page, I used some metallic gel pens in gold, copper and red to outline the faint yellow leaves, drew some veins, emphasize some wiggles and marks, trying to bring shapes to the surface.

I wonder, did it became too shimmery and unnatural with the introduction of metalic pens? Tilting the journal, the altered version looks like I used interference paints. It was fun altering my own image, knowing I could continue changing it with another print-out!