Journals Dioramas Boxes Handbags & Postcards

I've been away from the blog world for so long. 

Thank you Catherine with a C for your sweet note 

on my previous entry.

Above, an illustrated journal entry 

in the form of a diorama foldable card.

A lot of my writing & art has been in my personal daily journal. 

It serves as a modified bullet journal/organizer. 

It grounds me each day. 

It's a place where I collect & sift through 

my thoughts, feelings & observations.  

Rough & Tumble handbags also help me to organize my life.

I love them as art objects & for their wonderful functionality.

They are designed & made here in Maine, one bag at a time,

though they sell online worldwide.

I've been creating in postcard formats lately.

I copied the Irish blessing from a postcard 

that someone in my art journal group sent me. 

The bottom part, "For Today"

is an excerpt pulled from that day's personal journal page.

In the art group it was my turn to present an activity. 

I taught folded boxes 

& during the week we used our boxes to collect

words, ideas, images & expressions. 

Another form of personal journaling.

I made mine from paste papers that I'd painted 

in some workshops during the last several years. 

I was introduced recently to the white ink Uniball Signo pen

which creates beautiful lines over color. Love it!

So, I've missed you all & over the weekend I look forward

to reading & commenting on your blogs. 

 

Things are looking more hopeful than in 2020.

Someone reminded me recently,

"Spring is a process, not a moment."

So I can wish you a good Spring before the official 1st day,

with a virtual card.

Experimental Sketchbook Class: Time & Space to Create

Some of my work during the weeklong class.

It was perhaps the best art class I've ever taken at University. 

We were encouraged to experiment.

Push out of our comfortable ways.

I started getting scribbly & messy (not shown here)

so it was a relief to do some minimalist drawings.

Zoom grids became an integral part of my experience.

I wandered out of my familiar box.

I cut up one of my watercolor "still life" grids

and pasted fragments into a booklet.

And then, relief, back to the familiar~ 

except with a bit of a grid.

A grid containing The Tiny Fears of Rita

Les miniscules craintes de Rita

We tried a wax resist/ink wash/charcoal layering technique

that Maine artist, David Lewis, uses.

(His drawings are very sophisticated & refined...) 

We collected shadows by tracing actual shadows.

Some of the students turned their results into imaginative

imagery, unrelated to the original subjects, and then 

turned them into handmade books.

I loved my Swedish Ivy design & didn't transform it,

except to put it into an accordion format.

Last class exercise: Do 20 versions of the same object, 

using various papers & drawing materials.

I got 3 done in our half hour allotment...

But THIS is the idea which I most want to continue

at the moment...20 objects? 50? 100? 

Maybe they would be painted and drawn, then,

hand sewn together into a paper quilt that folds 

into a book. We shall see...

The beautiful thing is that I have SO many wonderful

inspirations & directions with which to continue.

Thanks to my instructors & to the class, composed of

young undergraduates, graduate students,

& some oldsters like me. 

So much inspiration,

& this is only the tip of the iceberg...

Still Sewing Not Sketching

Large square coasters and:

Fabric Buckets or Baskets!! 

 So easy to learn from video tutorials by

Jean Truelove 

(she offers quality instruction

plus entertainment, 

she is full of personality!)

And Treasurie. 

(she offers a quick & clear tutorial,

excellent to refer back to as often as one needs.

...which is often, in my case...)

Use them as pretty containers, make as gifts...

They remind me of Origami, going from a flat

material to a 3D object. 

Isn't it magical, what humans come up with! 

Still sewing not sketching.

It's all good.

(Except the part about having the moth rash 

& fly bites.)

Remedy: Stay in & sew!

Valentine's Day Fun

 

I tried printing this Valentine Girl

with my printer.

 But the colors came out badly.

So I did a black & white version 

& added just a few colors by hand.

Valentine Girl's source was a small, 

super quick sketch 

I did last summer

when a woman zipped past me 

while I was sketching a church.

 

 I led our Library Art Group this week in making

non-adhesive, folded gift boxes. 

Valentine's Day has been a fun inspiration 

for me since childhood.

I used the January page from a 

beautiful letterpress calendar for this box.

I've had a lot of painted snippets around, 

great for adorning boxes.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Boxes: My Key to Organization

The workshop that keeps on giving,

That was Beth's. I continue to play.

I notice my ongoing fascination with squares.

Squares. BOXES. Order. Symmetry. 

Containment which allows for freedom & chaos.

Ohhhh. I get it!

I learned about creative surface design,

but I also learned about how to organize materials

because Beth had 

So So Many!  

(Click on Sew Sew Art , 

Beth's website.)

I've been learning that my creative spirit can't flow without 

organizing my materials!

 That generous Beth lent me her BOX of metallic threads.

Sparkly. Shimmery. Oooooh! Thank you, generous Beth!

The BOX for raw material for my August Art Show.

 The BOX for hand sewing & little papers,

for book covers, for little collages. 

For now it has to wait for me in its BOX 

because I need to be into the Art Show BOX.

 Another BOX of Bookmaking stuff. 

Beth's Beads. Waxed threads. Buttons!

A BOX of travel journals from France voyages.

Also waiting for me.

Rita's saved BOXES, 

thrown in a corner of the spare room.

You never know when you'll need another BOX!

I'm remembering one of the first magical 

BOXES in my life:

Jenny's Mom's BOX of old clothes in the basement,

put there so we could play Dress-Up 

when we were wee kids!!

Thank you Jenny's Mom! 

How do YOU organize your materials?