What I Took For Granted...

Funny, I took spiritual gifts less for granted

than material objects, before the virus & shut down.

I don't shop online,

but art tools & materials 

were available at local shops 

within a 100 miles.

Now those shops are closed.

So a friend kindly helped me to order new #11 blades,

and a great, new ergonomic Excel knife. 

They are luxuries to me!!

I did a few test cuts, magnificent feeling

of cutting with a precision blade! 

My edges could be smoother,

but that's me needing to practice...

 I realized I could arrange these simple snippets

in an infinite number of ways,

with lovely negative shapes inbetween...

Like letters in a word, words in a sentence...

An infinite number of ways.

Boggling...

But then, a lot is boggling these days...

Yellow Therapy

 I finished the final paste up on my yellow folio book.

The text is in French (I hope not incorrect French...) 

Le jaune. 

La couleur du bonheur, du soleil. 

Une couleur animée. Le jaune, lumineux, joyeux, positif.

Yellow, the color of happiness, of the sun.

A lively color. Bright, joyful, positive.

 

(The first draft, above, is in my Jan. 22 blog post, 

titled "What I've Been Up To".)

The accordion folio folds up neatly into a booklet.

From time to time I crave YELLOW.

Like a visual form of Vitamin C.

The yellow Dixon Ticonderoga pencils from the 50's

still make my heart skip a beat!

"...I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils

if I knew your name and address."

 ~You've Got Mail.

Autumn yellows against blue sky in a nearby state park.

Talk about lively!!

Muted yellows and ochres in Arles...

Love! Thank you, YELLOW!

Do you have a color that is uplifting or healing?

Nothing like Homemade Valentines!

 

At our library art group we, adults,

reverted back to childhood pleasures, & made Valentines.  

 Valentines Pot Luck: Rather than 

food to share, we brought ideas, art papers, & frills.

I brought some leftovers home.

 My three Valentines made at the meeting.

Très simple. Often when in a group,

I work quickly, creating sort of rough draft ideas

for future, more finished products.

This pop up was bought at a bookstore,

so I could bring it to show to the group.

 I bought these little girl cards at a stationery store

that's been in Portland for about 40 years.

The Paper Patch.

We used to have anonymous Valentines 

planted all over downtown on this day, 

on store fronts, on tree limbs,on brick walls, 

all tagged saying,"If you love me...take me...free!"

The anonymous makers, we hear, 

have moved away now, 

but this year one of our group has left Valentines 

in various shops... for people to take....for free!

Happy Valentine's Day, to you my blog friends!

What I've Been Up To...

A little sketching with the Sketchers...

At a most magical shop in town, Brambles...

The owner always welcomes us! 

(I have previous posts/sketches from Brambles...)

Quick sketches when I'm out. 

Still carrying the book everywhere.

This was lunch at the Coop, a great Sketch-Op.

Enjoying my Prismacolors. Here,

they were basking in winter sunlight that streamed in

through the back door blinds.

 Prismacolors on my new "mini memory" daily calendar, 

inspired by the great sketch blog of Lin, View From the Oak
& her "Smallies". Do visit her blog! 

A great form of journaling!

Card calendars for my bulletin board.

Been playing with collage a bit.

Ongoing Daily Journal ritual. Every morning with coffee.

I'm adding more color, drawings & paste-ins

than before.

 

This was the bottom corner of a page. 

That's Washi tape as the base.

Envelope-pocket-journal-folio books, 

taught by local paper craft artist & teacher, Robinsunne. 

Current one in progress.

Elements taped with temporary cellophane tape.

 I mostly didn't send out holiday cards.
I gave a few of these to folks in my Zumba class. 
I hope you all had a fun holiday season.

 My new cork board on the mantle. 
A reminder that I want to paint more without ink line...
A challenge, & outside my comfort zone!

Above, some are mine, some are inspirations by others.

Great time of year for making art!

I Finished my Book!!

This is a continuation from my previous post.

 Stopping to face my situation of the too many ideas 

& projects that had started to form,

& asking for help did the trick! 

Beth wrote to Just choose one project & finish it.

Not rocket science, but it helped to hear it from outside 

my own brain which was turning somersaults! 

Organizing my space & hiding the other projects was key. 

And accepting that my finished book would not be perfect...

All along there were decisions to be made.

What to do with the wildflower cutouts that I had drawn & painted 

from photos that I had taken for my project?

I had to abandon my original idea of 

making the flowers pop up from the page, 

(something I love to do in my little handmade cards),

because I had a cover that I'd bound that I'd wanted to use.

A new stiff white paper replaced the green Mi Teintes. 

(Thanks, Fiddlehead Artisan Supply for being right in town!!)

From there on, the book seemed to make itself.

Book Arts prof. Rebecca Goodale says that there's nothing

like the feeling of you & the paper working together "as one."   

(I'm paraphrasing...)

The beginning.

It's an accordion book, but can be view one spread at a time.

The middle.

The end. 

 One of my favorite parts was writing text,

inspired by my original thoughts on my subject. 

Lots & lots of editing to keep it focused & brief.

I had written in the previous post that "there was 

so little left to do" on this book. 

Haha!...Little did I know!!!

 

The cover came last. 
I wanted to decorate it more, but I had a deadline.
The handmade books, the final projects 
from our Book Arts Class will be on view at USM 
during September with a lecture & reception on September 9.

The book was delivered yesterday, & I am exhilarated!

What joy to start with vague thoughts & ideas 
& to work with them 
as they evolve into concrete words & images~
Bound into a book!
I got to experience what my young art students
used to experience!

And, I finished it!!

Thank you to USM & Rebecca Goodale's 
Summer Book Arts Course!

The Chaos of Unfinished Projects

I  attended a weeklong Book Arts Course at the University.

So many super workshops with accomplished artists: 

"Letters to the Page", a workshop on calligraphy as related

to the art book, began with mark making, 

loosening up on giant paper.

My cup of tea, spontaneous, direct.

 "Comics-Based Narrative Workshop":

Triggered lots of spontaneous story ideas 

& an awareness of the art of the graphic novel.

"Cross Structure Bindings" taught hand sewing!

Not spontaneous & direct, but: 

I loved the calm & orderly process. Not chaotic!

"Printed Patterns & Accordion Books"!! 

Making large sheets using childhood crayon resist, 

but this time it was

a white China Marker under Daniel Smith watercolors!

Above, I created small panels outside of class.

(But that accordion is unfinished.)

I had a makeshift studio in my home away from home

during the week on one simple card table.

It was easier to focus, no bills, paperwork, dishes or laundry.

 In my own home my dining area has become my workspace. (It's my favorite space in the house.) 

And now the work is spreading to the living area!  Arghhh!

 It may not look that chaotic (I spiffied it up for the photos

the way you clean for guests), 

but my unfinished final project for the class exhibition, 

& other projects, are everywhere! 

My unfinished wildflower book...so little left to do,

and yet I am stuck...

And there are so many other ideas

that haven't even begun to materialize on paper

but are swimming around in my brain.

Wouldn't the solution be to move the work
to a separate studio space?

Not sure, because a lot of the unfinished chaos 

seems to be in my head.

Sketching: One reason I love it: 

It's my direct, spontaneous response.

I don't deliberate & agonize over too many ideas & choices.  

Oh, Dear Readers, please give me some tips for

escaping this stuckness,

because I just want to finish my 3 handmade books!

Snippets Not Sketches

 Back to playing with watercolor snippets & now, 

watercolor buttons. Buttons-bullets-chips-charms-dots...

Coincidentally I painted my dots at Dot's Café, 

unaware of the connection until later.  Fun!

                       

They were inspired by Robinsunne,

a local artist & teacher.

She makes "paper charms" in sandwiched pairs. 

Like beads, they embellish her journals.

To view one of her video tutorials

click here. For creating her paper pockets, another link.

A store bought envelope with 3 pockets,

inspired by Robinsunne's 

Tri-fold Pocket Journal Making Techniques

as seen in the linked videos.

The envelopes were intended for my color snippets,

(in the 1st photo), but there were too many, 

& I didn't want to hide them.

I think I'll put in some secret messages instead. 

I have some plans for my paper buttons.

Maybe you, Dear Readers, have some ideas...

Ideas or not, please do leave me a comment!