Art Journaling Group: Using a Grid

Art Journaling Group. 

It was my turn to present. 

I showed Lyn Frye's Smallies 

from her blog, A View from the Oak. Do visit!

I've mentioned her Smallies in a previous post.  

 For Lin it is an ongoing daily practice. 

I did it for one month last winter.

 I loved choosing my image or event at the end of each day. 

It was like having a special lens with me,

a way to pay closer attention.

(To see my previous post, click Here.) 

 The idea I presented this time, to our Zoom group,

 was, using a grid, to virtually invite 

one another into our homes 

by writing/drawing things that are close to us: 

literally & figuratively. 

Things we would show if we were having 

guests in our homes.

I loved the personal images & stories that emerged.

My own grid ended up fading into the background, 

but created a nice framework for little drawings. 

It was fun to teach a little something again...

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!

Sketching at the Local Greenhouse

The staff, the airy greenhouse & the plants 

welcomed us Sketchers

to the Aubuchon Hardware Store & Nursery. 

I asked the worker above if we would be in the way.

"No problem," she said. 

"If you get in the way, we'll just water you." 

It was an idyllic spot of light, color, and happy people. 

(Except for the flies, the little black flies.)

Local professional gardener Kate pulled up in her truck. 

I'm in awe of her, her artistic talents, her knowledge,

& her strength. In the old days of my childhood

only men had trucks & tools like this!

You could spend days sketching individual plants!

 After our greenhouse visit we went for lunch

at the local café & diner. There we discussed 

our sketching experience & other matters of interest.

Maine Country Road Trips

Road trips in the countryside from Midcoast Maine. 

An idyllic corner on earth.

This is the region of many small, organic farms, 

2nd or 3rd generation of back-to-the landers:

Blackbrook Farm, Many Hands Farm, 

Sunnyside, Aqua Terra, Royal View Farm...

Many of the farms supply the food coops 

in Belfast & Brooks &

 sell their produce at farm markets and

the beloved Common Ground Fair in Unity. 

The views from the hilly roller coaster roads 

leading from Belfast to Unity, Brooks, Jackson, Monro

take my breath away!

A frequent road trip out of Belfast: Route 1 South.

Last week, like a kid on summer vacation

I was so excited to drive down to Rockport with a friend.

While she went to the doctor, I sketched out the window

of a café. Then we went to the Guini Ridge Nursery

across the road road to buy plants. 

To do a little farming of our own! 

For other posts on Farmers Markets and The Common Ground Fair, click on these in Labels.

Sketch Group at the Home Garden Boutique

A cold winter's day at a local home garden shop. 

The proprietor of Brambles welcomed 7 of us sketchers,

& even lent us stools. (I ended up buying mine!)

 

Brambles is one of 

the most artistic and nourishing to the senses shops 

I've ever been in! 

The owner, so friendly, so happy, and no wonder! 

She is surrounded, 

all day long, by gorgeous colors, scents, 

handmade objects that she herself has selected, 

plants that she has grown, 

and by cheerful customers and visiting friends!

Aaah, can you smell the flowers?

This in mid January! Note the contrast!

Outdoors, let it snow (and be monochromatic!)

Brambles will infuse you with happiness 

during any season!

Tomatoes of August

Image on my current Belfast Free Sketchers poster

Next meeting is in September

 Autumn Fever. 

Meanwhile August is a juicy & flavorful time of year.

Like the tomato I bit into the other day from a friend's garden. 

In the fields, spots of faded gold, and tall beige grasses

waving in the breeze. 

Reminders that this will pass.

Another garden friend is busy, as she is every August, 

"putting up" her vegetables in Ball jars. 

Just as her mother did before her.   

The Common Ground Country Fair is coming in one month!! 

Celebrate Harvest Time!

My local Farmer's Market is brimming with leafy greens,

 flower yellows & purples, pinks, 

carrot oranges, beets of crimson and coral...

Every year it happens,

but some years I feel it more than others.

Sketchers Go to a Local Garden

 I joined Sheryl's Urban Sketch Group at a private country residence on one of 

Belfast's Open Garden Days. 

A dense field of daisies lined a gravel path 

that wound its way down to a lily pond, flowers on each side. 

Stopping to look closely, for an extended time while sketching,

varieties in the shapes & arrangements of petals!

In the whispering breeze, they nodded and danced.

These were not your clichéd stereotypical daisies!

A sea of daisies, going back & down, quite far off the path,

yellow orange caps & sparkles of white 

peeking through the daisy foliage in the foreground.

My mother loved daisies.... 

I sketched with ink while standing, added color later.

 A fashion show by ladies, clad in crisp summer

outfits. Hats, hats, hats! 

Like the NYC Easter Parade!

 Eavesdropping from a distance: At the Information Table: 

Hudhammmmaadeho...Garden....

Umnndhonsdwwosh...Garden...Idinwhetouiomumble?...

Ohsoprentyyshopyummair....Garden...Realbeautgrodtooshshe...Garden...

One of my original sketches didn't quite work out.

So, I made a memory illustration later.

The Lupines Are Up!

 They are everywhere, alongside of major roads, the interstate, back roads, & my own back field.
In Maine they seem to always welcome the Summer Solstice.

I marvel again at the colors of this annual event. 

In the field out back I watch them as the light changes 
from sunrise to sunset.

Oh, the colors!

One glance reveals blue-violet, the next, violet-rose.

Some kind of Lupine magic...

The Lupines directly out my back door 

have shed most of their blossoms 

& are getting ready to sow more Lupines for next year. 

A week ago they were in full bloom 
& I did a quick morning sketch. 

To see my Lupine post from June 16, 2016, Click here.

Maine's Common Ground Country Fair

8 X 10 " Scene from the Fair

Every September The Common Ground Fair, in Unity Maine celebrates rural life, organic & local food production, traditional farm & forest practices, most if not all of them hand, bicycle & horse powered, alternative energy developments, social & politcal action forums, folk arts, folk music, children's crafts, & more... It's a celebration of health, happiness, & living in harmony on this earth. The Fair is a magnificent, collaborative masterpiece organized by The Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association. 

I wanted to take you along with me by posting my many photos, but I am truly overwhelmed with the amount of wonderful things that I saw & smelled & heard & tasted & learned. When I lived in Maine's biggest city I started to forget about this state's alternative rural culture. During these last 3 days I saw that new generations are carrying it on!