Art Journaling On the Go

A new 8 X 11" page in my art journal,

created at the weekly Library Art Journaling Group.

Sharing & working together, they call it "synergy."

I call it magic.

This was my first "To Go" page in my Daily Journal. 

After watching a ton of videos

about the Midori Travel Journal system,

& about approaches to Bullet Journaling,

I modified my Rhodia A5 size dot grid book

(the best for fountain pens!)

by adding colored elastic cords under which I slid 

loose, folded sheets of blank paper. 

On the go, I can pull a sheet out, draw, write,

& then stick it back in! It worked!!

Below, I'm loving seeing the accumulation of Jan. days 

on my Mini Memory Calendar!

The squares measure 1 1/4 square inch.

The calendars are on premium color copy paper.

Nine days ago...

Today! 
One day at a time a month happens!

Happy End of January!

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!

What's in a Bookshop name?

Sketch based on my local bookshop, Left Bank Books

Have you seen the illustrated books 

Books & Mortar:

A Celebration of The Local Bookstore

by Gibbs M. Smith? And

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores 

by Bob Eckstein

and the postcards of his illustrations?

This is some of  what I found in these books & 

in the What's Next brochures

that are given away at independent bookstores:

One More Page Books, Arlington VA

The Dog Eared Book, Palmyra NY

Bookbug, Kalamazoo MI

Once Upon a Time, Montrose CA

Hooray For Books! Alexandria VA

Red Balloon Bookshop, St Paul MN

The Corner Bookstore, NY NY

Politics & Prose, Washington DC (of course!)

Books & Books, Coral Gables, FLA

The King's English Bookshop, Salt Lake City UT

Page & Palette, Fairhope ALA

Is your local bookshop listed here?

What is the name of your local bookstore?

What would YOU name a bookshop?

Leave your answers with a comment!

Meditative Color Play, Continued...

Still playing with watercolor with attention & focus...

(previous post). A form of prayer & meditation. 

"L'attention, à son plus haut degré, est la même chose que la prière."  ~Simon Weil 

      

 "But what are you going to DO with them?"

"Well, I could cut them out & make cards..."

 "...and handmade books..."

"And then I could let them go..."

Fountain Pens, Note Taking & Journals

  

1.    Four LAMY fountain pens. Most bought at Goulet Pens. 

       Watch their videos!! (Click on Website)

       Inside the pens: Noodler's colored inks, from

       Artist & Craftsman, Portland, & Goulet.  
       (Note taking in the journals mentioned below is all done
       in fountain pen ink.) 

3.   My Journal of Spirit & Relflections. The book handmade by a local artist 

      whose name I can't find. The reflections by moi.

4.   Show Your Work! A book by Austin Kleon..

5.   Purple Art Learning Journal (Pentallic Travelers, 4 X 6") where I am making notes 

      from  Kleon's Show Your Work & Steal This Book!

6.   Make Someone Happy: Favorite Postings (Facebook) by Elizabeth Berg 

      Sheer delight! The joys of observing everyday life!

      Compassion lives! Humor,spirit abounds!

7.   Daily Morning Pages Journal. In which nothing is too insignificant to enter.

8.   Cursive Writing & Fountain Pen Journal.  Moleskine. 

       I needed a whole book because I am so obsessed!

9.   Pink French Practice Journal.  Moleskine

10. L'abondance dans la simplicité by Sarah Ban Breathnach, translated from English. 

      From which I copy passages into the Pink French Journal

11. Red Art Learning Journal. In which I continue to make notes from books.

12. Art Project Journal, Catch-All. Most currently, ideas for my book in process, 

       Previous entries about shows, ideas, inspirations, doodles...). Leuchtturm1017.

13. The History & Uncertain Future of Handwriting by Anne Trubeck. Fascinating account     

       & thoughts on changing information & communication technologies!

       Taking notes in the Red Art Learning Journal.

14. Cursive Writing Made Easy & Fun! A Scholastic workbook from the Library.

       For grades 2-5 and me.

15. Water Paper Paint: Exploring Creativity with Watercolor & Mixed Media 

       by Heather Smith Jones. I have to return it to the library, but must make some notes 

       in the Red Art Learning Journal. 

16. Painted Paper by Elisa Golden. To return to the Library. 

17. Outdoor Watercolor Workshop & The Watercolor Fix-It Book by Tony van Hasselt

       To try some of the watercolor ideas from the book. And maybe study with him again.

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?

Beth's Workshop: Things I Learned

At Beth's Workshop: (Previous post Here) 

I learned of a book: 

Expressive Drawing by Steven Aimone. 

Incorporating the freedom we had as children

with our developing adult ways of making marks

and drawing.

Beth's post about that workshop is Here.

And another post Right Here.

It really was "artistic life changing"!

I am challenged by, & I get satisfaction from 

gravitating to order & simplicity 

when confronted with many materials & possibilities.

My simple sketching practice 

with line & watercolor

was affirmed & enriched by playing in this different way.

The pages I made at Beth's (see link above)

 are now in an accordion book setting.

Ah, Order. Cohesion. Sequence, 
though I have much to learn about this.
About the principle called "Unity".

A play between unconscious impulses 

& conscious art principles & choices.

The more I study art, 

the more the conscious learning

becomes unconscious while I work.
(Does that make sense??)

I'm going back this weekend for 2 more days!

There is a spot open, if any of you want to join us!

Contact Beth using the links above to her site.

Time Out For Making a Book

 

 Interlude from preparing sketches for the show:

Back to the handmade book, inspired 

by teaching some friends how to make 

non-adhesive bookcovers and handmade books.

 2nd Version.

And inspired by Beth's workshop. (see older post.)

And her buttons.

A pamphlet stitch for adding signatures 

to an accordion fold. 
A lesson in accepting imperfection.

I slid the end tabs of the accordion strip

into the cover wraps. It actually works as a book!

I'm trying to use up watercolors from one of my paint boxes.

 I keep coming back to this striped, polka-dot motif. 

Such fun to be surprised by the colors that turn out!

Meanwhile, a lot of the show sketches are framed,

but I'm creating & selecting more.

It's a huge challenge 

for this brain of mine,

I don't have time for the many ideas that pop in.

 It's a challenge to go through many old sketchbooks.

Trying to make selections 

Curating. Editing. 

 Help!

No wonder I'm taking time outs for polka dotted stripes.

A Still Life with Robert

My childhood art teacher presented us

with still lifes. 

Many, many still lifes. 

Above: I quickly arranged some things that were 

already on my table. 

The caption,

"Every picture tells a story" showed up
as a complete serendipity.

In August I'll have my 2nd show at my library.

Theme: sketching locally. 

This still life is very, very local.
My table.

A friend who is visiting France writes that

she has found paradise on earth.

Reading & looking up French vocabulary at my table, 

this is for me a local paradise on earth.