Wrapping Things Up

This pretty journal, just finished, is in my
etsy shop, NoMoonNight.

I have been finishing up unfinished work over the past month, and it feels good to wrap things up. I have a stack of tri-fold journals in various stages of completion, like the pretty shibori one in the picture. They have hand crafted fabric that is quilted, plenty of journaling pages and unique wrap closures, speaking of wrapping things up!

These make great gifts, by the way! I also decided to put together Tri-fold Journal Kits, and will have them for sale at NoMoonNight soon. I had them bagged with the instructions, and Gail and Jill in my artist group reminded me to put a picture on the front. Duh! Great idea, and that's what friends are for! My son Brian is helping me put a "how-to" tutorial together, as well, so stay tuned.

Here is a pretty tri-fold journal with hand marbled fabric
and a unique wrap closure. I have more journals in my shop.

Journal Workshop

Gayle's Tri-fold journal

Anyone who knows me also knows how much I love journals. I have been making and keeping journals for most of my adult life. I love this compact tri-fold journal, because it's so beautiful, and is small enough to bring anywhere.

I had a fun group of women this past weekend in my Tri-fold Journal workshop. They did meticulous work, and we all had a lot of fun, chatting away while we worked.




Stitching the journal covers together

Arrange and affix the finishing squares for the edges

Bind the paper signatures in place

and voila! a beautiful journal


Thanks, guys. Had a really fun time with you guys!

This Way, Please, Part 1

 

 

Ah, yes, this way, please. I love this journal, because I treasure my collection of "body parts" images, snapped by my husband at my request. I use them all the time in my artwork.

I am teaching a journal making workshop here locally next month, on October 2nd. All students (young adults welcome) will learn how to make a hand bound Japanese stab-stitch journal. In addition, we will discuss journaling techniques, and I will get the class started by showing them (this could mean YOU) how to "consecrate" their work.  The picture below shows a detail of the binding technique, which I have utilized on one of my own personal journals.

Last Friday was a rare "out of the house" day for me. I get so busy working, that sometimes weeks go by in

which I realize I haven't seen any people...and I'm a Taurus!! Believe, this can be painful. Anyway, my
artist friend Gail Crum and I made a studio visit last week. We talked art all the way there and all the way home, a total of three hours in the car. We also talked art while visiting the artist studio, of course, and we were joined by another mutual friend for lunch, so I got to talk books, as well. It was a lot of fun. Clare Murray Adams and I have been friends for a long time, and our creative paths have aligned themselves through sheer destiny, it sometimes seems.

Here is the door to Clare Murray's studio:

 It was such an inviting and inspiring location. Here is some of what we saw:
Collagraphs:
                                         Zippered rocks and zippered sticks:



                                   and a cool collaborative project Clare is doing with Oberlin artist Rebecca Cross:

And all of this before lunch! More to come in This Way, Please, Part II.

Whooping It Up

With my hubby off to band practice, I find myself with a few hours in a quiet house. This is a rare thing when both of us are working at home. I have a long "to do" list, like most of you do, I'm sure. Instead of tackling the garden weeds after a nice rain, I decided to look through my blog posts. This is my version, for today only, of whooping it up!

First of all, I just wanted to say a quick "thank you" to those of you who read my blog, even on occasion. In looking through my own past posts, there is some meaty subject matter there, if I do say so myself. I appreciate my blog readers immensely, especially knowing that most of you, like me, have very full plates in your day-to-day lives. So thank you all for taking the time.

I was going through old posts, because I had a sneaking suspicion that I have left many loose ends. Indeed, that is the case, as I read my own promises of "more to come" in future posts. In reality, I have found that life sometimes interferes with good intentions. Most often, though, I find that I am so busy trying to stay focused on the work at hand, the real, palpable work within my studio walls, that I often don't take the time to "document" what I am doing so I can easily post it here. Sigh. Such is life.

Altered Books workshop I taught in July

In the spring "post wedding" (please see my previous posts on this subject), the summer lay ahead, and promised to be a busy time. Now, as August comes to an end, I can say that this summer was very busy, indeed. Having not blogged about each event as it happened, I can only offer a brief overview of the highlights here.

I had a terrfic group of students in the Creating Altered Books workshop I taught at my local arts center. I brought along a stack of my own altered books to show what I have done over the years in this fun medium.  

Writing in a journal is a great way to sort your thoughts

In early August, I presented a Creativity Workshop at the BayArts Women's Retreat weekend. This is probably my favorite class to present. Students only need simple tools, a journal and a pen, to work with in blowing their minds! I have spent at least a decade devising methods to help my class participants find their way back to their creative cores. The methods have been tested with many age groups and in many settings, and are very effective. It's gratifying for me to see the light bulb going off in my students' heads as they work.

For those of you in the area, I have two fun workshops coming up for Fall 2010, both at BayArts on the lake. In October is a family friendly workshop, The Family Journal Night, in which participants will learn how to hand bind a Japanese stab-stitch journal and consecrate it.

Detail of my hand bound journal and the spine

I customized the spine of my journal by adding spacers made from an old deck of playing cards. Adding spacers prevents thick pages in the journal from interfering with how the journal closes.

In November I am teaching Image Transfer techniques. Transferring images using a half dozen or so techniques is very popular right now, but I learned the basic methods while still in high school in the 1970s, and more in my freshman year of college. I have been using various techniques in my artwork for three decades now. This is another class that is really fun to teach, since the results are instantaneous! If you're around Northeastern Ohio, I hope you will join us!

One of my collages incorporating image transfers

As for the rest of the summer, there was a lot of live music, two class reunions, and lots and lots of sewing. My ongoing challenge for the months ahead is to continue to try to figure out how to balance it all. If you have any insights, I would love to hear them.

Home is Where the Art Is...uh Heart Is

One of my little collaged paintings

I am on the road tomorrow morning, early. I love beginning a long drive before the sun is fully up, then watching the sky change color as the morning sun emerges onto the landscape.

When I travel, I like to bring along a portable "art kit". I have one my friend Lois made for me. It is currently back at her shop for repair, so frequently have I traveled with it. That little bag, which has a top flap and measures, closed, probably 6" x 9", has been to Mexico six times, all over the west coast of Ireland, the beach in Florida half a dozen times, and numerous other places.

It holds a small watercolor paper block, paintbrushes with built in water containers, transfer pens, collage papers, drawing pencils, a small tin of watercolor crayons, small pair of scissors, a pencil sharpener, small pieces of fine sandpaper stapled to a piece of matboard, a wax resist crayon, small container of "yes!" glue, and several other things I can't remember without my list.

Oil pastel and watercolor collage, sketched while sitting on a beach in Mexico

Yes, I have a list. I teach a class called Trains, Planes and Automobiles: Techniques for Traveling Collage, so I really need to practice what I preach. Be prepared for art. Any place, anytime. I encourage my students to plan ahead for creative work while traveling, and to make a list of their favorite art supplies, so they can figure out a way to travel with at least some of them. As for me, I try not to go anywhere without a least a journal and some collage materials. I am a "found object" junkie. Often, bits of ephermera I find during my travels go directly onto a matboard collage surface, or into a composition in one of my journals.

My favorite journal, which is all but full, is one I handmade years ago. It has a hand bound Japanese stab stitch binding, is thick and full of a great weight cardstock. It is full of writings, collage, and on-the-fly experiments, like, what would happen if I iron this photo transfer onto that oil pastel covered photograph? Cool! It works!!

I covered the open spine with folded playing cards prior to stitching the covers in place. In addition to being colorful and pretty to look at, they serve as spacers for the journal pages. That way, when I want to add junk I find that has some dimension to is, it doesn't prevent the journal from still laying flat.

So these are my thoughts on this Monday, my birthday, as I plan for a road trip. Plan to make art this week!