Ready, Set, Go: Traveling Art Supplies

Here is what I want to bring!
I need to made a new portfolio,
though. My old one, upper left,
is worn out. 

It's time to decide what I can realistically bring with me, and what I cannot. I want to bring my large, daily journal, but it's too big and heavy, so I pulled out the smaller one, shown in the picture at the bottom. Even that one is too thick, and takes up too much room. Instead, I am bringing my "circus" book to use as a daily journal, and for collage. It is an altered book my dear friend Lois gave me years ago, and I have traveled with it previously. Time to finish it. It is the perfect venue for journaling now, since I feel like a plate spinner in the circus!

Now, to make a new portfolio. How, you ask? Decide if you want a square or rectangular one, mark off the dimensions on a nice, thick stock or, as I used, watercolor paper, and grab a metal ruler and a bone folder.

On my hand-painted watercolor paper, I marked a 7" square, then, using a compass (you can use a large bowl, too!), I marked 3.5" scallops. Next, I added lines for an additional 1/4" outside of the 7" square. That gives the portfolio some thickness for holding the papers I will pack.

Mark the dimensions, trim and fold using a
metal ruler and a bone folder. I added a set
of double lines, 1/4" apart, for depth.

You can close this type of portfolio by just overlapping the scallops, but I decided to recycle the tabs and ribbons from my old portfolio and use those. Since I have a grommet tool and a ton of pretty, colored grommets, I pulled those out and picked a pretty blue color to match.

This tool punches and attaches a grommet all at once.
I don't even know where I got it, but have had it
forever. It is a handy-dandy tool!

Squeeze and attach the grommets. Insert knotted ribbons through my hand-painted tabs. Choose loose drawing papers and some collage scraps to put inside. I'm not on vacation; this is a serious, personal trip, and isn't about making art. I'm packing light compared to what I normally would bring.

Hurrah, they all fit!

All set! My selected art supplies and new portfolio of papers all fit in this nifty bag my friend Gail gave to me. That, in turn, will take up little space in my luggage. Sometimes being limited in what you have to use forces creative responses. I'm counting on it!

The Art of Collage

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some of the collages I was finishing up. Today I thought I would show you some of the steps involved in preparing for the final presentation of a few of my collages. As serendipity would have it, shortly after my blog post, I received an invitation to exhibit a number of my artworks in Piecing it All Together: The Art of Collage. The show opens on April 1st, so I am pleased to have some brand new pieces to add to the ones the curator selected from my website.


My now beat up travel portfolio, on the far left

 Those of you who know me or who have studied with me know that I never go anywhere without a journal or one of my collage travel portfolio. In the little square portfolio shown here, I keep collage papers and the like, but also squares of canvas,  matboard and other materials, all the same size. They fit neatly in the back of the portfolio, and provide a ready-made working surface for a small, quick work when I'm on the road.

That is exactly where these new collages came from: the back of my travel portfolio. These are two same-sized pieces of raw canvas which I have built collages on the surface of, beginning with journal writing. That was covered with drawing and image transfers, then layers of sheers fabrics and papers, even metal screening, were added on top. I want to mount them onto pre-stretched canvas, but first I have cut some beautiful unryu paper to stitch them onto.


This wonderful paper has just the right amount of body for stitching.

I love the weight and body of this paper! It provides a great working surface, and here, a nice background. It is also easier to sew through than pre-stretched canvas. Before I stitch the second collage down, I need to remove the edges of the Tear-away on the back of the collage. I am also never without Tear-away. I use it as a background for most everything I do, including wall pieces I am designing. If I am making a quilt, I remove it prior to hand stitching, but for these collages, it provides something to hold on to while stitching.


I am trimming the Tear-Away from the collage on the left, prior to stitching it onto that beautiful blue paper.

So....tonight I will finish stitching the second collage in place. Later in the week, I will show you how I attached it to the canvas.