My New Painting 'Sketchbook'

I spent the better part of a night, gesso-ing the pages of handmade paper book I got from my sister for Christmas. The paper was so pretty and it was a shame to cover it, but it absorbed paint like paper toweling, and since I'm not much of a 'sketcher', I wanted to use it for quick painted pages and journaling.

The trick is to paint ahead, but leave blank spaces for words and pictures. Like this —

But sometimes only a landscape will do. The sky will work nicely for messages to myself.

I thought circles might be just thing when I didn't have too much to say or if I wanted to corral different thoughts.

Here are pages where I found sea life in the paint swirls. I don't plan what I'm going to write, I just begin and see where it takes me. I do the same with the painting. I'm trying to keep it loose and spontaneous and to remain detached from the outcome. And to experiment!

These are the opening pages to my new art journal. I decided to invoke Ganesh's energy - the Remover of Obstacles. He never lets me down no matter where the journey takes me!

I don't see any clowns!

I've been so busy, mostly with work unfortunately, but I have managed to squeeze in some time to paint and glue. I've been working on collages with lots of color layered with gesso and scraps of paper, then layered up again.

I always lean to flatness - does that even make sense? What I mean is that I like my collages to look more three dimensional but in fact be flat.

This I've taken to calling this Arbutus Moon.

I used a similar technique on this piece titled, 'Why do I have a need to do a circus theme piece when I don't even like clowns?!"

It's a bit creepy and swirly and dreamlike, and I don't particularly like it. It had to come out for some reason in all it's jangle and disconnection.

So there you have it... some sort of weird peek into my subconscious - from pretty birds to menacing clowns. Welcome.

Boxing Day

I'm quite obsessed with houses. I've been doodling them since my childhood and seeing a little house, a toy... a well done birdhouse... always makes me smile.

These are gift boxes I made from recycled shipping boxes. I snatched the idea from a recent Craft: magazine and ran with it. (I just can't keep it simple apparently!)

This was a grocery box that was pretty much covered with writing, so I covered it in choice papers and vintage scrap for my mom, who loves Victorian and old-fashioned looking things.

This was for my sister and we tucked Asian-themed gifties inside. I used various recycled scraps - the roof is made from heavy weight paper ads from a graphics magazine.

My personal challenge in making these was letting go of perfection. I really like tidy edges and symmetrical things, but using packing boxes doesn't allow for that. Plus, it's hard to get better as you go as each box is different and things glue differently to them, they cut differently, and so on. So, wabi sabi, right?

I hope the boxes go on to find another life in their new homes or even travel on as gifts to other people. I like thinking about them on little journeys into the future.

Tagging Back

I've always been enchanted by the concept of random acts of kindness. I like surprising people, but I like to keep it simple. And I like to be surprised in return. That's why I'm a big fan of www.sendsomething.net. There are no strings attached. You post a profile and see if the universe sends you something- a random act of kindness. The other fun part of the site is that you can generate random addresses and surprise someone back. Or you can search for different interests or key words and get a list of people that fit your search.

In late fall I received a fun handmade postcard from a woman in Pasadena, California. I set it aside and when I had the time, I painted and collaged a piece to return. (Mine is the one in front, her card is in back.) I wrote a brief note on the back, packaged it in a clear cello mailer with goodies tucked inside and sent it along to sunny California.

I like the simplicity of just sending something and expecting nothing in return. I find the idea of moderated 'trades' or a site like www.postcrossing.com too confining. (oh, and don't get me started on swap-bot.com - a place in my opinion that wrings the joy out of creating!) These formal places don't suit my busy life or my need to just make someone's day... without expecting something in return. And I suppose I also learn, each time I send a small, original item, the beauty of letting go.

But a tag back or tag forward is always wonderful!

Tiny Inspiring Things

If you're like me, you like to walk at dusk and look inside people's houses. Not in a creepy way, but a passing glance as you stroll by and the lights come on.... You see people cooking dinner, watching the news, going about their evening tasks, all alight with purpose and meaning.

Here's a peek inside where I create. It's a little like glancing into the lit window of my mind.

This old wooden box is on the wall, directly to the right of where I sit in our studio (I share the space with my partner). I have a thing for old tins, especially little ones or unusually shaped ones. This box houses a bunch of them, and most of them have little supplies inside.

The 'Lustra' beaver tin (top right) holds the scraps from paper hole punches - hundreds of perfect, tiny colorful circles. And yes, I do use them!

The oblong silver tin on the next shelf down has giant paperclips inside. It was a gift from my mom, who adores objects that are scaled oddly - like miniature books and giant tweezers...tiny little kitchen gadgets and giant paperclips!

The bottom center cubbyhole are two of my favorite tins because they have stars on them. I love stars. In fact, I have a star crown that's encrusted with tarnished metal glitter that I sometimes wear when I'm so moved. Just because...

I also have little favorite things squirreled away and tacked to this box... the tiny celluloid bird that I can't bear to use, a tiny metal lion, foreign coins, a package of vintage razor blades... a changing collection of tiny things that inspire me.

Sow's Ear

At our recent art retreat, my sister Carol and I took a short class by Bernie Berlin called Resist This. I should have known there would be trouble when I looked at the supply list... an iron, rubber stamps... egad - paint AND hot irons? Rubber stamps? I'm so not a 'stamper'.

Here's the recipe...

1. Layer copious amounts of acrylic paint onto quality water color paper. Then crouch in a corner with your heat gun and try to get it completely dry.

2. Stamp your painted page with a rubber stamp using colorless embossing ink.

3. Back to the heat gun.

4. Then layer even more paint on top. Repeat drying process.

Allow me to interject here with the part about how little patience I have with waiting for paint to dry. Add to that the fact that we had paint everywhere by this point... well, suffice it to say we were not being star pupils.

5. Then fire up your iron. I was using an old travel iron that gets hot enough to brand cattle.

6. When your iron is smoking (okay, it shouldn't be smoking apparently - we figured that out by the horrified looks from the other class participants and the instructor's nervous laugh), lay a plain sheet of parchment paper (oh man, was it parchment - please don't follow my instructions!) over your painted page and simply iron, and lift, small areas at a time... simply iron, and lift! Lift quickly...and voila - a batik like pattern should emerge.

Ha.

Okay, at this point, my sister and I had dissolved into laughter and snorting. Each time we'd 'simply iron and lift' the paper would begin to scorch and would not 'lift' but instead leave great streaks of paper on the page. But we soldiered on, and attempted to rescue our work by using wet wipes and water to scrub the paper off of the page. We were quite hysterical (no doubt somewhat fueled by the wine we had before the class..) and I'm pretty sure hugely obnoxious to the people in the class that were merrily creating beautifully patterned pages.

So, we laughed and managed to have a fun time. I ended up with two, count em', TWO pages of 'custom' paper suitable for use in other artwork and collage. Yeah.

The cards you see here are the end product of the paper. The paper is the base for a simple collage.

I call them them Silk Purse Note Cards.

You may call them whatever you like!

(And my apologies to Bernie Berlin, a lovely person who put up with our jackassery with grace!)

Hard Landing

It's never easy coming back to reality after spending days playing with art supplies and laughing with friends, new and old.

As promised, here are a few of the things I created at the RAEvn's Nest Art Retreat.

The assemblage is the (almost) finished piece from Michael deMeng's class.

He was a wonderful teacher - witty and informative and not too 'directive', so everyone had a chance to use his techniques and run wild. One of the best parts of the class was the end, when we all got to show our works and he critiqued them - mysteriously finding only the positive in each one! (Thank-you Michael)

I'll pop another post up soon about Jill Berry's wonderful book making class.

How can entire days just fly by? Spend them creating with creative people surrounding you!