Gone Fishin'

Pages of my journal.....Fish swim across a background of paint and torn vintage papers.
The quote is one of my favorites:
"Many people go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it's not the fish they are really after."

Alphabet Soup

   My journal was open on the table and a lettering stencil was laying across the pages.    There was a can of black spray paint within reach...  
   Later, while reading a book, I came upon several quotes that wanted to be recorded and the closest thing at hand was this journal.... Serendipity happens.
   "Technological frenzy, if left unchecked will lead to a world wide ecological catastrophe."
   "It is human nature to believe that anything that seems possible should therefore be tried."
   "The unintended consequences of curiosity are that the creator's works become the public's problem"
   "The functional fact of life is that nothing lasts."
Dark thoughts on this October day.

Absurdity of Conduct

"Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose.... and then where are you?  -Fanny Brice

"Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble" -Samuel Johnson.
"Learn to be what you are and learn to resign with good grace all that you are not" -John Frederic Amiel.
 Three quotes that inspired this rather silly page in my visual journal.  The picture of the dog came from a piece of junk mail and I couldn't bear to throw it away without a bit of play first.

Holly Shrine

   Early on an autumn morning I visited the site of the 1959 plane crash that took the life of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson.  The site is located in a cornfield near Clear Lake, Iowa.  You can park along the gravel road at the intersection of Gull and 315th and then walk the half mile path along the fence line to the permanent shrine that marks the spot.   There are a pair of giant black eyeglasses marking the trailhead.  Kind of goofy, but nice to know you are on the right path.
  For geocachers, this site is listed as a 'virtual geocache' called the "Holly Shrine"   The requirement to log this cache is a picture of yourself, including the shrine, so I packed my tripod and camera for the short hike.
   The shrine itself is made of stainless steel and marks the spot where the plane came to rest that night, crumpled up like a ball of paper, after rolling some 500 ft on impact.  The bodies of Holly and Valens had been found lying on the ground within 17 ft, and the Big Bopper's body was found across the fence in the field.  The pilot's body was encased in the plane wreckage.   It must have been a horrible sight for the law enforcement officers who discovered it.
  The ground around the shrine is covered with guitar picks and little trinkets that people have left there.  It's an eerie place, in spite of the fact that it's out in the open.
   On this October morning the corn was standing, ready for harvest, and there was a light frost on everything.  The sun had just come up and was shining at a hard angle, adding long shadows to the landscape.
   I set up my tripod, hit the timer and moved into the picture.  Just as the camera was about to go off I heard a loud rustling, saw movement off to one side and, a bit startled, looked to see what it was......   turned out to be birds in the cornfield, but it made for an interesting photo.  I think it captured the strange energy that was all about the place.

  
  
   

Migration 2

Another digital collage with a "migration" theme.   The image of the men is from a vintage catalog, and don't they look nice in their sweaters?   All ready for a crisp autumn day and watching the monarchs begin their migration.  Here comes fall.... get your sweaters ready!

Migration

   It's that time of year....  migration is in progress.   Here in the midwest we watch the monarch butterflies gather and begin their journey away from the colder weather.   Many of the birds leave for the winter months and we look forward to their return in the spring.    

   I thought about the quote from Dan Eldon's journal  "The Journey is the Destination" and it seemed fitting here.  

   A side note:  Many years ago, by chance, I picked up a copy of Dan Eldon's book and like many others, was profoundly influenced by it.  If you are not familiar with him, you may want to go to the website (click here) and explore.  

Reincarnating Old Books

   I was out running errands a couple of weeks ago and stopped at a garage sale.  There, in a box of discarded books I found this treasure, and a few others.  The covers were dark and the spine was falling off.   A perfect candidate for 'reincarnation' to become an altered book journal / sketchbook.   

   At home in my studio, the cleaning process begins, removing the covers and gently revealing the beautiful graphics.  Any fraying of the original canvas is stabilized.  I like to preserve the end papers whenever possible, especially if the original owner's name is written there.  

The old text block is removed and saved for use in collage backgrounds and other mixed media work.

Papers are cut for the pages and the thickness of the new text block tells me how wide to make the spine.

   It should be noted that I have never taken apart a book that is in excellent condition, believing that those examples should be saved for collectors.  The books I choose to work with are those that are otherwise destined for the landfill.

   Recycled materials are used as much as possible, and in this case, dark green leather was repurposed from a coat found in a local thrift store.    I often shop for discarded leather coats that can be 'harvested' for book spines.  

 

The finished book is rewarding on many levels.... the fun of looking for these hidden treasures, the joy of craftsmanship and the satisfaction of knowing that a lovely old book will have a new life in the hands of someone who will once again treasure it and fill it's pages in their own unique way.   

You can find my hand bound journals / sketchbooks on Etsy. 

A Little Spark of Madness

This is what recently evolved on the pages of my journal.  At first glance you may assume I had a crazy week getting used to being back in the classroom again.  That would be correct.  But the little creature on this page is actually the result of a project done with my drawing students.  It was inspired by an exercise from the book Drawing Lab by Carla Sonheim.  Using a series of self generated prompts, we each made original 'creatures'.  (I like to work along with my students whenever possible.)
Pictures of giraffes were used to make a series of overlapping blind contour drawings.  From those, we picked out groupings of lines that suggested a figure, creature, or animal.   Using tracing paper, we 'tweaked' the drawings, developed something we liked and made a graphite transfer into our sketchbooks.  The drawings could be finished using any medium.  I choose to play with some new gel pens.  Too bad the 'sparkle' one doesn't show up very well here.... lots of sparkle.

Speaking of Carla Sonheim, she has a wonderfully creative blog called Snowball Journals.  Check it out and be sure to go back into some of the older posts as there is so much playful inspiration there.

Steampunk Man

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction set in the 19th century Victorian era when steam power was still widely used.  It features futuristic technology as people of this historical period would have envisioned it.  

It contains fictional machines like those found in the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Below is the original cabinet card I found in a local antique shop.   It had $5 printed in pencil on the back and, not having my reading glasses on, I though it read $8.   I nicely asked the owner of the shop if he would take $6 for it and he said "Sure!"   Later as my friend Katie and I were having lunch I took it out and with reading glasses on, realized my mistake and we had a good laugh about it.    For the rest of the afternoon as we explored local shops, it became our joke that whatever the price tag said, maybe I could offer a bit more.   As we get older we really need to keep our sense of humor and just roll with it.

The man in the photo seemed the perfect candidate to become "Steampunk Man" for this month's ATC exchange.    I had fun transforming him and really think it was worth the extra dollar paid.
If you are not familiar with Steampunk, do a little Google image search..... there is some amazing creative stuff going on in this genre!

Robin's Egg Blue

A few weeks ago I was out geocaching and came across a robin's nest with 3 perfect blue eggs.   I was immediately reminded of the quote from one of my favorite little books "The Rabbit Box" by Joseph Pintauro and Norman Laliberte and knew this would be the prompt for my second blue-themed journal page.
"Robins, how can you tell the difference between your eggs and the sky?"  Something to wonder about.

Small Journals

Petite and portable, this small journal is perfect for travel and carrying in a bag for making notes and quick sketches.   

The small format also allows me to use some of the papers left over from larger projects.

I like the way the "Bottle Cap Button" looks oversized in this proportion.......

Here is your art challenge:  Get out the lovely papers and materials that you have saved from other projects and make something wonderful.

The Blues

The theme is "Blue" and this was the first idea that came to mind.  One of the things I enjoy about our art exchange is that we are free to interpret the decided-upon themes in any way we choose.
Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was one of the most notable blues and jazz singers of the 1930s and 40s.
You can read her biography and see the timeline of her life here.
For this image, I started with a plain black and white photograph and added the color variations and graphic designs in photoshop.   Below is the original photo.....

Sometimes it's fun to take a stock photo and experiment with color variations, filters and use different brushes to create layers of texture and interest.   Just remember to save a copy of your original in case you want to start over or use it again.

Dreams

Here is another visual journal page using red as a dominant color.   I have used images from a vintage field book about fish.... they have also appeared in many of my past works.     I like the way fish imply fluid movement and the ability to swim through a setting.
Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams.

Theme Red

This month's art exchange is all about red.   My instincts were to explore the theme in relation to antique anatomy illustrations. The psychological influence of color creates a surreal and somewhat menacing picture.  
I have been influenced here by the works of collage artist Hope Kroll who often evokes intriguing and disturbing results through juxtaposition of images.
Choose a color.... any color.... and play.  Don't be alarmed if the results are a bit unsettling.  We all have nightmares.

I Will Fly Away

                                      

Book arts and mixed media combine in this "Shrine Book."   Collage and assemblage techniques are used on the covers.   The base layer covering the cardboard structure is made from pages of a vintage book torn into pieces and applied with a matte medium.   Once that was done, the shrine-like niches were embellished.  I try to let a story or theme unfold without over-thinking it.  The muse leads the way.

White colored pencils are just as I found them in the bottom of my pencil drawer. 

The smaller niches are filled with resin to encase the embellishments.  

A tapestry spine is reinforced with a hidden structural layer and bound with waxed linen.  The book is sturdy and large.

The text line is from a page of an antique book, one of many that I have disassembled to make my journals.   "I will fly away"...... it seemed to add another dimension to the story this book might tell.