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"Idea of a Leaf"

Idea of a Leaf

Last week while walking home from the bus stop, my third-grade daughter stopped and backtracked to pick up a leaf lying on the sidewalk.  She thought it was beautiful and unusual, and I agreed with her.

The leaf sat on our piano for most of the week, refusing to leave my mind.  Eventually I started playing with the ideas presented to me by the humble leaf.

The original inspiration

At the top of this entry is one version, done on a wood panel with India inks, Derwent Watercolour pencils, and Golden fluid acrylics.  It started off with just India inks added to an unprimed wood panel (Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India inks, specifically).

India inks only (no acrylics yet) with a few touches of watercolour pencil for definition

My palette of fluid acrylics

As I was painting it, I was struck by how much the patterns of color on the leaf resembled those of a butterfly.  Maybe I will explore that a little bit in another study.

I am not entirely certain this one is done--the leaf seems it might need a little something more, although right now I am not sure what--and I am going to let it take up occupation of the dining room with me for a while until I know for sure one way or the other.

Reorganization as a sign of respect

Recently my husband went back to England (where he's from) to attend the Paralympics, and I took the opportunity offered by his absence to go through everything I have arty and reorganize.  There was too much stuff piled on top of other stuff, and I hated it and I felt bad about it, ashamed that it was such a shambles.

So I used his man-cave (filled with musical instruments) and the hallways and got everything out--because you can't reorganize until you know what you have and how much you have of it.

Probably I should have taken some in-process pictures, but frankly I am glad I didn't.  Mentally I was finished with the project about four days before I was done in reality.  It was good that I knew in my heart that if you just put one thing away and then another thing, eventually it's all gone, because it was certainly overwhelming at many points.

Especially when I was going through all the little treasures that I have saved and saved (although very rarely actually used) and trying to sort them into meaningful groups that could be put away in a useful manner for finding and using.

Part of what took so long too was reintegrating all the things I used to truck around with me to use while waiting during kids' activities.  Our schedules have changed and I no longer have to occupy myself for 1-1/2 to 2 hours at a time--but that meant all the duplicate supplies had to be dealt with.

I am happy to say that I am very pleased with the end result, though, and I feel proud of what I do and where I do it.  Given all that I have learned and thought about over the past year and the workshops I've taken (free online Strathmore ones, Julie Prichard & Chris Cozen's ones over at The Land of Lost Luggage), I did the following:

--got rid of the substandard supplies I have that have been replaced with better quality items

--set things out so that basic media can be reached from where I sit (paintbrushes, mark-makers, ink pads, adhesives and acrylic mediums, pencils, pastels, etc.)

--got all substrates together in a single place--I am NOT buying any more for a while!

--acquired a Billy bookcase from Ikea and placed it in front of an unused door in the hallway, just outside the utility room where the rest of my supplies are (things that are used for a particular need--book sewing frame, Vagabond die-cut machine, book cloth, paper pads), and put my personal library there as well as displayed some of the things I have made

I also touched every single piece of paper I own and regrouped and refiled it.  That was a serious pain.

When I was done with it all, I made diagrams of what is where, and next week I will make it pretty and place it somewhere close at hand.

I have reorganized before, but never to this extent.  It was good as always to be reminded of what I have, and it was really the first time that I had a feel for how I might use things (like papers I have painted myself, images I've collected, etc.) and thus where I should put them for best access.

To close, I would explain the title of this post.  In England this summer I saw The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron, at the end of a library row, and it seemed to me that I was meant to check it out, that it was impossible to walk by it, that doing so would be a huge cosmic mistake.  So many artists I read interviews with mention this book, and although I am not religious at all, I felt that surely what has helped so many disparate artists (successful enough to be interviewed!) find their way with confidence surely couldn't hurt me.  I read it through beginning to end, and I tried the morning pages a couple of times to see what that was going to be like, but I knew I could not start in earnest until school had started for the children.

Then after getting home from holiday, I realized that I could not devote myself fully to this exploration of my self with all these things at home that were screaming at me to be done, rolls of book cloth piled onto of wood panels next to untidy stacks of magazines covered up by sheets of paper.  So I spent a couple of weeks getting things organized in my physical presence so that I could then truly take the time needed to explore mentally.  I needed the headspace for this, and that was how I got it.  I felt that setting up my studio and storage areas (spent less than $400 for additional items) was a sign of respect for my efforts of creativity and a sign to all, my family and myself as well as anyone who walks in through the front door, that said efforts deserve this attention.

It's not much but it is better than nothing

So here is an interesting situation--

just spent 45 minutes, close to an hour--WASTING MY TIME

clicking around on old links in my bookmarks

checking to see if anyone had posted any new & interesting blog posts

looking at stuff other people have made or are selling

thinking about CRAP I ought to do

ONE DAY

like clean up my bookmark links

when what I really wanted to do was play with stuff (or maybe go to bed)

If I wanted to play, why didn't I?  Partly because I hate to get interrupted

partly because doing stuff in the evening

(CREATIVE STUFF)

gets me energized and then it's too

hard--even harder than usual--

to go to sleep

partly, I am sure, because it's a habit

So I am calling BULLSHIT on that

don't care what time it is

even if I do nothing but write this

at least I am breaking a pattern, for one night, and doing something

Ink added post-writing with Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India inks.  And hey--it turns out that the Stabilo pens are not waterproof.  Must remember that for the future!  And I do indeed feel better and more at rest for having done something.

Sorry the pic is so small (was taken with iPhone and uploaded using the iPhone Blogger app, and that doesn't appear to include a larger version other than the thumbnail)--the writing on the journal page is what is transcribed above the image in this blog post.

From Crate and Barrel tissue paper, an enamelled cover paper

Another experiment inspired by Ms. Hall's Embroidered Books. 

I started with one piece of tissue paper from Crate and Barrel, covered it with Adirondack Red Pepper paint from the Ranger dabber (hoping it was heat-fixable paint since I had no Stewart Gill Byzantia nor anywhere close to acquire some from), sprinkled with Pine Needles Distress Embossing Powder, and heated.

I tried to then cover with UTEE but it wouldn't stick, so I had to brush it off, use a Boss Gloss dabber to put a layer of embossing ink over the papper, then I added UTEE again and heated. It wasn't a full covering but turns out I like the look.

It still needed something, so I added some Antique Gold Rub 'n Buff with my finger. That provided some much needed light and set off the red paint and melted EP nicely.

I plan to just use PVA to turn this into a book cover. Seems pretty sturdy at this point.

Handmade paper, Golden airbrush paint, and Prismacolor pencils

The Billericay library had a fantastic item I was able to check out while there earlier this month--Embroidered Books, by Isobel Hall. I made a bunch of notes from it and did this fun little thing while my son is playing Axis and Allies with his friend this afternoon.

To strengthen and reduce the porousness of the handmade paper I made many months ago, I painted it with Golden Airbrush paint (Phthalo Green Blue Shade)--Ms. Hall had suggested Procion silk dye, but I don't have any of that. After drying, I used Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp a Magenta image. Then I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils (canary yellow, Spanish orange, orange, yellowed orange, yellow ochre, carmine red, and grass green), finishing up with a burnishing pencil. I added Glossy Accents over the center flower--it's not dry yet in the picture.

This medallion would look nice on the cover of a small notebook, methinks. I like the look of the stamped ink and the colored pencils on the hamdmade paper.

Travel journal for cousin

My cousin is taking her three girls to Prague & the Czech Republic for a month this summer.  Her husband is Czech, but he will not be there until the second half of the trip.  So my cousin will go over with her sister and her dad for a week, then they leave and she will go out to the countryside to stay with her in-laws for a week before her husband arrives.

This might be challenging for her since she speaks only English, her mother-in-law speaks some English, her father-in-law speaks Czech and German but no English.  I hope the week is not too long for her!

I offered to make a travel journal as a gift for her.  She is far too busy to deal with baby books and other stuff like that (she is pregnant with her fourth child, due in October), and I thought it might be nice for them to have this remembrance of this trip since it's such a long one.  I also thought it might be a nice way to keep the older two girls occupied sometimes when they can add their own drawings and writing to the book (ages 7 and 3-soon-to-be-4-next month).  For that reason as well as that my cousin likes strong, bright colors, I made the journal vibrant and fun.

The cover is made from grungepaper dyed with Fired Brick Distress Stain.  I used kraft cardstock for inner liner, although I didn't do it quite right as by the end I was in a hurry, so I sewed the third of the three signatures outside the liner.  Oops!  Ah well.

The signatures were made from the following card stock colors, obtained from Archiver's:  lemon bliss, scarlet, orange slice, berry, and neutral ivory.

I added a couple of envelopes in as a place to stuff those things that one just doesn't have time to deal with in the moment but doesn't want to throw away.

I also included decorative stubs between nearly every page in each signature to allow for the travel ephemera that is part of what makes books like these so special (receipts, tickets, drawings done by the kids, brochures, pictures, etc.).

In the end I was happy with the journal.  It should be sturdy enough for the job and fun for both my cousin & her daughters to write/draw in.  Now I just have to hope that they actually find time to use it!

Leftover paint

One of the things I have been working on this year is to stop thinking so much and DO more.  So I finally did something in one of the journals I made in Julie's Super Nova Journaling online workshop last year when I had leftover paint from another project.  I took an image that was on one of the collaged, painted-over pages and did it big over the spread.  Quite frankly I was surprised with how well it turned out.  I also tried to pick up some of the patterning on the underlying page and incorporated that in the border.

Travel journal finished

I love my finished Park City travel journal.  The grungeboard cover is pretty amazing, and I'll be making more portable workhorse journals with it.

After hoarding some of the Tim Holtz filmstrip ribbon for probably a couple of years now, I finally used some of it as decoration on the front cover.  Prints were the index prints of my "roll"; I still had to trim them down even from that small size.  But the effort was well worth it.  I adhered the pics to the filmstrip with Glossy Accents, and I used the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to staple the completed ribbon onto the front cover.

Even though it's been only three months since the trip, I already like looking back through it at receipts and images.  Must remember that I like finding items/stickers during the trip and using them to fasten things in my journal.

All the workshops I've been doing lately have really freed me up to do things.  Anything.  Everything. I am happy with this year!

Courage--April 2012

The last two or three weeks have seen me busy but not with too terribly much to actually show for it, at least not yet.  I've started on the Texture Town online workshop (Xmas present) by Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen, and I confess to my great surprise that they tricked me into shading!  Never knew I could do that.  That's one of the nice things I find about their workshops is that I often end up doing something I wouldn't have done on my own.  And that, I suppose, is the point.

I've signed up for another online workshop that I am pretty excited about--the first online one that Squam has done, apparently.  Going to a retreat in person is just out of the question for me at this point, as my husband would have to take vacation from work to look after the kids, and my parents aren't close enough to come babysit.  Plus I like to be here when they visit!  But Alena Hennessey's topics sound important to me, and I want to do it.

It will be a great thing for me to wind the spring up with--once the school year ends on 30 May, my time won't be solely my own anymore.  We are traveling a great deal this summer to avoid spending much time here in Central Texas, where it was truly awful last year, so it will be Houston for a week (not any temperature change but at least a chance of scenery & routine for both me and the kids), three weeks in Kansas at my parents' in the country, then three and a half weeks in England and Wales to stay with family and go to the Olympics and a Welsh farmhouse holiday.  When we come back to Texas, there are only two weeks until school starts up again on 27 August.

And of course, once the kids go back to school, it's time for me to start my holiday card business up.  Hopefully this year will be the one where I am a little more organized and efficient.  I'd really like to finish making all cards by the end of October!  (At the latest, by Thanksgiving, which is probably more realistic.)

A couple of weeks ago I had the idea that I could get one or two of my aunties to hold a trunk show for me--have a selection of completed cards and order forms, and they could get some friends over, and we'd have a little cocktail party and order fest.  Then I undercut myself wondering if I'd get any orders, if I got them how crazy would it be to deliver them, could I have any cards ready in time . . . argh. Mostly I think I just ought to make the leap and do it.  I'd also have some gift tags to show and I would love to have my Xmas book that keeps everything in one place done to offer in two versions--a fancy binding version that would be mega-expensive, and a spiral-bound version.

But if I'm going to do that, I really ought to have it designed before the summer begins.  And I ought to have a website that people can visit to find out more "about the artist", 'cause people dig that stuff.  But that also sounds like someone (me!) just putting up barriers that don't have to be so.  Where has the courage of my convictions gone?

[forgotten to publish when written!]