Category: Art

The first book, other than my own, that I've worked in for the In The Studio Round Robin is Terrie Lightfoot's beautiful house-shaped book.  Since the whole idea behind this book is to explore source's of inspiration, I decided to explore how whim and whimsy could take the same idea and go different directions with it.

I started with three pages that I prepared identically.  Using pages from an old book, I cut out three blocks of old text and glued them onto each page.  From there, I left the pages out on my table, with no intentions about what to do or how to work on them.

As it happened, I worked on the pages serially, completing one, then moving on to the others.  I seemed to have a bit of trouble getting started with the first one.  It sat out for quite some time, with just the image of the girl on it.  I starred at it a lot, before it came together one Saturday morning.

It's an unusual division of visual space on a page for me, but I was happy with the colors and using the dry brush technique to create a little house for the girl to live in.  Best of all were these words from some of the text I had glued to the page that jumped out at me.

The next page happened one afternoon, when I was playing around with using rubber stamps to create a tone on tone background.  I could hear Ellie, fussing at her Dad and her brothers in the next room — some imagined breach of etiquette.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be embarassed.  She sounded just like me.  The phrase popped into my head and the page followed.  The tags are mica over bits of old paper, and they are tied onto the page with fragments of vintage lace.

The final page was actually started before the preceeding one, but only in the sense that I had dropped a piece of startling copper patina blue silk ribbon onto the page and knew it would be a blue and brown page.  I worked on it last.

For some reason I had difficulty scanning the full page, but I liked the scan of the bottom a lot.

I'm sending out my book for a new round robin today, and I'm really excited about it.  It's called In The Studio, and it's an RR that is designed to explore the sources of inspiration and why we make art.  I like "why" questions, so this process appeals to me a lot.

The book is a 6×8" ring bound book.  I've taken it apart to work on it.  This is the cover, the text reads "looking into things."

The inside of the cover uses the same design motif.

I journaled about my goals for the round robin on some tags on the first page and added a little silver bauble that says "grace" at the top of the page.  The fibers are some tussah silk that I spin into a thick yarn to anchor the tags to the page.

This is one of the first pieces I did for the book, several weeks ago.

I decided to include a piece I cut out from the paper I line my studio table with.  I'm always fascinated by how great this paper looks after I've been working on top of it for several weeks, and also with the transformations it goes through.

And finally, this piece on the inside of the back cover is my favorite.  She sat out on my table for close to a month before I glued her down, and I'm still thinking about adding a tiny word on her dress.  The word that kept sticking in my mind was "foretell" which was too big, so she is wordless for the moment.

I've done some scans with her and am planning on using her in some soldered charms (I'm hoping to make one for each of the kids' teachers for the holidays).  She started life with the plan being to turn her into a fabric collage, but I ended up deciding to place her more simply.  I'm not positive I made the right choice, so I may have to work with her some more.

I have Terrie Lightfoot's beautiful house-shaped book, next up for me in this round robin, out on my studio table and can't wait to work on it later this week, probably while waiting for election results to come in Tuesday night.  Terrie's book is gorgeous and a wonderful treat to look forward to working in it!

This week's art prompt at The Gothic Arches Challenge is pretty in pink.  I really love pink and have pretty much had a week long pink affair down in my studio as a result of the challenge.  I ended up doing some more complex pieces that aren't finished yet, but wanted to share at least one pink arch before the week was over.

I'll share more pink art as I finish it.

I feel so very lucky.

I have wanted to take art classes with DJ Pettit and Deryn Mentock forever.  More specifically, this class.

DJ and Deryn mingle their collage, painting, and jewelry skills, and the class has always looked wonderful to me, but it has always filled up before I could sign up when I've been at retreats.

So, they are coming to me!  Next June, DJ and Deryn will come to Birmingham and offer four days of workshops here.  And I am the luckiest girl!  A lot of artists from the Altered Workshop are coming, so it will be a week to see old friends and make some new ones, as we have a few new people coming!  There are a couple of slots left, so if you think you might be interested in joining us, send me an email!

One of my all time favorite artists' books is True Colors, a book that documents a round robin among some of my favorite collage artists, based upon different color schemes.  The book has been around for years and the concept has been repeated many times, but I was still really happy when we decided to do one while we were all together for classes with Catherine Moore.

It seems way too quick, but I've Just finished working in the last book, which belongs to Kathy McElroy.