I Finished my Book!!

This is a continuation from my previous post.

 Stopping to face my situation of the too many ideas 

& projects that had started to form,

& asking for help did the trick! 

Beth wrote to Just choose one project & finish it.

Not rocket science, but it helped to hear it from outside 

my own brain which was turning somersaults! 

Organizing my space & hiding the other projects was key. 

And accepting that my finished book would not be perfect...

All along there were decisions to be made.

What to do with the wildflower cutouts that I had drawn & painted 

from photos that I had taken for my project?

I had to abandon my original idea of 

making the flowers pop up from the page, 

(something I love to do in my little handmade cards),

because I had a cover that I'd bound that I'd wanted to use.

A new stiff white paper replaced the green Mi Teintes. 

(Thanks, Fiddlehead Artisan Supply for being right in town!!)

From there on, the book seemed to make itself.

Book Arts prof. Rebecca Goodale says that there's nothing

like the feeling of you & the paper working together "as one."   

(I'm paraphrasing...)

The beginning.

It's an accordion book, but can be view one spread at a time.

The middle.

The end. 

 One of my favorite parts was writing text,

inspired by my original thoughts on my subject. 

Lots & lots of editing to keep it focused & brief.

I had written in the previous post that "there was 

so little left to do" on this book. 

Haha!...Little did I know!!!

 

The cover came last. 
I wanted to decorate it more, but I had a deadline.
The handmade books, the final projects 
from our Book Arts Class will be on view at USM 
during September with a lecture & reception on September 9.

The book was delivered yesterday, & I am exhilarated!

What joy to start with vague thoughts & ideas 
& to work with them 
as they evolve into concrete words & images~
Bound into a book!
I got to experience what my young art students
used to experience!

And, I finished it!!

Thank you to USM & Rebecca Goodale's 
Summer Book Arts Course!

Boxes: My Key to Organization

The workshop that keeps on giving,

That was Beth's. I continue to play.

I notice my ongoing fascination with squares.

Squares. BOXES. Order. Symmetry. 

Containment which allows for freedom & chaos.

Ohhhh. I get it!

I learned about creative surface design,

but I also learned about how to organize materials

because Beth had 

So So Many!  

(Click on Sew Sew Art , 

Beth's website.)

I've been learning that my creative spirit can't flow without 

organizing my materials!

 That generous Beth lent me her BOX of metallic threads.

Sparkly. Shimmery. Oooooh! Thank you, generous Beth!

The BOX for raw material for my August Art Show.

 The BOX for hand sewing & little papers,

for book covers, for little collages. 

For now it has to wait for me in its BOX 

because I need to be into the Art Show BOX.

 Another BOX of Bookmaking stuff. 

Beth's Beads. Waxed threads. Buttons!

A BOX of travel journals from France voyages.

Also waiting for me.

Rita's saved BOXES, 

thrown in a corner of the spare room.

You never know when you'll need another BOX!

I'm remembering one of the first magical 

BOXES in my life:

Jenny's Mom's BOX of old clothes in the basement,

put there so we could play Dress-Up 

when we were wee kids!!

Thank you Jenny's Mom! 

How do YOU organize your materials?

Beth's Maine Coast Surface Design Class-2

Beth's Midsummer Surface Design Workshop.

I got to go for 2 days this time! 

(see previous posts.)

 I made a little book for Beth last year,

inspired by all of the wonderful design work

that I always see in her studio when I visit her.

Now, not just a visit, but an official class!

We made cover designs using plastic credit type cards

swooshing around paint on large sheets of paper.

 I also printed with the edges. 

On top of that I "pounced" and swirled circles

with a small round sponge gizmo.

Another student had discovered the swirling technique.

 Some of us "copied". 

I found myself cutting out circles,

& then began cutting them into spirals. 

It gave me a delicious bunch of small

snail-fiddlehead-brussel sprout-y creatures. 

I pasted them down & hung metallic thread.

How fun! The process was doing its own thing.

All I had to do was to let it!

 

We used our covers for coptic stitched journals.

I experimented on my top cover,
sort of ruining it (no photo of that!), 

so eventually I pasted a collage design over it. 

It's called Rita's Book of Progress & Imperfection

One of the biggest things that happened

at this workshop is that my perfectionism,

the crippling kind, began to be lifted. 

Beth models & teaches that: 
"You try things,

if something doesn't work, no problem. 

You just keep trying things, & having fun!"

 With a 1 1/2 " hole punch 

I've been continuing to punch circles

from my sheets of painted paper. 

These are on watercolored squares that I'd had made.
They remind me of one of those color theory exercises
that you see in books on painting.

I'd seen Beth's hand-dyed cloth beads several years ago,

& in fact she'd gifted me with some.

I finally got to make my own!!! Total joy!

Above, the cover of a small accordion book.

 Embellishing one of Beth's tags. 
I made the bead,

The rest was from 

her big box of printed papers & ribbons.

"Cloth Paper Scissors", there's a magazine by that name. 

I haven't found the magazine yet, but Marcella,

Beth's assistant shared some wonderful books. 

Austin Kleon in Steal Like an Artist says that

side projects 

inbetween work on your major project

are valuable. 

"Productive Procrastination".

"Just play. That's where the magic happens."

Now, I'm back working on my exhibit at the library.

I'll be showing sketches that were all done

"Not Far From Home" .

Which happens to be the name of the show.

Beth's Workshop: Things I Learned

At Beth's Workshop: (Previous post Here) 

I learned of a book: 

Expressive Drawing by Steven Aimone. 

Incorporating the freedom we had as children

with our developing adult ways of making marks

and drawing.

Beth's post about that workshop is Here.

And another post Right Here.

It really was "artistic life changing"!

I am challenged by, & I get satisfaction from 

gravitating to order & simplicity 

when confronted with many materials & possibilities.

My simple sketching practice 

with line & watercolor

was affirmed & enriched by playing in this different way.

The pages I made at Beth's (see link above)

 are now in an accordion book setting.

Ah, Order. Cohesion. Sequence, 
though I have much to learn about this.
About the principle called "Unity".

A play between unconscious impulses 

& conscious art principles & choices.

The more I study art, 

the more the conscious learning

becomes unconscious while I work.
(Does that make sense??)

I'm going back this weekend for 2 more days!

There is a spot open, if any of you want to join us!

Contact Beth using the links above to her site.

Beth's Wildly Creative Design Workshop

 

A blissful visit to friend Beth's 

Maine Coast Surface Design Workshops.

(Click Here) 

where students, an assortment of 

accomplished quilt & paper artists from various states,

explored multi-media design techniques on paper.

That's Beth, the most prolific & free flowing, & generous 

creative fabric & paper design artist I've ever met!

I couldn't attend the full 3 days, 

but stepping in to her "Art Greenhouse" on Sunday was Color Heaven,

including seeing participants' finished work! 

Beth will probably post some of photos 

on her blog, Sew Sew Art.

Buttons, ribbons, printing inks, oil pastels, thread,

gel prints, rubber stamps, decorated papers, 

a bounty of art making materials!!!!!

I was overwhelmed, so I started by doing a sketch 

with my own materials. 

Starting in my comfort zone.

Then I made some collages, growing a little bolder.

Beth says, it's all a beginning. You can keep adding,

changing things, "Go wild! Let things happen, play!"

Some combinations...I used 

a few rubber stamps that Beth had made

& some papers she'd printed up.

Clearly, my process would have evolved

if I'd attended the full 3 days...
(couldn't due to my work schedule.)
And I would have made some books to take home!

 At one point I got overwhelmed by the visual & creative

stimulation, so I sat out on the front porch of the 

little Art House, sketching as a form of meditation,
on a sunny, breezy Maine summer day. 
It worked. 

I went back refreshed.

She's running a 2nd session on the July 21 weekend,

so if anyone is interested in coming to the

gorgeous Maine coast for 3 days to have wild art fun,

do go to her blog & sign up! 

I plan to take her Spirit Dolls workshop in October!
This is one of Beth's dolls.

Paste Papers and Bookmaking with Abby Read

  I attended 2 workshops at a local arts center. 

One was on paste papers & coptic stitch bookmaking by  Abby Read, 

wonderful artist & teacher. 

Made sketch notes in my Art Learning Book.

I got to wear a long printer's apron too, a grand costume! 

 If

 

Even though I had done the coptic stitch before,

it's complicated for me & lots of repetition & re-learning helps! 

My finished book! I'm proud of it, like a young child
coming home from arts camp!
This one shines because I swirled in Pearlescent paint. Ooooooo!
(I also added some colored pencil marks when the paper was dry.)

 We made papers to take home! 
You mix a paste with acrylic paint, you goop it on Canson papers, 
you swirl & cut into it with tools like combs & plastic credit cards. 
I used a putty knife. 
It's fingerpainting, except without fingers, as acrylic stains! 
Such joy to dance in lines, to blend colors,
such fun to see what will happen next!

A new book in progress here at home!

The notes help me to be able to do it independently.

More using up stuff that's been around here forever,

 papers I've been saving for just this thing!

Thank you Abby Read and classmates!

Home and Color Play

 Close up of one section

Playing with layers:

1. yellow tones of watercolor washes  

2. glazing, wet over dry  

3. pastel pencil marks

Simple color play turned into 

a theme (Title: "Home Schema Home") 

for a local group show at Waterfall Arts.

 I loved the schema for home 
when I drew as a young child.
 

And I still do as an adult sketcher.