Handmade Journals for Sale!

It all started when Mr. Right bought me a Zutter Bind-It-All.  On top of a really beautiful collection of paper (which I use for collages, etc...) I've been painting a lot of paper lately and so, swiping the covers from an old, discarded book, I made myself a new journal.

This is nothing new... well, except for the Zutter.  I have made sketchbooks/art journals for years, all kinds and methods.  There are many posts about handmade books on this blog.  I have a longstanding fascination with bookmaking and with creating content for these books.

  

  

  

I started working in my new journal. I'm not formally participating in the #yearofcollage but wanted this book to be a collage journal. Making pages, posting them to IG, creating little collages to go on my pages, cutting up old watercolor paintings, making more pages.

   

Armed with the new Zutter toy, I made a second journal for a librarian friend of mine who is so, so generous and lets me know when she has damaged books that are headed to the landfill.  I really love giving a library's leftovers new life!  

  

Well, you know where this is going.  I'm having so much fun making journals that I can't stop.  And I've gotten lots of interest through Instagram -- you can visit my Instagram page and my Etsy shop to see many more photos of the individual journals for sale.  Both links are in the column to the right. 

Torn Paper Collage: Abbey Road, Part 2

The Paper

The collage is full of hand-painted papers, 1960s vintage ads and memorabilia, and personal momentos of the owners.  The whole piece is a "remember that" activity.  My friends and I collected paper for 18 months.  So fun!

There are probably a dozen or more maps showing their home towns, colleges, and of course Austin. Their childhood pictures show up in the trees, in the street, and behind the wheel of a red double-decker bus.

The lyrics to A Day in the Life ("I read the news today, oh boy, about a lucky man who made the grade...:) are in the shadows on the Volkswagon Bug.

MLK's I Have a Dream speech begins in the closest lightpost and continues back to the one behind.

                  

The People

Front row, left to right:  George, Paul, Ringo, John

Back, left:  the group at the gate; they just happened to be there

Back, right: an American tourist visiting London, Paul Cole struck up a conversation with an officer who was sitting in his police car on the side of the street that day.  Cole was waiting for his wife who was in a nearby museum.

In and Amongst:  Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the astronaut, the Rat Pack, Elvis Presley, the bell hop, the cowboy, the surfers, the Eyes of Texas, and 1963's Queen Scheherazade.

            

Torn Paper Collage: Abbey Road, Part 1

I love paper and make torn-paper collages from time to time.  Last fall's hiatus from social media was due to a BIG collage I made for dear friends who have recently restored a mid-century modern beauty!  They wanted a period piece to hang over the bar and chose the iconic Abbey Road cover.  I received the panel in August and the finished piece was installed in their home right after Thanksgiving.

I learned so much.  The project was challenging and very, very fun.  Of course, all credit goes to photographer Iain Macmillan and the work he did with George, Paul, Ringo, and John in London on Friday, August 8, 1969.  Brilliant!

The Puzzles

Puzzle #1:  Size.   96"x54".  We laughed and said, if it were a dining room table, it would seat 10.  Squeals of delight.  Big enough to dance on!

Puzzle #2:  Perspective and Readability.  Tight on space, I worked with the piece laying flat and me creating from the top..... looking at it upside down.  I could only get about 15 feet away when we stood it up (every couple of weeks - this sucker is h e a v y!

Juxtapose that with where it hangs in this beautiful home.  Though you can get up close, the line of sight goes straight out, about 60 feet, to their pool.  I spent a lot of time hoping and hoping that the collage would be interesting up close but, as important, "readable" from the vantage point of most viewers.  A very fun puzzle!

New Girls in Town!

Hello Friends,
I'm delighted to introduce a new series of ladies - they are the Big Sisters.  This collection is much larger than the Littles - up to 24"x24".  A combination of acrylic, collage, ink, graphite, etc., these mixed-media portraits are of women who are smart and imperfect, strong but quirky.  They are whimsical warriors and I am enchanted.  The Big Sisters are graphic-inspired and indulge my deep love of pattern.  Plus, I'm naming them after I Love Lucy episodes - I have so much respect for Lucille Ball.  She did amazing work and we laughed throughout.

I will be posting the Big Sisters to Instagram and they are available to purchase in my Etsy store.  I hope you love them. Thanks so much for playing along!  #gratefulartist

the country club dance - s6, ep25

24x24, acrylic on 3/4" canvas, unframed

details below (i.e. the parts i am REALLY in love with)

The Valentines Files Part II

A few more photos....

The Valentines Files I

On a whim, before Christmas, I decided to practice some mixed media layering on a few brown craft file folders that were sitting around.  I've done that before on manila -- click here to remember -- file folders are tough, cheap, disposable, and fun when finished!

Well, along I went; every time I was painting or stenciling or gluing something else, I'd throw some of that on those folders.  I've been obsessed with blues lately; I've been obsessed with chinoiserie for my whole life.  Pretty soon I ran out of folders, ordered more, and along the way I decided I would give them to my colleagues for Valentines.  They were turning out to be blue-on-blue, our school colors.  And I was running across scraps of paper that fit the bill.

Paint, ink, dye, more paint, graphite, paper, stencils, cute images to draw/paint (from the internet; not mine), some of my favorite quotes, more paint.  The outsides are more decorated than the insides (see below) and I left some painted spaces for my Valentines to write their own quotes if they wish.  And of course, I sealed them all the way round so coffee mishaps are no problem - they are 'wipe and go.'

Talk about fun! Highly recommended! I'll post more pics tomorrow.  Thanks for playing along!

 Thanks for the quote, Dina Wakely! 

The insides of the folder are less decorated but still fun!  See below.