ArtiphyTheHeart

Pulling Prints-Day 2

Yesterday I showed you my first gelatin print and today I have a few more to share.  

The first step in gelatin printing is inking up the gelatin plate.  After that there are lots of things that can be done to make a printed image.  

The print in yesterday's post was created by laying down a freehand cut image of a human figure on one half of the plate, then running lines and squiggles through the ink around it with a comb tool.  The paper to be printed was then layed on top of the plate and hand-burnished until the image transfered successfully.

Later that night I freehand cut two more human figures.  Then I cut some circles from a piece of cardstock which I notched with scissors, inked up my plate, layed down the pieces, and pulled this print:

Yesterday was my weekly art date with my friend Rita.  I decided to take the cut figures and another experimental print to use in the journal I'd be working on.  The pieces of cardstock I cut were actually layed into the paint, so the opposite side of these figures are covered with paint.  I could have printed from them while the paint was wet, but I chose instead to let them dry and use them as I would a die cut in my art journal.  

In the photo above, I layed one of the cut figures and two circles, one right side up and one upside down, on top of another print scrap then scanned the result so you could see what I'm talking about.

The photo above is the piece from my art journal.  This is the left side of a two page spread.  My book is too large to fit in the scanner opened out, so I'll show the pages one at a time.  Here I've combined the figure cuts with another print and other collage material on the page.

And here is the right side of the two page journal spread using the figure you saw in yesterday's post as well as other pieces of collage material and another small print.  

These are only the bare bones of my journal spread.  So much more will be added, and maybe I'll show you the finished pages when they're complete, but for now I wanted to show what I did with the figures and a few collage elements on a blank page so you could see them clearly for what they are.  

I love the texture and the color changes where the two colors met when the brayer carried the ink from bottom to top on the plate, and I love how clearly the cut figure picked this up.

If you're interested in printing and print making, I left a link for a great book in my post yesterday and today I'll give you another.  This is not a new book, but it's really one of the best: Printmaking: History and Process.  It is quite expensive, but most college libraries have copies on hand and if you're lucky, you might find one at your public library also.  I checked my copy out from a local community college library and am working my way through it a little at a time, savoring every moment!  ...And if you're inclined to give me a gift, this book would top my list!  

Pulling Prints

Happy May, Everyone!  

There's a project I have in queue that involves quite a bit of hand printing, so I've been spending a lot of time pulling prints.  I love free-cutting shapes, especially off-beat human shapes in various poses, so today I added a couple of free cut circles and a person to produce a collaged monotype from a gelatin plate print.  

This is the first print from my trial run.  I wanted to experiment with paint and color since I have decided to use acrylic instead of ink for my project, and in our dry heat I knew I'd need to add a bit of water instead of medium to thin the paint and extend the drying time.   

I'll be playing with prints over the next few weeks, experimenting with lots of techniques and processes, adding them to other work as well, so check back often for updates.  

In the meantime, if you're interested in print making without investing in a lot of costly equipment, you might want to treat yourself to a copy of The Instant Printmaker: Simple Printing Methods to Try atHome (Watson-Guptill Famous Artists).  I'm reviewing what I learned about printing in college, and this book is a great re-introduction with hands-on projects and techniques. 

Doodling The Clock

This evening was the final teleconference for the Creating Time Mega Event launching the book Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life by Marney Makridakis.  I've attended all three, and I must say that I've had more fun, met more people, and been introduced to more new books and websites than in any other webinar I've taken part in.  

In each of the three events, we've doodled clocks.  Instructions were to take moments instead of taking notes.  So I recorded the pregnant pauses as well as the salient points while I looked for the metaphors.  I listened intently, watched a video, composed a group poem, and adjourned to small groups twice for discussions.  All this over a period of an hour and a half, all the while doodling my clock and taking notes moments.  

At the end of the webinar, I was surprised.  I really hadn't looked at the paper I was doodling on in the process.  I was on autopilot, expanding time by layering my activity, my attention heightened and present for listening, moment taking, doodling, and coloring, all at once and equally present, all happing at once within the same moment in time.  

Who says time isn't pliable as putty?  Here's what I discovered I had done by the end of the evening: Not a piece of art, but a cohesive collection of ideas, colors, pattern, and metaphor.  A surprising outcome for someone who was present in so many places at the time the drawing was taking place.  

Quite different from multi-tasking, this was a free act of letting the hand do it's work while the brain watched and listened.  The words "Creating Time" and the date were added afterward.  Everything else was done while participating in the event.  

So I wanted to take the time to share this with you, and let you know that I highly recommend the book, Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life. It's filled with insights, activities and wisdom from the more than 80 artists, creatives, authors and other luminaries who contributed to this effort.  Yesterday was its release date on amazon.com and it hit #1 in sales in numerous categories.  I'm not surprised.  

If you're interested -- and who wouldn't be? -- in celebration of the book's overwhelming success on it's first day of release, the special offer I mentioned in yesterday's post has been extended until April 24. You can find out more by clicking HERE to read yesterday's blog post, or by clicking HERE to sign up for the offer itself.  There are more than $125 worth of fabulous and absolutely free items and perks, just for buying a book you'd want to own anyway.  I know, because I took advantage of it and spent hours downloading all the fabulous morsels and tidbits, which include e-books, online courses, audio recordings and more.  Really.  What are you waiting for?  This isn't a sales pitch, it's my own personal opinion.  As they say, you snooze, you loose, so go for it!

Time Sensitive! Don't Wait! Creating Time And Free Stuff!

WOW!  Marney Makridakis of Artella has put together a package of freebies worth more than $125!  

This post is not an advertisment.  It's a public service to creatives everywhere!  I just hope I'm not too late in posting for you to take advantage of this amazing package of goodies!

You may already know that Marney has published her new book Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life.  Today, April 17, 2012, is the release day!  And to celebrate, Marney has put together a package of goodies worth more than $125, free to anyone who orders Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life today.  In a minute I'll tell you how to get this fabulous package, but first I want to tell you why I didn't mention it until now.

To get the more than $125 worth of freebies, the book must be ordered on the release date--TODAY!  I have been excited about this book since I first heard about it last December, and I have mentioned it in past blog posts.  But call me skeptical, I wanted to see for myself what was in the free package of goodies before I urged you all to place your orders on the 17th of April -- Today -- so I decided to place my own order first, open my package of goodies, then decide whether or not to pass along the information.  I've been saving an Amazon gift card just for this very purchase, so it was great to find out that in order to get the freebies, the order must be placed online with either Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  

I placed my order, followed the directions to type my order number into the correct box in the form on this page: http://www.artellaland.com/time.html, and within minutes, I had an email in my inbox with a .pdf filled with links to goodies provided by Artella, and also from the many contributors to Marney's book, people like creative coach Jill Badonsky, author ofThe Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) Third Edition, andThe Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder.

I'm not going to list everything that is in the package of goodies because I think it's meant to be a surprise, but suffice it to say that there are audio recordings, full length online classes, and more.  If you're interested in art, writing, or otherwise engaged in right-brain creative activities, this is SO generous, and SO worth it!  And all for the cost of a book you'd want to buy anyway.  At least I couldn't wait to buy it! 

I rarely tell you to go out and get something, so today is really special.  Just don't wait.  Offer ends at midnight!  

Here's a reprise of a journal page I created during the events leading up to the kick off ofCreating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life.  You may have seen this page already since it was in my last blog post HERE, but just in case, it's apropos to the day!  

P.S.  I get nothing extra for passing along this information.  As I said at the beginning of my post, this is a public service, not an advertisement.  But if you do decide to order, please consider using the links to the books that I've provided within this post, because I do get credit from Amazon if you place your order directly from clicking the Amazon links in this blog post.  Then go back to the link on this page to the form and type in your Amazon order number.  Thanks!  You won't be disappointed!

The Beginning Of Time

Monday marked the official start of Creating Time, a mega event that you can learn more about and even join for free by clicking the link on my right sidebar.  Part of this event is the featured launch of a new book by Marney Makridakis of Artella: Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life.  I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this book for ages, and I can't wait till a copy is in my hands!

Every day throughout this event a new exercise in seeing, thinking about, and experiencing time in unique and potent ways is presented to each of the participants.  Monday's activity focused on answering a list of questions about time specifically and in general, culminating with an art project to illustrate the essence gleaned through the process.  You can see mine in a minute.

But first, before I share the journal page I did for this project, I'd like you to take a few seconds and watch this snippet of a video I put together with watches from various magazine ads.  And I want you to notice.  Notice what?  Well, that's what you have to figure out.  What do you see?  Don't scroll down till you've watched or you'll spoil what may be a surprising fact.

 

Ok, now that you've watched, did you notice anything unique?  Unusual?  Different?  Similar?  Surprising? Or perhaps even suspicious?  

Before I tell you what I noticed and what it means, let me share my journal page for Monday's Creating Time, Day 1, and tell you a little bit about it.

The first thing I did was to sketch my little drawing of someone (me, perhaps?) laid-out flat in her efforts to uphold time.  She has to keep time balanced while the clock is ticking without letting it crush her in the process.  Sound familiar?  I'm sure we all feel this way at times.  

Next, I found the clock image I wanted to use.  I could have drawn it.  It would have taken less time and effort, but I wanted the contrast and interplay that comes from using multiple types of images in collage.  I found a few other parts of pages in magazines that caught my eye, so I ripped them out too.  Then I decided which journal to use.  

I keep several "open" (aka: ready for use) journals of different shapes and sizes available at any given time.  One of the benefits of this is that there is always something on hand, ready to accomodate any size page that a combination of images will dictate.  This way the artwork is king, not the size and shape of the page.  I grabbed the journal that best suited the project, and started arranging and re-arranging the components until I came up with a pleasing composition, then I glued them down.  

All the while, I kept my answers to the time questions in front of me so that my answers stayed in the back of my mind throughout the selection and arrangement process.   When everything was on the page, I took a break, had a cup of tea, then came back and took a look.  The page contained all my answers, and more.  It showed me things I hadn't thought of while answering the questions.  Things that were just as pertinent, perhaps even more.  So I began to write.  First a thought here, then a thought there, then another over in that corner, and also one right here at the side.  My thoughts flowed onto the page, becoming commentary on my perceptions of time.

And now, back to the video.  I was searching for clock face images when I happened across the watches I clipped for the video.  I wanted a clock face or two to add to my little drawing.  I kept finding images of diamond watches, artsy clock faces, and unusual artistic shapes when all I wanted was something clear and the proper size for my drawing, but  I decided to cut them all out as I went through the magzines and sort them later.  

As I clipped, I noticed that all the watches were set to the same time.  10:10.  I looked through another magazine.  Same thing.  10:10, regardless of brand.  I started to Google "watches set to 10:10".  The minute I typed-in "watches", the words "set at 10:10" automatically popped up in the search.  Apparently lots of people know this.  My husband knew it when I asked him about it.  You probably already know it too.  I would have thought that I would have known it, having worked in advertising, but then I never did a clock or watch ad, or worked for anyone who carried those accounts.  Here's the deal:  10:10 is an industry standard.  When watches and clocks are used in advertisments, setting them at 10:10 puts the hands in the best position to frame the name of the maufacturer.  It's easiest to read "Timex" or "Rolex" when the hands are set at 10:10.  

So there you have it.  Now you can say:  "I knew that!"  Or, you can say, "Wow!  I never knew that." Or you can get your friends to watch my little video and ask them what they see.  If you have the time, of course.

Rescuing An Old Book To Make A New One

Last year the Scottsdale Public Library system got rid of thousands and thousands of books by selling them off at 10¢ each.  That's 100 books for $10.  Many of these books were in excellent condition.  Some had been donated, but most were discards from the stacks.  I did my part and rescued armloads of these, some in great shape, some falling apart, some to read, some with only a few but precious salvagable pages, some with rotting book blocks but fabulous boards, some for their spines, some for their covers, some for their blocks, some for their size, etc.   I stayed miles away from book mold, and was surprised to find that the librarians didn't know what it was and how invasive it could be.  But I did pick up some dirty-but-cleanable books, especially those with uber-sturdy library bindings.  

I've done a lot with lots of them already.  The book I'm showing today was one of four, all of them falling apart, glue rotting at the spine with blocks only partially connected to the endpapers.  I thought I'd farm these four for images and text and discard the covers, but then came Kelly Kilmer's newest workshop, "The Journey Within".   Any book can be used for this workshop, but the bookbinding she features uses covers + spine of a book minus the block.  It can be falling apart because it will be restored, spine reinforced with tape, and given new life as a completely new book.  Clear and precise directions along with one-on-one email support are part of the workshop, so if you're interested, you can do this too.  Here are pics of my restoration:

This pic is really blurry, but so was I by the time I shot it.  It isn't the book I restored, but it's just like it.  One of the other three that I picked up in this series.  I forgot to take a before pic, so this will give you an idea of what it looked like prior to gutting and covering.  Hang with me.  The pics improve.

Here's a peek at the inside cover.  Again, it isn't the exact book I restored.  Mine had a navy blue block which had come almost completely unattached to the endpapers and was literally falling out of the cover.  But it is an accurate representation since it's from the same series.

This is the actual block from the book I restored.  I didn't even have to tug.  It fell into my hands the minute I cracked the spine.  Lots of potential inside, too.

Here's my restoration.  Paper from the Paper Studio.  The upholstery fabric I used for the spine was a gift from someone who saves nice tidbits for me and passes them along every once in awhile.

New inside cover.  More Paper Studio paper, and as you can see, I carried the covered spine all the way through, wrapping it entirely around before stitching in the new sets of signatures.

Here's a close-up of the new spine.  Unfortunately, you really can't see the stitching because I used black bookbinding thread that lost itself inside the texture of the upholstery fabric.  But it looks great in real life.  Subtle, but good.

Keep in mind that inside and out, the cover will change dramatically as the book is worked from the inside-out.  I usually complete the cover after working most of the inside since the cover will take a beating traveling with me and being repeatedly opened and closed.  It's nice and simple as is, but just wait till it becomes art!

All The Collage Pages From RIM

A couple of months ago I mentioned that I'd post a slide presentation of the pages in the book which I completed for Revel In The Moment, showing each page in its first stage, with collage.  With the collage completed, the book is now prepped and ready for additions.  Things painted in and things painted out, drawing, doodling, stencils, text, journaling, and more can now be added to these backdrops.  Usually I work a page from start to finish, but I got caught-up with the collage in this book, and chose to just run with it. 

 

I'll post another slide of the pages when they have been worked and completed.  I'll probably post both videos side by side, this one and the next, so you can see the transformation.  

I created this slide presentation in iPhoto, converted it to a QuickTime video, and uploaded it to Vimeo.  I've done this successfully many times in the past, but this time I had to upload it over and over again, five or six times.  Each time something different was changed, left out, or the video skipped.  It totally ignored my smooth dissolves and each page now cuts abruptly, one to the next.  Finally I just settled on the version above, but I noticed that every once in awhile the first page would be skipped during replay.  Just in case it doesn't appear in the presentation, I've included it below.  Next time I might use Picassa instead of Vimeo.

Every page in this book has meaning that is very personal to me alone.  My interpretation would be a reflection of what is inside me.  What you see in my collage is a reflection of what's inside of you.  

Maybe I'll take a page or two every now and then and talk about my thought process as the page was created.  You don't have to read those posts, of course.  They might be bore you.  But if you're interested, some of this collage tells some very interesting stories from the pages of my life.

In the meantime, if you'd like to see some beautiful completed pages, check out Kelly Kilmer's Wanderlust Book by clicking HERE.  

Between Covers

In a nutshell, while I do lots of other things, my primary craft is bookbinding, my fine art is painting and collage, and my experiments take place in mixed-media sketchbooks and art journals.  What you usually see on my blog are collaged pages from art journals, once in a while a bound book or two, and almost never, a painting.  It's all about what I choose to share.  But there are other ways of sharing, and letting you into one of my practices and thought processes is what I want to share today.

About a third of what I do is done in the field.  This means in open places, away from the confines and comfort of home and studio.  I do this purposely.  I find that my brain works differently in public places.  Not surprising, since it's taking-in different stimuli and responding to it.  But I've also found that I have definite preferences for what I'm doing depending on whether I'm working privately or in the open.

Below are a couple of collaged pages from a large book that I'm working in studio.  I started this book a couple of weeks ago when Kelly Kilmer was here, and decided that I wanted to use it to experiment with how many thin layers of many different media I could use to cover a page and still keep it entirely flat. 

Printing, tissue-thin layers of paper, and stencilling were obvious choices, as were multiple color washes.  The dots along the top to middle right of the page are done with flocking.  I wanted to test the effectiveness of different adhesives because when applied correctly, I think flocking is a great way to add interesting texture to a page without bulk.

   

This page also employs stencils as a means of experimenting with color washes and a variety of media.  To keep it cohesive, I mixed yellows from acrylic, watercolor, and water soluble wax pastels and experimented to see how each work over different surfaces, which in the page above include slick magazine paper, finely corrugated card, transparent plastic tape, masking tape, washi tape, tissue paper, and more.

Obviously, in studio there is more room and there are more materials at hand to work with, so it's no surprise that when I work privately, I work in a much larger format.  It's also not surprising that I don't choose to do bookbinding or screen printing at a Starbucks.  But what surprised me was the realization that in studio, I work on books, but I don't work inside books much, if at all, unless of course those books are very large like one with the pages featured above, or when I want to experiment with media that isn't portable or is not suited to a public environment.  In studio, I work on single sheets, large or small, boards, and on canvas.  But in the open I always work inside a reasonably sized book, whether it's a sketchbook or an art journal makes no difference, and if I do grab a sheet of paper while I'm out, I lay it inside my book to draw, collage, paint, or to do whatever with it.  Now that's a revelation!  Why do I do this?  

Well, privacy, obviously.  But why?  I'm not shy about my work.  Not at all.  I'm not afraid of criticism.  Not in the least.  I truly don't care if I make a masterpiece or the all-time great mistake in front of a crowd, and that's the truth.  Why?   I think it may have something to do with the overwhelming amount of support and praise, deserved or not, that I received about my artwork from the time I was very little.  From four years old, and perhaps even younger.  And it helped that this support came from adults.  Parents, but not just parents.  Professional artists who taught very young children at museum classes.  I believed them when they told me I was good, and even more importantly, I believed them when they told us we shouldn't pay attention to what other people might say about our work.  They taught us that most people didn't understand art, and while they were entitled to their opinions, they were not qualified to criticize it.  I still believe this.  And I think this infused me with immune cells.  I'm immune to feeling negative by other people's criticism of my work, because I just don't care what others think since I don't feel that anyone other than myself or a person with the classic definition of an "artist's eye", is sufficiently informed to comment on the work itself.  And whether or not someone likes what I do is subjective.  It is subject to their own pleasures and tastes, often driven by current commercial fads, and these are things that my feelings have been programmed not to respond to.  I was raised by experts to believe those things were not only unimportant, but that they were unhelpful.  So that isn't why I seek privacy under the covers of a book.  But I know that it is a privacy issue, because I feel the need to have a cover I can close to shelter what I'm doing.  Why?

I think it's to protect my work from busy-bodies.  They are plentiful, and I view their interruptions as the height of impolite behavior.  I love being out and amongst people, and I am energized and receptive to people who take a genuine interest.  I even invite their opinions, for better or for worse, if they are honestly inclined to give them.  But I hate curiosity-seekers because they are less about opinion, and more about taking up time.  They drain energy.  Many of them are patronizing, and I hate patronization most of all because it stems from a sense of superiority that dishonestly veils itself with the pretence of kindness, but in truth it is imperious and judgemental.  But it isn't the judgement that bothers me, it's the interruption without good reason, because I'm there to work, not seek approval.  This attitude is so opposed to the spirt of art and creativity, that I cover my work to keep it from the polluting air which that attitude brings with it.  And then I'll open it up again to the public, removing the cover to those who honestly like, or honestly hate whatever I'm doing, or those who are just minding their own business, not noticing what I'm doing at all.   In reality, most people do just go about their business, and it's artistically stimulating to be among them, even if I'm not specifically engaged in drawing their movements.  

So why am I sharing this with all of you?  Maybe because I think that it's as important to share what goes on inside the artsit once it's discovered, as it is to share the art itself.  What's inside is, after all, the heart and soul of what's on the paper.

 

Reality Is All In The Mind: A Relationship Between Collage And Photo Edits

When I work in paint, collage, or any other fine art medium, I'm very aware of the stages I go through from concept to finished product.  Personally, I usually start with a vision of the composition of a whole, even if I'm working section by section and letting the piece develop into itself without a fixed concept.  That way, I can work out the lights and darks, and the placement of shapes and their relationships to one another.  Here are a couple of examples of collage where I did just that.

Both this piece and the piece of collage below were created for Revel In The Moment.  In this first piece, I was more concerned with the placement of the shapes of the paper pieces, the balance of lights and darks, and they way the colors harmonized more than the theme.  When I started out, I knew I wanted to combine a black and white image or two and a variety of some interesting textures in an analogous color scheme.  I chose to work with green/blue/purple and purple's compliment of yellow.  Mostly this was done without thinking about it, or consciously considering more than what was pleasing when placed side by side or juxtaposed.

This piece was begun with two thoughts in mind:  The use of two moons, and the layering of pattern and color.  My eye was drawn to another analogous set of colors, yellow/orange/green/blue, all with similar values, so the black and white provided the high contrast necessary to deliniate the moons as focal images as opposed to just another set of items stuck onto the page.  In this piece more than the one on top, imagination needed to be moved from its abstract mental image to an image of an imaginative reality before I could translate it to the page.  The two moons are a central theme in Haruki Murakami's book1Q84 which I am currently reading, and I created an abstract thought of using them creatively in collage.  Because two moons do not exist in the reality of our world, I could not go out and draw them from life, or re-create them from a memory of real life.  I had to create a reality for them in my imagination, visualize that reality and really see it in my mind's eye, before I could begin to work to translate my imagined reality to the page.  In the end, I chose to use dual stamped images of the moon rather than drawing new moons, as a contrast to the drawn look of the handwritten script already on the page.

It occurred to me that the way I filter what I see in an imagined image is very similar to the way the eye filters an image in reality.  Some things are brought to the forefront while others recede to the background or blur in the periphery.  And it got me thinking about relationships between the way I work with collage and the way I work with digital images.

I'm really interested in the way other artists photograph their work and the way websites in general display photos.  Personally, although au courant web consultants will tell you to pull a thousand and one arty tricks from your sleeve and display them all in the same six ways, I still prefer the straight forward gallery approach to photographing and displaying my work on the web, with clear, reality based color and content.  But I'm a fad-hater.  And I've noticed that from one generation to the next, what becomes very popular today, even if it's lovely and in good taste, will often be picked up by so many copycats that it loses its appeal, and often its meaning, as well.  Much like worn out records overplayed by disc jockeys from playlists limited to the 15 top rated songs.  

I've also spent a lot of years observing consultants and advisors run companies into the ground by forcing the latest and the greatest out of the box trends and techniques on management in order to get the desired response from the paranoid stockholders who hire them, and who know and care very little about anything other than nervously holding on to their purses.  And I've watched this backfire, over and over and over and over again.  So while I prefer a realistic gallery of portraits of my work on the web, keep in mind that my work on the web is often far from a collection of portraits of realism.  I like portray the items from my imagination as I've created them, in realistic pics on the web.

 I am in no way an ace photographer and I ask for help quite often from my professional photographer friends.  But I  have acquired a pretty awesome set of Photoshop skills over the years.  I've written some powerful Photoshop actions, and I've developed some special brushes, blends, and filters of my own.  I thank lynda.com tutorials for some of this knowledge, but when it comes right down to it, a few pieces of sage advice, some drawing skill, and a working knowledge of vector drawing programs like Adobe illustrator have been the key combination for my sucess with photo edits.  Sometimes these skills are used to make a poorly shot photo look more like the real article being photographed.  Other times, they're used for digital imaging and digital collage.  In either case, there is an indespensable skill set to be acquired.

Topping the list of skills that are worth taking the time to master, first and foremost, is gaining a working knowledge of the host of selection tools, pracitce, and mastering the art of selection in as short a time as possible.  The truth of truths is:  The more acucrate your selections, the better everything turns out, every time.  

Also on the success list is mastery of:

• A good sense of color identification and color matching

• A good sense of light and value 

• Seeing accurately, and developing your eye so that you are able to see what's really there, by overriding the eye's natural filters.  Being able to quickly tell the difference between what your eye tells you--what it wants you to think you see--as opposed to what's really there, is key

• Reality matching 

If good selections top the list, then achieving reality by matching reality is the skill that combines and unites them all.  If you have this skill, then you'll always be able to move into an artistic direction with filters and color changes, and also with collage, painting, and fine art and photography in general.  

You may think that reality and imagination are at opposite ends of the pole, but paradoxically, you can't use the images that your imagination wants to create until you've mastered reality.  Imagination and reality are not polar opposites, they are two sides of the same coin, and the coin doesn't exist with only one side.  If imagination is a vision of the destination, then reality is the vehicle that gets you there.  Reality takes you to the place your imagination envisions, because once you have a vision, you have to execute that vision from the reality of the material your imagination has conjured.  You can do this only if you have mastered reality matching.  You need to be able to visualize the dream of your imagination, capture the reality of that imaginary image, match it in your consciousness, and then replicate it.  Whether your canvas is digital or on your easel,  the reality of your imagination must be captured and translated onto your chosen substrate to move from concept to artistic reality.  

And vise-versa.  While I employ reality matching from imagination to collage, I employ the same principals in reverse when I shoot a photo of my work that doesn't look like the piece in reality.  I take the photo backwards from its unreality, photoshopping it back into what it looks like in real life so that I can display as accurate an image as possible on the web.  And indespensable skill when you shoot with a cheap camera, lack basic photography skills, or both.

Collage: Some Process Notes

We skipped a week, so it was doubly great to get together yesterday with my art pal Rita.  I'd look up from my collage every once in awhile to take a peek at the detailed feathers of the rooster she was busy drawing with her Rapidograph.  Absolutely gorgeous!  I hope she decides to post it so I can link to it and show you!

While Rita was drawing, I managed to collage two more pages in the book I bound for Revel In The Moment.  Bear in mind that these are raw pages, just the collage, and any paint, pen work, lettering or other marks and color will come later.  

While I usually work finished page by finished page, my plan for this book is a little different.  Each page will be collaged until the book is full.  I'll do either a flip video or a slide presentation of the book as collage, and not post that till the entire book is finished.  When I finish the book, page by page, I'll film a second video or slide and present both of these back-to-back in a blog post.  It will take awhile.  I work slowly, and this book is one I relax with in between other projects, so prepare to wait.  Just letting you know that it's what I have in mind -- down the road a bit.

When Rita and I work together, we field journal.  This means that we pack our bags with random supplies plus a few planned essentials and work with what we've brought.  The little league collage came together entirely by itself.  The only thing I decided upon to begin with was the image of the boy with the mit on his bat and the overall composition.  Other than that, I used what I grabbed from my bag.  These elements very serendipitously turned out to include a report card, a ticket, a blank check, and a measuring scale.  I chose them for color, size and shape to fit the composition, not for content.  That they seem to go together in story form is purely accidental.  Sometimes these accidents happen and it's really fun and even a bit of a shock to step back from what you've created and see what's happened on your page.  

I usually love what I'm doing, but sometimes it doesn't turn out that way.  Sometimes I wrestle with a page and really struggle with it.  This was one of those pages, and like most things I struggle with and am sure I'm going to hate, I came away loving this piece.  You can see where I (unintentionally) distressed the page by ripping off what had been glued down.  What you see is not at all what I started with, but I chose to leave the scuff marks and residual scratches and stray bits of previous glueings in place after deconstructing about half of it, then moving on.  I wasn't happy until I added the bit of Hambly transparency.  Repetition of the center circle and the grid of the plaid finally made it harmonize.  I didn't think that out.  I added what I thought it needed, where I thought it needed it, and noticed afterward that I was pleased.  

Whenever I hate something or love something, I always ask myself why.  Not to question myself, but to learn more about my own choices, why some work and others don't.  The answer almost always has to do with a design principle that was either followed instinctively, or artfully broken.  

I've mentioned before that I'm an avid reader, and that I find that my art suffers a bit when I'm not in the middle of a good work of fiction.  My literary tastes are all over the place.  I'm very eclectic when it comes to subject matter, just as long as the book is very, very well written.  Right now I'm savoring Haruki Murakami's1Q84.  It has a really meaty plot line which is revealed bit by bit through a cast of characters with very diverse and interesting lives who are presented alternatively throughout the book.  I'm loving this book, and I'm taking my time with it.  

But I also like quick, fun reads that tell a good story.   Just before I picked up 1Q84, I finished Sara Addison Allen's third book,The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel.  This one took me only two days, and delighted me to no end.  Very unlike 1Q84 in weight of material, but equally satisfiying.  I had read Allen's first two books, and was ready to jump into the next.  It did not disappoint.

I love it when bloggers I follow give book suggestions, so if your blog regularly includes a book choice or two, please include a link in a comment so I can go take a look!

X-Book With Pockets

Moving right along, making 100 books this year with Artists Of The Round Table, the third book on the list is the X-Book with pockets.  

This book is constructed like the first X-Book which you can see by clicking HERE, with the addition of a simple cover and pocketed pages.  Notice the arrows which I've drawn on the pic at the top.  The cover is glued to the book only at the point of the 3/8" wrap around on the first and last pages of the book.  The arrows point to the open area where the cover is not attached to the book.  This is significant, because with a single sheet of paper folded into eight sections with pockets, and six of these exposed as book pages, the other two are hidden behind the cover.  So you end up with a book of six visible pockets, and two hidden ones.  

Stretch out the cover from the back of the book, and a hidden area with secret pockets is revealed.  I slipped in a couple of plain tags to highlight the pockets.  The arrow points to the secret hiding place.

Once again, if you're interested in any of the books I'm making, or if you're interested in bookbinding in general, pick up a copy ofMaking Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms by Alisa Golden.  It's a great book, and the one we're using for this ambitious project.  

If the first handful of books in my posts strike you as a bit on the simple side, let me assure you that each contains valuable elements crucial to some of the most sophisticated bindings.  Simple perhaps, but not simplistic.  The steps we are taking and the order in which they are taken provide an increasing bank of information, with each of the steps building upon the next for a comprehensive enclyclopedia of knowledge in making books and binding them.  Each book, even those that seem the most simple, contain cuts, folds, and steps in construction that form the basis of many of the more complicated structures.  So stick around!  I'll be getting to some of those shortly!

Little Pages

Most of my time is taken up with painting.  I work around a painting in layers, section by section.   While one section dries I work on another, then I go back and add more layers, fleshing it out.  This is slow, satisfying work.  I spend a lot of time thinking about it while I paint, and I take breaks often.  I love this slow work that takes a days, weeks, or months to complete.  But I also have a real need to finish something in a day for the pat-on-the-back that a sense of completion brings.  

This isn't the reason I work in a tiny collaged book that will morph into an art journal.  I do it because I love it, and because it provides a home for some very luscious snippets that really shouldn't end up in the dust bin.  But working in a tiny book does have the added benefit of quick accomplishment, especially when it's broken up into tasks, such as collage and paint today, embellish and journal on another day.  

Here are a couple of 2 page spreads from my tiny collage book.  They have a very unfinished look partly because they are unfinished, and partly because they haven't yet been sewn into book form.  Working this small, it's much easier for me to collage and embellish the pages, then sew and journal later.  If you click HERE, you can see a post that puts the size of these tiny pages into perspective.  The pages are 3" X 4-1/2".  The book is the one I'm holding in my hand in the first photo when you click the link, and also in the last photo when you scroll down. 

I've also been spending a lot of time reading.  I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami, and I'm finding that his book1Q84 is unputdownable.  I work more smoothly when I'm in the middle of really good fiction.

And last but not least, there's a new post up on ArtiPhybers.  Click HERE and take a look.

More Raw and Simple Collage

Two more pieces done for Revel In The Moment.  These are great warm ups for the painting I'm currently working on, and nothing at all like it.  I do a couple of these collaged pages, then a little of the painting, a couple more of these, then a little more of that.  Two quick, followed by one slow and smooth.  Great way to work.  Quick quick slow.  Very rhythmic.  Just like dancing.

These are freely worked using templates by Kelly Kilmer as a starting point.  In the end, they will have been added to and subtracted from, but this is how I begin, with a raw collage.  

I hadn't thought about Chinese New Year, but I'm sure it was there, ready to come forward when I began this.  I just recently learned that I'm a Dragon, after thinking all these years that I was born in the year of the Snake.  A Chinese expert told me that it isn't the dates of the western calendar that determine the year, it's the beginning to the end of the Chinese New Year in the year one was born.  Both New Years are usually about a month apart, so Chinese horiscope calendars go with the western year because it's so easy.  But for those of us born on one side or the other of the actual starting date, it makes a difference.  That makes sense.  I never could identify with the Snake Year description, but the Dragon is spot on.

Shorts Book

Here's another first book for those who are learning bookbinding.  Once again, even though I've made these in the past, I'm so glad to have the refresher course because there's so much I'd forgotten.  I had to ask for clarification that my page-turning was in the correct order, but it turns out that I got it right.

This is another book constructed from a single sheet of paper.  I used 98# Canson mixed-media paper, a heavier weight for this book than the last because there were fewer folds, and I didn't want the watercolor and ink to bleed through the pages.  It worked. I prepared the paper by spraying a light solution of gouache over a few of stencils on both sides.  I ground some ink and used the wet side of a sheet of sumi-é paper to make a few brush sketches.  When I realized that I had done nine cats, I got the idea for Nine Lives.

The cats were randomly sketched all over the paper, so I tore them out and added some gouache to the edges.  Pages three and four open up and down.  There are four folds and two sides, so eight pages in all.  I decided to use these up and down pages to add the ninth cat.

The chop I used says "long life".  It's a traditional chop carved from soap stone and I inked it with the traditional toxic red chop ink that takes forever to dry.  I zapped it with a hairdryer to speed things up, but I think it will take the full few weeks before it sets, regardless.  In the meantime, I blotted it a bit, then separated the pages with waxed paper.

This book is part of a project that some members of Artists Of The Round Table are working on.  We plan to make 100 books using Alisa Golden's bookMaking Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms as our guide.  

If you'd like to see all posts of the books I'm making for this project, scroll up to the top of this page, click on "Archives", then click on "Making Handmade Books Workshop" from the category menu.  

X-Book

One of the first books you make when you study bookbinding is the X-Book.  It's simple, but its folding has a purpose that repeats with other more complicated bindings.  It's what I used to call a root book, since its construction is the basis for so many books.

Some of us in Artists Of the Round Table are working our way through Alicia Golden's bookMaking Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms.  We'll be making 100 books beginning with the X-Book.  Here are some pictures of mine:

It's made from a single sheet of paper that is cut and folded so that the middle puffs out.

It's easier to get the picture from the top.  Each fold is a page, and when the two end pages are pushed together toward the middle, it forms an X, which gives the book its name.

Then the outside folds of the X wrap around the inside folds to create the cover and the back.

Even if you made a gazillion of these in grade school, you make them still when you learn to bind books.  And it's amazing how easy it is to forget the simple stuff!

I decorated the pages with a combination of lettering, drawing, and clear stamps from Layers Of Colors, Close To My Heart, and Character Constructions.  

India ink and a Rapidograph coordinate perfectly with black VersaFine ink.  I added some of my own lines and quirks to the some of the stamped images, and it was impossible to tell where their lines left off and mine began.