ArtiphyTheHeart

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.

Sorting Collage Elements: Size Matters

I've been asked a lot of questions lately about collage.  Most center around what to use and how to decide.  It's a big subject and there were a lot of questions that I eventually answered in an ArtiPhacts page that you can read by clicking HERE.  But here and now, I'd like to show you some pictures of how I work and what seems to work best for me.  It boils down to sorting, and when it comes to sorting, I've found that size matters most. 

I work in more than one journal at a time.  There are usually more than three, but there are always at least three.  One small, one medium, and one large.  The largest journal on top measures 7" X 9-3/4" when closed, so a two-page spread is 14" X 9-3/4".  The medium journal is 6"X 6" with a spread of 12" X 6", and the smallest measures 3" X 4-1/2".  With two pages open, that's still only 6" X 4-1/2".

I start with the large.  Always.  The bottom piece in the pile is a 12" X 12" piece of scrapbooking paper.  The image on top is cut from a magazne ad, and measures approx. 10" X 7-1/2".  The scraps cut from these large pieces make up the lion's share of what ends up in the stash for my medium size journal.   The bottom part of the page which was cut away from these two faces was saved for a couple of elements that fell into the "small" category.  The rest was tossed into the recyling bin.  

To give you a better idea of scale, here's the image from the picture directly above, placed on top of the largest journal from the first picture on top.  

This is a pile of papers and an image suitable to be used or cut for my medium size journal.  After use, the scraps from this pile can be used again, or if very small, will be saved with other items appropriate for the smaller size journal.  There is far less waste.  More items are used for collage, and fewer end up in the bin.

Here's the image from the pic directly above set on top of a page in my medium size journal.  Refer back to the first pic, if necessary, for a better idea of scale.

Above are examples of pages that I might use for my smallest journal.  The yellow square in the center is a post-it-note, and will give you a better idea of scale and help you to visualize just how tiny some of those snippets are.  Now take a good look at the clothing in the magazine pages.  Farming these for pattern, not for image, will yield a lot of interesting background material for a tiny journal.  The size of the heads are a good size for the tiny journal also.

Be sure to go back to the top so you'll have a better idea of just how small these pages are.  You can see that I've laid one of the heads from the pic directly above on top of the right hand page of this spread, and you can see how the size fits.  It's even larger than the heads of Diego Rivera and his son as they appear in the photo that I used, and the bottom snippet of pattern is smaller than some of the pattern I could cut from the pages in the pic directly above.

Now expand on this concept.  There are pages and pages of pattern in magazines, some of them large.  There are pages and pages of solid color and gradients.  All make good collage material.  The scraps from the big pages can be used in medium size and smaller journals.  What doesn't work gets tossed into a recycling bin.

I like to use a combination of pattern from a wide variety of sources on each page.  There's more interest this way.  The face on the left hand page of the spread above was cut from a stamped image.  So many possibilities, so many combinations.  Limitless.

The pic below suggests a method for finding images.

Here I've cut squares from the middle of two pieces of red paper.  Both sizes are good for zeroing in on parts of an image, and to get an instant idea of how the image will look if it's cut from different parts of a whole.  Image finders like these are commonly used in art and photography, and you can make your own in any size or shape that suits you.

By sorting images and papers by size first, I save the largest pieces for the largest journals, use them first, then move on to smaller, then smaller still.  My stash of papers and images is large enough that I can rotate papers and images so that I'm not using cuts from the same pages in the smaller journals on the same days.  I've collected it all over time.  Most of the patterned papers and scrapbooking paper were given to me by manufacturers when I was on a design team.  Some of it I've swapped with other artists, and lots and lots are found pattern, stripes and solids cut from magazines and junk mail.  

For those who have asked, I hope this gives you an idea of what I cut, how I sort, and how I use the elements I've saved.  The sorting is methodical, but in the end, the choices are very random, and I always pick what I think works together visually, rather than concentrating on subject or story matter.  Personally, I'm not building stories, I'm combining elements in a manner that appeals to me.  It would be fine to do it another way, but this is just how I choose to work, and it works for me.

 

Day 18, And It's A Smash!

In true Mary Ann style, extra goodies were added to the program at FTB.  So on day 18 of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On, I decided to go from first to last, and leave the other three books in the middle for now.   This means that I've finished my first book and I'm currently working the pages inside of it, and I am working on my second book, but I have put all this on temporary hold to make the final, extra book.  

I wanted it extra large.  The biggest thing I could find on hand was a back issue of "W" that I got a couple of years ago.  It's 10" X 13".  I successfully removed the cover, spine in tact, from the glued magazine block.  Don't ask how.  It worked, and I don't want to jinx it.  Like most issues of "W", the front cover is just a bit shorter than the back, and it's a gatefold cover, so it has a full size flap that folds in.  I used it all.  Here's my finished book, although it unfortunately doesn't show the inside flap, and below are some before and after shots.

The cover, after:

and before.  See how the cover is just a bit shorter than the magazine block itself...

The inside with the cover flap folded in, after:

and before, cover only, magazine block removed...

The insides, flap opened out, after:

and before...

Last but not least, the back cover, after:

I forgot to take a before shot of the back, but by now I'm sure you get the idea.  Unlike the front cover, the back cover extends 1/4" beyond the magazine block. Quite a transformation, yes?  

Tomorrow I'll put together the pages and stitch the text block, but now, in honor of my good friend Rosie's latest piece of artwork, it's Piña Colada time!

 

July 8. Day 7 Shenanigans

Busy!  I'm filled with J.O.Y. at Full Tilt Boogie, Getting My 30 Days Of Art On while attending Summer Camp. Whew!  So here's what I did yesterday:

At camp, Marit suggested we add a spot of color to a black and white photo.  Actually, I've been doing this all month.  You can see a few of them in the art journal pages of the last 3 or 4 posts, but I'll just show you what I did yesterday.

I didn't shoot a photo of the pic before I started painting out the background, but there was nothing in it that you really needed to see .  It's an Eastman Kodak ad from a 1921 National Geographic.  I acquired a few of the out-of-copyright pre-1923s back in the day when I thought I would photocopy the images and use them more than once.  Uhn-uh, no way.  I cut up the pages.  After all, they're merely tools.  Not precious in and of themselves.  I'm only going to use them once, and I'm not a clip art business.  I'm with Nick Bantock on this.   Nick extolled the virtues of using authentic items in collage.  He said it in the November/December 2000 issue of Somerset Studio, back in the day when the magazine had a slick, glossy cover.  He reminded me of the art teacher who asked the class if we thought Joseph Cornell's reputation as an artist would have suffered if he had used copies in his work.  After the debate, he gave us his opinion, that Joseph Cornell would never have had a reputation as an artist if he had used copies.   I must admit, I'm much happier since I quit photocopying magazine and book stuff for collage and storing the pristine originials.    It's very liberating to use the real deal.

Step two.  I added a color wash to the dress and bow:

But I need to back up a bit.  Before I colored the photo, I had spent the lion's share of the day cutting the frames I'd designed the day before.   I had already made all the cuts using cheap, lightweight card stock, just to be sure they would cut the way they were designed, and in a single pass.  Yesterday I cut the actual material I'll be using for the frame pages in FTB book two, and I'm happy with the design and the way they cut.  I'll show you three of them.

You can see the difference between the material I'm using for the frames and the white card stock I used for my practice cuts.  

I ended up with a lot of thin card stock frames from the practice cuts which I almost tossed in the bin, but then I thought that with a little tweaking, they might be useful as added elements in other books.  So I painted one side, added some thin, gold edge detail, and clipped it to the pic you saw above.  It's thin enough to curl when painted, and you can see the opposite side where it's unfinished.

I like how it looks in yesterday's journal spread.  It was such a busy day, I kept the pages simple.

Mango Tango Lemonade

I'm exhausted.  Tired to the bone and beyond.  It was 109̊ yesterday.  Maybe that has something to do with it.  Maybe it's because I have a post-it-note on my computer with so many projects listed that it's continued on the back.  Or maybe it's because I got lost in the book I was reading last night and rediscovered myself just as the sun was coming up.  A big, bright, orange sun.  Ripe as a mango.

I've had my orange on for a while now.  Orange is the color of creativity, so I guess it fits.  This is another page from my J.O.Y. journal.   I think it might not be finished, but I added it anyway.

I belong to an artist's group that's listing a different Crayola crayon color each week for inspiration. This is mango tango week.  Most of the color on this page was created with four separate colors of overlapping and layered transparent tape.  The phrenology head was modified in PhotoShop, then printed.  The tone pattern was added with a mango colored marker, and the black blocks were lettered with a mango colored Sakura Souffle pen.  I let the "Spirit of California Past" poke through.  It was the title on the page I covered with collage.  "Proud Heritage" is peeking through also.  

The yellow which pops up here and there reminds me of lemons.  Amy has been making the best fresh squeezed lemonade I've ever had.  We've got a kitchen full of lemons, limes and fresh mint, and she can't make it fast enough.  Hold on a minute while I ask her if I may share the recipe...

... She said "Yes."  She got it from Bust magazine's June/July 2011 issue, but I know she's tweaked it a bit...she's going to type it here:

Mint/Lime Lemonade

 Ingredients:

1-1/2 Cups lemon/lime juice (6-8 lemons depending on size and two small limes)

1 cup superfine baker's sugar

6 cups water (use a good, filtered water for this)

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint, plus extra mint leaves for garnish

How To:

Simple Syrup: Heat the sugar and 1 cup water in saucepan until sugar is completely dissolved. Take off heat and set aside to cool.

Juice the lemons/limes. I did it by hand over a strainer into a measuring cup, but you can use a juicer, or do it without a strainer and pick out the seeds with a spoon if you like your lemonade extra pulpy. Make sure you've squeezed enough to make 1 -1/2 cups of juice. You may need more/fewer lemons depending on how big they are. Don't forget to add those two limes!

Chop the mint and add to the simple syrup.

Pour the remaining 5 cups of water into a pitcher, add the lemon/lime juice, and the simple syrup with mint, stir well. Put in the fridge until chilled.

Once the lemonade is cold, pour it over ice, add a mint leaf to garnish, and enjoy!

 You're going to want to make sure you have extra lemons, limes and mint on hand.   Once you taste this, you'll be making more, and you'll kick yourself if you run out of ingredients.  Amy served ours in frosty glasses that had been chilled in the freezer.  You'll never drink lemonade from a bottle or a mix ever again!  Guaranteed!

Clean Sheets, How I Love Them...

...And How I Hate Snobbery and Hypocrisy

A Prompt A Day...

Most of the journal pages I've done lately are part of Kelly Kilmer's "A Prompt A Day" group, which no matter who you are or what you do, you should join!  I'm not kidding!  You should join!  Without going into detail (if you want detail, you should join...), it is necessary for me to talk a little about today's page.  I've been making pages for lots of years, so for me Kelly's prompts are sometimes literally what I do, and sometimes just a nudge, then I go off in my own direction.  Either way it's good.  Also, too many years ago to count, I got into the daily routine of sketchbooks and art journals, so I have lots of books going at once.  The page above is from a hand bound book of 9 X 9s, and it's what I'm currently using with acrylic paint.  

Sheets of Paper and Sheets for the Bed...

Another one of the other journals I'm working in is a hand bound book filled with many different types of papers.  This one is purse-sized and goes with me everywhere.  I use it to jot down lists of books I want to read, quotes, stuff I hear, stuff I see, sketches, and lots and lots of doodles, drawings and collage.  This book was with me today when I had an hour-and-a-half to wait.  Early this morning I had taken a look at one of Kelly's prompts, but was half-asleep when I saw it.  So I used the little book to sketch out an idea in my head of what I remembered was central to the theme:  Sheets.  Bed sheets. I thought to myself, "What do you say about sheets?"  And instantly, I felt a wave of anger so strong it could have knocked me over!  Sheets!  The things I really want to line dry so I can curl up in the freshness of the sun every night and drift off into peaceful dreams of gentle breezes, but I can't, because of the narrow-minded snobbery of suburbia!  You see, we have a Home Owner's Association, and plainly speaking, these people feel that clotheslines belong in neighborhoods where people can't afford washers and dryers.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  They are snobs!  Ignorant, superior, snobs!  

Clotheslines ROCK!...

I did not grow up in suburbia with its middle class hypocrisies.  I grew up mid-city in a fairly affluent area.  WE ALL HAD CLOTHESLINES, AND WE KNEW HOW TO USE THEM!!  We had washers and dryers, too.  But we knew a good thing, and it was considered a luxury to sleep in clean white sheets, bleached by the sun and kissed by the wind!  

When I sat with my cup of coffee, working out my anger in that little book, it occurred to me that my anger was hurting only me.  Ignorance is not bliss, and I thought about how the HOAers will never experience the kiss of the sun as they fall asleep to the artificial perfumery of fabric softening dryer sheets, which ironically come in scents titled: "sun-dried linen"  and "summer breeze".   

Now that you've seen my little page, please forgive the spelling and grammar errors.  When I'm working out an idea, I usually do it quickly, often in run-on sentences, and always around a central sketch, since I get my first images pictorially and express them graphically before I write.

Back to the Page at the Top...

After I finished the little journal page in the coffee shop, I no longer felt the need to vent about the clothesline, and I remembered that another of my all time favorite things in life is to turn the pillow to the cool side.  Absolutely nothing is cooler than the other side of the pillow!

And Last, But Not Least...

Since my journal pages are filled with letters of the alphabet, I hope everyone at TGIF doesn't consider it too much of a stretch to put these pages among the others of that theme!

Now I'm:

Off to do some marathon watching of NCIS episodes

Drinking cool, sweet tea

Reading the current issue of Wired magazine

Listening to Amy playing the piano in the background

Happy to be starting the weekend!  

Have a great day, Everyone!

"Computers" or. . .

. . ."How I Spent My Summer Vacation"...

The Introduction

...What do you do when you're a frustrated artist, at least half of your work is digital (someday I'll have to blog those pics), and you've had on-going computer issues since April?  Well, if you're me, you put everything else aside and quilt a cover for your Macbook!  I'll tell you all about this, but first I must do some gratuitous venting.  Sorry.  Bear with me, please, it's therapeutic...I think...at least for me....and there are some great pics at the end of this post......

Part One--The Plague

First, the PC that runs Photoshop fell victim to an ugly piece of malware which tanked everything but my files, and would have also stolen my identity if I hadn't outsmarted it and disabled the laptop's wifi. The virus (which actually is a package of multiple viruses that rename themselves constantly) didn't like that I did this, so it crashed necessary things like my printer, Wacom tablet and mouse, and then corrupted the device that installs the drivers.  

To shorten a long story, I kissed my Macbook, who (yes, it's a who, not a what), being loyal and virus-free, would lead me back to the promised land of artwork.  But first, I would have to call Adobe for a X-platform Photoshop upgrade, or buy new software for the Mac.  Upgrade, here I come...

Part Two--The Software

Adobe said, "Sure, but first you must remove all components from your PC, destroy the software you have now, and sign our legal document attesting to the destruction of the software--in blood--yada, yada yada.., and fax it to us."  So I did.  After a week of hearing nothing, I contacted Adobe who said my fax had "gone missing". They need a new blood-soaked document.  So, as suggested, I emailed it as an attachment to the address they gave me.  After a week of hearing nothing, I contacted Adobe who said my email had "gone missing, would I send another blood-soaked document, please, this time, through the support portal."  OK, I can do that, and I did.  Hooray!  They got it.  But now, I have to wait--maybe 4-6 weeks--for the department that reviews and authenticates such documents to--you guessed it--review and authenticate it.  I'm waiting...........and waiting...........still waiting........

Part Three--The Mac

There is a reason that Macs are silver and/or white.  It's because they are heavenly bodies.  My Macbook has sat beside me, even without Photoshop, and consoled me through all the on-going issues with PC hell and hackers.  So I thought, "You protect and enshrine heavenly things, don't you?"   Well, there are some awsome-er than life cases and covers for Macbooks, many very artistic, and all quite expensive.  I figured that while I waited for my software, I could easily design something stunning and functional for my little white apple, and whip it up in a heart-beat.

Part Four--The Cover

This is what it looks like when it's open.  Detail pics of the front closure and sides are below.

When I'm stressed, crocheting unwinds me.  I quilted the top-bottom-flap portions of my cover and crocheted the sides.  Partly for therapy, partly for function.  The sides act as vents if the book is still warm when it's put away. 

Epilogue

I've been spending more time lately with obligatory artwork than with the things I'm inspired to do.  At some point, I'm going to have to draw the line, especially since I'm not a weekend crafter who does this for a hobby.  With that said, soul-searching is in the works to get me back to my chosen work, which is mixed-media, journal pages, hand-bound books, digital artwork, assemblages, and daily blogging!  In the meantime, I've been off-and-on without internet service, as have 10% of the subscribers in the valley, due to a screw-up by !@# cable compay.  So please bear with me.  I promise to return.......

Right now I am:

Out the door to the library

Reading back issues of "Wired" magazine

Watching nightly marathons of NCIS

Setting up my Facebook (connect to me as a friend!)

Glad my kids get a summer break so we can enjoy more time together!

Have a great day, everyone!  I've missed you all!