ArtiphyTheHeart

Pencil On Post-It Note

At the beginning of the month I committed to another of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On, And I have gotten my art on each day since the first of September.  Actually, since the first of forever.  What I haven't done is get my blog on.  

Time is scarce.  Really scarce, and reading and drawing aren't going to be what gives, but something has to, so for a while, it's daily blogging and the social networks.  No big deal.  The important things are getting done, priorities are in order, and that's what counts.  

So I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what I do when there's no time to do anything.   

   A pack of post-it-notes, a pencil, and the memory of one of my all-time favorite artists, Joan Brown.   Joan had about a 150 different looks, different expressions, and even her face changed shape over the years, as if her bone structure was shifting gears.  She was a tremendous inspiration.

Sun Rooster

Beginning August 14th, Quinn McDonald, creativity coach and author of Raw Art Journaling, will begin a complete class in Raw Art Journaling following the chapters in her book.  All you need is a copy of the book, and to show up online.  Really.  That's all.  It's that simple.  Quinn's aim is to help you combine making marks with making meaning, and she approaches it much differently from what is typically presented in the arts and crafts world of art journals.  You'll love it.  It's perfect for beginners, and fills in a lot of the blanks for Intermediate and Advanced journalers. Click HERE for more information.

Today makes day 36 of my goal of 40 days of consecutive art blogging.  Thanks to Traci Bunkers 30 Days of Getting Your Art On, I was motivated to amp it up from 30 to 40 days, and see if I could make this habit permanent.  So far, so good, and it gets easier with each passing day.  

Today, in addition to various works in progress, I doodled a Rooster and a sun.  The sun is the real act of Raw Art.  I tested out my markers in the upper right corner of the paper with the idea of cutting that part off, but in the end, I liked the marks.  They were in a somewhat haphazard semi-circle, and I thought "sun".  So I ran with it.  And true to traditional, classic collage style, I found an unusual place to glue it which worked without any further fanfare.  The page enhances the Rooster, and believe me, the Rooster enhances the page, which orginally read: "Romance and Realism in Southern Politics".  I daresay, this is an improvement in style, content, and context.

I'm not entirely sure I'd trust this hot Rooster if I met him in person.  Something in the smile, the too-white teeth, and the leering green eyes...

Thirty Of Thirty

Another page in my FTB Handbook.  I have no idea where it's going, but I'm happy with the start.

This may be the 30th day of Traci Bunkers 30 Days of Get Your Art On, but it won't be the final day of my getting my art on.  I plan to continue with this as often as possible.  They say it takes 40 days to make a habit.  If that's true, then I'm just ten short days away from a daily art blogging habit, and I love it.  

I've learned quite a bit about myself, the way I work, what works for me and what works against me over this last month.  

Years ago, I kept a sketchbook that contained notes, and a notebook that contained sketches, and that was all.  Then I discovered hand-binding my own books, and I used most of them as containers for my collaged poster-like pages that contain both images and words, which are what most people refer to today as art journals, I guess.  

I plan to keep on doing more of the same.  But I'm definitely going back to the notebooks with sketches and the sketchbooks with notes, as well.  I need a daily record of the obvious and mundane, and I need a place to keep working notes of what I'm doing.  I find a ruled notebook works best for me for this function.   I also need the traditional sketchbook that contains drawings and renderings primarily, but also notes, blobs of paint, and whatever else needs to be there.  And I need a place to do some deep, soul level journaling.  A place to dig out the symbolic and interpret it.  I find a large altered or hand-bound book works best for me when this is how I'm working.  And I need a place to create symbolic artwork, to collage and illustrate themes.  Hand-bound books are great for this function, too.  They are also great for any variety of themed journals, such as the journals I keep specifically for Mandalas and for SoulCollage®.  

 So I see books in my future.  Many, many books.  And not just books for artwork, but books to read, also.  One of the great Sumi-e masters suggested that an artist's work day should be nine hours long, divided by thirds.  One third of the day should be spent reading, another third should be spent seeing, and the final third should be spent painting.  That would leave three hours for recreation and meals, 6 days a week with one day off.  I am not often able to stick to that schedule because of the fragmented lifestyle of western civilization.  But at the times when I have been able to do this, it was ideal, and the creativity was unparalleled! 

Twenty-eight And Twenty-nine

On the road for a day and a half.  The only thing I took with me was my paperback ruled Moleskine notebook, one mixed color of acrylic paint in a small squeeze bottle, a brush, some pens, two colored markers, and a little squeeze bottle of water.

Yesterday's fragment was done in a Starbucks.  It's my take on their Vienna Roast poster.  I call it Transylvania Roast.

Today's fragment consists of a few quick and random images.  Things in front of me, but not necessarily in the order in which they're seen in real life.  I took a few notes, then obliterated them by painting out the background.  Just some ideas for later use.

I'm exhausted.  I haven't been home too long, and I really need to sleep.  Just two more days left till the end of the month, and one more day of Traci Bunkers 30 Days of Get Your Art On....Almost there!

Day 27

Most of the time, at the very least, I  have an art bag with me when I'm out.  Even if it's only a small one.  But every once in awhile, the only thing I have with me is my purse.  What then?  In addition to a wallet and keys, there are always four things in my purse:  A pencil case, a Windsor-Newton small portable pan watercolor set with a paintbrush,  a very small squeeze bottle of water, and a cardboard covered Moleskine with ruled paper.  Oh, and one other thing:  A paper towel or two.  So without adding any real weight or taking up space, I'm set for anything, anywhere.

Today, on day 27 of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On, I found myself out, and with only a few minutes here and there.  So I grabbed my Moleskine (which I buy in cello-wrapped packages of three), my pencil, and my watercolors, and did what I could with the time that I had.  Here's what happened:

Nothing exciting, and nothing finished, but something, nonetheless.  And I can always add to it later, and I'm sure I will.

I've been having server problems lately, and problems uploading content to websites and even my blog.  This is my fourth try tonight, and I finally got the picture to load.  The problem has been identified, and is being fixed.  But if I'm absent for a day or two, you'll know why.  Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow as planned.

Twenty-five And Twenty-six

This week is extraordinarily busy.  Tomorrow is full from early morning into the late evening, and Thursday and Friday are completely booked, almost around the clock.  I'm packing an art bag now, because whatever I do, it will be done on the go.  To make it all work, today had to be productive, and it was.  I got a lot done!  But there's more to do, so I'll leave you with the pages in my FTB HandBook for yesterday and today:

Only five days left of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  I'm really thinking about extending it into August....which I guess would make August One the first day of ArtiphyTheHeart Keeping The Art On...?

Today's Pages, And A Cool Event In Hot Phoenix

Not counting today, there are only six more days left of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  So far, so good.  It's never a good idea to get too confident when you're closing in on the finish line.  You never know what's coming up from behind.  So rather than smugly patting myself on the back and taking a break, I'm getting back to work.  

These are the pages I did over the weekend in my FTB HandBook.

It is another hot July in Phoenix!  But if you're in the area, you'll want to stop by Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe on Wednesday evening July 27, at 7PM and attend the launch party for Quinn McDonald's new book,Raw Art Journaling.  Quinn will be on hand to autograph copies of her book, and it's cool inside!

Trust me, you're going to want this book!  And you're going to want to have it on hand in time for Quinn's online class.  The class is free, but you will need a copy of the book to follow along. 

What I love most about this book is that it covers a lot of the journaling part of art journaling.  The writing, drawing and doodling part.  There are plenty of great books around that instruct in mixed media background techniques, layouts, and the placement of collage and focal images.  But most of them only touch the surface when it comes to the actual marks you make on the pages, and the creative mindset behind what you put on the page from start to finish .Raw Art Journaling is all about the marks and the words on the page, how to think them up creatively, how to make them, how to keep the ideas flowing, how to make them stand out, and how to hide them when you need the privacy.  And there's a lot more, too.  

A few weeks back when I received my contributor's copy, I sat down to flip through it.  A couple of hours later I realized I had just read it from cover to cover.  I've been back to it four times since, and for me, it counts as great reference material.  Now that I know where everything is in the book, I can zero in on the section that answers the questions I face from day to day.

Raw Art Journaling is available on Amazon now, and also at local book stores.  It's brand new, so if you don't see it on the shelves, ask your bookseller to order it.

Thar Be Dragons!

Yesterday I showed you my 18X Book and told you that I had an idea to replace the middle signature which had been destroyed.  After a couple of months, I came up with the idea of putting a pop-up in the center of the book.  

I've done some paper engineering and made quite a few pop-ups in the past, but I wanted this one to be really special, and I wanted to get some experience with more sophisticated techniques.  I chose to go with a template from an online source called EasyCutPopup, and I fell in love with the dragon!

It took one practice run, a re-size, then another practice run at the smaller size, and I was ready to cut and assemble the finished product.  It was surprisingly easy.  The part that took the longest was finding the scaling settings on my printer, but after that, I was off and running!

Rather than make you sit through poor quality videos from my camera, I opted for a slide.  If you'd rather see video, you're welcome to send me a new camera :)

I haven't decided how I'm going to fill the rest of the book.  As you can see, there's plenty of room for expansion when the book is closed, so I'm thinking interactive collage and mixed media.  But thar will be only one dragon!  And by the way, this design uses no glue or adhesives of any kind.  It's all about the cuts and the folds.

Day 23 complete.   Now on to day 24 of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.

My 18X Book

This book has been on my mind for the past few months.  It's an ex-library book.  The text block was moth eaten, but the boards were in good shape.  After I removed all the library stickers, tape and markings, I gave the boards a light washing with a rag just dampened with a weak solution of Murphy's Oil Soap and buffed it dry.  Then I added the painted canvas spine and three signatures of plain white light weight card stock.  The wrong card stock.  The kind that rips easily on a fold.  The first and last signatures were fine when I reinforced them with tape.  Bravo!  I lost the middle signature completely.  Boo!

(If you look really carefully you can see #1 furball, HRH "Mr. Hoot", asleep on the yellow sofa)

Now what do I do?  I asked that question for about a week, then put the book away.  It has been a few months now, and every once in awhile I'd take the book out of it's cabinet, look at it, strain my brain for inspiration, then put it back on the shelf.  

The inspiration came today!  And I'm not going to share it with you until it's finished.  I'm working on it right now.  It's going to need at least one practice run, and possibly a special printing to resize it.  When it's in place, tomorrow probably, I'll unveil it!  I'm really excited about this, so keep your fingers crossed for me that it works as well as I hope it will!

My BBF Rosie knows what I'm planning.  At least I sent her an email.  OK Ro....no sharing here.  It's got to be kept secret until it's finished....

So this is what I've done with day 22 of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  I'm so jazzed about this!  My mojo has returned!

More Than Meets The Eye

Some days are spent in creative action, others in creative thought.   Most days, there's a little of both, and today was one of those days.  

The first thing I did was go shopping.  I spent 30¢ at the library discard sale and bought the two books you see in the photo for 10¢ each.  I love the covers of these books and I'll remove the text blocks and fill them with great papers for journals or sketchbooks.  I spent another dime on a book with trashed boards, but some great images inside.  Then I spent the rest of the day cutting things up.  Some of them will find their way into the books and pages I'll make for J.O.Y., and my FTB books, and a lot of others will end up in SoulCollage® cards.  Here's the pile:    

There's a lot of value to cutting things out with scissors.  It's good cross-training for drawing.  When you make intricate cuts with scissors, your eye follows contours exactly the same way it does when you draw.  Except that when you draw, unless you've trained your eye with lots of practice, it wants to move ahead of the pencil, and put things in that aren't there, and take things out that are.  That's why scissors are such good practice for people who draw.  Your brain tells your eyes to slow down and pay attention.  You're holding a sharp object.  So you look more intently, and your eye gets practice in carefully following contours while the object in your hand follows your eye.  

If you cut out intricate shapes often, your brain will translate following those contours to your drawing as well.  And vice-versa.  If you draw often, you will become better at cutting out intricate shapes.  It's about patience, persistence, and learning to look at what's really there, not what the filters in your brain want you to see and think is there.  

So that's how I spent day 21 of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  And since it's prep work for art journaling, it's also part of AJED.  I practiced drawing with my scissors, and let my mind wander.  It's amazing how many ideas the images can inspire while you're slowly and methodically cutting them out.  It's almost meditative.  It isn't something I do in front of the TV or while I'm listening to conversations or audio books.  I concentrate.  It's wonderful.  Really focusing on the task at hand brings so many creative ideas forward.  

Hmmmmmm.....

My brain is fried and my mojo's on vacation.  I spent the day sorting neutrals trying to decide what to fill the *smash* with, but in the end, all I came up with was a cluttered table.  

So I'm back in the HandBook, and I have no idea where this is going.  But anything's better than nothing, and I've made it through 20 days of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  Some things are better left for another day.  I'll be making a wine cooler, joining some friends on turntable, and taking it easy.  Tomorrow's another day.  

Back To The Book. Day 19

I can't keep my nose out of books.  Any books.  But especially, my HandBook.  So while I was ready to put signatures together for yesterday's book, the pages in my first FTB book were crying out to worked on.

You may recognize a handful of the images from the pile I cut a few days ago.  Things I cut never make it into my work so rapidly.  They usually sit for months.  Sometimes longer.  But I'm free to make the rules and change them as I go.  Working without ultimate restrictions is important for everyone, I think.  For me it's imperative.  And the intermediate restrictions I impose upon myself for the sake of order, well, they're mine to keep or break as I see fit.  

I've made it through day 19 of Traci Bunker's 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  It's working so well for me that I just may extend it to 40, then 50...  No promises.  Just thinking out loud.

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!

 

Progressing Right Along

It's the 17th day of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  So far, so good.  I haven't missed a day yet, and I've not made such a radical committment to it that I'd whine if I did miss a day.  But it's nice to know that things are rolling right along, and it does get easier every day.  

I keep many open journals at a time.  Each are different from the others, sometimes subtly, others are drastically different.  I usually skip around from book to book.  Whichever way the muse strikes. So far, I've kept to this book since the beginning of July.  I've broken my own record several times over with this one.

The pages in my FTB HandBook are large.  This spread really needs to be photographed so you can see everything that's on the pages.  But there wasn't enough light, so I had to scan partial pages, and quite a bit is left off.  I like the way the gold paint on the design at left resisted the India ink.  It made my stars look transparent.

I'll add more to the pages later.  Right now I'm farming one of the larger library discards I got yesterday for images.  This is how I usually do it:  By removing the book block, saving the boards for a future book cover, and cutting out what's salvageable.

A good portion of these books are damaged.  I get rid of the damaged sections first, then I separate what I might want to keep into piles.  One pile for images, another pile of background color pieces and strips, and a third pile of numbers and words.  

The collage fodder is used for lots of things, not just the journals you see on the web.  Some are used for collage, some of them go into SoulCollage® cards, others find their way into a variety of mixed media pieces, and the rest go into random grab back packets for swap or for sale. I don't spend too much time thinking about the images.  If there are some on both sides of a page, I make a snap decision and I'm done with it.  Most of the book block ends up in the recycling bin.  I don't have to use it all.  

And pretty obviously, not everything I use came from a book or a magazine.  The striped washi-tape down the middle of the spread was a gift from my friend Lisa.  You should stop by her blog and see some of the amazing books she's put together!

Just The Beginning

Today I got out and looked at books.  At them, not in them.  I was looking more at their structure, and wasn't too concerned with what they contained.  So I browsed the 10¢ room at the library and came home with seven books for 70¢.  Most will be farmed for images, but a couple have extraordinary boards and bindings, and they'll make wonderful journal covers.  I was looking for something in particular.  Extra, extra large hardcover children's books with artistic boards and no words or barcodes anywhere.  I found a few smaller books, but I was looking for huge.  

The shelves in that room are added to every day, and what's for sale changes drastically from day to day.  One of these days soon I'll find what I'm after.  

In the meantime, I had only the time to set the bones of a background for my next spread, so these will be weekend pages, not Saturday pages.  You'll have to come back tomorrow to see how they've progressed.  

I think sometimes I feel a lot like the guy on the left.  Aged and stressed, but somehow, also at peace.  And I have a question, if any of you out there can answer it.  The photo on the right is from a 1917 National Geographic.  The cut line says it's the tomb of Ezekiel in the village of Kefil.  I thought Ezekiel didn't die.  I am wrong?  And if I'm right, what's in the tomb?

I'm not sure what any of this will look like when I'm finished.  We'll have to wait and see.   As we're now  into the second half of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On, I'm feeling pretty good about what all can be accomplished when you put your mind to it.  Not that my HandBook doesn't have a lot to do with it.  All that inspiration from MAM and FTB has to find it's way in making books and filling pages!