Almost Christmas

It's one week early and my family is celebrating Christmas today. I will have 18 for prime rib. The good news is that it is a BEAUTIFUL day. My walk this morning was wonderful, the views spectacular. I rarely take my camera, but today I couldn't resist.

I needed (wanted) a rubber stamp of a hand. Couldn't find what I wanted at my local store or on the interned, so I decided to carve my own. These guys are just a little over an inch high. It was really fun and tedious. Getting to know my tools..............

I've been having fun working in my journal, trying lots of new things. Paints, stencils, Pitt pens, a little collage. When I get to my studio and start working, time really flies by. These pages may no be perfect, but they are mine and they make me happy.

New Flowers

I've never grown tulips before. They are beautiful lining my driveway. Thanks to Jeannie for getting the bulbs in last fall. I plan to plant sunflowers to fill up the spot for the rest of the summer.

Journal 365

I signed up for Journal 265 - an online art journaling class with Pam Carriker. Our first little assignment was to make our own journals from watercolor paper. It was a really fun day for me because book making is my favorite thing. This was taken before the covers went on.

Our first lesson posted on April 1st via PDF file as well as a great video. The theme was "One". These are my pages so far. I'm pretty happy with them and look forward to doing a few more of the same theme during the month of April.

Theo's Class

My first class was with Theo Ellsworth. What a great guy. I can't say enough good things about him and his darling Heather.
We started with exercises in doodling. First we all donned masks and doodled blindfolded. That was a little scary. Now quite my comfort zone. Next we doodled with our "awkward" hand. For me that was the left and once again not something I'm used to. And lastly we doodled with two hands at once. An interesting concept. The Mask....
Next we opened our little envelopes to find several odd shaped pieces which we "decorated" individually with prompts that Theo gave us throughout the day. At the end they all came together to form a figure. The Figure.....

I won't tell you how it was done in case you want to take Theo's class some time.

And finally Graduation......

My Diploma.........
Thank You Theo for a wonderful day!!

Artfest 2010

Artfest finally arrived and it was well worth the wait. My friends Pamela and Mari arrived from New Mexico on Tuesday after one of those great Ferry adventures. They got on the wrong ferry in Seattle and landed in Bremerton instead of Bainbridge Island. The problem was that I couldn't give them directions since I've never been on the Bremerton Ferry. Duh!!
Once they got to my house we sere swiftly off to Port Townsend. After checking in and a great Thai dinner we were off to visit our friends Lois and Phil who own the bead store in PT. It is always great fun to see someone else's home and studio after you have known them for some time. We were not disappointed. We felt very welcomed and Lois was so willing to share information with us. My only regret is that I didn't take my camera. Next time. And a big thank you to Lois and Phil.

Artfest at last!!

Hooray!! Tomorrow begins the great ARTFEST Adventure. My friend Pamela Armas is arriving from New Mexico with another friend of hers and the three of us are off to Port Townsend until Sunday. Artfest starts on Wednesday, so we will have an extra day to explore Port Townsend and hopefully visit with our friend Lois who owns the bead store there. Also looking forward to shopping at Akamai, the local art supply store. They have just about everything you can imagine in the realm of art supplies. And remember, we can never have too many supplies.
I plan to take lots of pictures to post upon our return.
I'm taking classes from Theo Ellsworth (Mystery Doodling) and two classes from LK Ludwig on making different types of books. I'm excited about both teachers and plan to have a fabulous time!!

Frida Journals

This week I finished 6 fabric cover journals. I call them Frida Journals because most of them have her on the cover. In this batch there are a couple with sunflowers.

I'm excited because this is the first week since Jack died that I've actually been in the studio every day and accomplished something. Being with my friend Pamela Armas for 5 days at Sew-Expo really perked up my creative juices. It's good to feel that I'm getting back to where I was 18 months ago.

Book Building

I got this much of the first section done last week. When I was ready to start, I couldn't find the original drawing. I decided that it was 12" x 12". When I cut the boards it was way too big for my liking so I cut it down to 8"x8". Of course, Chele had made book samples to fit the 12x12. That was ok as they were just a start. We think that from this first level we can go smaller (6x6) or larger 12x12. Also decided to go with primary colors, red, blue, green, yellow, etc. We can always change that too.

This was pretty easy to do. The book board was very sturdy and easy to glue. This week I will finish this level and move on to the next as time permits.

Gotta go fiddle now.

Book/Box Collaboration

The other day Rice Freeman Zachary had a connection to a video of the most incredible book and box construction that anyone could imagine. http://vimeo.com/7694315. I forwarded it to my book making friend Chele and we decided we should collaborate on a structure using books, boxes and drawers.

Yesterday she came by and we discussed many possibilities regarding structure and materials and actually settled on and idea and made "assignments" as to who will do what part as a beginning. It may only be a mock-up for the time being, but it will be a challenge for both of us.

The drawing is our first ideas for the structure.

I'm pretty excited about this as I've been looking for something to spur my imagination and creativity. We'll see where it goes.

My part, for the moment, is to make drawers and to experiment with staining different weights and types of paper for the book pages. Chele will begin her part with constructing the little books.

And away we go......................

One Year Later

Hard to believe it's been a year since I last posted. Much has happened, but most notably the passing of my wonderful husband, Jack. He fought the brain tumor for 10 months, radiation and chemo therapy. Ferry trips daily for 7 weeks to the University of Washington where we had an incredible team of doctors, but alas Jack lost the battle. However, he has gained something that we all long for, pain free peace. He's singing with the angels now and happier that ever. We, left here, miss him terribly, but knowing where he has gone makes it alot easier. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support.