7th Annual Artist Retreat, part 2

Way back during the first annual artist retreat at Pam's house, we agreed that this week would be a week of experimentation, much what if-ing and just doing it. A week to try those methods, techniques, tools and/or materials that were on our one day lists. Somewhere along the way this time, I lost sight of that and attempted to do a bit of serious tea bag work. If you read part 1, you know that that was unsuccessful and highly frustrating.

This studio radiates fun, cooperation, sharing ideas, lending a hand, etc. That's not to say serious work never happens, but it comes about as a result of giving yourself permission to play and follow an idea...even the hint of an idea. With this in mind, Pam declared the remainder of the retreat to be about play and I happily followed her directive.

We raided her stash of paper bags and 

while she painted fabric,

I set about slicing

and dicing the bags.

Pam decided to add more handles 

to her journal while waiting for the paint to dry.

Soon enough, it was time for me to sew this to that

and that to this.

Some parts of the bags seemed perfect for creating pockets.

In all, there are 3 pockets in this journal...in fact one whole page (not pictured) is a pocket.

With plenty of supplies at hand, today's question is

do I finish the black, white and red book or make more paper bag journals? What do you think?

509 = 3

Wondering just what sort of art math I'm up to now? In what universe 509 = 3? In the blogiverse, of course!

In celebration of passing the 500th blog post milestone (this post is #509 - 500 was back in Cleveland - day 4's morning walk, in fact), I've made 3 journals to give away as my way of saying Thank You! to everyone who reads my little blog.

The journals are made of papers that I marked on after returning from this year's artist retreat at Pam's .

Roughly measuring 6 inches square,

 each has 18-20 pages, including the cover.

There is movement

and color.

Mostly blue as I was dreaming of water as I did these.

The edges are rough

as are the journals themselves. They are imperfect and incomplete. Every other spread is blank - awaiting your own marks and words.

If you fancy having one of my little journals, you have until midnight New York City time on Saturday, September 6, to leave a comment here or on the corresponding post on my Facebook artist page. Next Sunday morning, the little urchins and I will draw names. Don't forget to leave your blog address or email address in your comment in case your name is drawn.

Good luck! And Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

5th Annual Artist Retreat - Day 5, journals

It's Friday morning as I write this post. This week has passed so quickly. Time really does zip by when you're having a truly wonderful time, doesn't it? It's always that way here in Oz. Seems the week has just started when the time comes to return to the airport. That's for tomorrow though - today is another studio day.

Thursday found Pam and I making a few marks - my tiny X's

were added to Pam's splatters (highly technical, that) and O's. 

While Pam stitched a page from painted cotton, 

I took the sheets of Rives BFK

and cut them into 5 inch strips

for use as pages in our journals.

6 sheets in all were cropped and piled together, shuffled and reshuffled to mix them well.
Pam began ritual of picking 

and did a little happy dance when she selected the apex of the wave I'd painted. 

18 pages each - Pam's above, mine below.

 
As we pondered the possibilities and considered which pages would go with which cover,

we turned to view the tags, all 95 of them.

They soon found their way into a bin and were jostled this way and that

so that we could blindly reach in to select one at a time. There were smiles and happy dances (me) and exclamations of delight (Pam) at having selected a favorite.

My group above. Pam's below. It's funny to look at the photos now and realize the tags were already sort of laid out as they ended up being turned into books.

 I sewed the tops and bottoms together

to create a very long accordion book

while Pam stitched the sides.

Surefooted

and stunning in their display, this approach is my favorite.

In between constructing journals (5 each so far), we'd walk into the annex to mark other papers.

I've fallen in love with printmaking paper - with their ability to soak up color and display it so vividly. The tan sections above and below were achieved with black tea. Just black tea.

Oh yes! The ideas are flowing and I can't wait to discover how well rust plays with some of the papers we've used this week. Those experiments will wait until my return to Connecticut.

 One last view before calling it a night...Pam's journals. 

Time to hit the publish button, eat a bit of breakfast and change into studio clothes. Stay tuned!

Stacks and stashes

Last week, midst my springtime ennui, while gazing at a small stack of used tea bags wating to be added to my stash, I wondered what stacks and stashes others have in their studios. Those sometimes quirky materials that were once collected with the thought in mind that they'd be perfect for creating...something...one day...

Many left wonderful lists and descriptions of their stashes in comment on the Thursday post. I shamelessly asked for photos. Elizabeth, Fiona and Susan humored me and posted the most exquisite photos of theirs. Just click on their names to see for yourself.

I sat in front of the computer, nose nearly touching the screen, fingers twitching and itching to touch, eyes opened wide in delight, oohing and aahing all the while. Nirvana via cyberspace, it was.

So...to return the favor, here are a few of my stashes.

wine corks - good for discharging circles

journals for those artist journals I admire so much,

yet just cannot create...yet

all 105 5"x5" pieces of

a story/tale of friends

Starbucks cup sleeves, 

It's the corrugated arc when opened that fascinates me so.

Just imagine printing with them...

netting from fruits and vegatables

stamps

letterpress