7th Annual Artist Retreat, part 3

The morning light as it begins to sneak into Pam's studio is glorious.

For a few seconds yesterday morning, before the sunlight drifted to the side, it made the recycled Macy's shopping bag handles of my newly created paper bag journal glow. 

Thursday was dedicated to finishing the black, white and red scroll. After all, it was home and it wanted to be completed here...to move on to its next life. 

So I listened and obliged.

 Sewing

and cropping, 

aligning

 and joining.

We had both machines fairly humming most of the day. I always enjoy a bit of a chuckle when Pam and I sit at opposite ends of her worktable and begin stitching - Pam at her George and me at the full metal Elna that was once her mother's. Can't help but think of dueling sewing machines...

Pam's creation is exquisite. I need her permission to share photos though.

At some point around mid-day, Pam looked out the window and spied this little fellow searching for his lunch. He's so tiny - would fit in the palm of your hand. 

Back at work, the black, white and red scroll has become a double-sided accordion book. 

front

back

a different view

The last day of the retreat has arrived far too soon. I feel like I wasted half the time trying to do regular work. On one hand, I did. On the other...well, my folly proved once and for all that this time at Pam's truly is sacred play time. And we are serious about play. All bets are off, there are no mistakes, no bad ideas. And that is a very good place to be. 

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?

6th Annual Artist Retreat - Thursday

Thursday in Oz began much the same way Friday is - rainy. And that's just fine because there's the most wondrous studio downstairs to spend the day in.

I decided to keep things fairly simple yesterday because there was this pesky little coptic stitch that needed to be worked out (fingers crossed - think I finally got!). The pages are some sort of rice paper that came on a roll from the local art supply store at home. 

While I jeopardized the sewing machine, not George, Pam started to print

on paper

and cloth.

She experimented with combining cloth and paper. Can you tell which is which?

And then the real magic began. I can't adequately describe just how much fun it is to watch 

when Pam puts ink on paper

 and begins to play.

We ventured out for lunch. If you're ever in the area, you've got to stop by 715. Get the cauliflower soup.

A quick stop in Sweet had me laughing 

over the messages on the tea towels.

This one nearly had me on the floor in fits. I will admit that there have been a few instances when my little urchins' antics had me speaking in tongues in response...only to think "OMG! That's just what my mother would say" seconds after the words left my mouth. As tempting as it was to take this little gem, I opted not to...yet.

Back in the studio, we worked away. Pam finished the 4th in the series that she's been working on this week while I began working in another sample book.

Thursday ended with a real treat - a skype session with our friend Fiona Dempster of Paper Ponderings. From Oz to Oz, the interpixies behaved well enough for us to chat and laugh, exchange stories and just visit in person/cyberspace for a bit.

Stay tuned...

6th Annual Artist Retreat - Wednesday

Wednesday began with me waking early as is usual when at Pam's. Partly due to the 1 hour time difference and partly because my waking mind was immediately running and jumping, shouting what ifs and let's just do its until there was no recourse but to get out of bed.

Tiptoeing through the house, I ventured into the studio to crop Tuesday's pages.

Once organized, they were simply bound into sample book 3. 

The day found Pam  and George continuing to dance their way

through completing pieces 2

and 3

 of a tryptich.

From time to time, I took my place at the other end of the table to sew on paper. 

Most of my day was spent what if-ing. Experimenting to see how different papers took similar marks, I worked with Rives BFK (above) and craft paper (below) that a local art supply store wraps around full sheets of paper to protect them.

Using ColorBox ink pads, letterpress, sponges

and my hand, it was fun to see how such disparate papers took the ink.

Tuesday's printing experiment was repeated using a piece of pierced Rives BFK as the printing plate. The craft paper took the print much crisper than the rice paper.

I learned that while acrylic inks and paints dry quickly on Rives BFK, the ColorBox inks need much more time than my impatience allowed to thoroughly dry. Light weight craft paper prints beautifully, but watery inks will bleed through to neighboring pages when working with a single thickness.

And, even though sample book 4 was completed, there's a universe to learn about coptic binding. Either that or I just cannot follow written directions no matter how simply written...