Secrets 04

Secrets 04

What kind of secrets can there be?  How are they kept?  Are some kept better than others?  Does one have a confidant that never tells?  Once a secret is out it is out!  I guess I better not tell yet then! :-)

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I found a new documentary series on Netflix last night.  Sometimes I am so tired I just need to veg and that was what I needed last night.  Watching something usually puts me to sleep.  This documentary did just the opposite.  It is called Abstract, the Art of Design and I've only watched the first episode but it was terrific.

Abstract, the Art of Design

The trailer for it.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYaq2sWTWAA

In the first episode a German graphic artist is filmed. 

Secrets 03

Secrets 03

I just love whimsical and simplicity although I may not always do either in a spread.  There is a third secret here.  Not ready to tell about it yet though.

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It is snowing here this morning and I was reminded of a man who provided the world with snowflake images.

"Snowflake" Bentley recorded snowflake crystals using a microscope.  There is a children's book, Snowflake Bentley, written about him and his process.  There is also a website about him....

http://snowflakebentley.com/bio.htm

Secrets 02

Secrets 02

It is way too much fun to have a secret.  Sorry, but today is not the day for unveiling it.  Perhaps now that you have seen two works in the series you might be developing an idea about what is going on.

I have been having a hoot of a time at the NW Collage Society Retreat.  There are 25 very talented artists in Warm Beach, WA just working away.  Yesterday we worked from 11:00 until 9:00 with short breaks to eat.  What was fun for me was to walk around looking at what everyone was working on.  My brain is now working over time with the techniques I am picking up.

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The Oscars are tonight...

Here is a trivia quiz.......


https://worldhistoryproject.org/quizzes/academy_award

Secrets 01 - Waiting for the Circus to Come to Town

Waiting for the Circus to Come to Town

It seems that children will  have to wait a long time for the circus to come to town in the future.  The Ringling Brothers Show is coming to an end.

You might ask why this series is called secrets.  Well that secret will be unveiled as we go along!

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This is one of my favorite US postage.  I bought several sheets to have around awhile.

The Heiress

The Heiress

This postcard went off to New York state to one of our members in a postcard round robin.  It actually is the second postcard I made for this guy but I have mislaid the first one.  So he will get another one when I find the first.

I am off today to a collage retreat.  There are 25 of us in a large room for the weekend.  Can't even imagine the collage trouble I will get into! :-)

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The short film below is well done!  Check it out.

Picasso versus Dali

Short film called Genios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtQLwgl99us

Red No. 20

Red No. 20

This is the last of the Red Series.  Never fear, as I mentioned yesterday, there is going to be a Red Series 2.  I will give you a break from seeing red for awhile though.  I am off to a collage retreat tomorrow, Friday.  There will be 25 collage artist all in one big room art-ing away!

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Picasso's Guernica animated.....strong message here......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA6URIAQ0Z8

3D Guernica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc1Nfx4c5LQ

Red No. 19

Red No.19

I heard a very nice story today about a commission that I did.  The woman who commissioned me to do the piece on Soda Grandma, remember weeks ago?  Well her mother was given the piece sort of by mistake.  It was unintentional that she would receive it but she liked it so much that my friend gave it to her mother.  Well, the mother went to visit a friend and she took the piece with her to the nursing home.  The woman in the nursing home started up a conversation about old times because of my art piece as it brought back memories. I understand they went down memory lane for 45 minutes. All the ills of aging ceased to exist for a bit of time.

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I just love this piece by Lisa Kokin.  I am not sure if she did it on a real decaying leaf or on a fabric manufactured one.  I think I have some of those around here somewhere and am going to try out my interpretation of it.  I will let you know if it works out.  To find out more on Lisa Kokin go to:
http://www.lisakokin.com/

Red No. 18

Red No. 18

Yesterday as I was figuring out more issues with the journal to house the Red Series I decided to create another series of slightly smaller works that will fit into the journal as well.  The "architecture" of the new journal is such that there are two pockets on each page.  Hence, I need to fill the second pocket of each.  That means ten more substrates with two works on each "card".  So another Red Series is born.

I am going on an art retreat with the NW Collage Society this weekend.  I plan on working on the new Red Series there.  I have the substrates cut and gessoed.  I have a pile of papers for the background all ready to go.  I guess I will be seeing red this weekend! :-)

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Eleanor Roosevelt

As mentioned in a previous blog posting I am reading Eleanor and Hick.  It is quite a good read and yesterday as I read I found a little anecdote that I particularly liked.   Eleanor, Franklin, Hick, and more of the Roosevelt family attended the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs.  Both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played that game.  Babe Ruth was famous for defining right where the baseball would fly when he hit the ball.  Eleanor was fast asleep and missed all the excitement when, yes, indeed, Babe Ruth hit a home run right where he said he would.  I guess Eleanor was not much of a baseball fan!

Red No. 17

Red No. 17

To me the darkness in this piece feels rich almost velvety.  I normally like odd numbers in my work but somehow the photo and the stamp plus the background work for me.  All of the Red Series is going into a journal that is presently in the works.  I only have the paper folded ready to go.  Paint will be next.

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If you have never taken the time to watch a TED Talk it is, in my opinion, worth every second.  You can find one of the talks on most all topics.  Here are two related ones......

Recently Jacki Long sent me a link to a TED talk.....I watched it this morning and am sharing it here. It is powerful and heart warming how a man who was born with deformities now owns himself in a very positive way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbxinUJcLGg&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

I attended a TED Talks in Edmonds in November and there was a speaker who also has a strong message.  She, too, has a facial deformity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_2h8h_Fphs&list=PLlaIcE1oC886LMmdvMH53eagxEaOMhmIJ

Red No. 16

Red No. 16

When I started the Red Series and included photo references to the Japanese American relocation during WWII I did not know it was almost the 75th anniversary President Franklin Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066.  Now we have another president signing executive orders dealing with issues surrounding people of different nationalities.  The coincidence is not lost on me!

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Emidio Bernardone - http://cargocollective.com/emidiobernardone/COLLAGE

I love the simplicity of this collage artist. So expressive with just three elements.  Click on the link to see other works by him.

Cry

Red No. 15

Red No. 15

During WWII many of the interned Japanese Americans volunteered to join the military.  They were frequently assigned duties in the European theater.  The photo is of a family whose son was in the army.

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I just love Massimo Nota's work.   http://www.notamax.it/wordpress/

Red No. 14

Red No. 14

What a lovely family!  To think we put people through the relocation camps just because of who they were considered to be.  Thank goodness our government, twenty-five years later and after being lobbied, decided to apologize for this misdeed. There was controversy in who got paid first even with that apology.  The words by the investigative congressional commission are strong.  Executive Order 9066 was wrong......."incarceration a "grave injustice" motivated by "racial prejudice, war hysteria and the failure of political leadership."  Come on Washington, think what you are being asked to do once again!  The wall between the US and Mexico will not solve the problem.  No barriers have ever done that!  The Great Wall of China failed!  The Berlin Wall failed eventually! The walls in Israel are not working!  The Iron Curtain is no more!  THINK!

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Lars Henkel is an artist that I discovered recently.  I found a book of his work that has been published in Germany.  Some of the work is quite bizarre.  If you do a Google search of Lars Henkel you will find more of  what he has produced.

 

Red No.13

Red No. 13

I found some tissue paper Japanese labels in a favorite store in Ballard, WA.  I am not sure if they were labels for sake containers or made for some other reason.  Because the Japanese internment during the 1940's comes to mind during this difficult immigration time, I thought I would honor those who were interred.  Why is it we do not learn from history?  Why is it that it seems many of this country's leaders forget that our country was built on the backs of immigrants?

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The link below is a video interview with actor George Takei about his family's experience in an internment camp in Arkansas and in Northern California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yogXJl9H9z0

Red No. 12

Red No. 12

I haven't used the crow target for some time until the Red Series.  Randall Plowman first introduced it to me in one of his online classes.  I also have one that someone gave me, found at flea market I believe.

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This short film is well worth watching.  It is called Gallery Invasion.

https://vimeo.com/189192769

Red No. 11

Red No. 11

Are you like me, constantly on the lookout for ephemera?  I see something and think "I can use that sometime!"  My eye is always looking at color and composition and pattern.  I can't seem to turn it off.  The same thing happens to my brain.  Even when I am not thinking of something an idea just pops into my head.  I guess the old brain is solving issues even in the subconscious.  It happened yesterday while I was reading my book Eleanor and Hick.  Perhaps a word on the page sparked the thought which was the solution to something I was working yesterday.

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Eleanor and Hick - A new biography on Eleanor Roosevelt and her friend Lorena Hickok by Susan Quinn.  I highly recommend this book if you are into biographies and Eleanor Roosevelt.  It personalizes both she and Lorena.  I have been surprised by some of what I read especially the instances of racism and antisemitism.  I guess it was the times and I am pleased that Eleanor worked on her issues with these two challenges.

Red No. 10

Red No. 10

Yesterday I decided to try burning a vintage photo to see about achieving the look like the one in this piece.  I was totally successful with my idea of wetting the portion of the photo I did not want to burn and lighting the dry portion on fire.  It worked like a charm.  One just has to make sure there is a water source very close by to douse the flames when the desired look is achieved.

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My last entry for CODEX is an accordion book I purchased from an artist from China. Unfortunately I do not know much about her other than her name Jue Li.  The accordion book is just a little treasure full of portraits of men.  It has a simple binding of a heavier card stock that has been decorated with lines and circles (other side).  Sometimes simple is best as in this case. :-)

Red No. 9

Red No. 9

Can't you imagine that imagination was so much more enhanced without television, video games, and the like?  I am thinking these girls wrote their own play and are now practicing their lines.  What is your take on this photo?

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CODEX continued.......

I found the most interesting vegetable parchment paper both at CODEX and at the paper store in Berkeley.  I was told that the paper is made by an artist in Germany and the process is a secret.  I have looked into it and found that the vegetables are dehydrated and shellacked.  I bought three pieces of the paper and am thinking of framing them as is.

Red No. 8

Red No. 8 or The Bird Nest

Here is another of the red series that is predominantly other colors, just red accents.  Hence, I have given it two names.

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Codex continued.....

Islam Aly is a book artist that I met at the CODEX this week.  His books have a middle east influence as he used Ethopian and Coptic bindings and many of his themes come from the Arab world.  Islam Aly is from Egypt and is working on his doctorate in Iowa.  If you do a Google search by his name and then images you will be immersed in his book world.  Many of his books have laser cut images.

This is a fun read about Islam Aly and a book artist friend, Alisa Golden.....  https://makinghandmadebooks.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-for-book-trade-with-artist-islam.html

Red No. 7

Red No. 7

My personal shopper gave me the King Koran stamps.  I had never seen them previously.  They were a competitor to Green Stamps.  I remember getting green stamps when I was a kid.  I looked up trading stamps and OMG there were lots of different kinds.

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When I was at CODEX last Monday I discovered an artist by the name of Judith Serebrin.  She creates the most amazing pottery pieces with books included.  I spent a long time at her booth looking at them all but fell in love with one.  Here is what the one I purchased resembles.

work by Judith Serebrin

Her website information is:  www.serebrin.wix.com/judithof

Red No. 6

Red No. 6

In each of the red series I used several background papers including, printed deli, napkins, printed tissue, and on some I used pattern tissue.  One thing about photos that I really like is when something is only partially there.  The woman, in this case, needs the eye to complete her being there.

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Berkeley continued..........

After leaving Fourth Street in Berkeley, Monday, I made one stop before going to CODEX.  I have started a new collection of Trader Joe's bags, you know, the ones that are plastic and cost $1.00.
Different areas have different bags.  Brian Kasstle turned me onto the fact that somewhere right around Thanksgiving Trader Joe's has bags from different areas at your local store.  I guess they bring together the ones that have not sold and sell them as a package.  I will hit the store to find out when the time comes.  I have an idea for these bags but will have to wait to see if it will work as I need a variety of local ones.

Well, all week I have wanted to talk more about CODEX and now I can.  I had to finish the day's trip in order.  CODEX was all that I had heard about and more.  For book lovers it is amazing.  All books are handmade whether it is the binding or the guts of the book.  I was in heaven from the moment I walked in the door.  I was soaking wet but happy to be there.   A squall had come up as I was walking from the parking to the entrance.  Luckily there was a coat rack or I would have been dripping over the handmade treasures!

I did not get past the first row of vendors before I discovered Bryan Kring and his amazing art boxes.
I ended up purchasing two of them.  Here is a link to Bryan's website.... http://www.kringdesign.com/

Insecta Coleoptera

Red No.5

Red No. 5

I do my best thinking while I sleep it seems because I frequently wake with an idea.  It happened again last night.  I was thinking about printing vintage photos that are not burned and burning them. It would not be an exact science and I might have problems putting out the fire and controlling it all. Then I remembered that I could wet the portion that I do not want to burn and burn off part of the image for use.  I will have to try it on a better weather day as I need to be outside for this task.  There is still some snow here and that would be a great extinguisher if needed.

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Yesterday I left off telling you about the Bette Oceanview Diner.  I neglected to mention that my waitress could have been Michele Obama's sister.  Same face, shoulders, hair.  I told her so and she said she gets that a lot.  That led to a discussion on the politics of the day.  So sad to not have President Obama in office any longer.

Right after eating breakfast Monday at thiat diner I found a Japanese paper store on Fourth Street in Berkeley that I highly recommend.  It is called Miki's Paper.  OMG!  I did a hurried shopping so I could get off to CODEX, but I did some series damage to the wallet at this store.  I found some Thai papers that resemble lace.  They are absolutely wonderful.  Now to figure out how to use them.



Here is the link to Miki's.... http://www.mikispaper.com/     Don't miss this store if you are in Berkeley.  They do an online business, too.

Red No. 4

Red No. 4

I am so loving the creating of the butterfly graffiti papers.  Mixing them with other tissue and deli paper that I have made work.  That is what collage is all about.

Yesterday I flew to the Bay area for the day to attend the CODEX book fair.  OMG!  I was in heaven. Before the book fair I stopped in Berkeley, CA for about an hour.  I packed a lot of excitement in a short time.  One place I found was called  Bette's Oceanview Diner.  I had breakfast which is served anytime they are open.  It was to-die-for.  If you are in Berkeley make the stop for breakfast or lunch. Just perfect.

More on my CODEX adventure over the next few days including more Berkeley finds.
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https://www.facebook.com/BettesDiner/