12 Mini Journal Project - 301

12 Mini Journal Project - 301

 Mini Journal No. 3 has an Asian feel to it.  Enjoy!

I am a bit bummed because Blogspot as of July 1 is not going to send out emails everyday announcing a new blog entry.  I know many of you have expressed joy in receiving a daily announcement of my work and it has made it easy for you to view it.  My blog will still be active but one will have to go to it without a morning email.  Darn!

12 Mini Journal Project - 204

12 Mini Journal Project - 204

This is the last of the donkey series.   Here is the video for this mini journal....

12 Mini Journal Project - 203

12 Mini Journal Project - 203

 

These burros or donkeys look like they should be on a tequila bottle.  Maybe they are.

12 Mini Journal Project - 202

12 Mini Journal Project - 202

 Give this guy a turnip.  What a smile!

12 Mini Journal Project - 201

12 Mini Journal Project - 201

 This series of four, 12 Mini Journal Project, is all about donkeys.  This guy looks so sad.  Perhaps he has been working to hard and not eating enough carrots.  Maybe he is dreaming of carrotts?

12 Mini Journal Project 104

12 Mini Journal Project 104

 There is more to the story about the crow and the lens cover.  Thanks Lindsey of sending me the link.  Over the years of feeding the crows mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry the children were rewarded for the generosity.  Little shiny objects were left on the feeder by the crows as a thank you for the food.  Here is the link..... https://www.boredpanda.com/8-year-old-girl-gets-gifts-from-crows-gabi-mann/

Video of mini book 1 of 12

12 Mini Journal Project 103

12 Mini Journal Project 103

 All I can think of to say here is how to turn a mini into a larger piece.  I think I will have to figure that out.

12 Mini Journal Project 102

12 Mini Journal Project 102

 Book 1 of 12 honors the crow.  The crow, as you know, is one smart bird.  One story that I heard on NPR was about a crow in Seattle who “adopted” a family.  The woman’s son wanted to put out a bird feeder for the crows and so they set it up feeding them daily.  The woman was a photographer and would take her camera on walks with her children just in case she found something to photograph.  One day she laid her lens cap down while she took her photo.  She forgot it.  The next day the lens cap was found resting on the bird feeder returned by the crows.

12 Mini Journal Project 101

12 Mini Journal Project 101

 I have a July 1 deadline to finish a mini journal project for my submission to the Puget Sound Book Arts Guild for the summer show.  I have made twelve book covers and twelve four spread accordions to fit into a box with feet that is also complete.  So I will make the deadline.  101 is the first spread in book number 1.  So I will have 48 total spreads in the mini-journals for this project.  I am presently working on book 2 and 3 but all the backgrounds are done for the remainder of the twelve books.  Only book one is totally complete.  My goal for the week is to be halfway done with this project by Memorial weekend.

Transition

Transition

Transition was a fun postcard to make.  I used all magazine ephemera for it.  I had a half portrait face which I altered in Photoshop to make the whole face and then printed the it.  It took two printings to get the head proportional to the rest of the body.  The torso and legs came from different magazines.  I called it Transition because there has been so much in the news about transgender issues.  When or when will politicians wake up to the fact that we are all different people and everyone needs acceptance?

Raymond Steps Out

Raymond Steps Out

 Raymond, the Fashionista, steps out in a new outfit!  He just might be developed into a new series. :-)

Barney Howls

Barney Howls

 

Using a glue stick to stick on letters takes a lot of patience.  I tried a new way of doing it this time.  I added glue stick to the substrate and added the cut out letters using my exacto knife point.  It worked really well and much quicker than other times.  Now to see if the letters remain.  It is much easier to add letters with matte medium but that is a problem when one has glued the background down already with glue stick.  The background paper often lifts when matte medium is applied.

Clarita

Clarita

 It took me a long while to do this spread.  I have worked on it off and on for months.  The spread is in a passport journal from Geronimo who is a collage artist in Vienna, Austria.  I had made some papers using images that I had created in iColorama.  The journal sat.  I then added the black circle and line napkin ephemera and the journal sat.  I found the woman’s body, the orange blouse and cut it out.  The journal sat waiting.  Then I found the woman’s head which I altered in a couple of ways.  The head was attached and I was getting closer.  The bee had been waiting for the “right” new “home”.  I was looking through a magazine and found the window and I had my AHA moment.  Put the bee behind the window.  Name the woman Clarita.  That started the narrative about giant bees.  There you have it! :-)

Tight Rope

 

Tight Rope

Last week I got a belated birthday present bag from a dear friend.  She had wrapped all the gifts in this most wonderful diamond patterned paper which I had to save and use in this spread.  As frequently happens I was working on something else at my desk when I remembered I had red, blue, and white popcorn paper.  I made diamonds out of that paper and covered some of the diamonds of the birthday wrap.  This background had a circus feel to it and so I found the tight rope walker and the rest just came easily because life is a like walking a tight rope.

Cored Apples

Cored Apples

This piece is almost like a dream or possibly something out of the Twilight Zone.  I do not know where this idea came from as it just evolved.  I had thought to add text but decided it was done as is. :-)

What's Up Doc?

What's Up Doc?

 This one is a bit like the Exquisite Corpse made famous by a group of artists living in Paris during the early twentieth century.

Awesome

 

Awesome

I have to smile when I look at this postcard.  The monkey is hiding behind some grasses with symbols and it is as if the birds do not know he is there.  Part of the collage is peaceful and part of it is about to erupt with noise when the symbols clash.  Even the word is a clash against the peaceful portion of the collage.

Ghost Dog Watches Over Ghost Rabbits

Ghost Dog Watches Over Ghost Rabbits

I love making up a narrative and these two focal pieces of ephemera led me to think of them as ghosts hence the title.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole

 I had to sit on this one for about a week until I could find my rub on letters.  Now all we need is Alice from Wonderland to follow this rabbit! :-)

Dancing to the Sun God

Dancing to the Sun God

 I find that there is a simplicity here that I like.  Maybe it is the background  or maybe it is that there are only three dancing figures.  For me there is just something pleasant. :-)

Strange Things Happen On Exchange Place

Strange Things Happen On Exchange Place

Do you think there are any rabbits in NYC?  I suppose Central Park has some.  Isn't it funny that one thinks about things like rabbits in the big city?  Yup!  I can come up with some strange things to think about! :-)

Teamwork

Teamwork

 Teamwork is a journal spread for someone in my Round Robin journal exchange.  I had a hard time with this piece.  As many of you know I just start a spread without knowing where I will be going with it.  It leads me.  The black and white background was easy.  The colored “concentric” circles were easy.  Even the soccer players were easy and already cut out.  But how to tie it all together.  For days it sat waiting for the tie-in.  Finally on the day that I had to mail it I thought soccer players have to work as a team.  There I had to.  Done! :-)

Spring 2021 - ATC - International Group

Spring 2021 - ATC - International Group

 I exchange four times a year with an international ATC group.  This was my spring 2021 ATC.  Each of the seven cards is a bit different but this is the main idea of each.  Our task was to use birds and/or typology.  I used both as you can see.  The background is a newspaper page that I crinkled and folded and then scanned.

Inspecting Devastation

 

Inspecting Devastation

Happy World Collage Day 2021!  A few years ago Kolaj magazine started celebrating this day.  Each year since the NW Collage Society has organized a postcard exchange with its members.  This year the Everett Public Library and the NW Collage Society teamed up and will present a workshop in making postcard snail mail.

The postcard above, Inspecting Devastation, is one that I made as an example for the participants in this workshop.  This is quite different from I usually create.  For me it is quite surreal.  The link to the workshop was provide in yesterday’s posting on this blog.  It will be live today at 4:00 Pacific Daylight time and will be available on the library website afterwards.

I hope you do something creative today.  Perhaps send someone a piece of snail mail art. :-)

Alligator Alley 08

Alligator Alley 08

 

Today is the last of the eight spreads in the Alligator Alley mini journal.  I have an idea for my next mini journal series which will be housed in a very special box/stand that I have all thought out but have yet to create.  So watch here for the unveiling probably next month.

Saturday, tomorrow, I will be teaching a workshop online with the Everett Public Library in celebration of World Collage Day which is on May 8.  The workshop is at 4:00 Pacific Daylight time.  Here is a link for the information.......   World Collage Day Workshop - Crowdcast

The workshop will remain online for the foreseeable future so if you do not tune in on Saturday you can still catch the workshop at a later date.

Video of Alligator Alley....

Alligator Alley 07

Alligator Alley 07

 I am just in love with patterning.  Mix and match.  It works for me. :-)

Alligator Alley 06

Alligator Alley 06

 I like how the alligators that I found have so much movement.  They are pretty agile in real life and can move very quickly.  I will keep my distance and no zoos for me.  Although I did go to the Everglades National Park once and was fascinated.

Alligator Alley 05

Alligator Alley 05

 For me it is almost like the alligator mouth is leading the viewer the rest of the mini journal spread.

Alligator Alley 04

Alligator Alley 04

 See what I mean when you compare the last posting to this one.  The alligator looks so much better with texture marks.

Alligator Alley 03

 

Alligator Alley 03

Looking at this one after having worked on it months ago I feel I need to go back and do some texture work on the alligator.  It did not seem like I needed it then but I do now.  Maybe just some small black semi-circles to give some dimension to the alligator are in order especially since the background is so elaborate.

Alligator Alley 02

Alligator Alley 02

 This one almost has a camouflaged feeling.  I pretty much think it is a successful piece with the background incorporating into the foreground.