Artshine-TravelingSketchbook

2011-09-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

I am done with the pages for Sam's book. I had a hard time with coming up with an idea for this. So for this one I chose a magazine picture and decided on a collage. i chose this scrapbook paper as an background as it reminded me of old wall paper. It was brighter than this so I added a wash of thinned gesso and then stamped a floral damask like stamp in sepia on top.

Here I used a magazine picture as a model and rendered it in charcoal. Now this was quite fun and enjoyable to do. I should work in charcoal more as it so much fun to work with.Mim, I will package this up today and get it in mail tomorrow.

I really enjoyed working on everyones books. I had to challenge myself many times to try different materials or to think out of the box to grow as an artist. Thank you so much for that opportunity.

Mim's book is on the way.

2011-08-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here are my pages for Mim's book. I don't know why it took so long to work on this. It seems I think about things for a long time and then just do them in one day.

On the front I drew a series of paisleys. Then I added a wash of watercolors in yellows, orange and red.

On the backside I used a stencil and some colorwash inks to make the stars. I cut them out and glued them down on some blue cardstock and added some patterns around them with a micron pen.

I mailed the book today so Mim you should get the book sometime this coming week. I still have Sam's book and hope to get the artwork done this coming week.

thoughts from suki

2011-08-21T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Suki here. A few wks ago I connected to Sam via her facebook page (plus I sent her an email). I asked her to send my book to me at my address whether it was finished or not

She replied and said she had the books and would mail them on in or by September.

If Mary gets the book she mailed to Kelly back again maybe she should mail it to me? I can do my page and try mailing it to Kelly from here.

Jinxed?

2011-08-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

Hi.

On July 6, there was an email exchange between Mary Richmond and me. It led me to believe that a book was headed my way by the end of that week. Today is August 18th. I have not seen any sign of a package.

Big sigh.

If the book has somehow gotten waylaid a third time, I am going to consider my address to be jinxed and will request that you all take me out of the loop.

Kelly

The Creative Connection

2011-07-28T23:53:00.000-07:00

I follow a blog by Kristin Nichols a wonderful published knitter! she is offering two passes plus hotel to a conference in Minnesota in September called Creative Connection. I put a link to it on the side bar here and on my blog "Getting My Feet Wet"...the schedule is full of fun workshops and speakers from setting up your own business to photographing food to fabric and textile and paper and printing fun. Go see!

Three Books Arrived

2011-07-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

I just got the mail and found 3 books. So Now I have Mim and Sam's books to work in. The third book was my own book. What a delight it was to see all the wonderful artwork in it. Thanks to all of you wonderful artists who participated. Now on to the task of creating some art for Mim and Sam. I haven't worked in a book for so long, this is going to be fun.

Dear Sam and Cat

2011-07-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sam we heard from you in March and you said a book was going into the mail that weekend. Did anyone get that book? Since then have you sent any of the other four you had in your possession? I sure would like to see these books circulating again.

Cat I have not been able to get a response from you at all. I sure hope you are well. And that you too will be able to send books on when you get them.

I am feeling like our books are lost in cyberspace and stuck at a few homes. A shame that our unfinished books are adrift. I hope this post helps stir whoever has them to send them on.
I know everyone has put forth time and energy and their wonderful art to make them something that each of us wants to possess and treasure.

If cost is a factor please email me I am willing to help with that: lynnc66@comcast.net
If you just can't continue to do the art yourself just send them on anyway.

Thank you.

All my best,

Lynn

PS And if anyone receives a book please post it here so we know, thanks.

Canada post refused package?

2011-05-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hi--this is Mary here--I just got the book I sent to Kelly returned today for the second time by Canada post....is there something new I should know? I sent it out weeks ago and assumed it had gotten to Kelly. I have sent all the other books on to the same address, the same way and had no problems...

Anyway, the book is fine and I will wait for suggestions before sending it out again.
Thanks!

Word from Sam

2011-03-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

I finally found that Sam had responded to a comment I left on her blog regarding some missing books! She said she has four and will get to them soon, as she has been busy with college and other things. I am just glad I found her, as I really thought I'd lost her in the cracks and crevices of blog land. Not so. So now I hope all the books are once more in circulation and will get to our homes before too long at all.

Book Audit

2011-03-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Me again, your friendly neighbourhood anal retentive. Don't worry, they have medication for it and sometimes I even take it.

Lynn's book: seems to have made it all the way through the next five people and is probably the one that Mary said she would mail out (to me) when the rain lets up where she is. Then it only needs to go through me and Suki to be finished and returned to Lynn.

Cat's book: should be finished because Lynn completed her page. Lynn, did you send it back to Cat? If so, that leaves eight books in circulation.

Kate's book: has made it through everyone but Cat, and Cat is not feeling well. Kate asked Cat to go ahead and keep it until she is feeling better because she is the last one to contribute a page to that book anyhow. Cat, our thoughts are with you. Rest and be well.

Mim's book: has been to everyone but Kate. Cat will send it to Kate soon without adding a page.

Sam's book: has traveled to everyone except Kate and Mim. Cat has it and will send it soon without working on it.

Annie's book: was last heard from when it was with Mim last June, as far as I can tell. Did it ever make it to Sam? I don't know.

Mary's book: traveled through me, Suki, Lynn and Cat, and was with Kate last April. I don't know what happened after that. Did it get to Mim? Sam?

Kelly's book (mine): was last heard from with Mim. Annie, you said you had worked on all books except Mary's and Suki's, but I don't see a post from you about working on my book. Are you sure you have had all but TWO? If you have not received my book, then it is with Mim or Sam.

Suki's book: also was last mentioned with Mim, not sure if it ever got passed on to Sam.

That's nine: Cat's completed, Lynn's being mailed by Mary to me, three (Kate's, Mim's and Sam's) being dealt with now by Cat, and the other four either with Mim or Sam.

Accounting of the books that Suki has completed

2011-03-03T05:35:00.000-08:00

going through the blog and looking at the pictures plus using Kelly's accounting of books from awhile back, I have received all books except for Lynn's. Also I have not received my own back. I have no books in my possession at the moment.

I thought I read someone's post awhile back that said they had two books plus their own which needed a cover. For some mistaken reason I thought that was Annie but it must not have been as Annie has no books. annie I appologize as i was going to write and ask you to send my book on to the next person.

so I will say to whomever holds my book, could you please just send on to the next person? you can send me a page to add on later when the time is better for working on it. I truly understand how life happens and making book pages becomes low on the to-do list. No judgment here. In fact, I consider it brave and honorable to send a book on without ones page when it feels like too much on the plate. Blessings and peace, suki

Attention All Artshine Book Artists!

2011-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's been brought to my attention that the books once more seem to be at a stand still. May I suggest that we put a ONE MONTH hold on any book. That we agree to hopefully complete the needed page and send it on in one months time from receiving the book OR send it on without the page at the end of a month if for whatever reason we were unable to do it. Then perhaps the next artist will be able to complete their page and send the book on again in a timely manner.

My hope would be that if you or I am the one having to send a book on without a new page that we would at some time when we could do a page and send it directly to the books owner.
Of course they may have already bound their book by then, but at least they'd have that page.

Let's please keep these books circulating. I know they seem to pile up in some homes and if that is the case hold what you think you can do in the months time and send the rest forward.
Thank you!!!!
Lynn

Lynn's Pages for Kate's Book

2011-01-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

I had fun making these pages for your book Kate! I spent a week or more worth of evenings sitting in my recliner with embroidery threads and beads hand sewing my heart into them!
I call this first page: "Tropical Storm". The background is green felt, the bottom fabric is the reverse side of some upholstery fabric, both from my thrift store finds. In fact everything on this page thread, beads, fabrics all materials came from thrift store finds. Even the needles I used to sew them.

There is some orange netting at the bottom too.

Click on photos to see detail

The back page is called: "Deep Blue Sea".

On this one I have used some newly purchased batik fabric for the fish (new/unused) fat quarter from a quilt shop splurge! I machine sewed them on and did some machine sewing to quilt this page. Back is blue felt, same green upholstery fabric for the waves at the bottom, orange tulle/netting, beads and embroidery floss.
It's a bit thick as both have batting behind them and then the four layers are sewn together.
I can fold them in half and hope they fit comfortably with the rest of the wonderful pages of your book! I love the feel of it...I hope you do too!

Question

2011-01-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

I keep reading people's references to another traveling journal? Where was the original reference to this??? I must have missed it.

Kudos!!!!!

2011-01-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

click on photo to see more wonderful detail
I have opened one more Art Shine book, this one is Kate's! I have to respond here at how awed I am by what I see. This book will be sent on to Cat and then back to Kate, finished! Our books are making the circuits well. And I just realized we started this traveling book circuit in January 2010. Not bad! Not bad at all. To each artist who has a page in this book all seven of you, I bow down and stand up and applaud. I will try to make mine do justice to being among yours!

*******************************************************************************

I just went through this blog and figured out that I have made pages for Cat, Mary, Mim, Sam, Annie, Kelly and Suki (and my own first page). When I finish my page for Kate that I am starting now I will have completed a page for each person's book!

Can you tell by going through the blog from start to finish how many and whose books you have yet to make a page for?

and

Are you up for a next round? Do we know someone who wants to join the group?

**********************************************************************************

Lynn's Second Page for Mim's Book

2011-01-16T09:10:00.001-08:00

click on photo to see more brush strokes and runny paints! LOL

Mim is a very active woman! I tried to capture that and her style a tad with my "cartoon" lay out of four panels of Mim doing the activities I know she enjoys. (biking, drawing and painting, hiking, blogging, and kayaking! I used my newest set of Pentel marking pens (fine points); and watercolors. (I am assuming in panel 3 that her DH is a Boston Red Sox fan, therefore the red sock on his shirt)...I also hope it qualifies for her desire for color and design! I had fun doing you, Mim! Hope you like!

Lynn's first page for Mim's book: "Color and Design"

2011-01-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Since I am doing this on Friday, my day off, and it's soon to be the Sabbath, I found that reason enough (besides the fact that I thought Mim would get a kick out of it) to use my new Hebrew stamp that says in Hebrew: Shabbat Shalom (welcoming the sabbath). On torn origami papers I picked up on my travels. Okay a little mix of cultures, but full of color and design(s). I hope it all works for you Mim.

I wasn't sure which end was up so you can decide. I'll do page two or back of the page tomorrow.

**************************************

I must add here that there is nothing quite as wonderful

as holding one of these books full of art in ones hands

and seeing it with your own eyes

and touching it with your own fingers

to fully appreciate the beauty

that these pages all hold.

Everyone should pat themselves on the back for doing such a wonderful job.

*********************************************

suki completes her page for Kate's book

2011-01-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

Nature was the theme. I used acrylic gloss medium to glue ginko leaves onto water color paper. I use gloss medium with natural objects to protect them. Acrylic paint, rubber stamps and silver marker. The ginko leaves are some Willow sent me from Ohio.

On the back I glued pieces of a leaf drawing I made a few years ago. Pen and ink and watercolor. I drew with my non-dominant hand (the right hand). I copied out a poem about painting. I will mail this on to Lynn on in the next few days. Cheers!

suki received Kate's book from Kelly

2011-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hope to get started on my Nature page soon.!!!!

suki completes her page for Mim's book

2011-01-06T12:05:00.001-08:00

I was puzzled for awhile as to what to do. Mim's theme is colors and patterns. This has a Japanese flavour. I must have wanted a neat and tidy page. The two ATC cards have haiku on the back and can be removed. The border is made from paper I put together. You glue strips of different papers either horizontally or vertically then cut in the opposite direction to get all these little squares.

Back of the ATC cards.

Back of the page. Sending on to Lynn Fri unless snowed in.

Made with paper scraps, rubber stamps, gold marker pen.

Kelly's Pages for Kate's Book

2011-01-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hello,

For Kate's book, which is "inspired by nature," I again indulged in the theme I am enjoying so much these days: dragonflies. Kate gave us a choice between one continuous piece spanning both panes on the same side or dividing one side into two sections. I decided to divide, which gave me four chances to explore the theme of dragonfly - one in watercolour, one in pen & ink, one in collage and one in coloured pencils. Happy new year!

suki received Mim's book from Kelly

2010-12-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know. Wow. It's looking great too. OK I will hunker down this weekend and try to do a page so I can mail it out next week. Have a lovely NEW YEAR'S eve everyone. hugs, suki

Cat's Last Page: Book Completed by Lynn

2010-12-29T13:06:00.001-08:00

Cat said do your own thing so the front of my page for her book involved my recent foray into using the silk neckties I recently collected. Therefore the title: The Ties That Bind. Might appear to be a silk purse of the Shakespearian era!

And she also said she had a love for Shakespeare's works. So it is the words of the Bard himself that wrap around the quilted center piece. And on the back I have added a photo of my nephew Allen F. Voigt, who is a drama grad who loves performing Shakespeare's works on stage! Here he is doing Mid Summer's Night Dream with his own true love, actress Jenelle Bartelt, a current graduate student in drama.

The words I printed out are lines they are speaking in this photo...the written words are from another quote from the same play.
This is the final page in Cat's book that is filled with wonderful pages from all of you! Be proud!

Have Book! Might it be the first one completed?

2010-12-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

Just to let everyone know I have received Cat's book from Suki. Oh my the pages are so beautiful in person. I love touching the fabric ones...the painting ones are also so inviting. Just a lot of beauty.

Artists all, please, please, please sign your art! Some pages are not signed at all. Some only have initials on them. I want to know who did which page on my book. So PLEASE sign your work.
At least on the back if you do not want to sign the main page.

I probably will not start my page to add to this book before next week. I will be on vacation from work then for two whole weeks and want to do my page in a relaxed manner which will be possible then.

Oh, I just realized I send to Cat. This might be our first FINISHED BOOK!!!!

Suki completes her page in Cat's book

2010-12-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

I used a little tissue paper book I had made a few months ago about words and silence. I added some Shakespearean quotes and cut out figures and glued the book to the page.

Back of the page is rather uninspiring but I wanted to mail the book on to Lynn so just left it as is rather than waiting for an idea to arise.

A sonnet written in pencil.

The cut out figures are not Shakespearean but they look similar. I think they are Commedia Dell'Arte. However you spell that.

There is also a page about "Fools." I forgot to photograph it and now the book is packed. I will send to Lynn probably on Tuesday.

suki received Cat's book from Kelly

2010-12-01T11:48:00.001-08:00

I hope to start on my contribution soon. It's looking great, this book.

YAY!!

2010-11-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have Sam's book! I'll bet started on my page in the next few days and will let y'all know when it's on its way outta here!

This book is awesomesauce, everyone's work is just fantastic and so inspiring!!

Kelly's Pages for Cat

2010-11-23T18:11:00.001-08:00

Hello!

Sylvain was kind enough to bring his camera over tonight so I could snap these pages before I put Cat's book in the mail to Suki tomorrow. I have two more books to work on after this.

Cat said we could do whatever we want, to do what makes us happy. So I used one of my little watercolour paintings of dragonflies for the basis of my pages. I cut some dragonflies out of a newspaper article about recent local random acts of kindness and pasted them over/around the painting. On the back I did something with 9 blocks of origami paper pasted over 9 more blocks of paper. I cut the shape of a dragonfly out of the top block to reveal the paper underneath. It gives kind of the impression of a quilt, don't you think?

Kelly

Body Parts For Sam

2010-11-15T08:02:00.001-08:00

..the words say: "My body serves me well...My hands create...I appreciate my eyes...walking...My heart is full" and "Art by Lynn".
I made Sam's page from felt and burlap. She asked for the human form, preferably textile and I did my best using a whimsical style. I hope you like it Sam. I have taken lately to writing with my sewing machine on fabric and I had fun doing that on this piece too. I cut things out of felt and felted wool, then machine sewed them down, Later I hand embroidered around them.

And this final picture is the back: Some woolly bits glued on to card stock and scribbled around with new fabric paints I got at the thrift store! Hey, they work on paper too!

It is now on it's way to Cat's house for the next page!

I have Sam's book! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

I cannot express strongly enough how beautiful the pages of this book are in person! Sam's work of the nude as seen in the photo of our banner is exquisite when you see and touch the fabric it is sewn to, see the hand done stitches outlining the paint. Amazing work...Annie's pink heavily beaded fabric netting surrounding her female picture with raised from the paper head...Kelly's pink hoodie gal's bright pink hoodie...So well drawn. There are more and I am writing from work so memory does not serve me well enough to remember all the pages just now, but all are wonderful. Suki's self portrait framed in silver so rich. Sorry to those I am forgetting...just know each and every one made a huge impression on me. I will have to put thought into this for my contributing page to this wonderful book.

suki completes Sam's page

2010-11-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sam's theme was the human form. This is a self-portrait in the style of Roualt that I did for The Big Draw a few years ago. Or no, mabye this was an exercise in that drawing book I have, I forget.

On the back is a drawing of my hand done for The Big Draw. I will mail the book on to Lynn in the next few days.

Mailing from Kelly received by Suki

2010-10-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

Just to let y'all k now I recieved Sam's traveling sketchbook on Saturday mailed to me by Kelly. I'll get to work now.

New venture

2010-10-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share my new venture with all of you. I just took action on a dream of mine. I have started my own Ning network where I will be offereing classes, periodic challenges, inspiration, videos and more. You can check it out here.

Page for Cat's book

2010-10-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

Cat's book offered a unique challenge for me because she didn't have a theme, so to speak. She did say she liked nature, black and white, Shakespeare and King Arthur among other things so I let them jumble about for a bit and began to paint. I often paint images of women and birds and this one sort of just showed up....it is painted in acrylics on a textured piece of pastel paper.The pictures of Bill and Art are from stock photos and I just wrote in some well known pieces that seemed to fit. One is from Bill, of course and the other is a line from the famous Man of La Mancha song but it seemed to fit.
I will be sending all 3 books I have to Kelly tomorrow.

Annie's Pages for Lynn's Book

2010-10-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

I tried, but finally gave up getting good photos of these pages, this is the best I could do.

Lynn, had no theme, but her pages were about love, so I decided to do mine on love too.

I hand stitched a felt heart and one of my pendants on the one side along with ink pen and Lo's wonderful papers she shared with me, on the other side, special papers and colored pencil and ink. Lynn I hope you like these. Mary I will be sending these along in the next few days, I hope you received Cat's book. XOXO P.S. I am now out of books, this was the last one I had.

Page for Kate's book

2010-10-14T13:23:00.002-07:00

Kate has a nature theme for her book and it seemed like a natural to get out some of my nature journals and pictures that I keep around for inspiration. This page with the squirrels and trees is really the back page....
This page with the little johnny jump ups is one of my favorites and as I looked through my sketchbooks I found any number of small watercolors and sketches that I seem to do each spring...
Down in the corner the note says "nature is my joy and my inspiration" and as a nature writer and artist that is so true I thought I'd just tear it out and share it....

Pages for Mim's book....

2010-10-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

My camera is out of commission for the moment so I scanned these pages....I have to say I love seeing everyone's work and interpretations of the different topics ;-)

Living by the sea I am always doodling shells and sea creatures and playing with them in different colors and arrangements so when I saw that Mim's theme was pattern and color I got out my ink pens and watercolors and had a blast.
I will send this along tomorrow to Kelly and am hoping to have the second book done so I can send that along, too....

Annie's Pages for Cat's Book

2010-10-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Cat's book has no theme, but she loves bold color, nature and Shakespeare, so I added a bit of all with colored pencils and ink on special paper that dear Lo sent to me. Cat I hope these please you. I just have one more book here to do pages for and that is Lynn's. Mary I hope you received Kate's book by now. Let me know when you want me to send this one on to you.

xoxo

Annie's Pages for Kate's Book

2010-10-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Kate's theme is nature. I used beautiful papers that I received as a gift from the wonderful Lo (Thanks Laurel!) and embellished them with butterflies and flowers and dragonflies. I also used colored pencils and pens. I hope you like them Kate. I received Lynn's book yesterday(lovely book!) and I have sent Mim's book to Mary. So I have two to work on (Cat's and Lynn's) and one to send on to Mary (Kate's). I am going to hold onto Kate's for about a week to give Mary some time. I will let you know when it gets sent. Kate's book was in a very small package and the pages were all folded, I have bought a bigger envelope and unfolded the pages as some were looking worse for wear from being folded so tightly. Happy Tuesday! xoxo

My Pages for Mim's Book

2010-09-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

I am all done. Mim's book is about pattern and color, I tried for both. I could not do a page for Mim without including a fish :-). I hope you like them Mim. The first page (top) is done with colored pencil and ink, the second page is done with special papers and metallic ink. I will be putting this in the post Monday or Tuesday, sending it on to Mary. Please let me know when it arrives. XOXO

I Received the Pages for Cat's Book

2010-09-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

So now I have 3. Like the others these pages are delightful and so unique. Has anyone heard from Cat?
I will finish Mim's pages this weekend and it should be on the way to Mary by Monday.
I will post photos.
XOXO

Sam's Page for Lynn's Book

2010-09-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

I hit a bit of a block. Lynn's book had no theme and all the previous pages were so different from each other I was really unsure what to do.

I fetched them out, had a good long stare at them, and then put all the pages away again. I was almost tempted to start on the next book, and come back to it, but that would have meant the books going out of their correct order and that would only cause confusion down the line.

So as i stared at it and wondered, bad things were happening around me, and I began to think about how no matter how we want o plan, the map of our lives is never quite how we expected it to be.

Maps, oh yes. I have lots of those, and I really liked the idea of using maps in a page.

I tried stitching on the pages but they tore really easily, so I bonded the map pages to some cotton muslin and then stitched over them. On the front of the page I stitched over the place names, collaged over areas to create parks, towns and a river, then created new place names from words I cut out of old books. These place names were words I use or other people have used to describe me. Some are positive and some less so, but all, I think are applicable to all of us at some time or another.

On the back of my page I stitched over everything except for the roads, again created new areas of parkland, forest, towns and mountains and a couple of rivers and gave everything a new name, using machine embroidered words.

Doing these pages has helped me through a difficult few days and has cleared some very negative energy. I feel better for having created these pages even though at first I thought they were a little too personal. Thanks to Jamie for pointing out that we all have these thoughts and ideas about ourselves and that some of what I was feeling was normal.

So here they are. I hope you like them. Annie I'll get them in the post either tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest.

new address

2010-09-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have changed my email address, it is now katespin@gmail.com

My Page for Mim's Book

2010-09-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is the first page I did for Mim's book, who's theme is pattern and color. These are not very good photos, the middle one is washed out and the other two are blurry, I will take a better one when I complete the other page. I used colored pencil and pen. I hope you like this Mim! xoxo

Kate's Book has arrived from Sam!

2010-09-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

These pages are so beautiful, photos never really do them justice. I am starting Mim's book today. Yay. xoxo

Mim's Book has Arrived!

2010-09-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

I received Mim's book from Sam today. Mim's and Sam's pages are wonderful, I am looking forward to this one and I will likely start and maybe even finish over the weekend. I will keep you posted. xoxo

Pocketfull of Dreams

2010-09-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

I really have moved along with the backlog now.

Cat's book has no theme, "just do what you want" she said. I thought I'd have trouble with this, not being really sure even where to start.

But, then I got to thinking. A pocketful of dreams.

Each dream is free machine stitching on felt with a ribbon backing attached to the interior of the pocket. The pocket is indigo dyed cotton with cotton patches and free machine flowers stitched over them.

A closer view of the front page.

The back is a patchwork of fabrics, ribbon and lace with the same flower motif as the front with writing around the edge.

The writing is:

And in my patchwork garden where I plant my hopes and dreams, the flowers grow with the love I give my dearest ones.

I really enjoyed this page. It happened all of its own accord, with very little fuss and no real planning. I love it when something comes together like this and just works without any stress at all.

Annie I'll put this in the post tomorrow. I hope the others arrive with you soon.

Steaming Ahead

2010-09-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

Annie, I posted Kate's book along with my pages today. I hope it arrives with you soon.

Here is the front part of the page.

I have used natural and synthetic fabrics, rayon and cotton thread, machine stitching throughout.

Kate's book's theme is inspired by nature, and for me the most inspiring creature of nature is the spider, constantly remaking her web, creating incredible feats of acrobatics and engineering with equal panache. Not only that, but their persistence is astounding.

On the back I have machine written my thoughts about spiders and how they inspire me. Although it is difficult to read it from this photo.

I hope you like it.

Speeding Ahead

2010-09-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

I have finished my pages for Kate's book, inspired by nature.

Sorry Annie I didn't expect to get this finished so quickly, but it all worked first time, which is unheard of for my work!

I have used man made, synthetic and natural fabrics, with polyester and metallic threads. All machine stitched, even the writing on the back.

I am inspired by spiders, their persistence, their skill and their tenacity, existing all across the world in all conditions. Truly wonderful creatures. I decided to make a spider's web lit up by the moonlight, when their work is at its most magical.

Annie, I'm not putting this into the post until the weekend, to give you a little time between pages. Please don't be daunted!

Sneaky Peek

2010-09-06T16:46:00.001-07:00

In the interest of getting everything moving again, I'm halfway through my next page!

Back from Hibernation

2010-09-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

Hello all travelling sketchbookers.

Here is my finally finished page for Mim's book, Colour and Pattern.

It will be in the post today and hopefully now the books will start travelling from me thick and fairly fast.

Lynn, I am ashamed to say that I have 7, soon to be 6 sketchbooks in my possession. I thought what was 1 turned out to be 3 in one envelope.

Should I post some of these on to Annie, or just continue to work through them?

Where the Books Were Last Seen

2010-08-30T16:36:00.001-07:00

According to our blog posts:

Mim has started her book. She mailed it to Sam and Sam acknowledged receiving it. That's all I know about that one.

Sam (Fearless Threader) started her book and sent it to Annie, who got it in February, mailed it to Mary at the end of March. Mary acknowledged receiving it on April 1. That might be the one Mary refers to as being fabric and with her now.

Annie's book has traveled through Mary, Kelly, Suki, Lynn, Cat, Kate and Mim, who acknowledged receiving it in June. I don't know if Mim still has it or not.

Mary's book has traveled through Kelly, Suki, Lynn, Cat and Kate. It left Kate in April, but I don't know if Mim got it.

Kelly's (my) book has travelled through Suki, Lynn, Cat, Kate and Mim, who got it in April. I don't know if Mim ever sent it on to Sam.

Suki's book has travelled through Lynn, Cat, Kate and Mim, who acknowledged receiving it. I don't know what happened after that.

Lynn's book went to Cat, Kate and Mim. Again, I don't know what happened after that.

Cat's book went to Kate and left Kate in March, but I don't know if Mim got it.

Kate started her book and sent it to Mim, who got it. I don't know what happened after that.

So if there is only one book with Mary (Sam's), then there should be eight books with Mim and Sam. Sam says she has five, so I hope the other three are with Mim.

Thank you to all those who posted when they received and when they mailed books. It made the job of accounting for them nice and easy! Not to mention that it's fun to track them as they travel the world.

Cheers, from your friendly neighbourhood anal retentive... :)

Playing Detective!

2010-08-29T22:54:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been asking around (and around, and around) and have learned that Sam has five books waiting her pen/brush/etc.

I am wondering if the person she sends to will get five books at once and then be bottle necked once more. You might want to send some on to others with a note to either send back to you when they finish a page; OR that you will send on a page later as soon as it is finished.

I wonder if we could all agree from now on to not hold books longer than a month?
And if we cannot finish in that time frame to send them on and send our page when we can?
What do you think?

There are still some books out besides these five. Do you have one or more? Please report in!!!

Thanks,
Detective LYNN wants to know.

It's been a month...

2010-07-23T23:09:00.001-07:00

It's been a month or more since the last posting here. Just curious again as to where the books are and how they are coming along...soon I should have my art studio up again and ready to create! I hope a book is heading my way!!!! ?????

A page for Annies Book

2010-06-13T18:45:00.001-07:00

Annies Theme is "love" so I did a love photo/collage/stamping/ribbons etc thing. This will go out to Sam this week - and Annie I loved working on it and hope you enjoy these pages. I wasn't keeping track of the edge sizes...sorry - but just consider that the 1 inch is there.

Checking In!!!

2010-05-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd check in and see how everyone is doing. Wondering where all the books are, who has what, who's working on what, etc. What's been mailed to whom and whom should be expecting to receive what when how...LOL That sort of thing.

Maybe because I haven't had one of these books at my door step in a while I am at loose ends.
So keep 'em rolling when you can...no pressure...just encouraging words...

All my best, and I have to say the quality of every ones art pages here is simply wonderful to behold. You can all be very proud of yourselves!!!!

Lynn

Pages for Annie's book completed

2010-04-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

Since Annie's book is about all kinds of love I decided to use Mother-Daughter love as the theme for my pages.

I made fabric paper by stitching several piece of fabric on to watercolor paper. The photo I chose also seems to celebrate the love of reading too. I think the picture speaks volumes so after adding trim to it I saw it as complete.

On the back side I stitched on some card stock so you could not see the sewing from the first page. I had just bought some Panpastels and wanted to try them out here. I layered green blue and purple shades on the paper. Then I chose one of my favorite photographs of my daughter and myself. The words came easily.

Mim I will be mailing these pages on Monday.

Annie's pages arrived

2010-04-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry I forgot to mention that I got Annie's pages from Cat late last week. In looking at all the wonderful pages I am so impressed. What a wonderful group of Artists we all are. I now can look at the pages and guess just who has done them. I plan to sit down with it this week and come up with an idea for it. Love in all its forms is pretty wide open so we will see what I end up with. It might be garden love or dog love or something I haven't even thought of yet.

Pages for Mary's book

2010-04-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

I finished the pages I was doing for Mary's book on Birds.

This is the front with the flap on the left.

Then when the flap is open I have a group of birds sitting on a fence.

The back is a nest full of eggs. All these pages were drawn with Carb-Othello pastel pencils and touches were added with Faber-Casteel Pitt pens. Mim I will be popping this in the mail tomorrow.

Update on Annie's Book!

2010-04-20T08:39:00.001-07:00

Annie's book is now on its way out to Kate today!!

Back of Annie's Page!

2010-04-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

I tried to keep the back from competing with the front but I wanted it to be pretty too!

It's really a a bright acrylic pink, with a pink heart that I distressed a bit with some sandpaper and then added some dots and a stenciled image in fun colors! The scan makes it look more lavender but it is really bright pink!

Hope you'll like it Annie!! I'm going to let the sealer set over the weekend and ship it off to Kate early next week!

Mary's pages arrived

2010-04-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

I got Mary's pages in the mail today. Its so exciting every time I get one of these books. The artwork is always amazing and looks so much better in person. Since I too love birds I am looking forward to working in this book.

Cat's page for Annie!

2010-04-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on the back but, I do have the FRONT finished!

The definitions are from vintage dictionary pages and reflect some of what love means to me.

The page is constructed of watercolor paper, joint compound for texture, assorted heart shapes cut from different materials, colorbox liquid chalks and black paint pen.

I use joint compound instead of the more 'expensive' molding paste.

The definitions are for:
love
respect
kind
patient
honest
humor
understanding

Hope you like it so far, Annie! I'll update when I have the back finished and it's ready to ship!!

pages for Kelly's book

2010-04-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Kelly asked for nature and there are lots of beautiful pieces in her book. Mine came out a bit dark - sort of inspired by mangrove swamps, but I got a bit lighter on the back with ....what else....fishes.

Hope you like this Kelly - it's different - that's one way to look at it.

Cat's book

2010-04-10T03:51:00.001-07:00

Cat said "do whatever you'd like" and she also noted that she loves the Arthur legend - so I did a queen/lady of Shallot piece. I do note that the queen has a bit of a Roman nose, but that does fit in with the times, doesn't it?

I have Kelly's book also, so will finish that one off before I send these out for more work to our talented group. Should be sent this week....I hope!!!

Finally!!

2010-04-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

I have completed Mary's Bird page! You have no idea how much I have been fighting with myself over this page! Once I realized why, I let it go. I was so concerned about the front flap and trying to make my style of art fit into this book that I was just stumped. Everyone so far has done very beautiful and deep meaningful pieces for it that I was trying so hard to do the same thing that I couldn't move. I couldn't make anything.

So, I let it go. Birds to me are funny. Silly, brightly colored clowns. Not all of them, but most! In order to get this page moving 'I' had to let me be me. I was causing myself all the blockage!

Mary, I hope you like my page for your book. No, it's not profound, or deep and meaningful. It's just fun. I like it!

This is the inside. Hand drawn with a micron pen and then watercolor painted. A smidge of white ink for some highlights.

This is the outside of the page. On the left is the back of the page and on the right is the foldover front. The bird on the front was hand drawn on a vintage dictionary page and cut out. Glued down to the watercolor washed background and then I drew in all the embellishments. The back is just a watercolor splash with a quote "No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings" ~William Blake

Once 'I' allowed myself to just be me, I had a good time making this page! :) Lesson learned: Be yourself, do what YOU do! Have fun!!

I'll be shipping the 'Bird' book on to Kate's tomorrow!! Then I will be jumping into Annie's 'Love' book!

Sam's Book

2010-04-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

Mary, I posted the book this morning and it should be there by Friday, Monday latest.

My Other Page for Sam's Book

2010-03-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

This is my other page for Sam's book, the theme is the human form. I did some drawings, but did not like any of them, so I went with another mixed media piece. Acrylic paint, pens, and collage pictures. I sewed the two pages together. My sewing is sloppy as I don't sew! But I did my best. These photos are a bit blurred, I took a second set of pictures and they were worse, sorry about that. Sam I hope you are pleased. I will be packing it up and sending Sam's book to Mary in the next few days. I will let you know when I put it in the post.XOXO

Annie's book...

2010-03-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

has arrived here in Florida from Lynn in California!! It's a beauty too, with the great theme of Love!

I am still in possession of Mary's book. That little fold over flap has had me stumped a bit on how I want to incorporate it into my completed page. That won't last forever, soon enough lightning will strike and whamo...I'll be finished with the page!

Pages for Kelly's and Cat's books

2010-03-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

These are my pages for Kelly and Cat's books. It seems that I always have 2 to work on. It took me a long time to figure out what to do in these books.

It seemed that everyone before me chose to do trees. When I saw that Kelly also liked Ravens as I do I knew I had to combine both images. I usually work in acrylic but tried this in watercolor. I used a picture I took in Yellowstone of a Raven on a tree for reference. He doesn't seem quite right but being watercolor it was hard to change. I hope you like it.

For the back I did watercolor wash in several colors. I included the lyrics from The Raven by the Alan Parsons Project.

For Cat's book I was stumped on what to do. So when she just said play with whatever you like, that is what I did. I had recently bought this shimmery paper and decided to do make some striped paper. I sewed the paper to the water color base and then added these old fashioned balloons and some words and lined it all in fabric tape.

For the backside I decided that I would paint one of my faces. I am still learning so I never know how these are going to turn out. I tried to make it a little whimsical with the background and little birdie. I hope you like it

Mim, I will be putting these in the mail on Monday.

My first page for Sam's book

2010-03-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

I am so nervous about this one. I don't do human forms much(Sam's theme is the human form), so I decided to do a collage and paint and tulle and beads, also stamps and pens. I did all the sewing by hand as I do not have a sewing machine. I hope you like it Sam. On the other side I think I will do a line drawing with pens, but I am not sure yet. I hope to start on it Monday. xoxo

Lynn's Page for Annie is Full of Love

2010-03-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Annie's theme is "Love" and I had all sorts of ideas, some included an early photo of my husband and I when we were young and in-love courting each other; one was the cat licking my husbands bald head; but none spoke as loudly or as humorously as LOVE, as this photo taken years ago of my grandparents who were married well over 60 years, who laughed and loved and were truly devoted to each other all of those years. They were dressed in costumes my grandmother created (as fine seamstress was she) for a fun night as Maggie and Jiggs!

I laid it on felt and I framed it in sewn woolly bits and wrote Love using my free motion foot on my sewing machine. Embellished with a heart. The empty inch will be hidden in the binding of her book. The back holds quotes about love that seemed fitting as well. And I glued them down with gold glitter glue and covered it all in red tulle, adding a little red rose to cover an unsightly glue glob.

I had fun making this page!

Finally started

2010-03-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Good news for Annie, waiting patiently for the next book, I have finally made a start on Mim's book.

As Mim said her theme was colour and pattern I thought I would try circles, something I've not played with since I was a child.

Here is the first stage.

Background fabric is synthetic black satin, with circles of different colours layered on top of it. Initially bonded to the base fabric, there will be hand and possibly machine stitching on top of that. I will report back with further progress reports. Hopefully it won't be so long between posts.

I've Got Annie's Book...

2010-03-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

And WOW!!!! There is nothing like having the pages of these books in your hands and before your own eyes. The textures, the colors, the embellishments, the look and feel of them is simply amazingly wonderful to witness first hand. I will LOVE getting into my page for this book whose theme is LOVE!!!

suki completes page for Annie's book

2010-03-13T04:06:00.000-08:00

Annie's theme is love. I cut heart shapes out of watercolor paper. Painted with acrylics and marker. A bit of collage.

back of page. quote "Love is all you need," from the Beetles. I have mailed it on to Lynn with correct zip. Lynn, as you havent mentioned receiving the book I mailed you awhile ago I'm wondering if I put the wrong zip on that??

Overwhelmed!

2010-03-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

Three sketchbooks arrived at once! I've only just started with Mim's book.

Oh my goodness you all work so fast. Sorry for the delay, I will make the time to get on with Mim's book this week and hopefully get that in the post by the weekend.

Normal service will be resumed.

I have to say they are all so beautiful in the flesh and the photos though good really don't do the colours and work justice.

Mary's book has arrived!

2010-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

I have received Mary's gorgeous 'Bird' book! Oh and it is fantastic! I will be thinking on this particular style and what I can add to it for a bit and will update here when it's on its way to Kate!

Our Banner UPDATE

2010-03-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

March 5 Update: I finally realized if I saved photos to my desktop I could get them to open in Picasa to be edited there, and a collage made. I used art from each of us this time but it may be too much at once to show off any piece really well. I'll give this a week and then I may go back to showing only four at once. Let me know what you think.

Written March 4
I need to apologize for the trials and tribulations I am experiencing making our banners.
I vowed to myself that I would change it every few weeks to display different artists work/pages. However, this time you will see same artists given space again and some who have not yet been shown obviously absent.

Why?

Because my computer programs are giving me headaches! They are refusing to open every photo I try to move from our blog to my Picasa program in order to make a collage. Why it will open Kelly's pretty Cup but not Mary's lovely Hummer is beyond me. But it won't. I finally had to take a photo of my own work in a different program just to fill in the collage, which needs four photos to fill the banner. Needless to say, it did fine before, and this is a new glitch. Also I will keep trying. I do want everyone to get equal SHOW of ART in the banner over time.

Now you know why and why there were no photos up at all for a bit yesterday if you happened by at that time.

Lynn trying hard to get it right!

Perhaps, if you are one of the artists whose work has not yet been displayed in our banner, you can email me your art (small enough to be reproduced for the banner...about 600 megapixels I believe works well) and I can try to do it that way. (lyn_fred1@comcast.net) Thanks

Suki receive's Annie's book

2010-03-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Finally received Kelly's mailing of Annie's book. Great pages. There will be a small delay re: my working on the next page as I am away on the Cape for a weekish. But just wanted to let you know where the book is!

Books arrived

2010-03-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

I received both Cat's and Kelly's books in the mail today. They both arrived in great condition. Seeing that thread painting by Lynn in person is truly amazing. In fact all the pages are just beautiful, I love seeing them in person.

Sam's page Arrived!!!

2010-03-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

I received Sam's page today and it is so beautiful, a photo does not do it proud. I have many ideas and will start on my page for her book this weekend. How exciting. xoxox

Mail

2010-02-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

Annie's book, which I mailed to Suki over a week ago, still has not arrived. To entertain you while we wait for the Canadian and US postal services to do their thing, here is a shot of the back of the page I did for Annie. Each side of the tea bag tag has a different quote on love from Yogi Bhajan.

Sam Page

2010-02-28T12:25:00.001-08:00

Hi, Annie, not heard from you since I posted my page out. Did it arrive ok? Getting worried, because you've not posted.

Lynn's Pages for Mary's Book

2010-02-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

Mary's theme is "Bird". I recently was inspired by the King Tut Egyptian exhibit at the de Young Museum in SF. Birds are depicted in much of the art I saw there. My drawings are copied from pictures I brought home from the museum in brochures and from a children's book on the same Egyptian subject matter. I used pencil and colored pencils exclusively on light weight watercolor paper. I folded the front over a quarter of the way that Mary did her page and each subsequent artist did as well. Opening up the flap shows the whole winged scarab. The small black bird in the lower right corner is the hieroglyphic sign or symbol for bird. (instead of writing bird in English). This is the back of my page opened up all the way.

This is the back of the page with the flap turned to the front.

I hope I fulfilled the theme of bird for Mary and that she will enjoy the Egyptian art. (copied)

I will be sending this book off to Cat tomorrow (it contains pages by Mary, Suki, Kelly and me.)These books are really moving quite rapidly I do believe!

MY page is ready to go!!

2010-02-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Yahoooo! My page is ready to go!

Front

Colorful Trees done in acrylics

Back

Watercolor wash with a fun spritz of alcohol to create a resist!

The text is of course, from Dr. Seuss:

'Today you are You, that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than You!'

A great quote that helps me to remind myself that it really is okay to be Me!

There is NO theme to my book! Please, everyone just BE yourselves! Have fun, laugh, sing, dance, play!! Whatever makes you happy will make me happy too!

I'll be shipping off to Kate in the morning!

Kelly's Page!

2010-02-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

I have finished with Kelly's page for her book! It should ship out tomorrow to travel to Kate's for its next addition!

I guess I was maybe 8 years old the first time I saw 'The Lorax'. It made complete sense to me. Things clicked in my mind, the way we are all connected, the way our actions actually affect others. I always loved the outdoors but after seeing The Lorax I really felt even more connected to it. I spent time in the orange groves near my grandparents home, in the wetlands, and in our forests.

I love trees. What else can I say...it's winter and some of the trees are sleeping. Even here, the trees sleep in the winter. I know, it's not like being in some of the more Northern regions but we do see winter in a different degree.

I painted for Kelly a sleeping tree in winter. Preparing the spring buds for all to see as they burst out in a brilliant green soon! I hope!

drawn with micron brush pen and then watercolors
the back is an explanation of sorts...

watercolor wash in a bright green with an alcohol spritz for fun! Of course, I added a favorite quote from Dr. Suess and my own take on the Truffula Tree:

I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.

Yes, I am a huge Dr. Suess fan. He was a genius!

Mary's book has arrived on my doorstep!

2010-02-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Mary your book is safe with me. The birds flew in today and will perch here for a bit. I promise to feed them each morning. The weather is spring like here so they will be singing happy songs.

We are going to SF to the King Tut Exhibit tomorrow so I won't be home creating as hoped.
Alas, the birds will get their next page soon enough, in the meantime I'll be dreaming of flying I'm sure!

Pages for Lynn's book

2010-02-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

Here are my pages for Lynn's book.

I know that Lynn is an amazing quilter so I started my page by making fabric paper using strips of batik fabrics sewn onto some bristol paper. I added fabric tape and several ribbons and an image and then I got stuck. You know how when you are working on a page and know that it needs something else but you don't know what. I love images of paths and doorways so then I added these words which seem to symbolize what the image means to me.

For the back of the page I took a piece of watercolor paper that I had painted previously. I added some images a little stamping and some words. I liked the calm look of this woman and she seemed to fit really well on the colored background. Lynn I hope you like it.

Mim I will pop this in the mail on Monday.

Suki's Pages Finished

2010-02-18T16:31:00.000-08:00

I'll be putting Suki's book in the mail tomorrow Mim so you should get it sometime next week.

These are my pages for Suki's book. I was attracted to this picture and its serenity. I added watercolor pencil to the background and then a some water to extend the color of the photo. I then stamped on top of it with a scroll stamp. I was going to add some words but decided to leave interpretation to the viewer.

For the back I chose a poem by Mary Oliver. First I added a watercolor wash of blues and greens and then wrote the poem on top of it. Then I stamped on the little dragonfly's. I hope you enjoy Mary's words.

I also got started on Lynn's pages but it won't be finished by tomorrow. I hope to get it in the mail early next week.

Yippee!!

2010-02-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

I have Kelly's book!! Will get started on my page for her soon! Being the first person to see Lynn's thread painting page I can tell you it is even more amazing in person! Wow!!

Sam Page is on it's Way!

2010-02-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

I posted my first page to Annie today and the nice woman at the post office said she thought it would arrive no later than Wednesday next week. I can't wait to see what Annie makes of my theme, and indeed all of you!

Now onto Mim's page. I have lots of ideas and a borrowed embellisher to have a really big go at needle felting.

Sam's first page is finally finished!

2010-02-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry to have taken so long over my first page, but with luck the "blank page" fear will now be under control. I already have a couple of ideas for Mim's page.

I wanted to get it finished and shipped before the end of last week, but I too have been battling the winter bug monster and he seems to have brought several friends with him. I'm now, finally, starting to get back to normal - well what passes for normal in my household! I feel I have lots of things to finish off and begin, and so on to the next.

I hope you all like what I've done, and I'm really looking forward to what I do with everyone else's and what you all do for mine.

Suki completes page for Mary's book

2010-02-16T05:03:00.000-08:00

Bird is the theme. Created on watercolor paper using Micron pen, watercolor pencil, collaged papers and a french vocabulary card.

Back side is a distressed magazine photo of a turkey, paper scraps, turkey feather collected in the field. Was a tad stymied at first but then it began to flow. Storm expected today so won't get to the PO until Wed at earliest to mail to Lynn.

question to Mary

2010-02-15T10:43:00.001-08:00

Hi mary. Just wondering about how you will bind these pages in your book. I know you said coptic. But will each page be sewn separately or will you place several pages together into a signature and sew. Thanks, Suki

Suki Received Mary's book via Kelly

2010-02-15T05:06:00.000-08:00

Oh, so beautiful.

Lynn's Page for Kellys Book is in the Mail to

2010-02-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Cat be on the look out. I put Kelly's book in the mail to you today. Due to President's Holiday I imagine you may not see it before next Friday!

The books are sailing along at a good pace!
Hope everyone is having fun.

Lynn's book arrived

2010-02-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

Lynn's book arrived in the mail today and it looks fantastic. Oh now I have two to work on, I had better get busy. I got an idea for Suki's book last night so I will be working on it soon.

Kelly's Page By Lynn Finished: Thread Painting

2010-02-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

Thread painted on off white muslin fabric...and inch of fabric added for binding. If necessary, Kelly you can cover that with paper if it works better for you. The words will be buried none the less. closer up

and then the back...
I was torn between gluing or sewing it down to paper I could write on,
but I like the way the picture comes out on the back almost as well
as it looks on the front...so decided to leave it.
You can recite any poem you wish
while looking at it.
;-)

rayon threads, polyester threads, cotton muslin fabric.
thread painted.
Artbylynn

A Page for Annie in Progress

2010-02-12T11:00:00.001-08:00

Here is the front of my page for Annie. I'm starting on the back now. I really wanted to do something with the Hafez poem or quote "The Sun Never Says." But while I was researching it and looking for the original Persian, I discovered that Hafez never wrote it...at least not in Farsi and not while he was alive. It's from a book called The Gift, which sufi mystic Daniel Ladinsky claims was given to him by Hafez via his dreams. Since some Hafez aficionados do not appreciate it being attributed to Hafez, I decided to assign it to D. Ladinsky instead...though I do not rule out the possibility that Ladinsky is channeling the 14th century Persian mystic/poet. Who am I to say he's not? Annie, I hope you like it. xo K

A Work In Progress: A Page for Kelly's Book

2010-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be fun to share my process of thread painting with you as I am just starting the page for Kelly's book.

First I sandwiched two pieces of 8 x 8 inch muslin and batting together; then I drew with pencil on the off white cotton muslin fabric. I've been wanting to make some of these spirally trees I've seen others do in other art forms, thinking I'd like to use them on a much larger art quilt I am working on. (Some of you know it as my New York Project, as I've written about it on my Lynn-Getting My Feet Wet Blog.

So I figured starting small would be a good way to practice...

Kelly likes nature and she is a fanciful thinker at times as well... I fill in the tree using free motion sewing and a back and forth movement over the cloth...like coloring or painting filling in the white area.

I thought Kelly'd be okay with a bright pink tree!!!

Here you see my work station that looks out into my back yard. I think you can see a tiny bit of sun filled lawn out back off the patio behind my sewing machine. No snow here!

I had a few hours to work on this this morning and will continue tomorrow as I do not work on Fridays! ;-)

Lucky me.