japanese stab binding

last sunday, after an hour and a half for searching diligently (and praying mightily not to be late) for a parking place (heck, i was even willing to pay big bucks for the privilege!) in downtown seattle (pride parade going on at the same time, plus the tourists in full force at pike's market on a gloriously sunny afternoon), i managed to snag a prime spot in a lot a scant 1/2 block for the studio of the fabulous planet janet. it was a miracle and 3 minutes to spare!

janet is an amazing encaustic artist that has quite the touch with beeswax (lovely little birds, super-lovely linework and delicious colors), and although this wasn't a mini-workshop in encaustics, it was an enjoyable three hours..........we learned a simple japanese stab binding technique combined with artist pages of paint and collage. i love my first effort!

i scoured the internet and the library for good books on the subject of bookbinding and particularly, bookbinding that is fresh, fun and artsy. i have a *little* trouble (sometimes) reading and understanding instructions and was really after something with good photos and clear step-by-step action. happily, i located and sucked down the three volumes (creating handmade books, unique handmade books and expressive handmade books) all by the talented alisa golden. i heartily recommend these tomes to you. any or all three. it was particularly helpful to read after taking a class.............reinforces what you have just done physically. i like that!

thanks, janet for a super afternoon!

(collage materials for those interested: monotypes that didn't work out, found magazines images, xerox copies of my own artwork, magenta netting paper, vintage text. not-so-vintage text, vinyl alphabet stickers, old rub-on sheets (that were way too brittle to use as rub-ons, but they made a cool cover), waxed linen thread)

the amazing amanda

gee, i'd like to take full credit when one of my collage student produces something wonderful, but it wouldn't be right! amanda (i featured one of her collages at the beginning of the year) had some skills coming in, that's for sure. she has a rather campy-retro thing going on that really works! however, coz this is my blog i get to post whatever i want to on it (yeah, me!).......and here is one of her other pieces that just really gripped me and knew i had to share. has a real kurt schwitters appeal. doesn't this one just sing?

art and architecture show

wallingford art show - art and architecture

where?

6721 14th Avenue NW, Seattle WA 98117 (ballard)

when?

friday and saturday june 26th & 27th from 6:00-9:00pm

why?

showcase local artists & mingle over beverages, hors d'overs & good conversation.

who?

artist's: justin schaeffer (third photo), melana bontrager (second photo) & wendy lee lynds (first photo).

hosted by?

real estate agent, troy anderson - representing modern new construction by lippincott construction, inc.

would love to see ya there! i'll be onsite that friday evening. from 6-9pm........come on by!

mimi allin and poetry

i spent an interesting 2 hours at the edmonds community college campus this last tuesday. i took a free (yes, free!) class in "the easy road to writing poetry" with ak "mimi" allin. this event was spearheaded by a staff member of the english department, collage-making-zine & poetry-writing friend, mandy laughtland. mimi is hard to define. she does everything! but, if it has to do with words, text, poetry and the public, she does it! she is putting on a fabulous event at the seattle art museum on the 11th of june, coming up. go check out her blog for more info on that one. She always manages to have a project in the works, from what i hear tell!

she took us through all sorts of wonderful little exercises (like taking a piece of plain white paper, folding, mutilating, tearing, squishing it into a design then leaving it for someone else to discouver..........then they would write a little ditty about that piece of paper! fascinating stuff.........) to get us all juiced up about writing poetry, even if we haven't written a word of it before.

i was a little nervous about the whole thang, especially since i don't actually call myself a write or poet, but i tell ya, it was encouraging. it was fun. it was inspiring. i have always suspected i might have a poet lurking somewhere inside of moi', and i think mimi may have finally coaxed the little sucker out into the open! above, there is that little poet now - seriously scribbling away in her little notebook, with a little frown on her face and chuck taylor's on her feet (and, yes, i was having fun)!

the little skewers with the funny combinations of words written on them? little trail markers that we cooked up in one of the exercises.....the titles themselves will make delicious titles of a poem or two. i am looking forward to being open to writing more. many thanks to mandy and mimi..........what a great day!

mom's encaustics

a *little* late, but still wanted to share. here are a couple of encaustics that my mom created while here on her visit, a few weeks back. we had a grand time going through various techniques......and she was very happy with what she came up with. i sent her some with some beeswax, some encaustic paints and hopefully, some encouragement. she got excited enough go home, order joanne mattera's encaustic book and more supplies! whoo-hoo! we are even talking about having me come down to her place in oregon next summer and teach some workshops! yo, mom!

great class!

spent three days this past week with two great gals on the island. taught "collage 2" at the pacific northwest art school (formerly the coupeville arts center) and it went swimmingly! wanted to share with you some shots of my student's work.

the first piece is a 5x5 collage on canvas by christine. she spent two years in japan and you can feel the love of the culture in this sweet piece. using practice sheets of japanese calligraphy, a transfer (that she herself discovered and i plan on stealing!! teehee), found japanese papers and a little gold sparkle she pulled off a sophisticated, yet playful feel.

jane's collage with based on jonathan talbot's technique of collage using no liquid adhesive. jane used a variety of papers in her piece (ranging from a castoff print to handmade paper) in a rather abstract, bold way. this was an unusual composition for jane, but i think she is onto something here and hope she continues in this vain!

i always learn something when i teach a class! ALWAYS............and this class was no different. love the interaction with people wanting to get their "artistic mojo" back.....and i think all three of us came away wanting to do more ART!! thanks, gals, for letting me share your work and thanks for being terrific, encouraging art buddies!

what would i do..........

......if i knew i couldn't fail?? that was the question i posed to you all a little while back. hmmm, have been giving that some thought and here are a few things off the top of my head that sound appealing (scary but appealing) to me:

1. go back to school for an art degree.

2. live on the english west coast for a couple of months & paint huge abstracts.

3. become a creativity coach

4. write a book on encouraging people to MAKE ART!

5. write a book pairing haiku and art

6. enter a swing dance competition

7. become a motivational speaker

8. take an improv comedy class?

9. jump on a plane headed for some exotic place and let fate intervene

10. come up with thirty-three different, exciting, mind-blowing, life-changing creativity art classes that no one has ever heard about before, see people flourish and grow in their ability to create, dream and live fully

holy crap. this is *quite* the list. whew! i know there is more where than came from..............so, where is this going?? i think i have more to think on!

what did you come up with?

(pictured above are some encaustics that i created in the studio while my mom was here. she was particularly interested in going through one of north light books newest, perfectly lovely offering: patricia baldwin seggebruch's "encaustic workshop". trish is the gal who got me all excited about this wonderful medium in the first place.............she lives in my neck o' the woods and kindly showed me the ropes a couple of years ago.)