Jumping from project....

 ...to project seems to be the way to keep my muse entertained, and I've certainly been doing that this past week.  I started creating the paper for my next star book

and it looks decidedly different from when I started on hot press watercolour paper with a flurry of stamping.

I finished a bookmark that had been sitting on my table for weeks and weeks and weeks.

I created a card with a skeleton leaf I found months ago.

And that got me back into the mode for Christmas card assembly (and a darn good thing, too, as it's creeping ever closer and there are many more to build).

I painted three wooden panels, and secured works on paper to them, one of which was presold.  Don't you love it when a sale spurs on projects that had been waiting in the wings?  I'd been avoiding doing this for two of them for at least two years because it's a tricky thing to retro-fit a paper work to a panel,  Cowardice wins every time.  😨 

And I finally finished working on that large piece (well, two pieces actually) of Typar I started last month.

I suspect part of it will be perfect for a hinged binding I have in mind.

I have also started a 20 x 16" painting, which is at the really boring stage right now (that is much preferable to the ugly stage which is my least favourite part of painting 😖).  More on that next week - or month - depending on where the muse leads me!

Hope your week has been both productive and fun.  I look forward to hearing all about it.  

The Gordian Knot. . .

. . . that is my brain will surely explode with this latest book puzzle.  The star book is truly a lovely artist book form, and I've been wanting to try it for a long time.  My grey matter, however, may not be up to the task again any time soon.

This is the second model I've made, and I managed to reduce my errors to one major and two minor ones, all ultimately hide-able.  It's a huge improvement from my first go, believe me!

Though the pockets are not yet filled, the bones are there, and I can move forward to a 'final final' when the mood hits again.

With a pair of covers, four precision-cut layers, and the first two requiring sewing, it's quite an undertaking.

Never has my pile of several-pounds-heavy art books had so much use for pressing those glued layers together, either.

By the time the beading, stitching, gluing and covers were all done, it was fully a three day project (not including the time it took to rewrite the indecipherable instructions used for the first attempt).  

I'll have to make several more of these to justify the time I spent on the first couple of them.  Won't that be a creative hardship!! 😄  The art book saga will undoubtedly continue for a long, long, time.

According to Merriam-Webster . . .

hodgepodge is a jumble, and that word certainly fits the week prior to Thanksgiving 2021.  From painting to book-making to baking and more, it was a celebration of creativity.

I managed to get a painting done for my oldest grandson in celebration of his upcoming fourth birthday.  Autistic, he is fascinated by patterns and organization; since that fits my creative bent this painting was conceived and executed.

I'm pretty sure he's going to enjoy the patterning, but have my doubts about the screaming stab-your-eyes-out colour.  

Truly, though, I just could not stop myself; I'm almost hoping he'll hate it so it will come back to Grandma.  😆

I also grappled with a double accordion book, which would have been better served had I done two or three prototypes instead of the mini one I showed you a couple of weeks ago.  A miscount of the pages had me scrambling to redesign the book in mid production, so it's now a prototype for yet another one to tackle.  

The book is designed to read in the round, and I added an additional fillip so it could be read from the up and down direction as well.

I'll enjoy tackling this particular design again, I know!

Meanwhile, John is moving into a corner of the studio, and has been sanding my easel to use for a paper tole project he has in mind.  We were mesmerized by the contrast in the sanded versus unsanded areas.  Apparently I am a very messy painter.  😉

In my defense, that's some thirty five years of accumulation on there.  Really, it's much less than it should be, right?!

All of this topped off by a visit from family - all three grandchildren in the same living room, playing to their hearts' content, while the adults visited, cooked and stuffed faces.  What could be better?  We were grateful indeed. May your Thanksgiving weekend (if you were celebrating) have been as filled with joy and love.  

Books, booklets, mini books...

...are so much fun to create and this one was a gift for a very special person and occasion.  Allie has been a friend for so long I'm wondering how it's possible that some 35+ years can go by that quickly.  She's celebrating her 80th birthday on October 11 this year and shhhhhhhhh - don't tell anybody but she opened her gift from me a tad early.

I did manage to take some photos before assembly - a rarity when it comes to my art-addled brain.

Allie kindly took a photo of the booket in situ, including the case (which I neglected to photograph).  And don't you love people who gift bottles of wine for birthdays?  I certainly do!  😄

 

It was so much fun to pillage her Facebook photos for portraits to illustrate her powerful attributes, and even more so to reflect upon the loving friendship that has spanned decades.

As always, Allie, thank you for the friendship over the years; you are one of my rocks.  xo