Playtime is not just for paintings...

...because when I get in the studio, time can involve bookish things as well.  This green book from the rainbow series was finally finished this week entirely due to the push from a journal playdate this past Friday.

Here are the back and front covers, followed by an even greener interior (if that's possible):

Now I have to tell you that the word of the day on Friday's play date was CROOKED...and you can see in the photos that I took it to heart, ran with it and scored half a dozen touchdowns.  As always, I'm slightly square-challenged when it comes to photos (oh, and also rectangular- and straight-on challenged), and have displayed that to the max here.  😃  I will point out that I wasn't the only one.  ☺

I hope you've managed your middle 'G' this week - greatness, gentility, gratitude, genius, grace or whatever word's your fancy. Catch me up on your doings in the comment section below, please...and add a link if you like. 

It's so tiny...

...I can hardly hold it safely!  These mini accordion books are a lot of fun to make and will be great additions to a parcel or a small Christmas tree.

Rather than do a host of photos to show you a finished product, I made a couple of extremely short (they ARE, after all, very tiny) videos.

The first is a black and white mini book just over an inch square(ish).

I started with an accordion book, tied it all together, added chopped bits of white on black drawings and some text.  It just makes me smile.

And in case you think I've lost my taste for colour, take a look at the cover of this mini 'Life' book.  Subtle, no?

I love the whole concept of these tiny books - comprised of a strip of paper, a few leftover paper scraps, and some imagination, they are not only fun to create, but a joy to receive.  

What are you up to in the pre-Christmas crazy time?  Making, shopping, baking, running flat out?  I hope you're taking some creative time - do share in your comments below!  

I'm feeling bookish...

...these days (all days, if truth be told).  I've just finished a journal that's been in the works for quite some while and thought I'd share it with you.  Called 'Good Fortune,' the tie-it-together item is that there is a fortune cookie fortune on each page.  Some are real, and some are invented...can you tell the difference?

Coins from years of travels (mine and others') are secured to the front of the journal.  And guess what - this thing is heavy!

Front cover 'Good Fortune Journal'
© Win Dinn 2017

I enjoyed working with the unusual shape and size of the spreads.

Fortune:  Your ear for music is becoming more finely tuned.

Most of the backgrounds are created with mono-printed sheets and brayer cleaning pages.

Fortune: A single flower has no need to envy the garden.

I've added monoprint cutouts to some pages,

Fortune: A new outlook brightens your image and brings new friends. 

and torn pages, card remnants,

Fortune: Artists find more than one path to the garden.  (image on the right is by the incomparable Laura Leeder)

and even fun foam castoffs to the mix.

Fortune: Today's your red hot day.

Not only circle-obsessed (and you'll tons of those below), I'm also fascinated by connected ovals.

Fortune: A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts.

 I've used ephemera from cards I've received (thanks for these Judy),

Fortune:  Nature will tell you everything you need to know.

and some lovely Mucha images from a deck gifted to me by Alice.

Fortune: A pair of this or that - what's wrong with a single?

That was indeed good fortune!

Fortune:  You've been dealt a good hand - why not play it?

What better use for mop-up paper towels than a garden, I wonder?  None, I tell myself.

Fortune:  It's springtime - let's party!

You gotta know the upside-down bird is my favourite.

Fortune: Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

My eye goes around and around on this page...it's definitely playtime when one uses layer upon layer of palette transfers, stamps, tissue and more.

Fortune:  The most direct approach isn't always the best.

The stencil I used for the pig-tailed pretty is one I created from a photo of my lovely niece Shaina.

Fortune: Impose not a burden on others which you cannot bear yourself.

There will always be a mandala or two in any journal I do - I can't seem to resist!

Fortune: Do not let great ambitions overshadow small success.

Red, yellow and orange just make me so happy.

Fortune: Share your happiness with others today.

 There are flowers everywhere - it must be coming up to summer, or maybe it's another obsession.

Fortune: Contemplate the flowers - more fun than weeding!

Textile fragments show up on this page - another gift from Alice.

Fortune: Some of the sweetest berries grow amidst the thorns.

Paper napkins, fabric fragments from Alison Bjorkman, and hole-punched prints all add to the colour here.

Fortune: Remember the birthday but never the age.

For some reason, husband John objected to this fortune.  :D

Fortune: The real questions is not whether machines think but whether men do.

 First version of this page,

Fortune: Are you listening?

followed by the opened cards.

An inside peek at the above page.

This page is much darker than I would usually do, and the cityscape was really fun - it's many years since I've lived in one.

Fortune: Sleep, rest, recover; then dream again.

And here are more flowers...definitely part of my good fortune!

Fortune: Flowers don't work for a living - they merely dance.

Again!

Fortune: Live like a wildflower, growing with the wind.

Here's another departure from my normally bright palette...inspired by Mucha, no doubt!

Fortune: No matter your game, play like it matters.

I'm not so much hankering for a tropical vacation right now, but this page will spell delight come mid-winter!

Fortune: A tropical vacation is coming your way.

My usual style, according to the fortune!

Fortune: Running around in circles?

 I suspect this was a reminder I needed!

Fortune: Step outside - there are whole universes to explore.

Here we've reached the end.  This back cover was meant to be covered in bills that I've saved from various vacations to different countries.  Of course, I couldn't find them when they were needed. They will no doubt turn up sometime in the near future, grinning cheekily while they give me the finger!

Back cover 'Good Fortune' 2017

Perhaps you'd share your favourite fortune cookie fortunes with me in the comments below - there are at least four more journals in progress in the studio, and I could always do another of these!

In the meantime, maybe you'd like to play hide and seek with some of the ephemera in this journal. Can you spot the two tags included, silver dollar (watch out - it's a trick!), book page, a pen, thread, stamp, lichen, library pocket, CD, dryer sheets, credit card fragment, string, wallpaper, massage ad, lost earring and globe?

As we await...

...the arrival of 2017 it's a time of quiet reflection, and what better colour to accompany that than the peaceful ease of the colour blue.

From journal pages

 to Gelli prints,

blue peeks out everywhere in the studio.

 I've turned hand-painted papers into blue flowers,

 and created Wingdings with it.

 It shows up in heavily textured pieces

 and in those that are quietly behaving themselves.

 Blue philosophizes

 and plays well with green and a host of other colours.

What a perfect colour with which to end a chaotic year, don't you think?

Here's hoping that all your wishes for 2017 come true, in a big way.  xo