2023?

How did we get here already?  I was just getting used to writing 2022 and now have to learn a new one.  😀

As is normal this time of year, I've been taking a look at what the previous year's accomplishments were.  Given that my aim was to learn a number of book-making styles, I'm pretty happy with myself. 

    

 

Of course that's not all.  Between birthday paintings for the grandchildren (3), finally finishing the ensuite bathroom dryer sheet curtains, paintings on paper, large journal spreads, tags, tree ornaments by the dozens and cards by the bucket load, it's been a full year.  Creativity is such a great way to keep oneself out of trouble, don't you think?

I'm looking forward to being back in the swing of things again and seeing what you've all been up to!  Happy New Year - 2023! 

For decades, red has been...

 ...a smash hit with me, so when it came to making a new book for the cyanotype cover, you can perhaps understand why the cover had to be red, and the insides, and the additions, and, and, and.  And I just could not stop.

'When I See Red' © Win Dinn
Hand-crafted book  5 1/2" H x 31/4" W x 1/4" D

I stencilled, 

pillaged collage fodder, 

chopped papers to size, 

drew, 

coloured, 

threw dryer sheets and more paper,

glued my fingers together, 

punched holes,

raided the paper towel stash, 

collaged some more,

and generally had a whale of a time.  Check out the lovely ATC above that I snuck from my traded stash.  It's by  Tracy Woodsford and has long been a favourite.  I love how it fits so perfectly on this page.

As artists, we all know that there are hundreds of tints, shades, tones and iterations of every colour, and it thrills me to think that I could do dozens of these books about seeing red, and never run out of material.  Really, who could be more fun?!  

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.

A love/hate relationship...

 ...with food has me stuffing my recipe box (and face) with wonderful possibilities, and ho-humming  the fact that I have to actually make the meals to enjoy them.  After some sixty years of the so-called 'culinary arts', I am no fan of cooking at all.  You do realize that is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15-20,000 dinners alone?  So I cleaned out my recipe box the other day, discarding a huge pile of 'what was I thinking' recipes - some tried, some failed, some of no interest at all.  And you know when an artist working in paper gets rid of paper, it never really disappears.

'Meals I Have Murdered' © Win Dinn 
8 1/4" x 4 1/2" x 1"  2021

It all started with a trio of paper bags that somehow came home with bottles of wine during the last pandemic-filled months.  Cutting off the sealed end, I folded the bags in half and folded each half again to create an accordion.  I cut a slit in the top of the two centre folds, creating two pockets in top that would contain tags.

Being a relative newbie at creating artist books, it didn't occur to me that the flimsy wine bags would be unlikely to stand up to what I had in mind.  By the time I'd added the tags to the centre pockets and additions to each of the end pockets, the bags were screaming with the strain of over-indulgence.  

Stitching the bags together with a pamphlet stitch did NOT do the trick.  I glued the fractious package to the spine of the cover and proceeded carefully with fingers crossed.

That was still insufficient to stabilize things and I added washi tape in the hopes that would encourage it to cuddle up securely.

By then it was such a toxic mess that I tore into it all with oil pastels to add to the grungy look.

Now you know how oil pastels feel on paper, right?  There's a definite yuck quality which is why I use them so seldom.

Given that it was all such a hot mess anyway I added some quickly sketched drawings with the pastels, 

and some succinct notes

before calling it a day.  Well, two days actually, because when an artist decides to make a mess, 

it can take a good long while.  I was praying that the book would hold together at least long enough to take some photos - now that's done it can go onto a top shelf and slowly disintegrate into the woodwork.  😵

All is not lost, as I still have stacks of discarded recipes waiting for a home and no doubt the Universe will provide some much stronger tubular paper bags.  

Here's what I learned:

• Make sure your substrate can take your abuse...strong, paintable, and sewable. 
• If it's not working, keep playing...you'll learn something and the freedom of knowing the end product is not important is liberating to the max.