Little Scraps of Magic

Silliness

He causes gales of laughter, this Aussie of ours! Whether it's a doggy bagel crammed in his mouth, or his barreling through the house with a squeaky football, he loves to play. He can't catch a frisbee to save his life, but glories in the pursuit. I've got a lot to learn from this fellow.

This page, as so many, started out completely differently. It evolved ...layers of paper, paint, a slightly altered photo, some sanding, and so it went. Add some pens and some rubber stamping, and I bet it made you smile.

Today began with the two of us sitting in traffic and creeping toward our destination, arriving much later than normal. I scurried in only to find the black screen of death awaiting me. Luckily, my best new friend, Phil, came to fix it. Seems as if one piece of tech was not playing nicely with another. God bless Phil...he gets rid of the gremlins that lurk in my machine. From there, I scrounged to get some copy paper; it seems as if it's to be delivered tomorrow, which didn't help matters today.

Some scented shower gel, an iced chai, and looking at this silly face has cured what ails me.

Happy Tuesday!

Gutting the Journal

So, this lovely, sad to say, began to fall apart. As the saying goes, "I chose poorly," at least as far as the condition of the book. Dry brittle pages, even with the help of masking tape and gesso, do not lend themselves to artistic abuse.

Aided by that little blue exacto knife resting in the upper right corner, I carefully began to slice away the pages, leaving the spine intact.

Next step: reinforce the spine with a bit of strong black paper.

I pulled some hot press watercolor paper from my stash but didn't have quite enough. I added in a few sheets of heavy weight paper, and with the addition of some absorbent grounds, it works quite nicely. I sewed in several signatures with the basic 3 hole pamphlet stitch.

Success, of a sort...it simply wanted to just splay open, so...

...in lieu of a book press, several magazines and later, a bunch of paints, were stacked on top, and left for a few days to do perform their magic. I did manage to salvage the completed pages, but I can't see a way to make them part of the book. Maybe inspiration will strike?

The whole business, along with the business of life, stalled things for a bit. I've just really gotten back into the swing of things again, as far as the journaling itself goes. I'll share those in the next few days, but in the meantime, I'm getting ready for Art & Soul in VA.

Catching Up a Bit: BOD

I thought I'd share a few journal pages from my "Book of Days..."

The calm before the storm - before dad fell and the madness ensued! Collage scraps, paint, and stencils, all recording a lovely long weekend!

Paint, stencils, stamps, and a photo taken at Lake Anna two summers ago. The butterfly, of course, represents my mom, and I think I must have been mentally asking her to help us get through those difficult ups and downs.

Paints, inks, stencils, and a waterlily form Yado gardens in Saratoga Springs, NY. Soft colors and the lily...seeking some sort of peace on this page.

I'd been reading Jill Berry's Personal Geographies and listening to her webinar, and I thought, "Yes. I need to map this." I've done a sort of rough draft here, and I really want/need to do a much larger map of this with lots of writing. Even this much began to help me sort things out inside myself. I included mom in this picture, since I really believe that dad began his descent into this madness with her death, and maybe even before. I think she hid things from us as a way to "protect" his image.

The book I used, sad to say, decided to fall apart. I've spent the last few days gutting it, saving the artwork already done, and it seemed to go amazingly well. Salvagable at any rate!

 

Book of Days, Week 1

Catching up here! I could not resist Effy WIld's Book of Days, and I've been engrossed once again in the world of altered books and journals! But....no time to post, it seems!

In a never ending effort to use up my stuff, some paste paper created last year at Art and Soul and an old math text from an "antique/junk shop" came together in a way, I suspect that neither ever envisioned! A bit of waxy paper to reinforce the spine, and a bit of stamping and...ta da! One cool book!

A bit more of hand painted paper (acrylics this time), some Tim Holtz Ranger Ink, a photo I shot at Yaddo gardens, a bit of stamping and tape equals the inside front cover.

I'm definitely experiencing a "re-learning" curve...as in old book pages can be brittle and need some gluing together, some gesso, and some patience.  Unexpected things happen on a regular basis, and I'm also re-learning the art of "going with the flow" and "embracing imperfection!" One goal? To incorporate as much of my own phtography as possible.

Effy had used an altered tag as a "flap" but nothing I tried seemed to work. Improvise right? I cheerfully used some very cool tape (use up my stuff...remember?) on an envelope. You can flip the envelope over and inside of it you'll find a card listing some things "I'm Looking Forward To." I love this shot of the snowman; he's actually enjoying a bubble bath in the original photo.

Here's the rest of Week 1. Another photo - I suspect you'll be seeing a lot of the "grands"...more stuff from my stash, and lots and lots of gesso and masking tape to reinforce the gutter.

I've spent many an hour engrossed in this book; it's a wonderful way to destress if you let go of perfection and remember that old books offer many problem solving moments!

I'll share Week Two  tomorrow.