art space

My entire house is turning into art space, and that ain't good... papers, string, ribbon, stamps, stamp pads... little odd found objects. They are everywhere... or at least covering my dining table, on my kitchen counter, on my office floor and now covering a table in the teeny extra room.

I have a little note to myself, thumb tacked to the wall in front of me. It says Ask - Believe -Receive. I just said "studio" I need a studio... a well lit room big enough to hold all this stuff and still have room for at least two tables... a room about the size of a two car garage. So, it's out there... universe, do your thing.

I've been making books. Since finding that magnificent roll of papers I feel I've been given a sign that I am supposed to be sewing books together. I made my first book several years ago as a sample for an 8th grade art class... I made my second the next year. This past year I've been taking book making classes, learning the process, again making several samples, now for me. I love doing it. That is the simple truth... and while I don't think this is where I will remain, this is certainly where I am right now and I plan to make the most of it and hopefully discover a thing or two about my creative nature along the way.
This is a blank journal made a couple days ago, 6x8", covered with marbled paper in orange and gold tones. (see the face in the marbling near the leather spine? Cool!) The spine is soft-soft leather.

The pages are heavy tea-stained colored stock with enough tooth to hold charcoal or watercolor. I used six signatures of five pages each giving the book, making the book 118 pages long.

This 6x6 inch book I finished today. I really struggled about how to complete the cover and then a little leaf stamp I'd made a year ago fell on the floor and I tried it out on some scrap and knew I had what I needed. The veins of the leaf have been filled with a little gold leaf to add some sparkle. The cover is a gray-blue paper filled with lots of fibers of darker blue and gold. the spine is a blue dyed piece of leather.

The book is made of six signatures of eight pages each. The paper is about 60 pound stock with a smooth surface which would make it very nice for writing.

This book I started months ago, but early last week quickly just put it together. The cover is from a page torn from an art journal I purchased at an flea market in Switzerland. I've attached a leather thong to it to tie it closed.

As you can see it has an open spine so it will open perfectly flat.... the book is made with 80 pound watercolor and there are five, five page signatures making it 100 pages long???? the math of it all is beginning to escape me.

Anyway, here I've begun to paint at the first page... this is just a beginning... playing with watercolor and pen, then I blocked in a bit behind with acrylic...

I've given myself permission to play, to just see what happens and a commission to make a dent in my paper stash by the end of July.... now if I could just clean off my dining table.

camp trip

The unthinkable happened... my daughter let me take the two oldest(6 and 4 yrs. old) camping... and we all lived through it. Poor me! I forgot how much work two busy little ones can be... I felt like I was spinning like a top quite a few times, admit to a couple of grouchy moments, but all-in-all had a really good time.

We camped across the road from Lake Mary, up on the rim. Thursday was bright and sunny, but on Friday we woke up to cloud cover and cooler temps... kind of a relief for all of us I think.
This is me, the morning after, W. picked up the camera and took the picture. My hope is he wiggled the camera enough so you wouldn't see my puffy face.

P. has the patience of a real fisherman, he kept trying to cast his hook out and the only thing he managed to catch was the seat of his swim trunks. He also seemed to have little cars tucked away in every pocket of his pants and backpack.

W really had no interest in trying to fish, but he found a board and devised a boat that he floated around until he tripped and went head first into the water. After that he was ready to head back to camp. Later we sat at the picnic table and all of us shared my watercolor set and painted in our journals.

After we broke camp on Friday we headed for the meteor crater between Flagstaff and Winslow. None of us had been there before and the boys were really impressed. P so much so that he has told his mom and dad that he wants his birthday party to be there.

I am definitely taking them camping again... two days and one night with them left me worn out, and really appreciating what my daughter has to do every day... but when I wasn't exasperated or on automatic control, I really really enjoyed being with them.

June 23

Okay, so you've heard of found art, but how about found-art-supplies? Younger Daughter took me on a bulk trash foray and in one pile I saw this roll of papers... as it turned out mostly hand made, hand dyed stuff... sheets of it. It was only after I got it home and did a preliminary unroll that I had any idea what a find this was.
It took me a week or more to sort and organize my overflowing paper stash... to bring some order to what had me immobilized. What was in piles and six/seven plastic tubs to be redistributed into now four tubes organized by type and color. Just touching all this paper, looking at it, pushing it around, got my creative juices flowing... but then life filled up with to-do lists and side trips and the juices dripped, dripped, dripped until there was only a thimbleful left. Still, yesterday, because it was too hot to go out I pulled out some papers, punched some holes, cut some board, picked through my found-art-supply stash and tried out my new stamp... and viola! a book is born.

6x81/2... The spine is black leather(yes, I have a stash of that, too)... and while it is glued it is also tacked with waxed linen. Green dyed rice paper, full of straw and fiber wrap the cover. The stamp is on a separate piece of mat board, colorized and trimmed in gold... really lovely.

The tea stain colored pages are heavy stock... 80 pounds? maybe more... and have a nice texture for pencil or charcoal... maybe even watercolor. They are sewn in using the same waxed linen used to tack the spine.

I love how this book feels in my hand... substantial but compact... ready to be filled up... but not today. Today I'll be working on the next book. See, when I finally begin the process takes me by the hand and says "come."

a few words on composting

I compost. Why, I don't know, since gardening in Arizona has always been a bit of a mystery to me... more failures than successes. Still, composting pleases me.

There must be a billion little rolly-polly bugs in my compost heap. When I turn the soil it is nearly frightening to see the earth itself begin to heave and move as they run for dark cover. Lately, I've noticed an ant family has taken up residence at the edge of the pile. They scour the inside of a half grapefruit or melon rind so nothing is left but the peel. Today I saw that the mango pit I'd tossed in yesterday was down to fiber and shell. The pile has also become a favorite spot for hunters like lizards and the cactus wren with it's hooked beak to forage. The wrens make a huge mess as they flip through the tossed out bits and the garden trimmings, but I also think they help to turn the soil, so I am willing to sweep and pick up after them with little complaint.

I like seeing things in cycle, living, dying, being born again in something else. I like knowing that in some small way I am assisting. While I recycle all the other stuff I'm asked to recycle, I don't feel the same as I do about this small pile in my yard. Maybe it is the earth. Maybe it is that I am witness to the regeneration that satifies me. I don't know.

making headway

While I've fallen down on the picture taking part of my commitment(and the most challening part for me) I have ticked off two items on my 18 item list. Yesterday I cleaned the linen closet and then became industrious and cleaned both bathrooms and my bedroom. Today I emptied, organized and restocked my kitchen pantry. Progress makes me feel so proud of myself!

I've also fiddled around with the look of this blog... that's my creative piece and I've slugged out a few more rows of my Noro-style scarf made with two skeins of unmatched sock yarn... Lordie, this scarf is taking forever! My dad said today I might get it done by Christmas... I shot him a dirty look.

Tonight I read from Thirst, a book of poetry by Mary Oliver... if you are not familiar with her poetry get familiar right now.

getting things done

This week, I've not gotten too much done. Or at least what I have gotten done has felt piece-meal. My mother would say, you have nothing to show for it.

This will be the change I need to make as I ease into this different part of my life. Reforming my structure, my daily flow... Years ago, when the kids were home, I kept to a schedule of sorts... or at least I feel like I fit more into a day. In the past few years since everyone had gone off to build their own lives the only structure I've had was going to work and during vacation times I just lived a kind of formless existence. This won't do in the long term... but this week I've bounced about in true summer vacation fashion, doing bits here and bits there and as I look around I see lots of things begun but little nearing completion.

So where to start? My sister told me it took her husband six months to develop a schedule. And I imagine that might be a conservative estimate for how long this transition might take, but in the short term I need to get a few things done. So today I make a short-term to-do list. Something I can check off. Something I can work at daily without any task taking an entire day. Plus I will set aside time every day for creative endeavors. And last, I will document my progress daily in photos and here on this blog.

Really, for me, that is a pretty tall order... but this blog is to be about choices and happiness... and for at least today, I think this is the right direction.

hair

I have hair issues.

I have always had hair issues. I once told a counselor after nearly a year of weekly counseling when she asked if I could change anything in my life what would it be... I said my hair. I'd have straight hair. She couldn't believe it. I could.

I have never had long hair. Never. Not one time in 61 years. And it is curly, very very curly. And baby fine. And, of course dry, (goes with curly). And now it is mostly gray.

I haven't had it cut in a year... until yesterday... when I went in to just have a teeny little trim... and walked out with 6 months of hair gone... and one side is at least an inch and a half shorter than the other. This has happened before.

What to do?

Start over? give up?

help!

day 1

I've moved to a new spot. A new adventure. A new way of being.... at least I hope that is what is happening.

After much deliberation I've let go of the dock and pushed myself out into the water. I am safe, of that I'm certain. I do not have a clear "plan". Thinking about it I'm nearly giddy with excitement. Anything could happen!

So what will this blog be about? The adventures, the surprises, the difficult moments, the beauty all tempered with my decision to choose the happy ending.