Playing Favorites: the library

Marie Otero
http://lostaussie.typepad.com


I've been creating books for a few years now and it remains one of my "low key" passions. This is a leather wrap around journal with simple signature stitching. The cover is printed with a design using my Lost Aussie Designs stamps and hand coloured with acrylic inks.



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Becky New
http://beckynew.typepad.com
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lifeitphotos/

I am an art journalist. I LOVE my art journals. As with many others who live in the AJ world, finding the *right* book in which to art journal is a pretty tricky thing to do. It has to look right. It has to be the right size. It has to feel good. It has to be able to withstand a battering of acrylics, papers, inks, and images. It has to accept being written upon without tearing or smudging. And above all, they have to LOOK like I want them to!




All this criteria led me to begin making my own journals. While I will never be a master book binder (in fact I tend towards the grunge side of art), I have fallen in love with the journals I can make meet ALL of my requirements. I will occasionally alter a Moleskine (large size, lavender wrapper) and it will suit my needs for a while, but then I typically end up going back to binding my own books.




When all is said and done, I have ended up with many different variations on a theme. However I must confess that my favorite handbound AJs are those pictured.




Ingredients
5x7
5 signatures
all signatures pamphlet bound with waxed linen thread
covers made from canvas board
spine made from primed canvas
page 140 lb hot press Artistico watercolor paper

VOILA! You have an art journal!
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&rew
http://urbanpaperarts.blogspot.com



Graffito Book - taught by Kelly Kilmer - my favorite because so many techniques were used and best use of my color skills.






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Lisa Renner
http://lisarenner.com

This is my book called The Old World Book. It is a workshop I have taught over the years, and has always been one of my favorites because the students are so happy in the end- and their books always look beautiful!



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Inge Bekaert
http://web.mac.com/pinkepinke/pinkepinke/Welcome.html

Since I discovered stamping 4 years ago a new world opened for me. After following a workshop to make an envelopbook, I started creating small books (7/10 cm or 2,75 / 3,9 inch). I even started a course of bookbinding this year because of my small books. I love it all: making my own backgroundpaper (with paint, making marbled paper...) making a collage with stamps, vintage photographs, embellishments,using newly learned skills (linen books with a relief on it)... sewing the book together....I love the small size of them : they fit in your pocket or in your purse. You can house ATC's in them or make a diary of it...

What I love most about them is when I have a commission to make a book for someone special, I can make them one of a kind ( I never make the same one again) and especially for the one it is asked for. I ask the person who gives me the commission to tell me something of the person it is for: is it for a special occasion, what are their favorite colors, their hobby's... and then I create something with my skills and my creativity for this person only. So they are really "unique"...





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Valerie Foster
http://valsalteredheartjourney.blogspot.com/

This is my Melange Book. The word "melange" means a motley assortment of things, which is appropo for this altered book. This is my most favorite altered book that I've created. Why? Because I think I felt the most free with my art work in this book, and also the most enthusiastic and motivated about making it. I think for me, I pushed the envelope on this book, and that the result is some of my best art work to date.


The ornate cover is from a vintage encyclopedia, which was gutted, and the pages I made were sewn in. I used rusted fabric, other fabric, copper mesh, a brass light switch, a real leaf (preserved with gel medium), and some rusted found objects. I really tried to mix it up in this book, and make it a true "motley assortment of things". I also did some embroidery, and some hand beading, and one of my best collages.

I worked on this book over a period of three months, from start to finish. And I didn't do it alone, because this was a project of my local book arts group. Well, yes, I did a lot of it alone, but also some of it with my group. I never would've done this book if it hadn't been a project of my group.

Playing Favorites: face to face

Kristy Christopherson
http://kristychristopherson.blogspot.com

"5 Senses"

This piece is a favorite of mine because of its meaning. My daughter was my inspiration. My daughter suffers from a Sensory disorder, and I wanted so badly to create something related to the 5 senses. Because of her disorder, it has made me realize how important the 5 senses are in our daily lives. Smelling, tasting, touching, hearing, and seeing. The child in this piece resembles my young daughter.
In the piece the 5 senses are obscured behind a bit of paint so they are not as obvious, so the child is the main focus. To me, it symbolizes that despite her disorder, she is still just a child, like every other child. To me, this is an emotional piece, and it was created at an emotional time, shortly after learning more about her disorder. It was a great release to create this piece at that time.

"California Girl"

This has to be one of my favorites, solely because of the work I put into this. I started this piece close to a year ago.........and put it down due to lack of interest at the time. I just didn't know where the piece was going to go. Not to mention it was alot of work, and at the time I just lacked patience to finish. I picked this one up again recently and was determined to finish. I am always up for new things and always love to try something different. This was completely "out of my norm" so it was exciting. Originally, I didn't know what I was going to do with the other part of the canvas when I was done with the image of the woman. Looking at her made me feel like she was relaxed........so I pictured her being near the ocean, which is something I always associate with being relaxed. The sea breeze, the sound of the ocean, the beautiful blue sky. So, that is how I finished her off. And, her hair-I wish I had her hair!LOL
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Gwen Buchanan
http://gwenbuchanan.blogspot.com

William Morris...... A watercolor I did last week.
approx. 5" x 7"

Morris' talents were vast... Designer, writer, poet, architect, pattern-maker, painter, social activist, the Arts & Crafts movement, hand craftsmanship, the Kelmscott Press, the Kelmscott Chaucer , tapestry revival, jewelry, stained glass, etc. etc. etc........ He was forever dedicated to quality craftsmanship and beauty.
He did not discriminate between craftsman & artist... to him they were one, on a level playing field & should be treasured, valued & encouraged.

His influence was far reaching.

He has always inspired me......

A true Artist..... William Morris (1834-1896)
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Jen Worden
http://jenworden.com

"Circle of Life"

Why I chose this piece: it started out as a statement on old age. I'd seen the image of the woman in my stock photo catalogue and loved it because the face is so enigmatic - is she happy? is she crying? are those tears of joy? Or sorrow? She'd so obviously lived a long interesting life yet there was this palpable tension.

I drew the face on with graphite, sealed with gel medium then quartered the canvas and used loose acrylic washes in Sap Green and Quin Gold over the bottom quarters, Hansa Yellow and Green Gold over the top quarters. I was experimenting with texturized backgrounds at the time and used a technique from Claudine Helmuth's first book, "peeling paint" for the topmost coats and stencilled in the title "Torture of Growing Old" on the right side.

But something didn't quite gel. It sat and sat in the studio while I ruminated on what exactly was the problem. It was unbalanced. I knew that. Needed something in the upper quadrants. And the woman's face was SO sad. It struck me that someone that had lived such an interesting life (my judgement) shouldn't be so sad. I then thought about how what her life might entail, what that expression might mean and came up with a more thoughtful approach.

I started reinforcing the drawing with more graphite and then started playing with another face above the old woman's. I found a baby's face that echoed the woman's and created a gel transfer. Before applying I found old text from books and transferred those to represent passage of time and of knowledge. I texturized the background with sequin waste and varying thicknesses of acrylic being sure to mask the woman's face. I then applied the transfer of the baby's face. Did another light "peeling paint" technique to bring both old and new visions together. A circle or two and the painting was almost done. I stamped the words "Circle of Life" around the baby's eye. A few lines and "marks" with black pen and it was finally complete. The entire piece took more than 2 years to finish, "Circle of Life" was purchased by a dear friend and every time I see her she comments how much this painting means to her.
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Sarah Fishburn
http://ragtagsf.blogspot.com/

WHY CHEAP ART?
So 2 out of 6 of my choices are self-portraits. . . what can I say, I had never even done a single sp until last year! I love this one because it's totally digital to begin with, then turns traditional mixed-media. . . I took, on three consecutive days, photos of myself with my iMac's Photo Booth cam, using the comic book effect. I highlighted the reds in photoshop, then laid it out in narrative format over the Why Cheap Art? manifesto spliced twice, side by side. I printed it onto a page from an old fire station ledger - had to cut the page to fit it through the printer. It's mounted on watercolor stock, with the edges lightly spray-painted.
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Karen Cole
http://karencole.blogspot.com/

I am a multi media artist. I am an art college graduate, a former art teacher and have worked in a variety of businesses. Art has always been a part of my life, but because I have "dabbled" in so many media, by choice, I haven't had the opportunity to sell many things. I become attached to everything. I think one has to have a concentration in one particular art form in order to sell well. Because most of what I create stays with me, I took this challenge to choose my favorite as an exciting adventure, frightening, but a good exercise.

The pieces I chose are particularly meaningful in very different ways. These two are all about my mother.

One is fused glass. It measures 18" x 12". It is based on a photo taken by my daughter. I've worked in glass for about 5 years, everything from fusing to casting and blowing. The glass is meaningful to me because of it's fragile nature. It represents the fragility of our lives. My mother has not been well and there has been a role reversal that has taken place, I'm taking care of her. Fusing glass is like painting in glass. Cut pieces are put together and then I fire it in my kiln.



The other is a drawing using oil and regular pastels, charcoal and colored pencil. It's all about the mood.




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Sarah Whitmire
http://caspiana.com


The first piece is a watercolor and charcoal drawing that I did recently. When I am feeling down nothing is more therapeutic for me than “going back to basics” and just painting or drawing. I love the sad eerie quality of this one and I love the comment someone left on my blog about it. She said it was “like looking through wet glass”.

Playing Favorites: assemblage

James Michael Starr
http://jamesmichaelstarr.com/

“Flightless” (2007)
24-1/2” x 12” x 12”
Globe, cast metal figure, ball

I picked "Flightless" because it meets several of the criteria I've established for a sculptural piece to feel successful to me, and that doesn't happen very often. First of all, it touches on some aspect of the human condition – which one, I'm not sure. As with my titles, I had something in mind at the time and have since forgotten. But that mystery is important to me – and it's made even more enjoyable when I'm just as much in the dark as everyone else.

In contrast to the gravity of a theme like "the human condition" is a sense of the comic or absurd. This figure with its gigantic head becomes almost like a cartoon. Other more overt contrasts are there, too. Richly patinaed color against dark bronze, stark geometry against the organic lines of the human figure, and big ball vs little ball.

Just recently I was in the gallery that sells my work here in Dallas and, when I came upon "Flightless" unexpectedly, I was surprised how much I liked it. I really don't care to have my own work in my home, but this is one that I might not mind seeing on a regular basis.

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azirca
http://speakwithoutmyvoice.blogspot.com/

With each art piece that I create I find that my favourites are forever changing. Whether it be a new technique that I have discovered or an improved way of doing something, I find that I am constantly learning and challenging myself to create something that once finished I can look at and feel proud that I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone.

Currently the assemblages that are the most special to me would be....


"Escaplogy"

Sometimes I plan what I want to achieve before I even start the creation process. I might have a theme in mind, an idea that has been buzzing around in my head, or I may have an item, treasured trinket or photograph that is inspiring me to get to work. Once I have a rough idea of what I want the piece to be about I usually start to gather together the elements that I feel might work. Once I have all of these things in place, I start. However for this particular piece things didn't work like this at all. I had been having trouble getting the ideas from my head into action and I was getting frustrated at not being able to make some sort of sense of my thoughts, thus resulting in a creativity blockage. After a few feeble attempts at trying to get something started and having no luck, the solution to my creativity blockage was...

open drawer that contains supplies
close eyes
pull out the very first thing that your fingers touch
make something using it

The first object that my fingers touched was an old oval shaped tin pie dish, hence 'Escapology' was created.

'Escapology' is currently one of my favourite pieces for a couple of reasons, it was created without any planning, no theme in mind, and no direction as to where I wanted to go with it, a process that I normally don't do. It kind of just happened. However, once finished and I was looking over the piece it suddenly struck me that this assemblage that was born out of sheer frustration had so much personal meaning for me that it was quite scary. 'Escapology' had unbeknown to me resulted in the portrayal of a disability that I have called Fibromyalgia. A lot of my work centres around my health and personal issues but for me to create this with no conscious intention of doing so and for it to be so symbolic for me really was a strange experience. Just goes to show that art really does express what is within us, whether it be consciously or sub-consciously.



"Static in the System"

This is a favourite mainly because of the symbolism behind it. Again this piece relates to my health, but unlike 'Escapolgy' this assemblage was planned so I knew where I was going with this one. Another reason that 'Static in the System' is a favourite is because I discovered a new technique while I was creating this. I knew that I wanted to create a rusted effect over partial areas but I didn't have enough naturally rusty bits so I attempted to create surface rust using modeling compound and course dry sand, of course it's not as good as the real thing but the texture effect worked quite well and I was able to paint it in a rust colour to enhance the texture.



"Fusion"

This assemblage is another favourite of mine, it is quite different to what I usually create. The whole idea of what I had in mind changed during the assembling of it, however I think that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm happy with the the end result and although it's not the same as the idea that I had in mind before I began I think that this different direction halfway through the creation process was a good thing. After all it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind! For the reason that your mind should always be open to change and new ideas, 'Fusion' is memorable for me because of the process that created it as well as the finished piece.

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Jen Worden
http://jenworden.com



"Chrysalis"

This is a recent piece that was fraught with so many technical issues that I was thrilled when it was finally done. It seems the more an idea or the elements fight against me the more I begin to admire its tenacity.

I was trying out a technique from Jane Wynn’s new book "altered Curiousities" cutting into a glass object. I taped the blown glass heart per her instructions, scored my opening and Voila! a not quite perfect but still discernible heart-shaped opening. I was in love! Shoulda known better because clearly my Muse was enjoying the prospect of inflicting pain. While clamping the bug inside the heart, the clamp slipped off and the heart shattered all over my studio. Okaaaayyyyy.

I was able to repair said heart with the worst cracks being at the back and they wouldn’t really show anyway. Yay! Plus one for me. Then one day, while readying the heart to be glued into the box, it jumped … just jumped … out of my hands and crashed to the floor. This time the repair wouldn’t be so easy. Deciding to make lemonade (think: get lemons? make lemonade!) I figured I could use the remaining shards as part of the piece. Hence my title "Chrysalis".

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Jen Crossley
http://amarkintime.blogspot.com/


The Michael DeMeng piece I did at his class. I love the 3D effect of the camera with the man in behind it. It was my first go at playing with paints. I love the metal wings painted -- that is my favorite bit. They came up so awesome from the bright gold they started with.



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Karen Cole
http://karencole.blogspot.com/


I have included an assemblage. It is the first I created, in Italy, when I attended a Michael Demeng workshop. The place, the instruction, the Italian "junking", but mostly the people I was lucky enough to meet and share ideas with made it an amazing experience.



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Leighanna Light
http://lklight.blogspot.com/
http://lklight.etsy.com

This was a piece that I made in a class that I took from Keith LoBue. It is made almost entirely from junk that we found on the street, I'm still amazed that I could have assembled anything from all of that junk. It was also my first taste of using cold connections instead of glue, which was quite the challenge for me.

The Pulse: Playing Favorites

Imagine a museum filled with the work of all your favorite artists working in all your favorite artistic mediums. Now imagine that every piece of artwork has been hand chosen by each artist as their absolute favorites. Then imagine that printed by each piece of art is an explanation written by the artist detailing their selection. Welcome to Playing Favorites!

Responding to my invitation and an open call on my blog, more than 45 artists (and counting) have generously donated their art and their words to this installment of The Pulse. Collectively, they have submitted over 120 pieces of art. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting selections from each artist that are their favorite creations. Along with the images are their own stories that explain the significance of their choice or choices. Both the selections of artwork and the accompanying stories will help you get to know each artist on a more personal and revealing level.

Playing Favorites...coming to The Altered Page on Monday March 24th. See you there!

Nature Journal

Artist and blogger Sarah Whitmire and I have begun a collaborative Nature Journal. We have just started this project and have sent off our journals to each other for the first time. This will no doubt be a lengthy process and chances are I wont be posting complete images until the journals are done. I thought it might be interesting however to post some peeks at the pages I make as they are created. Visit Sarah's blog Caspiana to see some of her wonderful artwork.

Tag...you're it!

Okay. I am finally giving in. I have been tagged by four people in the last month. Thanks to Sarah, &rew, Marie, and Maralena for this honor. The rules from each person were slightly different but boil down to sharing 6 or 7 random, odd, strange, weird, or non-important things, habits, quirks, and/or facts about myself. So in keeping with the theme of my blog, I have decided to post 6 random art-related facts. In no particular order...

1. When I was in grade school, I won a contest designing a poster for a statewide project called "Read to Succeed." I guess my interest in art started young.

2. When I go to a museum to see an exhibit, I never ever take the tour they offer...whether it is via audio or an actual guide. I need to go at my own pace -- which is always faster than the guide.

3. I own somewhere in the neighborhood of six different cameras but I almost always only use one -- my Nikon D-40.

4. As a child my favorite crayola crayon in the big 64-crayon box was always Burnt Sienna. I sometimes thought that this was a boring choice but now I think I was just way ahead of the curve on the earthtone, rust, and nature trends.

5. In the past I was frustrated when I made "a mistake" when working on a piece of art but I have come to realize that there are no errors in the process. Some of my best work has actually come from "correcting" these supposed mistakes.

6. I always seem to have an extracurricular art obsession. At one time it was searching Ebay. Then it was collecting zines. For a while it was Etsy. Now it most certainly is art blogs. Hope this obsession never ends!

Part of being tagged is to name other bloggers that I want to tag. Instead of choosing a specific list of people, I propose that anybody who would like to share an art-related quirk either do so on their blog or leave it in a comment. Tag...you're it!


On another note, I would like to send out thanks to Dinner with Picasso for including my blog in the Blog Roll Game!

Revolution XV

ingredients: altered paper, acrylic paint, leaf, thread, rub on letters, pigment ink, found nail. click images to enlarge.

Revolution XIV

ingredients: altered paper, acrylic paint, dry transfer, vintage book cloth thread, leaf, pigment & dye ink, computer type, colored pencil. click images to enlarge.

Revolution XIII

ingredients: altered paper, ephemera, acrylic paint, rub on letters, pigment & dye ink, uniball gel ink. click images to enlarge.