Stacks

I have photographed my stacks for Seth Apter's Stacks Project, and here they are.  These are my stacks of vintage books, which seem to be growing.ever taller. I'm kind of obsessed with collecting them.  Some of them will be used for mixed media and altered book projects, and others I just love to marvel at. 

Who doesn't have stacks of stuff sitting around?  If you're an artist, you're bound to have at least one- it must be some kind of rule, or law.  Or is it that we're all messy, or hoarders?  Anyway, we might as well admit it.  Seth's gone so far as to embrace it, and put links to all the hoarders'- uh, I mean- artists' photos on his blog, the Altered Page.  Check them out here.

And don't forget to sign up for my give away!  All you have to do is leave a comment on the previous post.

Hello, I Love You- and a Give Away

Hello all!  You may or may not have noticed my absence lately, but I wanted to explain.... There are several things keeping me away from blogland, but the biggest culprit is the increased workload at my job; the beginning of the school year has been overwhelming, taking up most of my "art-making" time.  Also, I've had computer problems, not least of which is the apparent comatose state of my printer, which means I cannot print out images for transfers, nor can I scan anything, which is how I usually get images of my smaller pieces, which is all I have time to make right now. (whew! did you follow that?)  On top of all that, my mouse was working only intermittently, and not without much coaxing and cursing.  The mouse seems to be all better now, but the printer, alas, must undergo more tests and possibly a hospital stay, if I can find someone to fix it.  OK, blah. blah, blah, whine, whine, whine- enough about that.

Now for the good news: I've wanted to do a give-away for a while now, so this seemed like an opportune time.  I so appreciate the wonderful people of this online community; your support and encouraging messages have meant so much to me, and always lift my spirits.  Whenever I ask for your opinions or advice, you invariably come through with insightful and practical ideas.  As my 8th-graders would say: you guys are BEAST!  As a thank-you, I'll be giving away one of my small collages, But Still (shown below),

 But Still

as well as a package of decorative papers and vintage book pages (examples shown below).

So, this is how it will work:  Leave a comment on this post, and your name will be included in the drawing.  You don't have to be a follower, just a commenter.  If you "like" my facebook business page, your name will be put in twice.  Then, on Spetember 30, I'll toss all the names on the floor, and one of my goofy dogs (whichever one is handy) will "sniff out" the winner.

 Arlo (left), Scout (center), and Sunny (right)

(cuter when they're asleep)

FYI, I'll be participating in Seth Apter's "Paper Stacks" fun on Wednesday, September 21 at The Altered Page.  Be sure to check it out!

The Same Thing, Only Different (Sunflowers)

Sunflowers.  Not exactly where I would have chosen to plant them, but there they are- so why not enjoy them, right?

They are the essence of Summer, in all its glory...

Their bright colors and happy little "faces" always make me smile...

 

even as they begin to droop...

and bend under their own weight.

This one almost reaches the gutter...!

Their centers, with that lovely complex pattern...

 made them Fibonacci's favorite flower...

 

 As the seeds ripen,

the birds will enjoy the feast...

 until all the sunflowers look like this, and then...

like this.

Goodbye, Summer!  I'll miss you...

The Whole Shebang

As promised, here is the finished version of my altered book cover.

As you can see, I've added a lot to the left side since I posted it here.  The biggest change is the little girl; she is part image transfer, part drawing, and the flower "dresses" are image transfers of botanical illustrations from a textbook dated 1899.  I've also attached a piece of mica, using eyelets and brads.

A word of warning: attempting to set eyelets in mica is not really a great idea, in case you're wondering.


Here are a few details of the piece:

When I was a child, I drew constantly, from a very early age, and loved to make things out of paper.  My grandmother showed me an amazing trick.  She would fold up a sheet of paper like a fan, make a few snips with the scissors, and when she unfolded it, there magically appeared a string of paper dolls, all holding hands.  She told me that when she was a little girl, her family was very poor, and they had no toys at all unless they made them.

I had plenty of toys, including all kinds of dolls, but I found it more fun to make my own. My other favorite pastime was to run around in the woods like a wild animal, exploring every nook and cranny.  Between my yard and the woods was our next door neighbor's yard, and it was here that I got some of my doll-making materials.  I would find just the right stick for the body, and use either one of my neighbor's unripe grapes or apples for the head.

Usually, they wore petunias as dresses, and snapdragons as hats.  Wouldn't you, if you could?

I liked to know the secrets of the earth, and how things grew.  My grandmother taught me these things, and she also taught me to sew.  All these images are woven together in my mind, a tangled collection of dreams and memories.  If you peel back the layers of years, that world still exists, inside me.

We all have these layers of memory.  How many of them are real, or have mixed with dreams and stories and other memories, slowly changing as that moment becomes faint and cloudy, as if behind an old, dusty pane of glass?  And does that even matter, when what's inside our minds and hearts makes us who we are, whether or not it's strictly "accurate"?  These are some things I've been thinking about.

Style File

Apparently, blogger isn't going to let me upload any more photos.  But you can still visit this week's Style File, part of Seth Apter's ongoing collaborative art project, The Pulse.  So head on over to The Altered Page, introduce yourself to some new artists and their blogs, and find out how they describe their own individual art styles.  Examples of their work accompany their words, so it's a real feast for the eyes and mind.

Personally, I find it difficult to pinpoint my own style and translate it into words; I speak much more articulately in pictures.  But I gave it my best shot.  Just click on the icon below, or on the words, "Style File" above.  I think you'll enjoy it.

And if I'm lucky, Blogger may let me upload more images tomorrow...

The Other Side

Here is the right side of the altered book cover I'm currently working on.

ingredients: vintage book cover, vintage book pages, vintage sewing pattern, map, image transfer, hand-printed rice paper, monotype, acrylic gel, watercolor pencil, stitching, fossil.


Stay tuned for further developments!

New Work in Progress

With the prospect of the beginning of a new school year in just a few days hanging over my head, my goal has been to finish, or at least get a decent start on, my next altered book cover before school starts.  I'm feeling pretty good about where this piece is going (if not quite as good about where I'm going), in spite of some struggles with problems that I've hopefully remedied.  Here is the left side of the piece as it stands now:

The book page and end paper are from a vintage book of Longfellow's poetry and other writings, and the plant with roots as well as the petunia are image transfers of illustrations from a vintage botany textbook.  I don't know if you can see the little map scrap at the top right; it says, 'Old Davidsonville State Park'.  (You can probably read it if you click on the image.)  The odd thing about this is that it just showed up on my drafting table, and is not from the map I was using for this piece (which is now mostly torn off and underneath several layers of other stuff).  I just happened to look down, and there it was- and I took no notice of it really, until I realized there was a familiar name on it.  I guess it must have been in among some other things I pulled out of one of my scrap drawers.  I have no idea where this park is; if you do, I hope you'll let me know.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photo; I just quickly stuck this on the scanner, and it's not entirely flat, so some of it doesn't show up well.  I'll be posting better photos of further progress in the next day or two, and also explaining some of the meaning behind this piece.  

Just so you know, blogger is not always letting me leave comments on others' posts, and I'm having great difficulty uploading photos; once uploaded, it sometimes won't allow me to add them to my post.  What's up with that?  Maybe I shouldn't have made that comment about blogger and I not being on friendly terms... should I apologize?