Recycling Revisited

 One of my favorite ways to make books full of painted pages is to recycle Reader's Digest Condensed Books and old belts from thrift stores and library sales.  The covers often have nicely patterned covers with a variety of colors to choose from.

One carefully takes the book block out of the book keeping the covers intact.  If you want to leave the original spine on the cover,  you may.  For this book I cut off the spine.

A sewn-over-tapes binding was done with an old belt and waxed linen. I went around each part of the belt twice to make a nice fat binding.

This book is a nice size and feels good in the hands.   The pages lie flat which makes adhering photos and journaling easy.

Keep the novels removed from the original book  for reading while planes are taking off and landing....that time when all electronic devices must be turned off.   You can rip the book block into separate novels and take just one on your trip. When you land, toss it or leave it in the pocket of the airplane seat for someone else to read.

Here is a shot of a couple pages in this book.

Friends and Fun at Art and Soul

Of course, we all look forward to the classes at art retreats like Art Unraveled and Art and Soul, but one of the VERY important aspects of these retreats is the art buddies we may see only once a year.

Some of my best friends are seen only at these retreats.  Yes, I know..... it is easy to be friends when you are not together very long!!  BUT.......it is so fun to see how we can just start conversing just as if we had seen each other yesterday, not 365 yesterdays ago.

This is my friend Karen, whom I met back in 1999 in Amsterdam.  We happened to be on the same river cruise.  She and Al, her husband, have been with us on several trips after that first one.  Now, we rarely all 4 get together, but she and I have a great time in Portland.

Soooooo, as she and I would say ( a story behind THAT!), get your reservations and registrations ready and join the gangs at the various art retreats.  Art Unraveled and Art and Soul are already online. Art is You West Coast will be up in February. Create is out there..... and many more.

Art Unraveled Registration Is Open!!!!!

From Jane LaFazio's class in '11.  See her listings for '12.

  I am so excited!  Will I get my confirmation email today?  Did I get all the classes I really wanted?

I wonder what things will be in the auction this year?  

Who will win the art contest? 

What will happen at the Saturday Night event?

Get right over to Artunraveled.com and join in the fun!!!

January..Get Rid of Clutter Month...

This is only one end of the art space.  There is a ton more if you turn around...if you really could manipulate photos that way. Well, I guess with computers one could do that, but I don't have time to figure all that out.

I have already gotten rid of 120 iris cart drawers of stuff. I thought I was going to be killed by the avalanche of 8 sections of iris carts which were 12 drawers high...with two shelves on top of all of that.

 5 "reams of paper" boxes of stamps and piles and bags of more stuff are now gone.

I do have some happy friends.  Angie got the Big Bite.  Connie got all the metal embossing tools. Janet loved the storage boxes and drawers. Kelly got the Pan Pastels.

There comes a time in one's life that down-sizing is REALLY important. One's brain just doesn't work as well as it used to.  Now WHERE did I put ........?  What is THIS for?

Am I going to move to a smaller place for my later years?  I cannot really leave all this for the daughter to handle....can I?  "American Pickers" of the art world where are you?

How can I possibly let ...........go? 

It is more difficult that I thought it would be to figure out what I really do, and therefore, what I really need.

Here's some metal.....Michael?? Leighanna?

"Painted pages as skins" evolving into "it is what it is."

 I am looking over some of my painted pages in order to possibly use one or more for making skins for my Amazon Fire and Touch.....yes, more electronic toys.  Love 'em!

My Kindle 3 has a skin made from a past painted page and I really like it a lot.   That one I showed you in an early post.

This page is one of my favorites.  VERY cheap water color paint and water color paper, tons of water, and a plastic bag were the tools for this one.

 These two pages were made with the good old technique of using many layers of scraped paint and sprayed water.  I find painting these pages very meditative and really like making them.

Some of them actually do get used in making books.  Photographs attached to them and more media applied as the muse dictates completes the page.  Then the journaling can begin.....or not.

It is strange how it is so easy to write some days and the well runs completely dry on other days. But one cannot worry either way.  Acceptance.

One of the many life lessons I am continually trying to learn is the fact, "It is what it is."

It is only when we fight the "what is" that we have issues and hurts and pain.  If we accept all things as they are, all people as they are, giving thanks for each and all, that we can be happy and at peace.

I know I am not the first to say this. I hope I am not the last as we all can be far less frustrated if we go with "what is".  Maybe if I try to teach this a bit more, I will learn it!

Journal Pages.....Fall in Estes Park Altered Just a Bit

This photo was taken in Estes Park, CO and then altered with sand paper and India Ink.  It was then placed on a page in one of my painted page journals. Caran d'ache watercolor pastels were used around the perimeter of the photo to help meld it into the page.   Journaling will be added, perhaps with a color very close to the color of the page to partially obscure it.

I like going back to pages in this type of journal to add things; this process is almost like having an adult coloring book to return to in quiet times.

The photos are never in chronological order so when you read your journal memories of many different events are recalled.

Caran d'ache and sandpaper altering on painted journal page