Art Mark Making

More little paintings in the

small booklet that I made.  Purple 

Canson Mi Tientes paper bound with 

chain stitch. 

I have been loosely following prompts

from Rae Missigman's 'Art Marks 30 Day

Challenge.'  

Painting with acrylics, watercolors, and

collaging with my own painted papers.

The pages were sometimes gessoed,

sometimes not.

The book is four inches by four inches. 

The theory is that the smaller size will

take less time to finish...

but sometimes it lays out on my kitchen

counter, and I look at it periodically, and

decide to make additions. And it takes

all day.

I'm thinking that maybe I should

do away with leaving the open border 

around the edge...

as I did with this one.(above) Still not sure if

it's 'done.'

How do you know when you're done?

◘ ◘ ◘

T is for Tag (or 'Flag') Book

Happy Independence Day to everyone

in the U.S.!  Celebrating with a photo of

my dear old quilted flag wall-hanging, and

patriotic cross-stitch.

Here are additional photos of Book Structures

 to share for the T-Tuesday blog hop.  I think I

have acquired a new obsession!

A flag book, which is a structure based

on the accordion fold binding.  Tags -

or flags - are adhered to the accordion

binding in alternating rows. This book was

completely inspired by the beautifully patterned

paper that had been provided by the instructor.

There were so many to choose from, it 

was hard to decide. But I do love a wonderful

black and white theme once in a while.

From scraps of the patterned paper, I cut out

some of the circles and adhered them to the

tags/flags. Alternating black and white flags

further enhanced the theme. Haven't decided

if I will add text. I am rather afraid to

'mess it up!'

Yes, that's my Santa mug with coffee.

Don't you enjoy Santa year-round?!

This is another folded structure. The way the

patterned papers are cut and woven together

creates a 'secret compartment' that makes a

nice place to add a greeting or secret journaling.

It looks more complicated than it is. The papers

I used are 'two-sided' which makes it even 

more deceiving/confusing. And enough

 time has passed that I'm not sure 

I can figure out how to do make

another. But it's really clever!

A pamphlet stitch booklet with an

envelope flap cover. The rose design was

cut from another drawing I had made and

adhered to the cover.

An envelope book.  The cover collage was

inspired by the brightly colored envelopes 

that the instructor provided.

It's an accordion book, with the openings of

the envelopes on the inside, into which I placed

brightly colored card stock tags cut into various shapes.

I especially like the profile in pink.

From the back, you can see that the book is

constructed by simply gluing the envelope

flaps to the back of the next envelope.

Stop by for T-Tuesday and see what

my blogger friends are up to.  I am

entertaining visiting family this week, so I

will probably be late visiting everyone. I am

having fun with the grandchildren

 and we're having art time together!

Tunnel Books and Other Structures

Having my morning coffee and linking up

for Elizabeth's T Tuesday blog hop. Today 

I am showing a few books that I made

 in a Book Structures class taken

from Debra Bachelder at the Marion (Ohio) 

Public Library. The class was funded by the 

Ohio Arts Council.  Above, some of the 

books we made during the seven week class.

A Tunnel Book. (many art book structures have

 more than one technique that can be used

 to construct them) My subject inspiration 

was a Georgia O'Keeffe landscape.

Each 'page' added another  layer to the scene.

The view from above shows the construction.

Each page was adhered to an accordion

binding on the sides. Planning the layers of 

images and the order in which they were to be

viewed was an important part of making it 

work. Some thumbnail sketches 

helped with the planning.

An accordion book, with single pamphlets

stitched into the 'valley folds' of the pages.

"Two Sewn as One" booklet, which uses

the pamphlet stitch for the binding. The collage

on the cover is from paper scraps and doodles.

A rather dark photo, attempting to show

that beads were inserted between the

two sections of pamphlet stitch. The beads

give the binding some flexibility, and also

look attractive. Waxed linen threads were

used for stitched structures. 

Decorative papers within the book covered

each pamphlet. (Debra provided absolutely 

gorgeous papers for the class!) You can

 see here that a small folded section

 of the outside cover is folded in

to separate the two pamphlet sections.

I have more books to share from this class,

but plan to show them next week.  I am 

particularly pleased with how the Flag Book

turned out!

I can't complete a blog post without sharing

some drawings from my Hobonichi Techo journal.

The Sea Creatures theme for the month of

June has been quite a challenge, in

more ways than one!

Click on any image to enlarge

A Leafy Sea Dragon is one of the many

sea creatures that I learned about.

Sea Otters are so adorable. They collect 

mollusks and use their tummies as a 'table' on

which to crack open 'lunch' with a rock!

Who knew that slugs could be so pretty!?

And so different in shape and color.

You can visit Altered Book Lover's blog

to see more T Tuesday posts. Stop by

for a beverage and a chat!