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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

sketchbook

Playing in my sketchbook to take a break from computer work...





Monday, November 4, 2013

Busy on many fronts

I have been busy busy on many fronts. Here are some of the things I've been doing...

I have opened my first Etsy shop to sell my Baha'i greeting cards and prayer books. The shop is called Bahai Breezes. Take a peek; I'm continuing to add new items. Soon I'll be opening a second shop for my personal art and illustrations. Stay tuned! I'll let you know when it opens.

I've also been taking online courses at Skillshare. This is a great place to learn new skills or you can also design and teach your own course. I've been taking courses about pattern design for textiles using both Photoshop and Illustrator, about hand-lettering, and about selling on Etsy. Great fun. I even uploaded some patterns onto Spoonflower and printed out some samples of my own fabric. A bit expensive, but fun.

I've also been painting: I continue to work on my Quirky Birds series which I hope to turn into Giclee prints and greeting cards. This entailed trying out 3 online Giclee-print services. I think I have found one that I like and will get me started, at least until (or if) I decide to buy my own Epson printer. It's called: I Print from Home.

I'm preparing for a bookmaking workshop for a group of Children's Librarians in Norwich CT in early December. We'll be making a number of simple books that they can share with their children.

And I've been learning about social networking. Trying to read suggestions online, get back to posting here on my blog, update my Facebook Fan pages and exploring the many options for reaching out and making connections online. There is still so much to learn.

Here's a few recent photos from my sketchbooks...











Monday, August 12, 2013

More Journal Pages

Finished the next page in my prayer journal: watercolor, ink, acrya gouache







Friday, July 19, 2013

Travel Books

Tomorrow morning (Sat) I'll be driving out to Chelmsford MA public library to teach a children's bookmaking workshop. We'll be making a 4x4" rubber-band book and decorating them like world citizen passports or travel journals. We'll also make a diamond pouch to hold our books. Then we'll write and illustrate stories about a trip we took, real or imaginary.




Here are some traveling books that I have made...


Sweet Journey--an artists book with see-thru windows, wheels that turn,
a magnet-closure in the bumper, 
and a glove compartment that opens to reveal a mini-book.
Memories about childhood trips to Canada to visit my grandparents.


Car book open 


 Spread with my dad napping in the back of our station wagon while mom drives


Dashboard, with mini-accordion book hidden in the glove compartment (set into back cover)


Fold-out suitcase book with 4 pockets for mini-books, letters etc.


A "museum book" with 4 galleries and pop-ups 
that tell a story about weaving in Guatemala.


Mama is making tortillas for breakfast


museum book folds up


Simple car book -- cut and folded from one sheet of paper.



spread from an illustrated story book about my trip to Guatemala


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Below are drawings from my travel journals to Guatemala...

fountain in restaurant


church


woman weaving on back-strap loom


study of textile art


map of Panajachel, town where I stayed









Wednesday, July 17, 2013

another paisley

Years ago I found a book at my public library about paisley designs and the history of paisley shawls. Ever since, whenever I am between projects, I play around with more paisley.


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Paisley

A little fun with Paisley. Acrylic paint. Fold out page from mini-book.


Saturday, July 6, 2013

Journal Pages

I took a brief online video class with Valerie Sjodin about cutting and embellishing edges of fold-out journal pages. I've been having fun and experimenting, learning about using acrylic paints, designing some prayer pages, and sharing artwork with other students in a special facebook group. It's my first experience with an online class and I'm enjoying it. I'll be sharing some of my learnings with the participants at Spirit of Children conference in August at Green Acre.

So far I've been working in two handmade journals. Here are some shots of a page from the larger journal (8x10") using watercolor paper, acrylic paint and rapidograph pens. This journal is not sewn together yet--it was easier that way to work on the pages. So this is the left half of a two-page spread. The singing bird on the left will fold under the stronghold page. The text is from the prayer for humanity.



In the smaller journal, I used different watercolor paper and tried watercolor paints. This journal is 8x5.75". Here is the cover.



And here is my first fold-out page with a quote from 'Abdu'l-Baha. The trees on the right fold under the fountain page.