Ending the Day with a Grateful Heart

Gratitude: 

grateful, thankful, thanks, thank you, 

thank God, appreciate, praise, much obliged, blessed, 

merci, gracias, merci beaucoup.

What's the origin of The Gratitude Journal? An interview on Oprah maybe, but the origin isn't as important as what you and I will do with the idea. Today, January 1, 2016, is a perfect time to commence keeping a gratitude journal.

My plan is to write a list of 5 things for which I'm grateful in a special journal at the end of each day. 

"Sometimes we should express our gratitude for the small and simple things like the scent of the rain, the taste of your favorite food, or the sound of a loved one's voice. Joseph B. Wirthlin

Cards from my Anti-Depression Box

Greeting Card Gratitude Journal
Various ideas have gelled into my plan for the journal itself. Many people use a desk calendar but I'm going to use old greeting cards that I've received and saved for years. I jokingly call my card collection "my anti-depression box", reading them again whenever I feel a bit blue and am in need of comfort. There are 273 cards in my box, not counting Christmas cards. And now I have an even better way to give them new life... as the pages of a colorful, meaningful journal. 

There's plenty of white space on most of the cards where I can add my daily gratitudes, and I can glue a piece of paper into those with no writing space at all.  Each card has space for 2 to 5 lists of my 5 dailies, and the huge bonus is that it will be like having conversations with the family, friends and students who once sent these dear cards. 

I'll include new cards as they arrive, and when the completed cards reach a certain thickness I'll bind the cards chronologically into a book, probably with a coil binding or maybe just a hole punched in the corner, held together with a book ring.

"Give yourself a gift of five minutes of contemplation in awe of everything you see around you. Go outside and turn your attention to the many miracles around you. This five.minute.a.day regimen of appreciation and gratitude will help you to focus your life in awe." Wayne Dyer

Postcards as Gratitude Journal

Postcards could be bound into a journal. I have lots of blank postcards, some handmade, some from travels, some purchased and never used. I was thinking of tossing them because I rarely send postcards (duh! that's why I have so many in that drawer) but why not make them into a gratitude journal?

"Often people ask how I manage to be happy despite having no arms and no legs. The quick answer is that I have a choice. I can be angry about not having limbs, or I can be thankful that I have a purpose. I chose gratitude."  Nick Vujicic

Index Cards as Gratitude Journal

Buy a stack of index cards, make a simple collage.a.day or drawing.a.day on one side and write your list of gratitudes on the reverse.  

"When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in." Kristin Armstrong.

Rolodex as Gratitude Journal

Use your old Rolodex, that one you no longer use because your contacts are on your phone now, or buy a used one at a thrift store. Use it the same way, art on one side, thankfulness list on the other side. 

It's amazing how viewing the world with gratitude lifts one's spirits.

But really, dear reader, the structure of the journal doesn't matter as much as ending the day with a grateful heart.

1. My bird wind chime reminds me to be thankful that I had a loving mother who once owned it. 
2. I'm glad I hung onto all those greeting cards and for those who sent them.
3. Thanks for the idea of setting Bright Lines like my new one: Eat no sugar, ever.
4. I'm grateful that I can use the Blogger platform free where I can post my ramblings.
5. I'm thankful for all the people who read my blog.   Jo Reimer, 1/1/16

If you want to send me a card:   Jo Reimer, PO Box 91340, Portland, OR 97291.

Sketchbook Skool

I've enrolled in an online workshop series called Sketchbook Skool which was founded by Danny Gregory and Koosje Koene. So far it's great. I hesitated until the day it went online, thinking I didn't really need another drawing class, but I relented when I realized I could use the motivation, the encouragement to draw daily. I've been slacking off on my drawing, so much so that when I pick up a pen to draw it's a real challenge. I want drawing to be easier and I know that with daily practice it gets easier and easier to record what I see more accurately.

My interest is not on being able to draw photorealistically, but to be able to get my lines more or less reasonably placed and to include my emotion about the subject in a drawing. Sometimes I can do it but I'm not consistent. We'll see what comes.

So far I find the first class, taught by Danny Gregory, to be first rate. Danny's the one who got me drawing in the first place with his excellent first book, Everyday Matters, so I know I have nothing to lose by enrolling in his school. There will be other teachers in this six week long session: Roz Stendahl, Koosje Koene, Tommy Kane, Jane LaFazio, and Prashant Miranda, and others in the next sessions.  If you're interested it's not too late to join. Click HERE to learn more.

Here are my first two drawings:

Gratitude

by Jo Reimer

 

I watched Louis Schwartzberg's TedTalk  about Gratitude yesterday with all his wonderful time lapse photos of the majesty and intricacy of nature and can't help but be filled with gratitude to the One who created it all.

 

 

Our Western Oregon landscape is so lush and beautiful at this time of year with the hot colors of the turning leaves and fall blooming plants. Even the dead leaves are leaving their eco prints on the concrete sidewalks. Once again I am in awe of the beauty around me and I recalled a page in a 2009 journal so I dug it out to share with you. I hope each of you has a wonderful weekend and are mindful of the beauty around you and of all we have to be thankful for.

 

 

Thank You

Portrait of a Calla Lily

Painting again
I've been painting again and it sure feels good. It's been way too long since I felt the need to pick up my brush and move the paint around. What set me off was a bouquet of white calla lilies with their long stems and graceful shape. I very nearly waited too long to start... the blooms had started to turn brown on the tips before I set up at the easel. But since I don't want to worry about realism in my approach to the canvas I didn't let a few dead bits stop me.

The painting isn't finished but here's an early view to show you that I'm actually working.

And you can also see a bit of the area where I've set up my easel. It's a tight fit between a bookcase-turned-paint-storage unit and my flat files-turned-taboret. This isn't a perfect setup, mostly because the light is bad, but I'll play around here for awhile and see if it grows on me. I do like having the easel against the wall instead of in the middle of valuable floor space, and it's positioned so I can easily get a long view from across the room or even out in the hall.

Catalog as Journal
The Anthropologie catalog arrived in my mailbox a couple of days ago. Now mind you, the clothes in that store don't suit my style but whoever designs the catalog appeals to my sensibilities in a big way. The pages are spare with lots of negative space that just cries out for journaling and the beautiful scenes are perfect backdrops for more collage. Maybe Little Jo will go visit India along with Anthropologie.

My plan is to take the catalog apart by removing the staples.  Then I'll sew strips of fabric to the spine of each double page to stablize it, and add more bits of fabric and lace and collage bits here and there with machining. When I've redesigned the pages to suit myself I'll sew the pages back together and into a more sturdy cover, and I'll end up with a new daily journal for the rest of the spring.

My blog buddy Susie LaFond had a similar idea and posted about it on her blog today. Click here to read what she has to say.  I loved her encouraging words, "Go out and find a puddle to play in". Amen!

The Sketchbook Project Exhibition

I have questions about the exhibition of the Sketchbook Project, such as why is it on display for such a short time in most places? There's plenty of time in between some of the venues so why not send it to other cities around the country? Is it because no one has stepped up to the plate and volunteered to find a venue elsewhere? Are the expenses of mounting an exhibit too high for a gallery to assume for a show that’s set up for only a few days and won’t make them any money? Is it simply that the overwhelming numbers of participants put a heavier load on the Museum’s staff than they can bear?

Most art galleries plan their shows 1 to 3 years in advance with only a few days in between for take-down and hanging. And most art galleries are profit-generating businesses and would gain little from hosting a show of sketchbooks, no matter how interesting it might be to the public.

10,00 Returned
 Marge says 10,000 filled sketchbooks were returned. That's a good percentage for a project like this. There are good reasons why 18,000 were not returned. I suspect some of the participants never got started. Some filled a book and couldn’t bear to give it away. Maybe some thought their work wasn’t good enough to show.

Journals and Sketchbooks
Years ago I visited a local gallery show of artists sketchbooks and journals, probably the most interesting art show I’ve ever attended. There were hundreds of books in one small room, all available to handle and read. The books were of all kinds and sizes and with different focuses, some handmade, some purchased, and each one wonderful in it’s own way. I joined lots of other people sitting on the floor, wearing a pair of white gloves, and devouring one book after another. I learned a lot about what an artist’s book can be and that the sky’s the limit.

Keeping a Studio Record Book

 Some of my studio books on top of single pages 

 
For an artist, keeping a record book of some kind is almost a necessity. It can be a book of sketches from a life drawing class, a book that houses records of completed artwork, a studio workbook with a mixture of drawings, palette color swatches, written ideas, mind maps, lists, gallery cards of others’ works, workshop notes, lesson plans, diary entries of a personal nature, or the results of a daily drawing practice… whatever the artist needs it to be.
I’ve kept studio books for many years but rarely did I completely fill one. Hmmm. Perhaps this is a worthwhile subject for another day if you’re interested. Tell me what you want to know and I'll write about it if I have any help to offer you.

New Studio Journals for 2011

I spent an hour this morning making 2 new studio journals for the coming year. These are made from cardstock or index weight paper, 8.5 x 11. None of the papers are white, to avoid the blank white paper syndrome we creative types sometimes face. I used 30 sheets of paper in each journal so it's half an inch thick and not too heavy to carry around.

I used my RubiCoil to punch holes in the paper as well as along one side of some painted and stenciled paper which is the cover. The 140# watercolor paper isn't sturdy enough so I sewed another sheet to the inside cover and added some gray ribbon along the edges, and I sewed some woven, patterned ribbon across the width to give some character and texture to the piece.

Although you can't see the three index tabs along the edge in this scan, the photo below will give you an idea. The tabs are attached to some heavyweight card and were originally used in a vintage file box that I found in a junk store

... so then I had to make a second journal and used the same woven ribbon plus another narrow orange and yellow ribbon for accent. I'm sure I'll fill both of these this year, and maybe others. It would be most efficient to make several at once while I have the tools out but there's something about binding the journals that encourages me to get to work in them right away so I'm anxious to get to work.

These journals will contain mostly notes, plans, thumbnail sketches, and ideas for future work. I don't use this as an art journal which one would fill the pages with beautiful paintings or collages. I have other journals for that.

I work in several journals and sketchbooks at a time and use several sizes. I carry a little Moleskine sketchbook in my handbag for drawings and notes when I'm out an about. And I usually have half a dozen art journals floating around the studio. I keep 2 in my journal case that's really an outfitted vintage train case. The rest stand on my desk in the studio waiting for me to be inspired to work in them.

I headed to the beach last weekend hoping to get some future planning done but somewhere I caught a case of the lazys and spent most of my time reading or walking... mostly sitting and reading. Now I'm still thinking about plans for the year and feeling guilty that I have't got anything onto paper. In the last day or two I read someones's blog where she talked about how most of us think we must have our plans made by January 1? She looks at it differently; she sets aside most of January to plan the rest of the year. (I'm so sorry I didn't make a note of which blog or I'd have linked to her post.)

Oh my, did that ever hit home with me!  I have NO time in December to make plans and I sure can't use the week between Christmas and New Years to plan, nor can I get it done on New Years Day like my friend Linda does. Whew! What a weight off my back. I have until February 1st before I need to feel guilty about not getting plans on paper, though perhaps this afternoon I can draw a big mind map of 2011 on the first 2 pages of my new journal.

Travel Journal - October 2010

Cover

8x10

I'm building a new journal for an upcoming trip back to my old stompin' grounds. I used Teesha Moore's directions for her 16 page journal which is constructed from 2 sheets of Fabriano Artistico 140# watercolor paper, torn in thirds and sewn together. 
The size of the journal is just right for my carry-on luggage and the format allows me to work however I want, though I have no definite plans. I've created some borders on most of the pages, added a few pictures to make it personal and I'm ready to go. Once I've completed this journal I intend to make a short video of it to show you how it looks completed.
Here are a couple of the ready-to-go pages:

The yellow flap folds back to give me blue pages to work on. I'll probably add more colors to this spread before I leave.

I've added pictures of my grandkids in the book so I can show off to family and friends along the way. This is Amy when she was 6 or 7, half her liftime ago.

Containment

This is an old spread from a journal I made when traveling in France in 2003. The spread is composed of scrap paper that I picked up off the street and pasted into my journal to remind me that Paris isn't much different than most American cities. Looking at this spread reminds me that what I'm doing these days isn't that much different.

A note on my desk says, "I prefer containment". I don't know where that came from, probably something someone said that tickled my fancy. I'm a big one for recording bit and pieces of conversations so be careful what you say in my presence. At this point I'm relating containment to putting art and words between the covers of handmade books. I've made another video for you, this one of a new book that I made over the past 2 days. It took me about 20 hours to make the book plus a few hours to gather the materials. Bookmaking isn't quick but then making any kind of art journal is never quick, whether one starts with white paper and adds paint and collage and photography and text, or as in this technique... sewing junk paper together to make pages on which to write later.

I've taken 2 online classes, one from Mary Ann Moss called Remains of the Day, and one from Patty Van Doren, called Wall Calendar Journal. I offer no comparisons and make no recommendations. I learned lots from both very talented women and now that I've made several books on my own I know that I will develop my own process and product that will be both derivative and uniquely mine. I'm not against copying in order to learn, but after I learn the techniques shame on me if I don't branch out on my own.

We'll see where this goes. One thing I got from both classes is that it's okay to sew on paper. AHA! Back when I was teaching sewing I'd have my beginning students use an unthreaded machine and a page of lined notebook paper to practice sewing straight. You've never seen such perforated paper and so much improvement in an hour. Of course at the end of the day I spent another hour cleaning the dust out of the sewing machines, but it was a worthwhile exercise. I never considered sewing on paper as a studio method. Where have I been?

Now I'm back at the sewing machine for hours at a time sewing paper and fabric together to bind books. Thank you, Mary Ann and Patty. FYI: Use machine darning thread or embroidery thread in your bobbin. Both types are finer threads so you can get 2 or 3 times as much on your bobbin so that you won't have to fill the bobbin so often. I use Zwicky brand. For sure, it feels good to get back into my books, my visual journals. I'm not turning my back on paint and glue or to working in large format but I seem to find the most pleasure inside books. I love to read. I like to touch books, to turn pages, to flip the pages and watch the color and text fly by. I'm continually thinking about how to turn bits of art into books. So for now, that's what I'm doing when I'm not mopping floors or pulling weeds or chopping onions for tonight's soup. Here's the video.


The book was made following Patty's guidance and used an old wall calendar as the base. I selected a variety of paper: vintage and new ledger paper; old books, including one of my mother's high school textbooks; sheet music; new wallpaper from discontinued sample books; church bulletins; painted paper; magazine images; and lots of other paper from my collage bins.

I discovered a few things as I was working.
I prefer new paper over vintage.
I like creamy yellow new-ish ledger paper with anything.
I prefer my own photographs rather than magazine images.
I prefer photos that tell a story or or a bit quirky rather than pretty scenes.
Keeping materials loosely corraled is important to the way I work. I watch for unusual contrast of color and image.
Seek repetition of images with a contrast of size: large bird+small bird, bird+nest.

Because of years and years of studying and making art the elements and principles of design come automatically and yet are important to name... Balance. Line. Shape. Emphasis. Movement. Repetition. Unity. Color. Contrast. (There are more, depending on whose list you're reading.)

Making Decorative Tapes

There's been talk among the people taking Mary Ann Moss's Remains of the Day online class about Japanese Tapes, printed tapes that are sort of like masking tape but more transluscent. I don't have the tape bug that some journal artists do but adding strips and borders to my art as well as to my art journals has become somewhat of a signature so anything that will make the process easier certainly catches my interest.  But I don't want to spend more money on art supplies... remember me saying "Buy no art supplies; use what I have. Be creative". So...

Thanks to a reminder from Susie LaFond I got out my Xyron and an adhesive cartridge (supplies that I haven't touched in probably five years) and started experimenting. For my purposes I found that patterned tissue paper was the best choice. I ran 2 different black and white prints (and a piece of turquoise cotton fabric) through the Xyron which adds adhesive and a teflon-like paper to the back, making whatever you put through the machine into a peel & stick.  I used the checkerboard because the black and white tape will echo the black and white text and ink already in the book and add much needed continuity to the ROD travel journal that I'll use later in the spring when we head south and east on a road trip.

You can see how I used the homemade checkerboard tap on the first page of the travel journal (above), along with bits cut from an old AAA TourBook and map.

And here on page two I adhered a piece of my tape across the bottom to form a border, and added a tiny snippet on page three, bottom right.

This cost me nothing except a bit of time and I now have my very own "washi" tape in the pattern and color I want.

This photo shows jow I set up to cut one of the black and white tissues (with adhesive on the back).

I use an Omnigrid ruler left from my quilting days and an Olfa rotary cutter. I keep two Olfas, putting the new blad in one reserved for fabric and move the used one with a dulled blade to a rotary cutter reserved for paper. It's still sharp, just now sharp enough for fabric.

Sewing Wild Oats Video

My scrappy journal isn't complete without lots of writing and photos but the sewing is done and it's been sewn into it's cover. I took advantage of a long sun break to set up a video station and shoot my first video. There's no music, no voice over, and only the sound of the pages but I did it with my little point and shoot camera's movie setting. Now that I know how I'll add more to my blog in the future. I hope you enjoy seeing the journal.


Sewing Wild Oats from Jo Reimer on Vimeo.

Resisting the urge to buy more stuff

I’ve shown you a bit of the journal I’m making in a class exercise led by Mary Ann Moss called Remains of the Day.  I have enjoyed this experience and I’ve had lots of fun making the cover and the pages and thinking about how I’ll use the technique to make lots more books. I really like making and using books and journals that focus on art and life and I intend to continue until my hands won’t hold a pen or scissors.

As I understand the idea of a Remains of the Day journal it’s to use the waste paper that comes to me during the normal course of daily living to create something else that’s useful and beautiful. There sure is plenty of that!  Bills, flyers, notices, ads, notes and lists, semi-personal letters, and so on… mostly mail that is skimmed and quickly tossed into the round file.  Yet with every video where Mary Ann shows a piece of ledger paper, or Hambly overlay, a huge spool of red thread that won’t run out, or decorative label, or vintage something or another I find myself wanting something just like it for my own journal, even when it’s not the remains of MY day. It’s related to how a friend and I laugh about our shared urge to buy yet another art supply when our studios are already crammed.  Purely greed!  When will it end?  It won’t until I intentionally end it and begin a new process.

Again at the beginning of this new year, as I did last year, I remind myself to use what I already have in a creative way and stop buying more stuff.  That’s why this class appealed to me in the first place.

Here's what I keep reminding myself: this process is about using today's ephemera that would otherwise get tossed into the trash, things like credit card offers, junk paper, printed emails, paper that clutters my file drawers that is no longer useful, 10 year old bank statement (with the account numbers and names cut off), fabric scraps, kids homework, a church bulletin, etc.  Instead of throwing it all into the recycle bin cut it into page sized pieces and sew it into a book in which I write about my day and into which I glue or stitch some pictures taken that day.

This junk paper that’s generated in my daily life can take on an importance that someday will seem as interesting as the vintage ephemera that seems exotic to me now. I can use it in an artful, thoughtful way to reflect through art-making and journaling about what I’m doing with my life and what I am leaving behind, by making beautiful and interesting books out of the remains of my own day.

One of my treasures is a bundle of papers left by a great, great grandfather. It’s not a book and it’s not very personal but it does represent the remains of his work day and what was important to him back in 1827 – 1865 … a bundle of IOU receipts and a few letters, tucked into a handmade case of linen pockets. Maybe my books will be valued in a similar way in future generations if I’ll make sure to include bits and pieces of my current life, write about my beliefs and activities, and include other notes about what is important to me today… letters to the future instead of notes from the past of strangers.

Wild Oats - Pages

I'm having so much fun making pages for my Remains of the Day journal, hunting and gathering ephemera to combine into pages: scraps left from sewing projects, papers... whatever can find around the house. I'm determined not to buy anything but to use what I already have in abundance. I brought 2 Iris boxes, 12x12x4 inches, packed full of stuff for the book, and in one day... maybe 14 hours but who's counting... I made 42 pages. They aren't finished and won't be until I get back to my studio where I can root out more good stuff to use.  I cut full pages, half pages, and strips and sewed them together to make 11 x 7.5" pages. You can see some of them at my Flickr album here.

I told you that I made Christmas gifts for my family and now that they have their gifts I can tell you what I made... pillowcases.  I know, that's not very exciting, but these are special, made from fabrics especially chosen for each person. Our dog loving son got a pillowcase made from a fabric printed all over with puppydogs, trimmed with a narrow band of black lettered in white with doggie words (ruff-ruff- good dog - like that) and edged with black paw prints on white. My husband's is a route 66 fabric that includes Oklahoma with a band/hem of 1956 Chevrolets like the one he once owned.  My gardening daughter got  birdhouses and birds, and her husband got big mouth bass with spawning salmon and trimmed with pink roe eggs.  The oldest grandson loves camo anything and his is a batik print that looks like camo but feels softer with a trim of black helicopters on a camo background. 

I'm guessing you want to make some for yourself.  Here's what you need:
5/6 yard of 42-45" wide fabric - body
3 1/2" of 42-44" fabric.  trim fabric
1/3 yard band/hem fabric

I'll trust that you can figure out how to put these together.  The trim is folded in half lengthwise and sandwiched between the body and band/hem, like you would insert piping.  Sew them together. With right sides together sew around the side and end of the pillowcase. Turn the hem and stitch, and you're done.  Use the scraps in a journal like mine.

The pink batik with flowers is the one I made for myself.

Point & Shoot Journal

Volunteers finish the lines and text of the mural.

The mural I’ve been working on this summer is finished and the sealer will be applied Monday. It’s been such a blessing to be able to work on this project, especially since my son was also working and it gave us extra time together. I wasn’t working every single moment but I did try to work 3 times a week and that practically eliminated my time or desire to do much other artwork of my own.

Now I’m back in the studio, this time concentrating on doing my assignments for an online course I’m taking from LK Ludwig, Point & Shoot Journaling. This is right down my alley, combining three loves: writing and photography and making pages in a visual journal. I signed up for both the October and November courses and as is my usual wont, I’m now doing the last lesson from October. I’m working in a 16 page journal made from one sheet of hot press watercolor paper that I painted on both sides with Bob Ross black gesso. I used the BR because it is thinner and cheaper than some others and spreads very well, drying quickly while retaining interesting patterns of visual texture. Here, I’ll show you some pages.

This one isn't in the Point and Shoot Journal; it's a 9x12 collage I made one day last month.

Choose + Integrity = journal pages

I took my box of compost and some Mod Podge to the beach and managed to extract 2 collages from the collection of paper ephemera. I didn't
know where I was heading with either one but just kept putting colors together to see what came of it. Choose just happened. I used part of some papers I made years ago, literally in the dark.

In a painting class we students were instructed to bring all sorts of non-painting things, arrange them in front of us within easy reach, and put a big sheet of paper was on the easel. Then the teacher turned the lights out, leaving us totally in the dark, and told us to start painting with the materials in front of us.

I don't remember all that I had to work with but I do know that the collection included turmeric, lipstick, eye shadow, and some other kitchen stuff. The painting was really ugly but I've used parts of it in many collages since then, and part of it is what I used here, in the upper left section. The picture of shoppers in an old fashioned store reminds us to choose wisely. And once I started thinking about the night I was choosing non-painting things, my constant choosing of what I eat and don't eat, and my constant choosing between right and wrong the piece came together quickly.

Integrity came together from a prints of another piece coupled with some images from a newspaper that was masked with tissue. The woman is a photo of my mother as a young woman. She and Dad came home from work one afternoon to find that their house had burned to the ground, along with all their possessions. It was during the Great Depression and their situation was dire. Her brother who owned a drug store in PA paid their way north, gave them each a good paying job, and a place to live for the next three years. This of Mother and one of the city crowds by another brother, a newspaper photographer in NYC, seems to tell the story of a frightened young wife with nothing but hope that the future would bring better times. You can faintly see "storyteller" and "catch a glimpse" as well as people reaching up as though they're asking God to step into a tough situation and lift them up. I think Mother would have liked this collage.

Hawaii Art Journal

I had grandeous ideas about journaling every day, every time I had a minute to sit down I'd add a sketch or words or paste in some decorative bit of paper, and every day I'd work with my grandkids and help them build their own journal. Right. Best laid plans for journaling never seem to work out for me. Some of these pages have appeared here in my blog as "starts". I added to a bit to them on location but most have been completed since I got home.
I stripped the airline magazine of interesting words and pictures and culled more from a variety of advertising brochures that I picked up in stores or at the airport. These add interest to my pages but they weren't used except to augment entries about something we actually did or saw.


Our grandson, Lucas, added much of the comic relief to our days but he never did get adjusted to the 3 hours difference in time zones, insisting on getting up before the sun rose.

Since this blog is supposed to be about my art-making I'll tell you a bit about how I created each page and if you have other questions just email me. The fruit page was so simple. I used a commercial scrapbooking paper cut to fit my journal and added the text by hand and the title using a stencil.

Starbucks is another scrapbook paper with photos and stencil. I'm trying to remember to take shadow self-portraits often. It's usually only possible in early morning or late afternoon when the sun is low. The people in the small photo are my daughter and four grandchildren.

This page was spray stenciled at home and I added lots of bits later. The photo is of my son.

This paper was painted and stenciled at home with a bit of fabric and a garment label stapeled to the paper.

I did this watercolor sketch from a photograph.

And this sketch is from a magazine picture. I usually don't use photo references from anyone else but this is an exception.

Prepainted paper with label torn from the ice cream cup and a photo of the trunk of a tree.

This page was created at home using fabric, paper and my sewing machine, and the writing that can't be read was done on my anniversary when my husband got sick and we had to cancel our celebration plans. I was a little upset but more for him than for me. He so wanted to give me a day to remember and he couldn't help getting sick. We'll both remember this day for several reasons. It really was a wonderful day from the beautiful sunrise to its quiet end. Our precious son-in-law cooked a gourmet breakfast for everyone, we enjoyed time with all our family, and we had some time away in a beautiful place. And when we returned to our house we had peace and quiet to rest and dream and pray. It really doesn't get any better than that. And I didn't have to cook a single meal all day.

I intended for us to recite our vows for our family and at breakfast I started talking about our wedding day. I described the pink suit i made and wore for going away, with its matching hat, white shoes and gloves, and how we stopped for dinner at a chicken restaurant, and wondered how the owner knew that we were just married. But I didn't get much farther than describing the place we stayed before I got all teary with nostalgea and couldn't go on and pull off the recitation of vows. But we do still love and cherish one another through bad times and good and we'll still be together when one of us dies.

This is the view from our lanai, a watercolor done one afternoon while we were enjoying pupus and drinks. Everyone was fascinated, watching me capture what I saw, and I drew a couple of ooohs and aaahhs when I painted the sky. Some people are so easily entertained!

This is a stencil I cut from a photo of my youngest granddaughter, Sarah. She's such a sweetie, full of energy and fun and ideas for what to do next. All the kids are waterbabies and strong swimmers so they all took to snorkeling very quickly, and even had a Snuba lesson... diving with an instructor and their father floating above ready to come to their rescue. He's a certified diver.

Rick rack makes excellent waves aboue a colorful fabric ocean, don't you think?

This was my planning page. I added a couple of plastic slide holders to the page and inserted a luggage tag and my boarding pass as well as a bougainvillea flower petal. And I made lists of things I wanted to do.







That's it. I have a few blank pages of watercolor paper and will do a few more sketches in the book but it's essentially finished and I'm ready to move on.

Coil Binding for Journals

Gina asked about how I bind my journals. Several years ago I was teaching some workshops on travel journals and I splurged and bought myself a holepunch for coil binding, (like the plastic coil used in spiral notebooks). This isn’t your everyday holepunch; it punches a jillion holes at once, perfectly spaced, through several sheets of paper. It wasn’t an economical move but I’ve loved being equipped to create my own unique spiral/coil bound journals with my paper of choice. I like the coil binding for my sketchbooks because I can turn the pages back on themselves and have a solid platform for writing or making art. I bought my coil punch from Bonnie’s Best.

Most copy stores will be able to coil bind your books for a small fee, usually around $5. Assemble your pages, clamp them firmly with some bulldog clips on every edge except where the spiral coil goes… and on that edge put a big yellow Post-it with an arrow pointing to the edge you want punched… PUNCH HERE. They may take off the bulldog clips but hopefully the note will stay in place and they’ll do it right.

Sometimes when I have a hardback book that I’ll be using a lot in the studio I’ll take the book to the copy store and have them slice off the spine along with about ¼” of the spine edge of the book, and have holes punched in the book so it will fit into a 3 ring binder or punch it for a big fat coil if they have the large size in stock.

Hawaii Travel Art Journal 2009

I've been working on the journal that I'll take to Hawaii in a couple of weeks. I decided to go with a 6X6" format and started by cutting lots of paper to size. I used some of my stencil paper from class as well as commercial scrapbook paper with designs on both sides, and I added plenty of 90# watercolor paper. Then I sewed narrow pieces together to get a full size page, adding embellishments. I left space for journaling both on plain paper and on top of decorated paper. I'll work on the journal on the plane as well as once we arrive.

Tomorrow my daughter and her 3 oldest will come over to construct their own journals. I have lots of cut-t0-size paper as well as lots of pretty paper to add to their pages. The oldest will be in charge of the sewing machine; the oldest daughter knows how to use my paper cutter; the youngest will be comic relief and creative director; my daughter will supervise, and I'll punch the holes for binding.