21 Secrets is Just Around the Corner

Just a reminder that I’ll be one of the instructors in Spring 2015 version of 21 SECRETS. I’ll be joining other journal artists like Eric Scott & David Modler better know as The Journal Fodder Junkies, Carolyn Dube and Joyce van der Lely. 21 SECRETS is more than just an online workshop, it’s like having 21 talented, inspiring artist friends to art journal along with any day at any time! 21 SECRETS is made up of a diverse, talented community of artists that are most of all passionate about sharing what they love about art journaling with you!

The workshop consists of the 21 SECRETS eBook that contains 25+ hours of inspiring videos, full color photos, printouts, and detailed instructions. The videos showcase new techniques, unique methods, and bold approaches to art journaling. You can sign up now at the 21 SECRETS website.

21 SECRETS Spring ART

21 SECRETS

Art Unraveled is Here!

Art Unraveled kicks off in Phoenix tonight with a meet the artist event. If you haven’t attended, Art Unraveled is a week long art event that features classes taught by internationally known artists. There are over 125 workshops that cover a broad range of media like painting, book making, jewelry making, metal work, journaling, fiber/fabric arts, sculpting and assemblage.

I’ll be teaching three classes at Art Unraveled this year, Dug from the Ruins, a journal created from polymer clay; Work by Time, a coptic bound art journal with wood covers and the Inlaid Wood journal wood covers with small circular inlay.

If you’re attending Art Unraveled this year, stop by and say hello.

 

Dug from the Ruins

Dug from the Ruins

Worn by Time

Worn by Time

The Inlaid Book

The Inlaid Book

A Visual Journey

Last week a friend of my talked me into talking a class with her at Art Unraveled an annual art happening that thames place here in Phoenix each year. I agreed because the instructor was a friend whose work I admire and envy, Lisa Cheney. Lisa chronicles many things in her journals including her dreams and I could happily sit there and page through her dream journals for hours on end. The detail is amazing and the intricate detail creates a sense of intimacy that just pulls you in.

THis class wasn’t about her dream journals but about chronicling your travel experiences. She discussed her process for journaling while traveling but I found most of the value of the class in the different techniques she used to build layers of color in her images. As part of the class we went outside to draw some scenery. Lisa likes to break her spreads up into a major image and a couple of minor supporting images and that was part of what we were trying to do when we moved outside. I drew a couple of scenes, nothing special, what you would expect on the patio of an Embassy Suites.

I had actual met Lisa for the first time about two years ago and in January of 2012 we were talking about a dream she had and wanted to journal about. She asked me to photographer in a specific pose so that she could use the photo to draw from and I happily agreed. You can see that journal page on her blog, “A Visual Journey,” It’s the image with her hands on her face. I decided to incorporate that image into one of my journal pages and I decided to give her the Renaissance treatment, gold leaf halo and all, here’s a scan, enjoy.

SaintLisa

The Last PLAY

I’ve been remiss in posting over the last few months. I’ve been working on another project which has been burning up a lot of time but now that I’ve wrapped that up, I think I can get back on track.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the last PLAY Retreat. Teesha and Tracy Moore have decided to terminate their large art retreats for a variety of reasons and its been a tough haul knowing that I probably won’t make it back to Fort Worden anytime soon. This time, I took just about nothing with me except for a handful of fine-line pens and a book of Peerless Watercolors. The retreat had no specific focus this year like it has in the past, just forty artists working away.

One of the things we did do was some light painting that everyone seemed to enjoy. Tracy used his Lomos while I went digital. here are a couple of the nicer shots I got from the light painting sessions.

Here’s Teesha Moore with wings of light.

PLAY_2012-10.jpg

And here is Dawn DeVries Sokol, author of 1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations and other books on art journaling.

PLAY_2012-3.jpg

While I brought very little in the way of art materials I did bring a couple of lights in addition to my camera, and offered to do portraits for anyone who wanted them. One of the people who took my up on the offer was Lisa Cheney-Jorgensen. While most people we’re interested in something a little more traditional, Lisa had a special request — she wanted a pose she had seen in a dream so she could make it part of here dream journal. Here’s the shot.

PLAY_2012-6671-Edit.jpg

A couple of hours after I gave a print of this image to Lisa, it was already in her journal. I’ll miss PLAY.

JournalFest Day 1

When I decided to come to JournalFest I decided I would take some classes that pulled me out of my comfort zone. I have certain beliefs about books and journaling and one of the things I don’t like are sculptural books that have no utility. I want my books to be used and to accumulate the patina of use. With that in mind, I took Dan Essig’s class on making a mica book.

I’ve admired Dan’s work for sometime and I though his instruction was thoughtful and well planned. He provided us with a materials kit that allowed us to experiment with a variety of techniques such a trapping, inlay, sewing and staining. Over the course of the day, he demonstrated each technique and then we stepped through it with the materials in the kit. BY the end of the day, we had produced a seven page book that was made entirely out of mica and bound with a two needle coptic stitch.

I actually like what came out of the class and I’ll amend this post in a couple of days when I have a change to take some photographs. While I don’t know if I’ll produce another mica book, Dan provided a lot of information about mica and its properties and I can definitely see incorporating it into my wood and polymer books.

We closed out the day with a fire at the beach and journaling in the Beach Shelter, a small structure down by the waterfront. There were hot dogs and marshmallows and pens were flying.

20111027_JournalFest_2011_3049740__DSC5659.jpg

Next Up… Paste Paper

I’ve started sewing up the Woodland Gnome cahiers and they’re coming along nicely. In the meantime I’ve started working on something else, I haven’t decided what form it’s going to take yet but I’ve made some paste paper as a start. It has been a while since I’ve made some flatblacks and I’m leaning towards making some small ones for swapping at JournalFest.


20110725_untitled_shoot_3049740__DSC4560.jpg