Back to the Journal

I can hardly believe it is Thanksgiving this week- Part of that is about me now living in the SW. Yesterday we walked along the Rio Grande with a T-shirt and lite cotton shirt over it and jeans- where we use to live they have snow and cold temps. I am loving it here for that reason and many others.
The medical challenges here have been in the forefront. Things are getting better for both of us but some things are slow.
I have been taking and still am- a terrific class, Mixed Media Journaling. Sketchbook Skool is where the class is- their online classes are terrific and so well done- terrific videos and  not only for the techniques but you get to see and listen to each artist talk about their work and their creative process.https://sketchbookskool.com/about 
I am very much a visual journaler- it is how I process things.  I had stopped for a while but this class got me right back into it. I made 3 journals and picked one of them for this class.

The covers for these are very heavy watercolor paper that I painted and stenciled. They are

5 3/4" by 7" closed. The pages are also a watercolor paper but much thinner than the cover.

This is the first spread- the spread is 11" long and 7" tall.  There are many techniques here- collage, paint and stenciling.

This is the second spread- same measurement. The split down the center is because the two sides open up  to a fold out which is the next spread. Same techniques here but I also used some texture rubber stamps. The background colors were from a piece of deli paper I had painted.

This is the fold out- so it is 22 inches long. I titled this one.

Thought Stream

I painted the background and added layers of collage

A fun day yesterday

Yesterday I spent the day with a wonderful group of women.  This group is a book arts group that meets once a month usually. Yesterday was eco-dying paper.  I had wanted to do this for so long. Carrol Brundige Moxham and Annie Hooten were terrific teachers. I won't get into the process here- but if you google eco dying there are many videos out there.

Here are several sheets on the drying rack made by  the group. The photos

below are some of my pieces.

Can you Believe it? Another post so soon!

This is the second accordion book I made for the class I am taking.  Like usual I don't do so well with following the "directions" for the lesson. The artist doing this part of the class is Anne Marie Grgich. https://annegrgich.com/https/youtube/kwvkdwdmcr8. Her work is amazing- dense and rich with imagery- lots of layering. Anne is featured in the newest issue of Raw Vision magazine.  I don't always like to do lots of layering. This book has a bit more than some I have done. I find the accordion book structure to be so wonderful to work with- I do love folded book structures and hope to explore other folded books soon. Thanks for taking the time to look at my work.

For this book I painted the background and added some rubber stamping.

The small collages I mounted on the accordion are made from scraps and I used collage elments from a calendar I make using the past months- often I used shape punches to use that part of the collage I wanted. I like to work in a series and I did 12 of these small collages - they are 3 inches by 4 inches.

This is a detail of the left side of the book.

This is a detail of the right side of the book.

This is the backside of the book. I did try more layering here.

The small red grid scraps weaving through the back are from an EKG printout

of mine. Thought it was a good use for it- My heart helps support the composition.

Detail of the left side of the book.

Detail of the right side of the book.

Hopefully Back On Track

I have not posted since early August.  I have struggled with posting- like does it matter-? are people interested? I have had friends ask me to get over on Instagram. I did start posting there.  You can find me there at terrygarrett763     In some ways that is the easiest but I find that adding text images and comments is cumbersome. I did FINALLY change out the look of this blog- it has been years.  Hope you find it easy to read.
Fall is here in New Mexico- cooler temps in fact we have had some down right cold weather for here- a couple of nights in the teens. The cottonwood trees along the Rio Grande are turning yellow and the cranes have returned.
I have been taking more online classes. Sometimes they are hard for me to keep up with as we have been dealing with some health issues here- so there have been a lot of appointments.  But I do find time to be in the studio.  Making art grounds me- it helps me cope with stress and it feeds my soul.
One of the online classes I am taking is called 2019 Year of the Collage.  It is a year long class and I have enjoyed the three teachers for this class- very different approaches to collage- the lessons have stretched me in good ways and I have met some wonderful people in the class.
I will share the first of two Accordion books I have made for this class.

This is the inside of the first one- it is 35" long and 6" tall

This is a close up of the left side of the book.

This is a close up of the right half of the book.

This is the back side of the accordion book.

This is the detail of the left half of the backside.

This is the detail of the right half of the backside.