Getting Closer

There are just 4 spots left in our class, Journeys in Art Journaling.  It's on Whidbey Island near Seattle. The class is August 8th 9th and 10th.  John Arbuckle, Brian Kasstle and I have lots planned for this.  See details below.

                                                        Below are some journal spreads.

                                                               Terry Garrett

                                                             Brian Kasstle

                                                                John Arbuckle

Have Been Art Busy

I will share some journal pages that I have worked on recently-I really hardly believe that July is almost half over.

This spread below was done while the guys were here- we do a prompt session- take turns giving prompts and then we do them in the journal- some of the prompts include working on each others spreads.

The spread below is one I did during the retreat as well-  This was such a wonderful time. SO very grateful for such good friends.

This last spread I did shortly after the Supreme Courts ruling on marriage equality.  It's such a wonderful thing.  The joy was tempered quickly by the backlash from the haters.  The sad thing is that while gays and lesbians can marry in all states- some are meeting resistance from horrible county clerks.  Also what many don't realize is that in many states gay people are not protected from discrimination.  So you can marry but they can deny you housing- fire you from your job and other things too numerous to mention them all.  Still I didn't think I would see this in my lifetime.  My spouse and I celebrated 39 years together at the end of June- we married when it became legal in Minnesota-so we have 2 anniversaries.

Creative Gents

This past week was spent with three dear friends:  John Arbuckle, Brian Kasstle, and Thomas LaBadia.  They arrived for a week of art making.  We have been friends for a few years and this was the first time all four of us were together.  This is what makes the internet so amazing- as we all met online.  We have become close friends and this was the first in what we hope will be a yearly event. Thomas LaBadia designed a logo and had T-shirts and aprons made for us.  We learned so much from each other.  There was also a lot of laughter.

                                                        Brian Kasstle's journal spread

                                                        John Arbuckle's journal spread

                                                     Thomas LaBadia's journal spread

                                                     Terry Garrett's journal spread

More Accordion Book Collaborations

I am doing a couple more accordion book collaborations-  The first one is with Julie Miller. http://www.haggisvitae.com/.  I am excited to see what she does with this start and I am excited to see what her book start will be like.

This next book start is with Suzanne Jarvis.  http://www.suzannejarvis.com/  It is always fun to do these and then the anticipation of what she will add to this.  I also look forward to her book start.

Round Robin

I am in a Round Robin with 6 other wonderful artists.  Each month we do an 8 inch square for one of the group- at the end we will have squares from everyone including ourselves. These are folded in what is called the Turkish Map Fold.  They will be glued to one another and will make like a pop-up book. Here is a link how the squares are folded. http://www.greenchairpress.com/blog/?page_id=1944
So this is the square I made for Jacki Long. http://jackilong.blogspot.com/ In  older posts I showed an accordion book collaboration I did with Jacki.  The next square is the one I did for Michele Rawlings Unger.  http://bellstjournal.blogspot.com/  The next one is the one I did for Irene Rafael. http://irenerafael.blogspot.com/  Then the one I did for Brian Kasstle. http://apaperbear.wordpress.com/ And last is the square I made for John Arbuckle- this is the artist that organized this caper. http://artjuvenation.blogspot.com/.   I forgot to scan the one I made for Thomas LaBadia and I haven't made the one for myself yet.

Directed Collage

I am doing the exercises in the book: The Trickster's Hat: A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity by Nick Bantock- some of you may know his Griffin and Sabine series. This is one of the exercises- a directed collage- he has you follow a list of things like paint half the paper with a color and half can be done in different ways- then add tissue paper and so on- It was so fun and such a different way to work.

On A Roll

Here are 9 more 4" X 6" collages.  I find these so addictive to make.  I love using scraps of my monoprints for the back grounds.  I came across some paper doll clothes from the 50s I think- that I forgot I had.  Those were very fun to work with here.