Altered Book - Ilusions

I decided recently to redo my Surviving altered book. It is a mess structurally speaking and I wanted a better tunnel, so I used a board book and carved a tunnel into it with a box cutter and metal edged ruler. then I lined the pages with papers a friend gave me. Sort of industrial types of images on them, or stones and asphalt. Urban for the most part and fitting the being rescued from burial under debris theme. BUT! Since it is a board book, it isn't very thick. I considered constructing a box behind it to deepen the tunnel - but then another thought struck me. I was listening to an old recording by Marlene Dietrich called Illusions on a Divas album. I decided to change the theme and see what I could do with it. I used just enough of the lyrics to fit the length of the book. I found a font made of silhouettes of people in different poses. I used cat punchies to lead the reader on this little journey.

My friend Sally tells this joke. " I don't really have ADD. Was that a chicken?" Hmmm.... did I tell it right? Did you get it?

Anyway, on a whim the book took on this new direction. One of the things I tried to do was to use various rough edged and some netting and mica to cover the opening and make it look deeper without losing the images either from the front or from the back. This worked well, but doesn't show too well in photos. Here are the pics. I hope you like it.

New Mixed Media Group in Lodi

We had our first meeting on Thursday, and it's going to be a really fun group with diverse interests as well as a lot of overlapping ones. We plan to meet twice a month, and will have hands on projects. If I'm not into what the project is - I'll sit quietly and work on an altered book. The picture shows a few of us at our first meeting.

I'd like to encourage you to find other artists to meet with, and make art with. It is very stimulating to see what they are doing, and to share your own work. I learned of some new products right off the bat. You never know what you'll learn, or what you can teach unless you get out there among other artists. It took several years to find the right place and the right people - I just hadn't looked in the right place! I think we will have nearly 20 gals in all.

Lodi Book Arts Talk

Welcome to those of you who came to the Book Arts talk at the Art Center last evening. What a great group. I had so many things I wanted to say, and forgot them entirely, so awoke at 3 a.m. wishing I had talked about things like using copyrighted material and many other things. Well, that's what the blog is for.

If you are new to Altered Books and want to start one, I advise you to go to the oldest post first, and work your way forward through time. I also encourage you to think of altering a book as a great adventure, one that can quickly consume your mind and time. Don't take it too seriously. And, when you get to the part of the blog about practice books - that might be a good place to start.

Thanks for making us feel so welcome last night. Hope to see you at the mixed media play group on Thursday morning. I'm going out to my studio this afternoon to find things to bring for show and tell, and also things that can move along to other artists.

Recycled folk art

Back in the 80s and early 90s I was into making wooden folk art, and had a lively business going from home. I sold retail at shows and also wholesale at stores in Murphys, Sutter Creek, Carmel Valley, etc. While clearing out a big cupboard in the garage to make it into a pantry for my son's family - we came across a big basket full of wood cutouts. I decided to collage over one of the pieces to update it. Here it is. If I cut out another one and hinged them together it could be a book cover. Hmmmmm......

Book Talk

Next week Sally, Pat and I will be giving a presentation on Altered Books and Book Arts at the Lodi Art Center. Sally has done more with constructions than I have and is also an eye candy kind of artist. She uses all the bells and whistles with interactive things, doors, windows, flaps, envelopes, etc. Pat does many colaborative decos with online groups, and will show some of those. She is also doing some constructions as well. And I'll lead off with altered books and introductions. We'll be taking questions throughout the talks, and encourage people to come up and handle our books at the end of the talks. Some of the Stockton ladies that I paint with are going to come up and I love the support and opportunity to share what we are doing. I also work in the gallery on Tuesday morning, have art play date with Bobbi and friends on Monday, and Thursday will be the first meeting of a new mixed media group I am trying to start in Lodi. It will be a hectic week, but one full of fun things.

I'm thinking about starting a new altered book on Phobias. I'm not the first person to like this topic and a couple people have published art books on the subject. But, I can guarantee this one will be far different than anything that has been done before. There are web sites that list phobias, and some of them are very intersting. I'll probably use the more bizarre phobias just to make it more fun. Earlier, I bought the book "Altered States". That might be the one to use for the phobia book. Hmmmmm....... I love to start new books, and I have had a lag period of lots of paintings and collages, but not much activity bookwise. I think it's time to do another one.
I'll post as it progresses.

More new works

This time of year, when I can spend very little time out in the garden, I spend more time painting. The Senior Center art groups are fun to paint with. And we actually all accomplish something. It seems that just carving out a block of time to paint and having the supplies on hand makes it do-able. Here are a couple new ones. I apologize for focus.