Paper and Threads

In this final section we will glue the page block into the old book cover.  I struggled with this some, and then was told about a simpler, almost foolproof method for "casing-in," as it is called.

You will need to remove your page block from under the weights, and get the following supplies together:  a book about the same thickness as your new book (i.e. your page block in the old cover), your old book cover + signatures, PVA glue, glue brush, and wax paper.

These will be the steps, but there is also a link below to a terrific video that will demonstrate the process.   My friend Jana found the video online and it changed my way of "casing-in."  I included these written instructions in case the video isn't available when you need it.  But I want you to watch the video, because the method is much easier than anything I learned before.

Casing In the Page Block 

Read the instructions and then watch the video link included right after the instructions. 

1.  Lay out a piece of wax paper to put your book cover on to keep the covers clean. 

2.  On it, place your book (close) on the right, and a similar size book (closed) touching it on the left.  Your book should have the signatures nestled right uo against the inside of the spine, and equidistant from the top and bottom edges of the book.

3.  Open your book, and insert a clean piece of wax paper between the two front end papers, extending out 1-2 inches beyond the edges of the pages.  This is to protect your book when you are applying glue.

4.  With your front book cover open and resting on the other book, rapidly apply PVA glue all over the wrong side of the front end paper.  Glue down the flap of mull, if you glued the spine) in the process.  Make sure to cover it all in a thin layer.

5.  Carefully remove the piece of wax paper.  Then push your book up tight against the other book, with your, book cover open.  Check the position of your page block to make sure it hasn't shifted.

6.  And then just quickly close your book cover over the glued end paper, and add a little weight to make sure the cover has attached to the glue on the end paper.

7.  You may open the book just a little to make sure the end paper is in position, but opening it further will stretch the damp paper.

8.  Turn the book over and repeat the process on the back side.

9.  Wrap your book in wax paper to protect it, and put the finished book under weights at least overnight. 

The Video Link

http://www.tjbookarts.com/videos.htm

It is 7 1/2 minutes long and the last 3 1/2 minutes will show you how to "case-in" your book, gluing the end papers to the inside of the the covers. 

In the first half you will see a book cover made from book board and paper, and then the same cover after fabric is applied.  But there is not enough information to replicate the process. 

The important part comes right after that - the easiest way I've seen to finish your book!  Watch it several times and then make your book!

I couldn't photograph this process because the glue dries too quickly.  But I do have photos below of my finished book.

The Finished Book     (Total Cost:  approximately $18 with small amounts of glue, thread)

Inside the Front Cover

The Old Title Page

The Asymmetrically Folded Extra Piece of Watercolor Paper.  I will probably put contact information on this flap - and dates of our trip.

The Other Part of the Small Paper - One Page Later.  It is always hard to remember where the two halves of a folio are actually placed within a signature.  The photo page that you see behind it on the right is the other half of the title page in Signature #1. 

Several Photo Pages of Venice That I Wanted to be Part of My Book:

I still have a little bit of a gap between my signatures - but I can live with this.  There will always be a next time and practice does really help!

 I hope that this tutorial is useful to artists who want to make their own watercolor sketchbooks.  I have recycled many books for travel and figure drawing practice.  And I have also made 24 watercolor sketchbooks for my daily journals and I now make the fabric that I use as bookcloth for the covers. 

Here are a few of the more recent watercolor sketchbooks.

HAPPY BOOKBINDING!

Please contact me through the "comments" section at anytime if you have questions.  I will receive them as email.  I'd also love to know if you found this tutorial helpful.

I have a Bookbinding Category on the right side of my blog if you are interested in other books I've made.

Posted by Shirley at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CREATING THE NEW PAGE BLOCK

It is now time to put your folios together to make signatures.  If you are using 140 lb watercolor paper, 2 folios per signature is the most I use.  However, I add pages from the original book to some or all of the signatures, but not more than one old page per signature.

The sewing method that I use is a little complicated.  I follow the diagrams created by my friend Martha in a tutorial about making a watercolor sketchbook from a Moleskine Yearly Date Book.  And I put her instructions in front of me while I sew.  They are included below for you to use.

Making the Holes in the Signatures

We will make a pattern (called a jig) to plan the placement of 5 holes.  I use a strip of cardstock that is the exact height of my signatures and 4" wide, but you can use any sturdy paper  I fold the piece lengthwise and put clearly marked dots on the inside, on the fold, at the following places:  1" from each end, in the middle, and then halfway between the middle and outer dots.

Punching the Holes

A cheap book binding cradle can be made from your telephone book (Thank you Gwen Diehn).  Open the book down the middle, put the fold of the signature into the fold of the telephone book, and then line up your jig over the signature.  Match the top edge of your signature and the jig so your holes will line up on all signatures.  Use an awl or a big sharp needle to make a hole through each dot.  Here is my signature being punched.

Punch the holes carefully and keep the folios together so the holes will line up as well as possible when you get ready to sew them.

Arrange your signatures in the order in which they will be sewn into the page block.  I always have the original title page, unless it was damaged, on the outside of the first signature.  Mark the signatures, with pencil, in the top right corner.  Mark your last signature (on the bottom) with an A The one on top of that is B, and on top of that is C, etc.  I had 5 signatures marked E, D, C, B, A from top to bottom in my pile.

Sewing Supplies

These are the supplies that I use for stitching the signatures together.  The yellow object on the top of the photo is sewer's beeswax.  You may run your thread through beeswax in order to make it less likely to tangle.  I forget to do it more than half the time and I'm therefore a bad judge of whether it makes a huge difference

Sewing the Signatures Together 

Cut a piece of thread that is the height of your signatures X the number of signatures.  My Venice book had 5 signatures and was 8" high, so my thread was at least 40".  I tend to add a little more because I NEVER want to run out of thread while I'm sewing the signatures together,

When you stitch the signatures together, pull the thread tight, without stressing the paper or the holes.  And check freuently to make sure that you haven't left any big loops of thread that weren't pulled all the way through.  This stitching sequence requires your full attention, but only takes about 20-30 minutes.  I banish my husband from the room because I need to remember where I am in the instructions.  I have had to pull out the thread on more than one occasion!  Print out the stitching sequence pages, or keep your computer open in front of you and follow them precisely.

Stitching Sequence: 

These instructions were copied from Trumpetvine Travel with her permission.  They are a modification of the stitching used for Coptic books, so if you master this you can make another popular type of multiple signature book that also opens flat.

Thread the needle with   a single strand and leave one tail longer than the other.  Do not knot the end.

Get the signature marked A from the bottom of your pile.  Then follow these instructions exactly. 

The knots and the ends will be glued later.

The Page Block 

Here is the completed page block, with 5 rows of stitching sewing the signatures together.  There re less complicated methods, but I enjoy the sewing process and feel as if my book will never fall apart.  In addition, I am always fighting the gaps between signatures and with these heavy papers, the gaps are impossible to eliminate completely.

This is the appearance of the stitches on the inside of the signatures.

 Here is an example of the gaps in this book. 

Gluing the spine, which we will do next, closes them a little.  In some of my early books, I glued a 1 1/2"strip of paper, which I also used for the end papers, over the gap.  You may choose to skip the spine gluing process for your first book and cover the gaps with decorative paper.  Tt will be your choice.

Tipping on the End Papers:

The end papers are made from a decorative piece of paper - again making sure that you know the grain of the paper and putting the grainline of the end paper parallel to the spine. 

Cut two folios exactly the same size as the watercolor paper folios and fold them right sides together.

Here is my sheet for the end papers and a folio from the old book lying on top.

Here are the folded end papers that will be glued to the front and back of the page block.

I have made every mistake that it is possible to make in this process.  But one that I made twice, is to attach the end papers upside down.  It is important that you make sure that you lay your end papers on top of your page block and write top in the upper right corner of each.  Otherwise your end papers may read correctly, but the title page of your new book may be upside down and at the back of the page block.  Here is an example of the correct orientation.

Lay a piece of wax paper a scant 1/4" from the fold of the end paper.  Using a small flat brush, put PVA glue along the paper edge along the fold, protecting the rest of the end paper with the wax paper.  Then place the end paper, glue side down on the front of the book, IN THE CORRECT DIRECTION.  Use your bone folder to make sure that there are no bubbles and that the paper is well adhered.  Repeat with the second end paper.

Place weights of the page block, until the glue on the end papers is dry.

Gluing the Spine  (Optional)  You may not mind the gaps, or you may decide to cover them with strips of decorative paper.

You need to put your page block between two sheets of wax paper and put heavy weights (I use two plastic wrapped bricks) on top of the spine to compress the signatures.  The wax paper should extend at least one inch outside the weights and the spine should extend about 1/8th inch.

The spine is glued with PVA glue and a stiff, flat brush, dotting the folds to try to work some glue SLIGHTLY in between the folds. 

In the following photos you will see that I have lots of weights on top of my page block - a board, 2 five pound exercise weights, and my two bricks.  This is probably overkill. 

Here are the materials that will be glued onto the spine - rice paper on the left and mull on the right.  It is also possible to use clean cotton fabric, like muslin instead of the paper and mull.

Then a 1 1/4" strip of rice paper (slightly narrower than the spine) is glued on top of the spine,

And finally, a 2 1/2" piece of mull is glued in place. 

Let the glue dry and brush one final layer of glue on top.  Don't remove the page block from the weights until the glue is completely dry. 

The wax paper will be peeled off and the page block will be glued into the old book cover in the final section!

Posted by Shirley at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The new American Wing Galleries just opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the space is amazing.  I realized that I know very little about early American Art and, but quickly realized that I don't especially like the realism and preponderance of portraits and landscapes.  I do love Winslow Homer watercolors and couldn't find one.  Maybe when the collection is expanded to include more 20th C. artists, I will fall in love....  My one sketch for the visit was from a marble urn with 2 American Indians perched on the sides.  I sketched one of them at the Museum and painted him at home - purely from my imagination since he was sculpted in white marble.

I had my 3rd lesson by Jane Davies on Self-Portraits and just had to show you the results of my loosening up exercise.  These were blind contours - some as one-liners and others not.  I giggled when I looked down after each one....  I actually like the wonkiness of blind contour drawings, but I've never been sure that I gained much from doing them - except having fun.

Posted by Shirley at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This part of the tutorial will cover:

1-A.  Removing the old page block from the purchased book

1-B.  Collecting folios from the old book that you want to put in the sketchbook

1-C.  Tearing down watercolor paper and creating signatures

Some Useful Definitions for Part 1

A folio is the full size page that gets folded in half to make up the signatures.  Each folio will make 4 single-sided pages in the book.

A signature is a collection of folios, all folded together.  I use 140 lb watercolor paper and only two folios can be put in each signature.

Grain is the orientation of the fibers in the paper - very much like fabric.  Handmade papers don't have grain.  When making a book, the grain of the paper needs to be parallel to the spine of the book unless you want a wonky book.  This is the first and last rule of bookbinding.

Part 1-A:  Removing the Old Page Block

Using a small craft/X-acto knife, carefully cut down the fold between the cover and the first page (the end paper).  I have been too vigorous and sliced a small part of the book cover on one book, so do this slowly and carefully.  I sometimes use my fingernail to see if I can cut through the fold without a knife, at least to get the cut started so then I can see into the opening a little better.  Do both sides and remove the old page block.

This is what the book cover should look like after you remove the page block.

Take a small pair of scissors and clean up both edges.

This is how the old book cover should look at this point in the process.

Part 1-B.  Collecting folios from the old book that you want to put in the sketchbook

I like to retain some of the old book pages, if they pertain to my future use of the book.  If they don't, I at least try to include the old title page to honor the old book.  Sometimes, however, the spine is so heavily glued, that you can't tease away many folios from the page block.

In this book, I wanted to save the title page and some of the lovely photos and quotes.  The spine was heavily glued, so instead of picking at it until I could remove the glue in small pieces (frequently damaging the fold of the folios in the process), I cut the signatures apart.

When you look at each page in a signature in a book, there is one double page spread that is the center fold of the signature.  Here you can see the stitches that are holding the signatures together.  In this book, I cut all of these big stitches and carefully lifted off the top few folios.  This gave me the title page and a few signatures to add to my Venice sketchbook. 

Here are several folios that I removed to add to my sketchbook.

Note that you will get some pages that you don't want, because they are part of the folio containing the page that you do want.  I use them to add photos, collage, trip ephemera, gesso and more drawings, etc.  In this case I will leave them because they are photos of other parts of Italy and I like all of them.

Now the folio you remove must be carefully measured to determine the size of your new watercolor pages.

My folio measured 13 15/16ths inches wide and 8 inches high.  This will need to be the size of your watercolor folios.  I use Fabriano Artistico Extra-white, 140 lb, soft press paper.  Several years ago Fabriano changed their product so the grain of the paper is parallel to the 22" side of a 22" by 30" sheet.  In paper parlance, this is called grain short.  Arches paper is grain long. 

I was able to cut two folios from the width of the paper and only four  total from each watercolor sheet.  But I tore the paper leaving a 6" X 30" wide strip across the bottom of the sheet - and I now have a small accordion notebook for preliminary sketches before our trip from each sheet.

Here is a Venice folio that I want to include in my book, followed by the title page.

And here is my book cover with the folios that I want to use.  The remainder of the page block is now in my collage bin for future projects.

In the next part we will tear down or cut the watercolor paper and the end papers.  The spine of my old book is 3/4" wide and I used 2 sheets of 140 lb paper, several folios from the old book, and two smaller pieces of watercolor paper that I had leftover from another project. 

You will need to have your desired paper, a decorative paper for the end papers, a solid 24" ruler or straight edge, a bone folder and heavy books to use as weights.

Part 1-C:  Tearing down watercolor paper and creating signatures

When you buy your watercolor paper, ask the most knowledgeable sales person for the direction of the grain of the paper and put a small arrow, in pencil, along the edge so you remember it.  Most of the other watercolor paper manufacturers (like Arches) make papers that are "grain-long," meaning the grain is parallel to the long (30") edge.

There is a way to determine the grain for yourself - but it takes a little practice. 

Determining the Grain

Lay the sheet of paper in front of you and try to fold the paper,  first one direction, and then the other.  But only bring over the edge of the paper, DON'T ACTUALLY FOLD IT.  Bounce your hand on the paper trying to feel the resistance and note the direction for the LEAST resistance.  The grain runs parallel to the soft fold when you feel the least resistance. Mark it in pencil on the sheet of paper.

Here is a photo of me bouncing the paper when trying to determine the grain.

Making the Folios

Beginners may wish to cut their folios with a metal ruler and a craft knife.  That is what I did for the first few books that I recycled.  Now I prefer tearing my pages to get a faux deckled edge on the pages.

To tear the paper into folios:  Measure and lightly mark dots for the cuts on the watercolor sheet.  Place a metal ruler between the dots, and score the paper along the ruler with the pointed edge of the bone folder.  I go over the same line 4-5 times.  Then fold the paper along that line and use the bone folder to compress the fold down the entire length, on both sides of the fold.  Next I fold the paper in the opposite direction along the same line - burnishing the fold again on both sides. 

Here is my well folded and burnished fold and my bone folder.

Insert the bone folder into the fold and gently "wiggle it", pulling along the fold to get the paper to tear.  This is very easy after you practice, so take some other scrap papers and try it until you are happy with the result.

For this book I used 2 22 X 30" sheets of watercolor paper and made 8 folios plus my two 6X30" accordion practice booklets. 

Making the Signatures

Fold each folio in half and lightly burnish the fold on both sides.  Then take 2 folios and nestle them together to make a signature.  If you are using 90 lb watercolor paper, you will be able to put more folios in each signature and need more signatures to fill the book spine. 

For this book, I decided to add several folios from the original book and several smaller pieces of watercolor paper, left over from other projects.  I like having odd little pieces appear randomly in travel sketchbooks.  I might use them for business cards or lists or as a tab to attach photos on our return. 

Here is a photo with one of my added small pieces of watercolor paper - folded asymmetrically.

When I rearranged all of these extra pieces, I actually had 5 signatures for my book, each with 2 folios of watercolor paper and one folio from the original book.  And when I put all of the signatures inside my book, they filled the spine of the old cover perfectly.

Cutting the end papers

End papers are the "hinge" to put your new page block in your old cover.  Have some fun picking them out, but make sure that you pick sturdy paper.  I love to carry the theme of the book through to the end papers and had this piece of paper in my stash - just waiting for this project. 

You must determine the grain of this paper and then cut (not tear) two folios the same size as your watercolor paper.  For me that was 13 15/16th inches wide and 8 inches high.  Then fold them in half, right sides together, until we need them in Part 2.

Now pile up all of your signatures and put them under heavy weights to further compress the folds until you are ready to stitch them together.  I wrapped two cheap bricks in plastic and taped them up to use as my regular weights, but any heavy objects are fine.

In Part 2, we will stitch together the signatures, tip (i.e. glue) on the end papers, and  glue the spine. You will need linen or heavy duty thread (some people have even used dental floss), a needle, an awl (or something to make small holes with), PVA glue (some people use white craft glue), wax paper, and a glue brush.

In Part 3, we will case-in the book (i.e. glue one page of the end paper to the inside front and back old book covers.  No new supplies are needed. 

After drying the glue overnight, under heavy weights, you will have a watercolor sketchbook, in the size you want, and with the paper you like best!

Posted by Shirley at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

When I was making my Venice Sketchbook, I folded two strips of watercolor waste paper so I can do some preliminary sketching from photos.  These are mainly photos that I took on previous visits, before I started drawing again.  Scroll down to yesterday's blog post for information about the Venice Sketchbook.

I adore Venice, but worried that I could be overwhelmed by the architecture (very complex) and water (which I don't really know how to paint).  Here are the three sections I did so far.

I love this architecture - and sketched the upper balcony from a photo of the Doge's Palace. 

My first attempt at dealing with Canal water, and what better for drawing than the Rialto Bridge.

I love the masks that are historically significant in Venice and as a physician really think the Plague Doctor costume is fantastic.  The beak contained medicinal herbs and other things to try to prevent contracting plague.

The Campanile was another architectural challenge and a time for me to see if I have some of the right colors of paint and watercolor pencils.  The bricks were painted with a mahogany Caran D'Ache watercolor pencil.

Posted by Shirley at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I love making cased-in, multiple signature, watercolor sketchbooks - and alternate between recycling old books as travel sketchbooks, and making new books for my daily sketches. 

We are returning to Venice this Spring and I wanted to recycle an old book as a watercolor travel sketchbook.  I photographed the process of making this Venice book and will post the tutorial, in several parts on this blog over the next few weeks. 

But first - How to select an old book for recycling.

Some people find it very difficult to repurpose an old book.  I love books as much as anyone, but when I see a book on the $1 carts at Housingworks Book Cafe in New York City, or the $2 outdoor carts at the Strand, I know that I will be adopting an orphan and giving it a new life. 

Last Fall I found a fabulous book called Italian Dreams - for $2.00 - on the outdoor book carts at the Strand.  The cover was beautiful and in excellent condition.  And the book was just the right size to carry around on our travels (approx. 6 3/4 W X 8" H).

   The original end papers were beautiful - and I will save them for collages inside the book.

The book has lovely photos of Italy and quotes by notable people on facing pages.  I carefully took the original page block apart to save these folios to add to my sketchbook. 

When selecting an old book, I also carefully examine the original binding, and only buy books that have multiple sewn signatures, and a page block that is not glued to the spine of the book.  The brown spine heading that you can see in this photo is NOT attached to the spine.  You can see that by opening and closing the book covers while looking carefully at the top of the spine.

I will post the complete process in several parts over the next several weeks (Wed, Sun, Wed).  If you want to follow along, you should look for an old book now and think about the other supplies.  I've added parenthetical notes for common substitute supplies I've seen mentioned.

Part 1 will be:  Removing the Page Block, Measuring and Saving the Folios from the old book, and Tearing Down the New Watercolor Paper.  These will be 3 separate blog entries uploaded on the same day because there are so many photos.

Supplies Needed for Part 1:  craft (x-acto) knife, scissors, ruler, bone folder, watercolor sheets (22 X 30") or some other format of watercolor paper, and one decorative sheet for end papers.  I needed only 2 sheets of 140 lb watercolor paper to fill the 1/2 " spine of my old book.

In Part 2 we will stitch together the signatures, glue on the end papers, and glue the spine.

Supplies needed for part 2:  linen bookbinding thread (dental floss, quilt or carpet thread), and a needle, awl (ice pick or other sharp object) for making holes in the paper, mulberry paper and book mull to glue the spine (or other thin, but strong paper or fabric) PVA glue (or white craft glue), a glue brush, and heavy books to use for weights.

In Part 3 we will "case-in" the new page block - attaching the page block to the inside of the old cover with glue.

Supplies needed:  Glue and glue brush, weights

I hope that you will join me and learn how much fun it can be to make your own watercolor sketchbooks.  After making approximately 6 of these recycled books, I took a 1 1/2 day bookbinding class locally to learn how to make my own book covers, and now make both types of books. 

Posted by Shirley at 6:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Posted by Shirley at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I wanted to take an online class in January, when I spend more time at home and more time inside.  Since I am still working through Carla Sonheims 100 Faces project, and I'd love to be more comfortable with Mixed Media/Collage, I signed up for Jane Davies Self-Portrait class.

Today I finished four 9X12 journal pages (90 lb watercolor paper in a Strathmore Visual Journal).  The basis of each were grayscale enlarged photos of me - taken randomly with hair up and hair down.  The goal for this week was to start us working with images of our faces, loosely, in ways that force us to abstract some of the lines and  experiment with paint, ink, color, and collage.

The first 3 images were drawn and then painted +/- collage on top.

The blue paper used for collage in the above self-portrait was made with soy wax on paper and acrylic paint.

The 4th image was traced on artist tissue paper and then collaged over a painted/collaged background.

Looking forward to our week 2 lesson tomorrow! 

Posted by Shirley at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This is the first of 4 monthly blog posts in which I will outline information about one of my 4 grandparents and their ancestral line.

I started doing family research (genealogy) in 2000, using old fashioned methods.  I went back generation by generation using records on microfilm at the National Archives branch in NYC, the New York Public Library, and the NY Muncipal Archives - and obtained birth, marriage, death, census, passenger list, and naturalization documents for each ancestor.  After several years and many generations, I reached brick walls in each line, due to lack of existing records.  In the process I met distant cousins through genealogy message boards, and became friends and co-researchers with many of them.

I recently read that CURRENT genealogic researchers rarely use Genealogy message boards, but instead "google" names of interest, so blogs are now the most important method of making connections.  I therefore decided I would post information on each of my 4 ancestral lines here on my blog - which is usually used to share my art and textile passions.  This will be an extra post each month.

 MY MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS:   WILLIAM JAMES ROSS AND BERNADINE GILLIS ROSS

William J Ross was born in 1890 in Jersey City NJ to Lindsay Ross (born 1867 Ballynaghy, Seagoe Parish, PLU Lurgan, County Armagh) and Anna Elizabeth Ballance (birth record not found in Ireland, but siblings were born in Co. Armagh). 

   MY GREAT GRANDFATHER LINDSAY ROSS  (1867-91)

    MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER ANNA ELIZABETH BALLANCE ROSS  (CA 1865 - 1953)

Both Lindsay and Anna immigrated to the United States from County Armagh in Northern Ireland in 1888 (Apr and Sept. respectively).  They sailed separately and married here in Dec 1888.  Lindsay died in Feb. 1891, when my grandfather William was one year old and Anna remained in America, raising her son.  They lived in Paterson NJ (Passaic County) and then Totowa NJ (Passaic Co.) until their deaths in 1980 (Wm) and 1953 (his mother Anna).  I have both wooden chests that Anna brought to this county with all of her belongings, her gold wedding ring, and silver thimble).

Lindsay's Mom, Sarah Curry Ross came to the US with her 3 youngest children after her husband William Ross died in County Armagh in Dec 1890.  She died in New York City in Dec. 1903.

Anna's Mom, Mary Johnston Ballance, came to America in Mar 1891 to help Anna with her new son and she died in Passaic Co, NJ in Sept. 1908.  Her husband James, a linen weaver, died in County Armagh Ireland in 1899.

The family names in this ancestral line include:  William Ross, Sarah Curry Ross, James Ballance, Mary Johnston Ballance, James Johnston, George Ross, John Curry Jr,, Elizabeth Lindsay Curry, John Curry Sr. and Mary Atcheson Curry.

I would be delighted to exchange information with anyone researching these Irish families. 

NEXT MONTH:  My maternal Grandmother Bernadine Gillis Ross' Flemish ancestors.

Posted by Shirley at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last year at this time I took the online class "Remains of the Day" by Mary Ann Moss.  I created a fabric art journal and this year filled it with sketches, photos, and ephemera from my art sketchcrawls and projects with one or more of my New York City friends.  Five of us gather together regularly (Journal Study Group) to share skills for art on paper and art on fabric, and those are the photos that are included.

This is my very fat, full journal - which represents many fun days between Jan and Dec.

The pages in the journal are made from random printed papers, with lots of other attached decorations.  Then more stuff is added.  It is hard to explain the multilayered scrapbook quality in photos.  But here are a few of the finished pages. 

I had so much fun making and keeping this journal, that I decided to make another one for 2012 and to again document my art adventures in New York City.  Yesterday I pulled out all of my hand dyed and painted fabrics and made selections for the new cover. 

And I added my first pages, including my sketches of caricatures in the Infinite Jeste exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Posted by Shirley at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I am a self-taught artist - fulfilling a retirement dream to draw more and learn how to use watercolor paint.  I never imagined that I would start a blog, and now it is 6 years old.  I love my contact with the art community and treasure the friendships that I made over these past years - at first virtual, but increasingly in person, though we live may live in the same city or on different continents.

My blog anniversary serves as a time for me to outline some goals for the next year.  My main goals remain to sketch and paint everyday and to blog twice each week.  In the process I will try:

1.  To explore new tools (ex. pens, pencils, paints).

2.  To draw more challenging subjects.

3.  To improve my watercolor painting skills.

4.  To read and take an occasional online class in order to educate myself.

5.  To continue my associations with my Journal Study Group, the Central Park Drawing and Art Meetup Group, and the figure drawing group at the Society of Illustrators. 

6.  To make my own watercolor sketchbooks and refine my bookbinding skills.

I am posting a quick painting I did of one of the 50 Neopolitan angels that are on the Metropolitan Museum of Art Christmas tree.  This is the end of the Holiday season for me and now it is time to move into 2012 and some new goals and activities.

This magnificent tree stands in the center of the Met Medieval Hall.  Each year I try to paint one of the angels during my Holiday visit.  It will be up until January 8th for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Posted by Shirley at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I sketched today during a Gallery Talk on Rembrandt and Vermeer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Last January I outlined my art goals for 2011 - just to have a map to guide me through the days.  I maintain a sketchbook for pleasure and get joy from recording the little things in my current life.   No one is monitoring my progress, but I still like to reflect on how I spent my time, so I can make plans for 2012.  Here is my progress on 5 goals.

 1.  Continue to work on drawing skills with daily drawings and monthly live figure drawing. 

I averaged more than one sketch per day for the full year, and went to figure drawing monthly at the Society of Illustrators.  I also went to figure drawing at the Battery Park City summer program for the first time.  Although I want to eventually try using just a brush and watercolor to "draw" figures, I stretched a little and sketched figures, during the 20 minute poses, with a watercolor pencil and then water to shade the figures. 

I'm working on a 100 Faces project from Carla Sonheim's Drawing Lab book and added 33 portraits - drawing from live people who usually didn't know they were being sketched.  I now have almost 70 done.  And I even tried sketching portraits of my mother and a few grandchildren, although I still struggle trying to schieve a likeness of their faces.

2.  Continue to work on watercolor painting skills.

I'm not sure that I'm making progress although I am trying to increase my range of values.   And I'm using watercolor pencils more in my daily sketches, especially when I'm sketching faces on subways and buses.

3.  Continue making my daily watercolor sketchbooks and expand my bookbinding skills.

I made and used 7 watercolor sketchbooks and one recycled watercolor book during the year and now I'm working on an artist's book -  collaging, drawing, and painting Christmas ornaments that I made over the last 30+ years to document my collection. 

4.  Continue education through on line classes, workshops, and directed reading.

Participated in the three 2011 Strathmore online workshops.

Took an online mini-class with Kate Johnson on watercolor pencils

Took an online class with Mary Ann Moss to make a "Remains of the Day" journal and then slowly filled it over the entire year.

Took a class with Judy Coates Perez at Quilt Festival, painting and drawing on fabric with Tsukineko inks.

Worked through several DVDs on Art Journals, Read Cathy Johnson's Artist's Journal Workshop twice, Reread Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit, Read Eric Maisel's Coaching the Artist Within and Peter Steinhart's The Undressed Art or Why We Draw.

5.  Enjoy and nurture connections to the art community. 

I blogged 8-9 times per month (2X/wk), met regularly with members of my Journal Study Group to visit museum exhibits, go on sketchcrawls, and "make art" together, attended 8 Central Park Sketching and Art Meetup Group sessions, and followed Everyday Matters (Yahoo Group) and many art blogs for inspiration and contact with the broader community.

I'm am thoroughly enjoying my retirement and I'm thrilled that I found another passion to add to my other lifelong interests.  My blog will be 6 years old next week and hopefully I will make some plans for 2012 by then. 

Posted by Shirley at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Christmas weekend we took several of our New York City grandchildren to special programs.  Five year old Callum needs some separate time with us, i.e. without big sister Sydney and big brother Henry, so we planned a movie date to see The Muppets.  This was very nostalgic for us - since we watched the Muppet Show with our children every Sunday night and took them to see the first Muppet Movie.  I had tears in my eyes during the reprise of "Rainbow Connection."  Squirmy Callum sat at the edge of his seat with rapt attention.

This is a web image of our favorites - that I sketched to remember the day.

The next day we took Sydney, Robbie, and Callum to see Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan.  I played the part of Peter in our 6th grade public school production and saw Mary Martin in the role at about the same time.  Syd watches my videotape of that Broadway Show (from when it was rebroadcast during the decades of VCR) at least once per month in my apartment and also knows all the songs.  Cathy Rigby was even better than Mary Martin and her gymnastic abilties at age 59, during the flying sequences, were not to be believed.

I sketched this from the program cover to create a sketchbook page for the day.

We talked to our DC grand daughter multiple times over the weekend, and my son sent this photo of Princess Annabelle - dressed in the sparkly princess dress that I made her for Christmas.  She is also wearing the tiara I found for her at the NY Union Square Christmas Market, and the earrings that her other Grandma gave her to complete the outfit.  We also have photos of her putting Princess spells on various things with the wand that matches the tiara. 

We are going to meet her new baby brother William this week.  My son also sent a photo of him in the blackwatch baby gown that he requested that I make for their family "blackwatch" Christmas Day morning celebration.  So glad that it fit!

I would like to wish everyone a Happy and safe New Year's Eve celebration, and a joyous and artistically productive 2012.  We have our 5 NYC grandchildren here (without parents) for a New Year's Eve party and sleepover - the very best way that my husband and I can think of to welcome each new year.

Posted by Shirley at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)