Paper and Threads

I painted gesso onto a piece of newspaper and then sketched an elephant with a dip pen and India Ink.  I had no idea how this would work, but proceeded in the spirit of experimentation,  

Last Saturday I took a Paste Paper class at the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan.  Here is a picture of Me, and my friends Gloria and Benedicte.  I used a >30 year old apron for the class and was shocked to see the elephant on the front. 

I made thirty-one 14 X 17" sheets of paste paper and enjoyed every minute of the class.  Here are 5 grayish pieces that I made for an elephant collage.  I've done collage, but never to create figurative art.  But Lynn Gall, our class instructor, says that Eric Carle uses paste paper for his children's book, so of course I will need to try it!

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It is time to practice drawing men's hands and faces.  I have photos clipped from magazines and use these for practice drawings.  Here are my drawings from this week.

I also like drawing faces quickly when I pause the TV.  Here are 3 done during the news Tuesday evening.

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This little elephant was painted using white and black acrylic paints - by someone who knows nothing about painting with acrylics!  I did a quick loose pencil sketch, squeezed out two drops of paint on my palette, and selected a brush.  Suddenly I felt just like I did back in 2003 when I opened my first tray of pan watercolors.  Yikes!  How do I even start painting?  

So what you see is one great big experiment - in my project to try all of my unused art supplies - while completing a series of elephant images.  I think I held my breath and only remembered that "darks" are painted first with acrylic, and last with watercolor.  But it was definitely trial and error for me as I tried to define body masses.

Then I put my acrylic paints away until next week, when my friends are coming to play with Gelli Art plates!  This elephant may be my only experience doing a figurative painting with them! 

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I spent the last several days in bed with a horrible virus and only have two more elephants to post this time.

The scratchiness of charcoal pencils and Conte pastels on paper makes me crazy, but I gave both another try in my elephant project.  Each elephant is drawn/painted with one of the many art tools I have in my stash.  This ends the various types of pencils I accumulated in the last 7 years (graphite, washable graphite, watercolor pencils, charcoal, and Conte pastel).  My pencil box is full, but they are all variations on one of these types.

I sketched Elephant #9 with a Derwent Charcoal pencil (dark) and blended it with a tortillon.

I sketched Elephant #10 with a Conte a Paris pencil (sepia) and also blended it with a tortillon.  

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I chose the Long Stitch or "limp binding" for my February bookbinding adventure.  As I walked to Dick Blick last month, I passed a leather store (for shoemakers) and bought some leather scraps.  It is a sturdy leather - perfect for this structure. 

For my first book, which is always lots of trial and error, I chose the smallest scrap.  The leather was easy to cut with my Olfa X-acto knife and to punch holes with my standard awl.  I searched all of my books, finding the best instructions in Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz and watched YouTube videos to learn more. 

The book is 5 3/4 by 4 1/4 inches - with 16 folios of card stock in 4 signatures.  I used LaPlantz's 6 hole pattern for my stitching, but look forward to using other patterns on future books.

This book will be used for all of my research notes.  In addition, I'm adding stitching patterns to the pages by sewing them with a regular needle and thread. 

 I envision 12 prototype books full of my research notes by the end of the year. 

Next month I'm planning to make a flag book!

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