MMSA paperbag book - incoming

Received my paper bag booklet today. Actually, it's prolly been out in the mail box for a few days but only collect the mail a couple times a week, despite the fact that it's about 50 feet from my front door. Just seems like too much trouble at the end of a long day at work. #lazybroad

It's from Laurie Morris and it's great. I love the colors. I'm not sure if Karen knows that or not but she more often than not sends me just what I wanted in the swaps. It's difficult to tell in the photos but the splotches of what looks like brown are actually metallic bronze which contrasts marvelously with the blues and greens. Each page has a flap that's either blank or with a quote on it. And each pocket held several pieces of painted papers to use in my art, last photo. Thanks, Laurie!

 

MMSA paperbag book - outgoing

Another fun swap from Karen. Four lunch bags, decorated however you like, bound into a small book. The one I sent out is up first. I gelli printed both sides of four bags. Takes longer than it sounds cause I did several layers on every side. I made four small collages, one each for the four open ends of the bags that become pockets to tuck things into when you bind the bags together. I also glued on half an envelope and stuck a small booklet into it, made from Pamela's tutorial. It's a cool little booklet. I've since made 8 or 10 of them and had to force myself to stop tearing out likely magazine pages to fold up into covers. Give it a try.

Pamela's Chinese booklet

When Pamela of Cappuccino and Art Journal fame was here last Monday (click on the link to go to her post [with pics] about the day), she gifted me with a cute little booklet she's made using mostly papers she'd found in San Francisco's Chinatown. The cover is a little paper bag, and the pages are a wide variety of things including joss papers, which I wasn't familiar with before.

As I told her at the time, red isn't really one of my go-to colors, and Chinese isn't on my top ten list of countries to visit, but I became more charmed by the booklet the longer I looked thru it. I'm contemplating actually using it, tho not sure for what yet. I expect something will present itself and the booklet will be perfect for whatever it is. Thanks, Pamela!

The cover, turned sideways so you can see it as the bag it was.
Front cover on top, about 4"x4".

The penmanship pages are very cool.

 

evolution of an art journal page

I like in-progress posts where I can see how an artist got from a blank sheet of paper to a finish art journal page, so thought I'd do one, because, for some reason or other, I took pics of this one along the way. The background is pale yellow with green smudgey marks from large bubble wrap.

My pages rarely have any meaning, deep or otherwise, and this one is no exception. I do not plumb the depths of my angst nor the heights of my joy when I do these. I simply cut out things that look cool or interest me for some reason, and try to make them into a whole. That said, this page is loosely inspired by an art journal page by Teesha Moore that has a winged figure on it.

Just cutting out likely elements and laying them on the page.
Her body is the upside down top to a large bottle of perfume from a magazine ad.

Rearranged them a bit, added a head piece. No gluing yet.

Changed out the left side scallops and added a building.

Changed out the wings, added 15 cents, and the square right edge.
Glued everything down at this point.

Looked bare at the top so found some more elements.

Added center circle to her head piece. Did a lot of pen work and it's done.
Somewhere along the way I stuck a piece of gluey newspaper
to it and made a mess on her face, head piece and square border. 

MMSA houses

Got inspired at the 11th hour and made a couple postcards for Karen's house swap. Misc paper backgrounds with gelli print houses, roofs and windows. A bit of text, paint, and some doodling. Pretty simple when you state it like that but they came out cute.

me & Connie & found poetry

One of the recent themes in my ongoing swaps with Connie was found poetry, something I really enjoy. Ours are both ridiculous, just how I like them best.

I started off with a gelli print background. I had the fish already in my goody box. Found the lady in a 1946 American Home mag. The text came from various magazines, and the scallop was cut freehand from a carpet catalog. Did some doodling and mailed it off.

Connie's is great, and I got it before I made mine, so I sort of riffed on hers for inspiration. Crazy poetry. Love Eva Peron flinging her kitchen gloves off while wearing her heels. And that apron belongs on a French parlor maid.

gelli session (lots of pics)

We have Pamela from Cappuccino and Art Journal to thank for this post. She admired the envelopes I posted a while ago, we emailed back and forth a few times and without too much trouble, talked ourselves into Pamela coming to visit for a day. Last Monday she took BART from San Francisco, I picked her up from the station nearest my house, and we spent the day in my studio and gelli printing lab (aka my kitchen), stopping only to go get huge sandwiches from the local deli.

We each churned out a lot of deli paper, envelopes, and book pages while yapping non-stop. We'd never met in person but have been exchanging mail art for a while. We swapped "where I live" booklets a while back - I really need to post about that because it was a lot of fun. Anyway, we hit it off great and once we got to my house, we never stopped talking and laughing unless our mouths were full.

Too. Much. Fun.

No matter how much you keep in touch online, there is simply no substitute for getting together. I'd post more about our visit, except that I didn't take a single damn picture. Crazy, I know. And sooo unlike me but I know Pamela did, so when she posts about her visit, I'll direct you over there. She did gift me with a cool little booklet which deserves its own post.

Double click each pic to see it large, the best way to look at gelli prints. Over the year and a half I've been gelli-ing, I've learned that I have no desire to make pictures like some folks are doing. I don't even especially care for specific stencils or masks, such as leaves or silhouettes. I really love the random patterns made from lots of layers of various marks such as bubble wrap, pattern stencils, etc. And I love the grungy ones, which is why I never clean my plate or my brayers.

Envelope with hand made foam addy stamp.

Love doing gelli prints on book pages.

Huge bubble wrap that was pressed into rolled out paint
on the plate to make marks, then pressed
onto this page to use up the picked up paint.

The design is the bottom of a card board egg carton
pressed into the rolled out paint.
Open your eyes to *everything* when thinking
about what you can make marks with.

I squirted paint onto the plate, then wandered off
to talk to Pamela about something.
When I came back and rolled out the paint,
it still left the swirl imprint. Interesting.