August Sketchcrawl

The sketchcrawl location this month was "Open Air at Market Square" and it was another absolutely beautiful day in Cleveland. Market Square is a little park directly across from the West Side Market which was the location of the January sketchcrawl. Every Saturday during the summer they host an urban outdoor market with live music and tables of handmade art, crafts, and flea market items that vary each week.

I chose to sketch a structure in the park that has always interested me. It's a small group of columns that are covered with ceramic tiles made by local school children. The columns are topped off with a large concrete slab that serves as a roof. I've always loved the mosaic quality of the structure and the variety of colors and images on the tiles. I only captured the top portion of the structure since it's quite tall and my watercolor moleskine is horizontal. I still haven't learned how to sketch something from a greater distance and seem to prefer a more close up view of whatever I'm sketching. I'm guessing it has something to do with my eyesight (which isn't what it used to be) plus my utter fear of perspective which I still haven't mastered. I'm not sure I'm happy with the sketch--I think I like the lettering part better. But I do enjoy participating in the sketchcrawl with Cathy and attempting to improve my drawing skills.

IF - Idle

My hands were certainly not idle when I created the drawing above for Illustration Friday this week. Do your part to save world from evil and corruption--use your hands to paint something, grow something, bake something, play something, build something, sew something, write something--anything to keep the devil away and make the world a better place.

The saga of DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS

An artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it.
- Paul Ambroise Valery

This quote definitely describes my approach to art in general but is especially true of DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS. When I first became interested in altered books over a year ago, I picked up this little beauty of a book by Wilhelm Ruland at the local thrift store. I was immediately attracted to it's small size, yellowed pages, German text, and quaint line drawings scattered throughout. As a novice to the art of altered books, it didn't occur to me to inspect the overall condition of the book before buying it and diving straight into altering. I went home, ripped out a number of pages,, and started slapping on acrylic paint. It didn't take long to realize that the poor condition of the book and the nonstrategic way I had ripped out pages was going to be problematic. The book was falling apart and I had barely begun.


You can see from the inscription inside the cover that the book is over forty years old.

No wonder it's a little worse for wear and no wonder Bob Hamilton got rid of it.

I decided to abandon DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS and chalk it up to the first lesson in book altering--check the condition of the book before altering. I considered tossing the book in the trash so I wouldn't be reminded of my folly, but instead I set it aside with the rest of the art studio orphans. Months later I picked up DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS and thought that maybe I could "fix" it by collaging tissue paper across the spreads to hold the pages together. 

I got out my gel medium and bin of tissue paper scraps and went to work trying to revive this abandoned book. The theory worked and the pages were now intact but the process left them totally wonky and out of whack. DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS was abandoned again.
The next time I picked it up, the wonkiness didn't bother me nearly as much as it had earlier so I decided to stamp circular shapes on the pages using acrylic paint and various sized lids from household products.

I think I went a little too far with the stamping (a re-occurring problem for me) and decided I hated the results. DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS was abandoned again. 

The next time I picked up the book I was in a doodling state of mind and thought that maybe I could "fix" it this time by doodling with a white gel pen and maybe that would tone down the stamping which seemed a bit harsh.

This theory seemed to work and I had so much fun scribbling and doodling in white gel pen that I added blue, purple, pink, yellow, gold, and silver.

I finally started to like where this altered book journey was heading. Uh oh. Wait. I went overboard again and went from loving to hating the results. DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS was abandoned again. But not for long this time. I've been altering this little book on and off for well over a year and I'm determined to make it work. When in doubt I usually return to what I'm most comfortable with and that's a combination of collage and paint.

A little more tissue paper, a couple of washes of my favorite metallic gold paint and a little blue to match the cover, and I think I'm finally there. I like it! I like it!


Wait. The original problem is rearing its ugly head again and the book's spine is completely coming apart. How am I going to "fix" this? Stay tuned for the continuing saga of DIE SCHÖNSTEN SAGEN DES RHEINS.

Happier Than A Koala Up A Gum Tree

That's how my daughter feels now that she's finally in Australia! I hope she has the most amazing time of her life and records every detail on her blog so that her friends and family can share in her adventure. Have fun Kim!

IF - Hollow

The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz is my inspiration for this week's theme of hollow. He said his chest was hollow because the tinsmith who made him forgot to give him a heart. No heart? No heart. All hollow. In the end he learned that a heart is not measured by how much you love, but how much you are loved by others. Yep, The Wizard of Oz will always be my favorite movie.

IF - Shaky

This achy shaky heart is my contribution to this week's Illustration Friday challenge. In just a week I will say farewell to my "baby" as she travels half way around the world to begin her Australian adventure. Although my heart is bursting with love and pride, there is a good dose of motherly jitters in there as well. Fare thee well my little one.

When I Get A Little Money

I promised myself that I won't start any new projects until I finish a few that have been in the works for a while. In an attempt to keep that promise, I just finished two hand lettered bookmarks that I started about a month ago. I thought these quotes would be perfect for a book lover and would make great bookmarks. They were made with a black micron pen and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper.

For me, buying art books and magazines is something of a treat and I would choose to buy books over clothes or shoes or groceries any day. I gave the bookmarks to my daughter's friend Trisha because she loves books and I thought she would enjoy using them. She's also a talented young artist who let me borrow and read her entire Twilight series and what's not to love about that?

What do you buy when you get a little money?

Parade The Circle

Everyone loves a parade—especially one that celebrates the arts. On our most recent Artfits field trip, Annette and Cathy and I headed over to University Circle to view the free community arts parade presented annually by the Cleveland Museum of Art. International and national guest artists joined Greater Cleveland artists, families, schools and community groups in a spectacular display of bright costumes, giant puppets, stilt-dancers, handmade masks and colorful floats. It was another beautiful day in Cleveland and the parade was truly a visual extravaganza.

This costume was stunning and swirled so gracefully down the street.

A fantastic giant puppet with hair spilling out like a fountain of color.

What could be more fun than another giant puppet?

Two giant puppets!

I think it's obvious that I adore colorful giant puppet creatures.

There were actually about 2,000 people who marched in the parade including this group who painted themselves blue!

It was another fabulous, fun-filled Artfits field trip. If you’d like to see more photos, click here to go to the Artfits blog or here to check out Flickr group photos.

A Beautiful Day For A Sketchcrawl

Today was a beautiful day for the June sketchcrawl event at Wendy Park. Wendy Park is located on the lakefront and is a little hidden gem with a very cool view of the city from a different perspective. Neither Cathy nor I had ever been there before, so it's always fun to discover something new in your own background. Once everyone arrived we walked over to Whiskey Island, which is really more of a peninsula. There we decided to sit on the pier and sketch the old coast guard station which has not been in operation for over 30 years. It was so relaxing with the waves lapping, the gulls calling, the rumble of a nearby train in the background, and all under a gorgeous blue sky and the welcome warmth of the sun.

I guess I'm a bit of a slow poke when it comes to sketching because I'm lucky to get one sketch done compared to everyone else who will finish three or four. I haven't posted the sketches from the last few sketchcrawls because a couple are still unfinished and a few others were finished way after the fact. Today I felt really good to have completed a sketch on sketchcrawl day, although I ended up ending a bit more color once I got home.

Today was also a great day for rejectamenta! I came home with a bunch of rusted bottlecaps, a couple of fishing lures, some sort of cable things, and a fabulous rusted "no smoking" sign from the coast guard station. All in all, it was a fun and productive art adventure.

Support Group For Artists

Everyone should have an artist support group. There's nothing better than hanging out with like-minded souls who understand why a new set of sparkle pens is enough to make your day...who are content to doodle with you in silence or brainstorm ideas for your latest project...who are ready to ditch housework in favor of field trips...who inspire you to try new techniques and explore new ideas...who never get tired of talking about art or making art. I'm fortunate to have found just such a group that we call ARTFITS. We get together every other week and spend several hours together working on individual projects such as altered books or journals. We also venture out on field trips such as sketchcrawls, art shows, and studio open houses. Since some of us work together, we even spend lunch hours doodling, sketching, or journaling.

I highly recommend finding or starting your own artist support group if you don't already have one. All you need is a place to meet and a couple of people who like what you like. If you don't have a space where you can work, consider getting together to share ideas and show and tell. Surround yourself with creative people and let the fun begin.