Sunday, October 31, 2010

Ink Catalogue

When I first started stamping, I stamped out samples of all of my ink pads in a sketchbook, so that if I was looking to match ink colours with paper, I would have something handy to quickly refer to.  Over the years, the sketchbook pages became overcrowded and an update was in order.

I recently finished that project, a 4" x 6"  book cataloguing all of my ink pads:

Ink Catalogue

The cover is a postcard I picked up at the Vancouver Art Gallery this week.  It is by LAIWAN, and part of a display called "Everything Everyday", about the art of the everyday object.  (What you see on this postcard are Vancouver bus transfers.  The actual work containing the bus transfers is much larger, but postcards were also created for us to take.)  It somehow seems fitting to the exhibition theme that I'm reusing the postcard of the reused bus transfers.

Special thanks to Susan Raihala for the great tips on photographing cards.  I'm going to be giving it lots of practice, but I tried it here for this book and I'm very impressed with the results.

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Octagons Part 2

The theme of Octagons (see previous post) brought quilts to mind:

Octagon blue Octagon random

Octagonal Blue3 Quilt Octagons4

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Coffee Time

This tree is a Spanish tree (what?  no difference?) viewed from a sidewalk cafe.

Tree

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Octagons

One of the October themes for the Vancouver Artist Trading Card Group is Octagons.  Using a hand carved octagon stamp for a background, I created some stamped ATC's for fall:

Fall Octagons2

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Castles Everywhere

This Zentangle was inspired by the many castles we saw in Spain.

Tower

If you are a Zentangle aficionado, you will have noticed that I do not do my Zentangles in the traditional way, with a random "string" to define the various areas.   I prefer to draw an outline drawing (here a tower) to be filled with "tangles". 

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Filling the Well

Those familiar with Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way will understand the concept of "filling the well".  Julia recommends a weekly "artist's date", to renew the supply of images and inspiration used up as we go about creating things.  I think of this as fuelling of creative fire.

A trip to unfamiliar shores is like an extended artist's date, and I'm recently back from three weeks in Spain and Portugal.  I won't inflict our tourist snaps on you, but I will say that to lovers of art, history and architecture Spain is a goldmine.

One of the things I cherish about such a trip is a break from the familiar.  I took very few art supplies; aside from travelling carry-on, who has time to create when there is so much to see?  I made a small journal to capture travel moments, itinerary details, etc. and took a black drawing pen thinking that a Zentangle would make good airplane amusement.  I collected lots of ephemera and will make a travel journal with some of the pictures my husband took.

Here's a Zentangle from my journal:

Bird Brain