My most recent artist book, “The Edge” has been selected for inclusion in the show “Between Word and Image” at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, 1508 East Helen Street.  The show opened June 1 and will continue until August.  If you are free tonight, June 4, do come to the reception.

When “edges” was selected as this year’s theme for our PaperWorks mixed media study group,  I started exploring many different meanings and graphic approaches to edges – alone, with the group and with others.  I decided to feature a favorite quote by Patrick Overton for my submission to this show.

For me the quote conjures up a vastness which I represented with a layered landscape.  Pastels added atmosphere and I took advantage of  the pages to contribute depth. I chose Stonehenge paper which I toned with pastels to create the landscape backgrounds.

Next I broke the quote down into five parts and wrote them on the upper edges of the folios.  Next I cut along the edges of  the individual letters.  I like the way the Neuland calligraphy cast shadows on the layers of background.

I wanted the work to have an element of surprise – something I’ve been doing in recent pieces.  Placing wings on the cover did the trick.  Whichever way you start viewing the book, the other side provides an unexpected visual.

My photography skills do not do the book justice.  It is 14” tall.  When the individual pages are set up nesting inside of each other to enable the shadows to be cast, it is about 16” wide.  I hope you will be able to experience it while it is on display at Poetry Center.  The show will be open through August 12 this year.

When it comes to drawing I usually use a sketchbook or a good piece of art paper. After I’ve finished the drawing I may add color or I may leave it alone. I’ve never given much thought to the particular surface that I draw on.

This past week at a two-day class titled “ Exploring the Surface: Mixed Media Drawing on Paper”, I tried a whole new approach! The instructor was Catherine Nash, well-known papermaker and encaustic artist who has a personal passion for drawing.

Our first day began with handling an assortment of papers and making marks on them with a variety of tools to see how each paper responded. We treated some surfaces with sizing, wax-based resists such as crayon and then applied colored washes to create interesting backgrounds and drawing surfaces. We purposefully flooded ink and watercolor on to some areas of asian and hand-made papers so that the color would bleed through to the other side. After they dried we turned them over and worked on the back of the page, using the pattern that had bled through as inspiration for the drawing.

On “Day Two” we used a many kinds of drawing materials: pens, stick dipped in ink, crayons, chalk, pastels, oil pastel, graphite sticks and assorted brands of colored pencils to draw on the surfaces we had created the day before.

Our focus was on experimentation and discovery and layering media to develop richness in our drawings. The surfaces we worked on ranged from “Yupo”, a plastic sheet watercolor artists are working with to soft print-making surfaces and papers made from cotton, kozo and abaca fibers.

Here are some quick photos of things I played with.

These ink drawings were done as tests to see how papers responded to sumi ink and Noodles drawing ink in fountain pens. I collaged them together with a glue stick and some stitches.

This kozo paper with bark chips in it was further distressed with methyl cellulose painted on it in a few areas (hard to detect) and then watercolor pencil and light wash added in a few areas. Now it’s all ready for a drawing!

Yupo and watercolor and a few pen marks make for interesting effects. I think I need a whole class on working with Yupo and I seem to remember that someone at the Drawing Studio is teaching one this spring.

Walnut ink laid gently on to damp sized kozo created the perfect background for a quick sketch of a pistachio branch. I drew it on dried paper with a sick of charcoal and a gentle hand. Next I added the watercolor. After it had dried again, I rubbed off the charcoal and was left with this.

I drew this quickly with a graphite stick on paper that had been toned first with washes and then, when dried, rubbed with some soft pastel (yellow-orange).

Now, as you can probably guess, I’m having a lot of fun making a variety of backgrounds so that I’ll have some ready to draw on.

New beginnings.
Here I am several weeks into the new year. My “to do” list has had “Write and post on Wild Sage Art” on it for at least the past ten weeks but somehow I don’t get to it! Maybe this year I’ll do better, but maybe this is the “every-once-in-a-while” blog.

I love beginnings – the new year, summer, the school year, my birthday, the first day of every quarter, the equinox, the solstice, the start of something (project, diet, friendship, workshop). For me each one is cause for celebration for at least a day or two. And that has been true this January too – with an extra special bonus. I had been plagued by an h.pylori infection that was recently diagnosed. After treatment, I am feeling so much better – better than words can describe! I feel like I got my life back – another new beginning to celebrate.

Great workshop.
Last week I took my first workshop of the year – a 12 hour class (over three days) with the extraordinary book artist, Laura Wait. She taught us a dimensional structure she developed several years ago. It utilizes a very wide spine which can support a hanger so that the book can be displayed on the wall. Signatures are spaced widely across the spine and stitched on to the spine with a traditional long-stitch. The hanger (cord or wire) is inserted into the spine through two of the stitching holes.

We started out writing with sumi ink on large sheets of BFK. Our natural handwriting became the foundation for paper embellishment. We experimented with a wide variety of tools from pens, colored pencils and chopsticks to wooden shingles and were encouraged to explore mark-making with anything that could transfer ink or paint on to paper. Over the course of the first two sessions most of us managed to get three layers of ink and/or color on to our papers which resulted in rich tapestries for book pages.

I especially appreciated the comfortable atmosphere that Laura created and would encourage you to take a class with her if you are so inclined. She will be teaching two classes at her Santa Fe studio and in San Diego and San Francisco this year. Check out her website for more details. She limits her teaching just a few weeks each year to make sure that she has plenty of studio time to do her own work. www.laurawait.com

Some of Laura’s favorites for making these painted books:
Paper that folds without cracking.
She likes BFK (heavy – 240 gm) for text pages because they have “bulk. She uses Velin Arches for covering book board and for pages.
Both papers fold without cracking and can handle water and layers of paint.

Watercolor and gouache for painting pages.
She appreciates the quality and extensive color choices of Daniel Smith watercolors. For gouache she often uses Winsor and Newton and Daler Rowney. Inks and liquid watercolor (Hydrus) are also fun to use for this project.

Watercolor pencils with creamy pigment.
When you spray drawn lines, they bleed in interesting ways and they are fun to use when writing on damp or wet paper. Derwent is one brand that is nice and soft.

Easy to handle cover boards.
We used 60 pt. archival case board which was a new product for me. It’s a fairly rigid board that is much denser than mat board. And it is easy to cut when compared to the Davey board most book artists rely on.

I worked on two books during the class and finished them up this past week. The first book, “Sanctuary”, was informed by writing about trees as I was working on large sheets of paper. I was thinking about how a tree can provide food and shelter for birds and other creatures. When it came time to choose a shape, the tallness of trees and the density of foliage where on my mind. After completing the structure I added the branch to the front cover and placed small copper clips to hold folios together – suggesting safe places found under the canopy and between the leaves.

The second book I’ve titled “Markings”. As I looked at the pages I had painted and began to assemble them into signatures, I was struck by the variety of marks and values I had created. Thus the title. When I went to size the book, I created pages that were two contrasting sizes and colors and widely spaced on the spine so there could be movement when the book was handled. This book also has a hanger on the back spine so it can (with a little help from museum wax) be displayed on the wall.

For the past three years I’ve made an “art” doll on my birthday. I got the idea from an article in “Art Doll Quarterly” which featured the work of fiber artist Karen Page who has, for many years, been making dolls to celebrate her birthdays.

This year I decided to make some hand-quilted fabric to use as the doll’s body. I quilted the fabric on a recent trip Ed and I too . We traveled to New York to visit Ground Zero and to Washington D.C. to spend some time with his daughter and her family. Ed returned to Tucson and I stayed on an extra four days to spend time with my Tri Delta sorority sisters at the Sanctuary Retreat Center in Bellsville, Maryland.

I had been collecting doll ideas on Pinterest in recent months but I didn’t have a specific concept for the doll other than to use the quilted fabric. On the morning of my birthday I open gifts from my sister, Barbara. She had used some delightful threads and yarns to tie the packages and I immediately realized they would become the doll’s hair.

After breakfast I sat with the yarns and fabric and consulted my “scrap” box. I pulled out the fabric bits that might fit as I built the doll. From that point on, she took shape quickly as I discovered a crazy quilt scrap to use for her boots and heart and a lovely golden toned gridded silk that became her arms and hands. Assembling her took more time than expected and I didn’t finish her until this morning.

While every birthday is special this one took an extra celebratory note as I brought my husband home after spending the night in the hospital. He had just completed a very successful surgery on his left carotid artery. This was his second carotid surgery, the other having taken place last spring. This aging process is certainly challenging but now we can rest a bit easier knowing that the “rivers” in his neck are flowing freely.

We just returned from a three week trip to Alaska and Vancouver, B.C. The scenery was simply beautiful and went on and on and on. Fairbanks was our starting point with our first major destination being Denali National Park. It was blanketed with snow providing a multitude of mountain vistas, each more beautiful than the previous one. Soon we’ll have a photo file up on Ed’s Zenfolio site.

One of my favorite travel activities is looking for interesting local art. I use my camera as a notebook use the snaps to inspire creative juices. I’m working on some posts related to these. Maybe you’ll find a little gem to inspire you.

In Fairbanks we went to the “Museum of the North” where I discovered these wonderful items made from gut, skin and fur. I love this Inuit seal gut parka with it’s visible seams and bits of bone and fur? feathers? I ask myself could this be a starting point for a stitched paper project? Maybe I could make it from waxed paper. What if I applied encaustic to paper to give it a translucency.

Those of you who know me well know that I love interesting bags. They are so practical for holding “stuff”. I love bags because I hang them off my body and my hands are still free. And by hanging stuff on me, I only have to make one trip from the car! I look at these bags and wonder about ways to make bags art pieces. This bag and hat? is made from loonskin and loon feathers? I never thought birds could be skinned!!! How might I use feathers (or maybe even papers cut like feathers) to embellish a bag? I don’t want to replicate this bag, but I’d love to create a piece that is “informed” by it.

These two bags really caught my attention. The black bag is made from swan skin, gut and bird feet! Those Inuit’s find ways to use everything! I’m not so sure I could or would make a project with bird feet. But I’m thinking that maybe there are other natural materials here in the desert that could be applied to a painting or dimensional art piece. I do have a dried out lizard and a few brilliant green beetles! Cholla anyone? I really like the shapes of these two bags. Maybe I can build some similar bags using paper. Now how can I make paper more flexible. Many asian papers are very strong and can be sewed. Some papers become leather-like when they are coated with gesso. I could also bond paper to fabric (a la Jane Davies). The possibilities are endless.

For some time I’ve thought about doing a series of bags and envelopes and maybe this summer is the time to explore that theme. The more I think about it, the more exciting it sounds.

I hope you find these photo notes as interesting and stimulating as I do. Maybe they will inspire a project you are working on. Let me know what you think and do send me a photo if you make something based on an idea provoked by this post.

More to come. Next I’ll post some small bone pieces that I think are beautiful.

Supplies

– waterproof surface

– paint brush (1 or 2” chip brush is fine)

– cottage cheese container (or equivalent)

– white glue mixed with water (50-50)

– papers

acrylic paints and inks

– spray bottle

brayer (optional)

Note: lightweight papers such as rice paper, tissue papers, and deli wrap work best when mounted on heavier papers such as copier paper, brown paper bags, shelf paper, newspaper etc.

Two Layered Paper

You will be creating two layered paper from a base paper, and a topper. For the top layer, use a piece of lightweight paper (deli wrap, tissue paper etc.) and crumple it into a ball and then uncrumple it. Do this ten times to break the paper’s fibers and create lots of creases. I use copier paper for a top layer because it crumples nicely and gives a good effect.

Next take the base paper and paint the glue mixture on it. Then apply the crumpled paper spreading it flat but preserving the wrinkles. The brayer helps here. You could also use a bottle or rolling pin to bond the two layers.

At this point apply a thin coat of paint or ink right on top of the crumpled sheet or you can wait until it has dried. The water on the surface will further dilute the paint. If you wait until the paper has dried, you may want to mist the paper before painting. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Let the paper dry. These make great gift wrap, cards, and book covers.

One Layer Paper

Use a spray bottle to wet heavier papers. This helps you to wad it into a ball. Crumple and uncrumple the paper ball ten times. Lay the paper flat on your waterproof surface and paint on the color. Let dry.

This is a single layer of a recycled brown paper bag from Trader Joe’s. After wrinkling, I spritzed the paper and painted an underlayer of dark blue. When it dried, I added a layer of gold acrylic paint that had been thinned. Makes for a nice gift wrap.

If I were using tissue – I would create two layers because the tissue is so fragile. I would put the tissue on top of newspaper or some other paper that has a little weight to it and won’t fall apart when it gets wet.