Lovely drawers

Here are all my beloved Japanese paper scraps in their new home (instead of the ugly Rubbermaid storage box). I love drawers!

July is a good month

Lots of great stuff happening in July...mostly at the end, but still:
*July 21 Harry Potter 7 arrives
*July 26, 27 Daniel Kelm class at MCBA
*July 29 SuperTarget opens nearby
*July 30 Nephew and niece, Brennan and Hayden, arrive for 4 day visit
In the meantime, there is the house to paint and books to make!

Ikea "Flow"

Remember "flow?" Well, I may have achieved it in between bouts of mild swear words and "WTF?" as I put Alex the paper drawer unit together this afternoon.
I had to go back to Ikea yet again last night to exchange the legs of the desk for the proper ones. They didn't have the adjustable height ones...and wouldn't have them until "week 38." As this is the end of June, I'm guessing that this is "week 26" and I'd have to wait 12 weeks to get my table ready. I took the alternative supports, but after assembling them today, I'll definitely replace them with the adjustable legs when they come in.
The paper drawer unit did seem formidable, but piece by piece it started to go together. I took a couple of breaks and slid the last drawer in just a few minutes ago. I actually got two of the units and I'm glad I did. Its size is fabulous and I can now sort out book board into one drawer, mylar into another and tag board into a third. I have to think about how to label them but that's a fun task.
I really didn't think I could do this, but in fact, I did. And that's what flow is: meeting many small successes for yourself. Who knew it would come from Ikea?
(Photo courtesy of PDPhoto.org)

Video of Penland Print studio

Penland has opened its new print studio, a gorgeous new building that houses both a letterpress studio and a printmaking studio. It wasn't operational while I was there, but my colleagues from my bookarts class Kreh and Arlene are featured in this video by teacher (and advisor) Steve Miller. You can also see one of the famous Penland llamas.

Happy ending

Things weren't going that well yesterday. I did get the Ikea chair put together but when I opened the desk, I found that I had the wrong legs for the top (even though they had the same "Vika" name). The Ikea instructions also showed a sad man working alone; he was happy when he had a friend helping, so I'll need to find a friend too.
However, everything changed when I went to AAS (Awesome Art Store) for their tent sale on vintage pen nibs. I should now reveal that AAS is Wet Paint Artist Materials in St. Paul. I love them for the care and attention they give to each customer; a child who needs poster board for a science project is as important as the professional artist who needs high-end oils. They're also a lot of fun. I'll have to do another post on Vera, the paper goddess, but as I've said before, if they served beer on Friday nights, it would be my perfect place in St. Paul.
I did pick up a small variety of nibs to play with, but my real find was an old wooden display case for Esterbrook nibs. They had it up for a silent auction, but no one had placed a bid! I walked away with this gem for just $5. Wet Paint manager Darin got the Speedball display (on the right in the picture) which had some amazing graphics of pen nibs. But mine is wood, has a windowed door (on the front) and a small drawer in the back (presumably for boxes of nibs). The marks under each nook are the marks that that particular nib would make. I also picked up 10 old nib boxes just because they were so lovely. Their use will be made clear to me someday, I'm sure.
I don't have the attention span to go browsing through flea markets, but sometimes treasures still come to me!

AAS is having a special sale

AAS=Awesome Art Store. Today only from 5:30-7:30, they're selling a huge lot of antique pen nibs they've acquired to a select group. Do I use pen nibs? Not much, but they did invite me, so I, ah, feel "obliged" to go.

Pilgrimage to Ikea

I did get the work table cleared off and that helped clear my brain as well. But in putting together the Ikea mini-chest, I bent over half the nails before finding the right technique for hammering it together. I had to go back to the store to get more and I decided it was finally time for the big studio buy. I'd scouted a wonderful table there that has a glass top and a tray underneath to put errant papers. I'd also found a filing cabinet that will hold half sheets of large paper...good for the many, many smaller pieces I seem to collect and don't want to store in my flat file. (These will all go in the basement.) Since it's just me and I don't have a big car, I planned to get everything I needed in one trip and have it delivered the next day (same price, no matter how many pieces). What I didn't know is that I still had to find the items, get the aisle and bin number where they are located, get the cart and collect the massive boxes from the furniture self-serve section and then try to wheel it all to the check-out line (with the individually packaged desk legs spilling out of the trolley and the chair seat precariously balanced on top). One piece was not on the labeled shelf, but a kind employee helped me find it one aisle over. Another piece was on a up high and weighed 85 pounds but this time there was no one around to help. It took another trip to the customer service area to solve that problem. Once I got through the check-out line I pushed my two carts over to home delivery and asked if they could also do assembly (figuring if the mini-chest was frustrating me, a file cabinet would do me in completely). They could only offer me the card of someone who has figured out that there is money to be made assembling Ikea products for people like me. So everything comes tomorrow. I think I can manage assembling the desk, but I'm hoping to find a kind friend to help with the filing cabinet. Maybe beer or wine will make the project more entertaining.

Chaos

This is my kitchen...nice isn't it? I make meals there three times a day and sometimes a snack, and it usually looks like this.
This is my living room. Sometimes it needs dusting, but mostly it looks like this.





And this sadly, is my workspace which resembles my brain which resembles my life. There are beautiful pottery bowls from Penland, bills, book arts handouts, my Apple, a new storage thingy from Ikea to assemble and paper I've bought. There are brushes, paint samples for the garage and a letter from the city telling me I have to have a new sidewalk (I disagree, by the way). No wonder I often feel like I need a nap.

Getting Things Done or "Life Hacks"

Some imaginative advice on how to get things done as a game using Rhodia notebooks. My favorite quotes:
"The thrashing out the tasks is the most important factor for the project goes well."
"It is hard to connect task and schedule."

Prairie Path

Eero writes that she's found a way to re-orient herself post-Penland by extended bike rides. I think I've done the same by buckling down and painting the garage. (Prairie Path is the color, btw...a greyish blue-green. Please don't call it teal!) My brother did some rehab work on it before Penland which also included pressure-washing and priming and left it ready for paint. The project is a good one for me for several reasons: 1) I've never done it before, but it feels within my range of skills; 2) it can be a test palette for a new color for the house; 3) I've been wondering if I could paint the house myself and this is a good way to see if I can (or want to); 4) it's best to do early in the morning when the sun isn't shining on the garage ... the activity gives me a sense of accomplishment right away.
Over the weekend, I finished two big sides and the small amount on the garage door front and it's sort of a thrill to look at it. It offers such a visible measure of success! I'm fairly convinced now that I can do the house as well over the summer.

New Treasure

Have I mentioned how much I love boxes and containers? Especially old ones, and especially old ones that have their paint worn off.
I'm missing the gene that allows you to wander for hours through flea markets and antique malls. I wish I had it...I love the treasures that my friends with the gene find. But I do have Brigid at Missouri Mouse in St. Paul who seems to have the exact same taste as me. I started a big project this morning (painting the garage) and after I got two sides done, I rewarded myself with a trip to see her. This red tin box has been in her booth for a few months, but I think I didn't grab it earlier because I had grabbed other treasures. Nonetheless, today was its day. It could be a new tool box, a cash box for a booth at an alt-craft sale or ??? They always find a use for themselves in my house.

Talas Wheat Paste No. 301

I've been asked to bring my recent books to a professional group next week. I like them enough that I actually want to finish them...which means creating some wheat paste to paint the covers of Book #4. At Penland, every batch of wheat paste was speckled with lumps. We sieved them out and moved on, but oddly, this fresh batch at home is lump free! I wonder if the difference was the weather?

I haven't even read her book yet and I have a girl crush

I already have a girl-crush on this woman and I haven't even read her book yet. Sometimes I can hardly stand how much fun there is in the world.
P.S. Thanks, bookgirl!

Home, clutter and meaning

I had some thoughts about starting a blog right after I left my former employer (FE) but I was really too exhausted to do much of anything. What I did start to do (between naps and DVDs of West Wing) was to go through a drawer here, a shelf there and start to reacquaint myself with my home. Just before I left my job I had found the pie cabinet of my dreams at a local antique store and brought it home for the corner where I knew it belonged. Not only is it old and handcrafted, but its shelves are the perfect place to store my latest book arts project when I need to clear the dining room table. Somehow the pie chest was the motivation to start re-nesting in the house I loved.
As spring approached, I was collecting quite a few items that I just didn't need anymore (casserole dishes, baskets shaped like ducks, Indian bedspreads from a past life) and started to get ready for a garage sale. But every time I worked on the project I was face-to-face with some very complex emotions: Items either held memories of a time when they were well-used but no longer needed or hopes for a sort of life that never materialized (dreams that didn't turn out). Even though it is only a box of pictures from 10 years ago, it can seem like a box of 10 pound weights....just too heavy to pick up and move on. That's why I loved this article in today's NYT.
The garage sale turned out to be a sort of farewell party for the items that needed to find new homes. It was a beautiful day in April and friends from all parts of my life showed up as well as neighbors and garage-salers. There was time to chat with everyone as they found things that they loved...the buying/selling transition was larger than just money exchanged. And in the end, I love having a home that is de-cluttered just enough so that the things I love can be seen anytime I walk in the room.

This is what strawberries should look like

I made my mother's strawberry pie this past weekend and it turned out well, except that the grocery store strawberries I used are grown to a huge size and lose all their sweetness. June is strawberry month in Minnesota so I found some home-grown ones yesterday (with the same approximate price of 14k gold) and made another pie. The difference was amazing. Some berries were the size of the tip of my little finger but so incredibly sweet, I popped them into my mouth instead of the pie! As I was making the sauce for the pie, I thought "this is what they mean by the color 'strawberry.'"
My friend JJ from CA was in town and came for dinner (he had 2 pieces of the pie) and we celebrated the start of summer by eating out on the porch. My house is small (916 sq ft) but I'm blessed with a porch that is 20' x 7'....big enough for comfy chairs and a table that can fold out to seat 6. I remember coming to see the house when it was on the market and I walked into the porch and thought "I have to have this." It's pretty much where I live from May through Sept (and even October if I wear enough layers). Bella loves it too.

Perfect June Day

It's been 90 and humid since I've come home from Penland, but a cool front came through last night and this morning is 60, sunny and dry. A perfect June day in Minnesota. I can open the windows and turn off the AC!

Books from Penland #2

"Books have to work!" Bookgirl reminded me of this quote from Penland teacher Laura Wait and it's something I agree with completely. I don't want people to be afraid of my books. They need some visual guidance as to the way into them, the feeling that they're secure and won't fall apart and that they open well. For me books are about curiosity and exploration....you don't want to scare away the visitors!
The third structure we took up at Penland was the drum leaf binding (a structure created by Tim Ely). I had done it once in class with Sara Langworthy (who is a wonderful artist and terrific teacher), but was eager to try it again. It's a particularly elegant book: each page opens flat, but I also love how the book moves in your hand. Laura has done some fabulous books on gardens and I let myself be derivative of that work...the checkerboards and "trees" are similar to her images, but the colors were a surprise to us both! I also felt that the checkerboard "walk" gave the book a narrative, even if it was just an image. It's hard to see in these images, but there is text written into the paint on the bottom about my own garden. The book is 5 1/4 x 5 1/4".











Our final structure was a sewn boards binding with a concertina. We were heading towards our last days together and Laura was clear that none of these bindings were mandatory to do, but I had one more idea and wanted the experience so I dove in. The stitching on this binding is not difficult. What was most challenging for me was folding in the concertina around each section as we sewed (we used Moriki paper from Aiko's). Daniel Kelm is teaching the same structure at Garage Annex this summer and sums up the advantages of this structure very nicely:
"(the) concertina spine is ideal for accommodating the thickness of signatures of pages with fold outs, or material such as a photograph that is collaged onto the surface of the page. Another advantage of the non-adhesive concertina spine structure is that the book can open flat. "
The cover on this is not complete, but here's the interior of the book:














The background is acrylic/wheat paste, as is the rectangle (which is based on the golden ratio). The lines are drawn in acrylic ink with a chopstick and the "seeds" are water pastels. The book is 10"x 4 1/2".

Books from Penland #1

One of the key reasons I started this blog was to start a discussion around book arts. So it's time I posted my books from Penland. I'll do it in two chapters so they don't get too long.
I've been taking book arts classes for over 10 years and have happily been collecting new structures (ie, how to stitch, fold or paste a book) without risking any personal content. Those classes provided a welcome distraction from the stresses of my real work. But in the last few years, I knew it was time for a change.
I signed up for Laura Wait's class because I was attracted by her description of "using intuition and hand" to make painted pages...it was pretty clear that there were no blank pages allowed...and I wanted that challenge.
We started by drawing simple lines on large pages and then using wheat paste colored with acrylics to start painting. None of us really knew what we were doing, but it was time to let go and dive in. After painting 6 sheets on front and back, we went back and added another layer of paste/paint. When they were dry...and many of us were saying we had nothing (we liked) to work with...we cut them down into pages. And then magic did start to happen. What was dull or blah in a large size suddenly got interesting cut down. When we started to assemble the pages, it really started to make sense. Thoughout the session, anytime we had some open time, we were either painting new pages, stitching or adding additional layers to our pages with ink, pastels or colograph printing. We also used mylar extensively throughout the session: as a protective layer on our work surface, as pages in our books and to cut stencils from for additional images.
This is my first book, 10"h x 4" w. There is no text but I drew on the patterns of farms and fields from the air around Minneapolis for my inspiration. I used mylar stencils extensively throughout.













When you're at Penland, you don't want to play it safe, so I tried another color palette with my second book which used a sewn boards binding. This one is 7 1/2" x 5". The wheat paste/acrylic mixture can be worked with while still wet...in this case I used quite a bit of my own handwriting and let the paste "fall in" on the letters so that they're not completely legible. It was very liberating and I like the patterns it made quite well.












Tomorrow I'll post on the drum leaf binding and sewn boards with concertina.

Michelle, if you're reading this

I was the successful bidder on Ebay on a tiny pair of dividers. I've been on the fence about using them in my book work...I'm not afraid of a ruler. But I kept borrowing Michelle's pair at Penland so decided it was time to get a pair of my own. Great tools are half the fun of book arts and aren't these adorable anyway? Only 3" long!

Flow achieved

We had a great conversation at bookclub last night. In fact, I caught myself in a moment of flow when we were going around the table talking about our own personal flow experiences. We've been meeting as a group for 15 years, but we all don't socialize together outside of our dinners, so it was fascinating to hear what experiences were meaningful for each of us. It was interesting, however, that no one brought up relationships or food experiences. (I personally have experienced flow over a DQ chocolate cherry Blizzard, especially at dusk in summer, but I don't think that's what we were talking about.)

Personal DNA

According to the Personal DNA web site, I'm a "benevolent architect." I'd say that's a pretty close description (though I always link the word "benevolent" with "dictator"). Take the quiz yourself...it's fun!

Benevolent Architect

What's better than this?

My awesome art store (AAS) gave me some freebies yesterday. What's better than some samples of Golden Acrylics to try for fun? In the background of this shot is my Golden mug. Justin (one of the great gang at AAS) gave it to me a few years ago, when I wasn't even using acrylics. That's when I knew that I had arrived. If they served beer on Friday nights, there would be no better place to have fun in the TC.

Flow

We have bookclub tonight (we've been meeting every two months for about 15 years) and the book tonight is Flow, a study on how we find that perfect spot between boredom and anxiety and working at our best. Mihaly (I'm not going to try and spell his last name) lays it all out pretty well and has done some amazing research on flow around the world (including the homeless and factory workers as well as artists and sports figures). I do have trouble with books that bring up generalizations again and again (we watch too much tv, people think they need big houses to be happy, etc.) I know that this is quite true in many cases, but the people I know just don't have those desires but are interested as well in ways to be happy or find flow.
Still, I have been thinking about one of the basics of flow...working at a level where you can succeed and meeting frequent successes for yourself (no matter how small). In my last work world, we just never knew what was expected and when we started down one path, we'd be told half-way through that it was the wrong one. Providing clear expectations and frequent successes (even small ones) for my colleagues will be part of my management style in the future. And for my own unreasonable personal expectations, I may even try and reduce them from "create the perfect garden" to "weed the cutting garden today." Can you have flow while pulling chickweed?
(And of course I found flow at Penland!)

Mylar art

I've hung the mylar which covered my workspace at Penland on my dining room wall. Looks nice with the botanical print nearby, don't you think?

6 month anniversary

I realize that today is my 6 month anniversary from leaving my job. It's sort of amazing to look back and see what a wreck I was just before Christmas (I only got through the holidays with gritted teeth and many distracting DVDs). And really, in comparison with how I am now, what a wreck I probably was for the past few years.
This break has been such a luxury and such a gift. Sitting on the deck this morning (a fancy word for a 6'x9' platform off the back door) I can see so many changes. It's much easier, for example, to be helpful...it doesn't feel like "one more thing" when someone needs a hand with something. It's easier to be social more often. My relationships with my neighbors have grown...even the ones to the north who are usually critical of the house and garden. I recently sold my old digital camera to a neighbor down the alley, just from talking over the fence...something that I wouldn't have time or energy for in the past. And because I don't wake up clenched in fear over judgements to come, I can be open to new ideas and new possibilities. I even found that I had many more internal resources to get through a few hard days at Penland productively than in the past.
My Shannon leadership program has been another gift (a year long program which started the month after I left). I'll spend some time later on talking about the program and my own development, but for now, let me say how much I appreciate the knowledge and the 20 new friends I've made who are struggling with the same questions as me.
Since this feels like a marker of sorts, I want to thank and thank and thank my dear friends who have seen me through all of this: Marge, Todd, Sarann, Molly, JJ, John and Earl. I hate for any day to go by without a call to Berta who I know will make me laugh, no matter how absurd life gets. But now this is sounding like a book and there's just way too much life out there before I'm ready to sit down to that project.

Still moody over Penland

When you have a Penland experience, it's not easy to get over it. I was there for two weeks for a book arts class that focused on image and content as well as a few new bookbinding structures. But it almost doesn't matter what class you're in, the air there is rich with creativity, energy and generosity. Every conversation at meals touches at some point on the process of creativity...usually personal. And there is always someone who is willing to offer support, guidance or helpful feedback. (One of my studio colleagues would approach you and simply say "consultation, please" when she wanted to discuss a page or an idea. That always made me smile.)
This is the fifth time in 8 or 9 years that I've gone away for a book arts session. The first one was a simple little program in the Catskills. I came home and felt sort of catatonic for about four days until I burst into tears one night and realized that while I was there no one categorized me as anyone but me...I wasn't a daughter, sister, radio producer or even a friend. I was just me and it was the most liberating experience in the world. That's still one of the things I treasure about these programs.
But Penland is my favorite and if I could return every 3 or 4 years, I would consider myself very lucky. I'm not quite sure what the recipe is that makes it work so well. It could be its history, its role in the community of crafters of North Carolina, the diversity of its participants, or more likely the food and the scenery. You're in a bubble while you're there...no Paris Hilton or war in Iraq. The world spins on while you focus on paper, ideas, color and technique with only a break 3 times a day for amazing meals down at the Pines. After you finish eating, you may walk through one of the 14 studios on campus, go down to the meadows to greet the llamas or sit on one of the porch rocking chairs to gaze at the view. But pretty soon something in your studio calls you back and you spend the rest of the day (before the next meal) working out an idea.
But it's Friday now...6 days since I've been home and time to put away everything I've shipped home. I'll see my lovely friend Sally tonight to show her my books. She's been encouraging artists for 60 years and I know we'll have a stimulating conversation about my work.

Let's try this

I have to admit that I thought blogs would be a flash in the pan. And of course, there have been so many that have died out quickly. But there are some wonderful ones that I check daily (I'll build my list over the next few weeks) and I'm inspired by my friend Book Girl to try my own. As an INFJ (my Myers-Briggs profile), I love to write my friends, especially when it's impossible to see each other. This blog seems like just an extension of that.
I have no idea how this will go, but in this transition period of my life, I'm willing to try many things for the first time. I do promise not to post anything that sounds like this: "I'm sorry I haven't posted but I've been so busy!" That's my blogging pet peeve. If the blog is quiet, I'll tell you why soon afterwards.
I'd love to hear from you if you find this.