artysoulsisters

2010-05-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

I've been working on making these polymer clay mosaic tiles the past few days. It's kind of addictive and I am really having fun with these. They are a little time consuming but that's okay. Here I've laid them out around a mirror to see how they might look as a frame. It's impossible to photograph a mirror without being in the picture so I laid a piece of wax paper over it.

You can use all sorts of things to imprint the clay before baking. I used a lot of the rubber stamps I have but you can also use old jewelry, tools, leaves and sticks and just about anything that comes to mind. You can use a wooden toothpick to write or draw into the clay if you don't have the right word stamp. It certainly sparks the creative juices.

After the clay has baked you can get really creative with paint. I like to use my Perfect Pearls paint powder to give them a metallic sheen. The good part about this project is that if I have a space that needs a certain size tile I can simply cut one to fit. I have also incorporated some of the beach glass chips I bought, but in the future I plan on using lots of fused glass tiles, scrabble tiles, and glass and handmade paper beads.

The weather gods are blessing us with some very rare sunshine today so I may have to get out of the house and get some.

Carpe Diem!

Lolo's Book is home!

2010-05-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

My beautiful journal has finally made it back full circle and I couldn't be more pleased with the results!

What a bunch of talented ladies you are. I adore every spread!

I didn't see a couple of them before they arrived here so they were a total surprise to me. They look so wonderful all together!

I won't describe each one as I feel they describe themselves.

Please click to enlarge each one to savor the amazing work that went into each page.

Here they are in no particular order because I forget the path they went on :)

My own page showing my journey, both physical and spiritual, from California to Rhode Island.

Katie Jane's lovely page with a quote by Lao Tzu...

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Lynn's page showing the places she's been, complete with her smiling face in a current photo and one of her younger self.

Marianne's pages with landmarks of many of the places she's been. She included the Golden Gate Bridge in California, close to the starting point of my journey and ended up with Emma, Bliss and Sjimmie at our house in Rhode Island!

On the back of this page is this striking photo of an Egyptian woman along with a stunning piece of gold leafed papyrus from Cairo. This is also where Marianne made my pages!

Staying with an Egyptian theme, this stunning page was painted by Soulbrush.

No one does patterns like our girl!

This lovely textural page was done by Suki with a quote by John Muir.

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out until sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

Definately a spiritual journey page.

Mim made a really fun travel collage! I think she soon found out I'm an armchair traveler :)

I live vicariously through a few of you who are always off to exotic places!

Caroline's page is a beautiful watercolor of the woods accompanied by one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken."

Please enlarge it to read it. What a lovely spread!

Finally, Lisa's page is watercolor and collage depicting a well-traveled suitcase and great words of wisdom throughout. Please click to read it all!

Ta-Daaaaaa!!

The stunning result of 9 talents from around the world, all friends connected through art.

Thank you so much ladies. I'll treasure this forever!

xoxo

Caroline's page for Laurel's book

2010-04-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

At last I've completed the page for your book Laurel! Boy, has this book been taking its time to travel around the world - it must be something to do with your 'journey' theme! I know how much you're into trees Laurel (and now me too, by the way) so I decided to take the lovely poem 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost, with its path in a yellow wood, as my starting point. I've used my favourite technique again - watercolours on gessoed mountboard. I'm quite obsessed by this method at the moment!! Hope you like it Laurel. It will be on its way to Lisa tomorrow.

Kate's Page For Lolo

2010-03-21T05:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I recieved Lolo's book. Her theme is "Journeys" and since I love to travel this was an easy subject for me. Every day is a new beginning in this journey we call life. Whenever I see a magnificent sunrise I feel full of the possibilities that await. Lolo, I hope all your jounrneys are safe and your steps, exciting!

suki completes Lolo's page

2010-03-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

The page came out sort of dark, but anyway..... The quote is from John Muir: "I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." Lolo's theme is journeys and so I wanted to reflect the outer journey of crossing over the bridge pictured here and the inner journey as reflected in the Buddha.

I mistakenly said in a previous post that I received these pages from Joss. It was Lynn who mailed them to me. I had seen a sticker on the back of the envelope with Joss's name and thought it came from her even though I didnt understand why she was mailing to me.

I will send on to Kate soon.

Lolo's traveling sketchbook received by Suki

2010-03-13T05:44:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let y'all know I received Lolo's book from Joss. Oh gosh, it is soooo beautiful!! I will soon begin my page. This must be one of the last ones for this traveling journal project, no?

Lynn's Page For Lolo's Book: Journeys

2010-03-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed making my page for Lolo's book as it took me back in time when my journeys began. The year 1964: The photo of me in the upper left hand corner is from my immigration to Israel papers. I am pregnant in this photo with my first child, who was indeed born in Israel.

The ship: The Olympia was taken by my first husband (Israeli) and me in 1963 to Europe on the first leg of an Odyssey to visit my parents in California. On the way we stopped in many European countries and here you see signs of Paris ( Eiffel Tower, Paris) and London (Tower Bridge in London far left lower corner).

Skip ahead to 1979. See passport photo in upper right hand corner. I am now divorced from my first husband, and am traveling to Israel again to visit my children, who were living with their father and step mother there. (Daughter was there from age 9-10, I arrived in time for her tenth birthday party; and my son, age 13-16).
My daughter stayed one year; my son went back and forth for three years.

Jump ahead to 1982. See my visa to China on middle left side and photo taken in China next to it.
I went there with a small group of health professionals for three weeks.

I backed the piece with a map of the world, and trimmed it with gold glue.

I believe the airplane was the one I took to China.

I've taken several more trips but this is all that would fit comfortably on a 6" X 12" page!

Thanks Lolo for the opportunity to revisit this time in my life.

I took photos of my photos so I could collage this again for myself.

Lynn's Book Comes Full Circle

2010-03-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

My book came to me in the mail after leaving my house in September of 2009. A mere six months time for nine of us to add our art and create an awesome travelling art book.

Today, March 5th, I have posted each page in detail on my blog here.
Please go there to see it LARGE! (I do not have the energy to post it in the same way again here, thanks for understanding)

Again, thanks to Soul for heading this book project. And to each of you who participated to give me the thrill of owning your art in my wonderful book. I love each and every page, front and back, and appreciate more than you can ever know the time, effort, caring, thoughtfulness, and artistic endeavor that you put into making my book the wondrous thing that it is.

Hugs from me!

Caroline's book has arrived!

2010-02-25T02:09:00.000-08:00

Hi girls!

I know this is a little late, but as many of you know I have had an enforced blogging leave due to internet and computer troubles at home! Anyway, just wanted to let you know that my book made it home safely and I am thrilled with all the wonderful art you've been making for me. My colour and shape theme has really been a success - all your paintings, collages, textiles and foldings are a delight to view and handle! I now just have to find a way of binding it all together with my cover and first page and then it will be a delight to dip into from time to time. Thank you everyone! Joss it was a brilliant idea to gather us all together - thank you!

P.S. I still have Lolo's page to complete - does anyone know where her book is right now????

Last page for Marianne (my last page too)

2010-02-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

When Sjimmie arrived here in London a few days ago, all the cats in the neighbourhood came over to play. They loved my wool (of course) and had such fun together.
I hope I send the right cat back to Marianne! (You are gonna love your book Marianne, it sings with fun, colour and joy.)
This is my last page of my last book.
It's been an absolute 'Blast' sisters.
Thanks you all so much for coming along with me on my journey. My book is here on my window sill where I can admire it each and every day.
Big hugs and kisses to you all.

KATE'S PAGE FOR CAROLINE

2010-02-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

This is my page for Caroline's traveling sketchbook. I wanted to try an Origami Envelope Fold for this page. I have never done much paper folding but I've always been intrigued by it. It actually was pretty easy.

I liked this particular fold because it allowed for a lot of little extras, like attaching more paper for secret compartments and more folds. Carolines theme was color and I think I have some here. I used a lot of materials for this collage. Paper party napkins, tissue, magazine cut-outs, paint and rubber stamps went into the making of this. So much fun.

I wish I could take credit for this beautiful design but it is really scrapbook paper. It does give me ideas for some new paintings, though. My page is the last to be done for Caroline so her book will be flying home to her this week.

Katie Jane's Book Is Compete With Lynn's Page

2010-01-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

I stamped bark and leaf pictures to card stock and then sewed patchwork quilted leaves on top to add to Katie's nature theme for her book, which is now complete and will be mailed to her tomorrow.

It was Kathy who first introduced me to traveling sketchbooks, this SoulSisters Book following on the pages of her Girlfriends traveling sketchbook & blog, both which led me to start the next traveling art book at Artshine! Thank you Kathy, what a joy this all has been and continues to be.

TA DA! MY BOOK ARRIVED

2010-01-24T12:15:00.001-08:00

I was so excited when my book arrived yesterday, wrapped up beautifully by Lolo with a golden ribbon, just like a present, which it is: a present from 9 very talented, gifted and loving artysoulsisters.
I have scanned it very big, so hopefully you can enlarge it and see each page.
Marianne, Mim, Lynn, Suki, Kate, Caroline, Lisa and Lolo, you are all such good 'team' players, such warm and caring women, such great artists, who have each created something so very personal for me, and it all fits together in this amazingly perfect little book, which I will treasure forever.
I am so glad that I started this project, (thanks Lisa, you were the first person to show a huge response and excitement when I first suggested it, and this spurred me on to make it happen).
Here it is on my window sill, where I can see it every day and think about a special cover I want to make for it. I do so wish we could display our books in some sort of arty magazine, as they are all wonderful achievements, and now Lynn has started a second round with more wonderful artists from round the World.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart one and all, you make my heart sing and my cup runneth over.

Marianne's back pages by Lolo

2010-01-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

What I love about this patterned paper is often times it can be as it is. For instance, this little bluebird is sitting in the middle of a mandala shaped design. All I did was write this in the middle..."This little birdie brings a message of love from lolo in Rhode Island to Marianne in the Netherlands."

The larger piece of paper (because it overlaps the first) is filled with these wonderful organic shapes like flowering branches. I wanted to put a raven in there but I think a Red-Winged Blackbird is quite a better choice this time. Besides, he's such a hopeful sign of Spring!
I colored in some shapes here and there to give this side more color.
There you have it. Now tomorrow it will go to Joss!

suki makes a page for Caroline

2010-01-24T11:11:00.001-08:00

I was a little stymied at first by the theme of "color" and "shapes" but eventually made this collage using self-painted tissue paper, purchased handmade paper, acrylic paint, stensils, faux jewel.
The back has another bit of self-painted tissue paper and a list of the materials. I will now send it to Katie Jane and then she sends to Caroline I think!! I have received books from all except Lolo.

Marianne's front pages ala Lolo

2010-01-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well I can tell you we've all been waiting for Sjimmie to show up from The Netherlands!

Bliss has been waiting by the big studio window for weeks now.

Wait!! What's that shadow behind the stained glass window? Poor kitty is cold and wet from the snow. Oh my goodness, it's Sjimmie!! He's finally here! Let's let him in and make him warm and cozy. Bliss, will you share your food? Emma, will you be nice??

After a nice meal and a little grooming, Sjimmie, Bliss and even Emma became fast friends.

I gave Sjimmie a tour of the studio and he cuddled up next to Bliss, taking in all there was to see.

He kept being distracted by my beautiful birth mandala that his mom Marianne painted for me. We all knew he missed her. The three new friends spent a wonderful few days together before we sent Sjimmie on his way to London where Jossie would see to it he gets home safe and sound.

We're going to send him first class with a special blanket in case he gets caught in more snow!

Bye-bye Sjimmie! We loved having you here! Next time bring your mom!

The back pages will be worked on today as well. I'll post them asap ;)

Back page for SoulyB by Lolo

2010-01-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

Did you really think I'd forget to do the back? No...but I did forget to post it!

The paper I used is so gorgeous by itself that all I had to do is add one more photo of the birthday girl herself! I put a beanie on her head over her striped hat and I added a "1" design to her shirt to show what a big girl she is today!

Now completing its circle, this journal will be flying from Rhode Island to London on Tuesday

to be back in the hands of its rightful owner ;)

P.S. Its not blurry in person!

Soulbrush's Pages by Lolo

2010-01-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

Well first let me say how seridipitous this day is because I knew I wanted to do my pages about Maggie Rae, but I had no idea today was her first birthday! I changed my initial ideas and made it into a birthday celebration with Grandie and her friend, Riff Raffie the giraffe!

What fun the three of them are having, and look at that bejeweled tiara on Maggie Rae, Princess of the day! Happy Birthday sweet little girl!

The book is all done now and on its way back to Jossie!! I'm honored to be a part of this journey ;) xoxoxoxo

Lynn's Page for Caroline's Book

2010-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

I had fun this Sunday morning playing with beeswax!

Something new for me.

I used a photo of our local owl on card stock background

fabrics from my stash in earthy colors

and handmade beads

and then I poured the melted beeswax over it all.

Did I ruin it or create something of interest. I have no idea!

This is the back of the page.This book has two more stops and then it will be in Caroline's hands.

I hope you like wax!

LOL

suki's page for katie jane's artsy book

2010-01-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

Watercolor, glitter, glue. I painted the trees and houses on little pieces of watercolor paper cutouts and glued them onto the larger paper.

on the back part of a poem called "Cold Watercolor" by Wyatt Prunty. Now I mail on to Lynn and Lynn will mail to Katie Jane!!

Lolo's Backside (oh la la)

2010-01-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is the back of Lolo's page.

Egyptian treasures. A papyrus mandala calender I found in a giftshop.

(couldn't help to see a mandala in it...;))

The zodiac is a planisphere or map of the stars on a plane projection, showing the 12 constellations of the zodiacal band forming 36 decans of ten days each, and the planets. These decans are groups of first-magnitude stars. These were used in the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was based on lunar cycles of around 30 days and on the heliacal rising of the star Sothis (Sirius).
Its representation of the zodiac in circular form is unique in ancient Egyptian art.[citation needed] More typical are the rectangular zodiacs which decorate the same temple's pronaos.
The celestial arch is represented by a disc held up by four pillars of the sky in the form of women, between which are inserted falcon-headed spirits. On the first ring, 36 spirits symbolize the 360 days of the Egyptian year.
On an inner circle, one finds constellations, showing the signs of the zodiac. Some of these are represented in the same forms as their familiar names (e.g. the Ram, Taurus, Scorpio, and Capricorn, albeit most in odd orientations in comparison to the conventions of ancient Greece and later Arabic-Western developments), whilst others are shown in a more Egyptian form: Aquarius is represented as the flood god Hapy, holding two vases which gush water[citation needed].

The calendar is in an envelop , so you can decide what to do with it.

I mailed the 3 books (also Mim's own and Lynn's) to Mim today.

Lolo's Page

2010-01-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is the page for Lolo's travel book.

I started where Soul left off with her beautiful Egyptian page.

I made the page in Cairo, where I started with the pyramides, one of the 7 world wonders.

There are the 7 wonders of the ancient world and the 7 new world wonders.

Of course there are so many other wonders of the world to be seen as well.

I have been fortunate to have seen a few of them:

The pyramides which I did by camel a few years ago (I love riding a camel, a bit touristic I must admit....)

Petra , really one of the most impressive things I have seen in my life! (I have been there twice and I am determined to show it to my children one day)

The Great Wall of China, wow!

I cycled the Golden Gate Bridge, loved it!

Saw the Colosseum and the Christ Remeeder in Rio.

In this page there are a few things I have seen such as Mount Fiji, the Eifel Tower, the statue of Liberty and the big Buddha.

A thing I will never see: the lighthouse of Alexandria, where I have been but the lighthouse is not there anymore.........

A few things I wish to see in the future such as the Taj Mahal , Easter Island (couldn't help the joke there....) and a real Inutshuk.

And a dream to visit Lolo Emma and Bliss some day................(Sjimmie is with them right now that lucky b......)

Who knows, maybe this year, I have seen so many wonders why not this one?

Mim's page for Carolines book

2010-01-12T03:28:00.000-08:00

Carolines theme is "color" and wow...the stuff in here is amazing. I did my little piece and am sending this off to Lynn this week.

Lisa's Page for Marianne

2010-01-11T09:17:00.000-08:00

I had fun touring Vincennes with the thoughts of showing Sjimmie what there is to see here. I hope you enjoy it too Marianne.

I am off to put Marianne's book into the mail to Lolo. Cheers Everyone.

Mim's Last Page!

2010-01-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

This was not easy. I can't paint/draw human beings so I had to make a collage for Mim's strong women theme. And this is my first collage.

Click to enlarge and see if you recognize any of these 9 strong women (which I grouped in a the shape of a mandala)..............

The back I copied a vintage card of a real strong woman;

Charmion (1875 - 1949), vaudeville strongwoman and trapeze artist

And a poem I found on the internet (could find the source)

Click to enlarge!

I will send Mim's pages later this week together with Lynn's and Lolo's.

hope you have some more patience.........

Mandala Quilt for Lynn

2010-01-08T09:49:00.001-08:00

I painted this mandala quilt for Lynn, Queen of Quilts!

It is for her book in the Artysoulsister's books.
On the back I just had to make a few quilted hearts.
When I think of Lynn I think of a big heart, because she has one!

I also wrote a poem by Judith L. Cox on the back, which I thought was so beautiful.

Quilt Of Colors

The quilt of colors of these fall days;
Bring ooh's and aah's and only praise;
For the master's brush wields the perfect blend;
All the hues of earth from end to end;
And all the wonders without number;
That we get to see before earth's slumber;
When the world will be caught in the hush Of winter's quiet sleep;
While mother nature does her work, and
All her secrets, she will keep;
Till spring breaks through in all it's glory;
To reveal once again the wondrous story;
Of the beauty and splendor each season brings;
To spark the song that your soul sings.

Judith L. Cox

All your pages are so beautiful Lynn, hope you will like my addition
♥♥♥
>M<

A little addition to Lisa's page

2010-01-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

This is the reverse of Lisa's page. Having posted the picture yesterday and put it together with the others in her book I felt the back of the page needed a little something to complete it - especially as it is the last in the book and everyone else has actually done two full sides! So, I got cracking today with this. It's a postcard on which I have decoupaged a watercolour painting of two cherries over collaged papers (you may recognise my current favourite - a swirly white paper which seems to be popping up in lots of my pieces recently!). Thus 'Tumbling Cherries' was born! Although the colours are true, the scan does seem to have made the image look a bit flat - it just isn't doing the textures justice - pity :( !

What's next?

2010-01-06T12:10:00.001-08:00

Allloooo 'sisters'. Quite a few of you are starting to ask 'what's next?'

I have given it lots of thought and don't feel I can participate in another book right now.
I do so love my atcs, and am involved in so many projects and swaps within my group, that I just don't have enough hours in the day. Now, if only I were retired.................................

I would love it if one of you would carry on; start another book, even an 'artysoulsisters' #2, and even use the same blog if you want to.

I will keep a keen eye on you all to see what you decide and where you go from here.

Love ya all madly for joining me on this project and for all the awesome, personal art that you have created. There's a little memento winging its way to each of you to say thanks and keep as a reminder of our project.

A page for Lisa by Caroline

2010-01-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

So here is the last page of Lisa's book! Can't believe how fast we've been getting through this super project! I thought that Lisa would like a nature inspired picture and decided on a wild flower/plants theme. Browsing through my books for inspiration I came across one on paper cutting and whilst I haven't the patience for that craft I thought the ideas in it might translate with a bit of adaption to a lino cut, so created a 'simple' design and set to with my gouges. Some hours later this print emerged - it was quite a task - not so simple with lots of curves and zigzags and I am guilty of obliterating a cute snail with a careless slip of the gouge -aargh!! So disappointing as when printed up there was an obvious gap where he was meant to be. However, after fiddling about with various decoupaged bits and pieces, I finally opted for an origami butterfly to take his place! The design was printed with sepia coloured ink onto delicate, lacy/spiderweb-like paper which when applied over the Japanese papers allows the colours to show through . Hope you like the print Lisa!

Lisa's page for Soul

2010-01-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

The quotes for this page and the tree came together so fast. Then all came to a standstill for a few days. I participated in the Knox County Christmas Bird Count yesterday and we saw several pairs of Red-tailed Hawks together. This is the time of year when they start bonding despite it being only 8 degrees to start the day, that is -13C to those that think in metric. Needless to say nature never fails to inspire me.

Suki's completed Arty Soul sisters traveling book

2010-01-01T06:45:00.001-08:00

Lynn mailed me my completed ASS traveling book. I'm using Lynn's page for the cover as she didn't attach her page to the others plus it is a tiny bit larger than the main book. I am closing the cover with ribbon.

Lynn's page unfolded. Isnt it sparkly and pretty. Note the footprints. I think some little elves came into Lynn's studio and walked on the book one night.

The book is just gorgeous, each page an artistic delight. Thank you all for making my book something special. I will treasure it always.

Stella and Picasso in glass for Katie Jane

2009-12-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

For Katie Jane the idea was born in an instant....

I knew directly I wanted to create her cats in stained glass

An illusion............

On the back, the real thing, hand-made paper with bits of nature (bought in Bangkok)

Both sides very simple, but the best things in life are the simple things.........

Then this song came in my mind, which is one of my 5 favorite songs

Page for Lynn by Soulbrush

2009-12-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is my page for Lynn's incredibly beautiful book. And I found this apt poem which is now on the back of this page.
(The background is printed with lots of layers of poster paint, the images are done using inks.)

Toris Okotie (The African Poet) NY

Africa my Africa

Africa my Africa
Africa my Motherland
Mother or Fatherland
Childless you went almost
But he that intervened
The God of all nations

Africa my Africa
Mother of nations great
Nigeria in the westEthiopia in the east remains
With labor pangs
You brought them forth

Africa my Africa
Father of Egypt
To the north, be so plantedAnd Zimbabwe, the south remains
And for Africa that mothered them all

Africa my Africa
Your discovery had brought you pains
Children and grandchildren
To the great sea you lost
Continents with them were fed

Africa my Africa
In Vain labor no more
Loose a child, but to no one
Your great nations do protect
For he shall intervene
When you cry for help.

Colors for Caroline

2009-12-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

What better subject than colors?!

With 9 Artysoulsisters it wasn't difficult to think about what to create.

# 9!

In my mandalas I (nearly) always use rainbow colors for number 9.

Of course the rainbow only has 7 colors.

1= red

2= orange

3= yellow

4= green

5= heavenly blue

6= indigo

7= purple

When making numerologic mandalas I use violet (red violet) for number 8 and pink (magenta) for number 9

They form the perfect rainbow of colors for me and all their traits, which I wrote on the edge for binding.

Both sides form a reversible painting when you should take the edge away.

The back side is an acrylic painting in a passe partout, an abtract painting of a colored sky.

It was wonderful to admire all the pages in real!

Hope you like my addition Caroline!

The Back of Suki's Page by Lynn

2009-12-27T22:46:00.001-08:00

Just back from Mendocino with a small envelop of sand from the beach at the Pacific ocean...and photos of me overlooking the scene in the second photo of the beach allowed me to finish up the back of Suki's page. California Cohen...

Big C for California and beach sand just for you Suki completes your book! I'll mail it as soon as the glue adhering the sand dries.

A Page for Mim by Soulbrush

2009-12-23T12:18:00.001-08:00

As Mim's theme is 'women', I decided to do this African woman for her.
I used oil pastels, drawing black outlines round the shapes.
I covered the whole image with black ink, and let it dry.
Then the hard work started. I scratched out the patterns with a small screwdriver (that hubby uses to tighten the sides of my glasses when they loosen). It was finicky and my fingers ached.
But I really like the result.
She imbues all that is fine, noble, proud and strong in African women.
I will send her on her way to Marianne after Christmas.

Suki's Page Completes Her Book!!!!

2009-12-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

Clicking to enlarge these photos enhances your ability to see more detail of color and texture.

I made a beach scene for Suki as we all know she loves Cape Cod...

I used four fabrics (brown rolling hills, orange sun, burlap that is mostly covered now, and some netting over the sand fabric. Candy wrappers make up the water and waves...

Embroidery floss adds texture too.

And beads add sparkle!

The sun is cut crinkly paper as is the sky at the very top and this blue paper

wraps around the back.

Every part of this was made with recycled materials.

It is machine sewn with invisible thread first then hand embroidered

and beaded. Both of which are very relaxing aspects of the creation

and allow me to feel such an intimate part of the piece.

I loved creating this page.

Suki's book is now finished.

Suki's page by Mim

2009-12-17T17:12:00.001-08:00

Somehow when I think of Suki - I think of houses - so here is a strange landscape of paper houses for her to look at.
Backed by a heart and suns and some not-yet-determined text.
I hope you enjoy it Suki - I also believe it comes back to you next

A page for Marianne by Caroline

2009-12-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

Marianne's cat Sjimmie arrived in Kulala Lumpur some days ago and has been shown around town by my 3 cats! He's had a few adventures whilst he's been in Malaysia, and decided to send a postcard home to his Mama and stick his holiday pics in an album.

I made the card with watercolour pencils, batik fabric, wrapping paper and black japanese paper. It's attached to the page with photo hinges so you can take it out to read the back! You may need to click to enlarge to read Sjimmie's writing. The photos are also removable - I used a pen with watercolour pencils for these.

I'll be sending Sjimmie on his travels again tomorrow. Bye Sjimmie, you're heading back to the States to Lisa now!

Mim's pages by Lolo

2009-12-13T19:23:00.001-08:00

Mim asked that we make the theme about women.

Strong, smart, magical...every woman :)

I looked back over my illustrations I've done the past couple of years and made copies of my Wallfowers and my Bagladies. Guess what? There were nine of them. NINE!! Kismet.

I printed them out on the finest photo paper and made a collage of them. I'm letting them stand alone/together. No words are needed on that page.

For the back page I wrote a short poem to describe them and all women out there.

To describe us.

Wallfowers and Bagladies,

Strong.

Independent.

Thinkers, dreamers, doers.

Conquering fears,

persuing dreams,

rising to the top

like the finest cream.

Here's to women everywhere!

Thank you Kj for your editing services ;)

Lynn's Page by Lolo

2009-12-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

Man oh man did I struggle with this one! You all know how creative and prolific Lynn is. I just had no idea how I could represent her. I finally went way back to an old children's book illustration style I used to use and painted a lady sleeping with her kitty under a dream quilt.

Of course the lady is Lynn and the kitty is Henry V.

I painted this with watercolor on loose canvas...I know, go figure!! It was hard. The watercolor kept beading up but I persisted, darn it all because I had it all drawn in. I then embelished it with glitter and shine here and there because I could :)

When it came time for the back I went into my digital card program and looked at quilt motifs. I wrote a quick little poem and dropped it in and...voila!! This is my page for Lynn, front and back.

The painting looks a bit muddy for some reason. I think it's because glitter doesn't scan well.

Whew, these journal pages are challenging!

Two Pages by Soulbrush: Lolo and Katie

2009-12-13T08:23:00.001-08:00

Lolo's theme is 'Journeys', so I decided to go to Egypt.
Hope you like it Lo. I didn't attach it, left it loose, for you to do.
It goes off to Marianne tomorrow before the Xmas mail rush.

Katie's book is looking so lovely already. Her theme is 'Nature', so I painted this one and called it 'Underwater Life'. Also not attached, as Katie requested. Hope you like it too K.
This will also fly off to Marianne tomorrow, and await her when she gets home again

Kate's Page for Lisa

2009-12-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

This is a watercolor page I made for Lisa's sketchbook. I got the inspiration from a photo she posted on her Greenbow Gardens blog of a window box she made for her house. I loved the simplicity of her arrangement with hydrangeas and her "wandering jew" plant trailing out of either side.
This will be a little reminder of warmer times for her while the snow swirls around her house this winter.

Mim's Page by Lisa

2009-12-09T02:36:00.000-08:00

This is Mim's page. This time the haiku came before the page. The front is watercolor with the haiku. I can't seem to think of Mim without thinking about the fish she likes to draw. So here I have us as fishes in the big ocean of life.

While the back has a cocoon of sorts with us as butterflies ready to emerge. Like magic butterflies emerge.

From different fabric

we are sewn together with

wit, strength, compassion

Although it seems like

magic, we are bound with our

heart and muse. It is love.

A page for Joss by Caroline

2009-12-07T05:44:00.001-08:00

Here we are - Joss's page complete now! I've dithered over what to create for Joss's page for over a week! With no particular theme for the book stipulated by Joss, it seems that most of you have decided to follow Joss's first 'flying' page. That was as good a place as any to start and I reckoned an owl might make a suitable subject. This time I decided to dust off my lino cutting tools and have a go at a relief print. I'm always very nervous of this technique - to a certain extent, I like to be in control of the media in my hands and whilst I love it when the results are unexpected I've always found that lino/woodcutting is haphazard to say the least (in my hands!!). Well here is my owl printed on handmade paper (the same I used for the flip side of Mim's page) and layered on turquoise and tangerine coloured japanese papers. On the second half of the page I used a feather stamp that I had carved from an eraser and added other odds and ends from my stash. I hope you like this Joss - I had fun with it!

Lynn's Page by Lisa

2009-12-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the front of the page I did for Lynn's Book. Since Lynn is a master seamstress I got the ole sewing machine out and did a stitch or two for her. This page depicts the giving heart of all of us and each lady is holding in her hands things she loves as I see it on their blog since I haven't met any of them in person. I have a bee and smiley bead, Joss has a zebra and Snuffles in hand, Suki has a house and basket of flowers, Mim has fish in each hand, Caroline has a palm tree and the sun, Marianne has Sjimmie and ying/yang, Lolo has a raven and flower w/butterfly, Katy has a cat and flower and Lynn has a sewing machine, thread and thimble in hand. Each lady has her initial as a necklace. The beaded jet stream shows to which lady their books go to. The blue object in the middle represents the world. There is a seed packet and a dove of peace on the world.

It was so heavy I glued it to a heavy watercolor paper. The back has a Haiku I wrote along with some stamps and watercolors.

I will get Lynn's book into the mail going on to Lolo tomorrow. Cheers everyone.

Suki's page for Lisa's book

2009-12-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

acrylic on watercolor paper. Dried johnny jump-ups. gold pen.

Back page: acrylics, gold pen, micron pen. It took awhile for these to shape up. I especially had trouble with the first side, going over it several times with paint layers. The blessing of acrylics. I wanted a sense of nature and the garden via the dried flowers. It's a beautiful book and now I send it to Katie Jane. I think there are only three books I havent received yet, Katie Jane's and Caroline's and Lolo's. Have fun you guys.

Lolo's page for Katie Jane

2009-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Katie asked that we do a nature theme which had me right from the start!

The pictures that have already been done are exquisite. Katie's Goddess tree, oh my Goddess how wonderful! So textural and rich and full of life.

Carolines magnificent bird in rich colors and textures to die for.

And Lisa's watercolor and natural objects in the way of butterfly wings, bird feathers and plants. Wow, a hard act to follow!

I've been anticipating my first snowy winter in a very long time. I love love love birch trees, the stark patterns and sleek trunks, the graphic branches making their own statements. I wanted to capture the last few Autumn leaves hanging on until after the first snowfall. Those hardy straglers not ready to give it up yet.

I had this fiberous bluish paper that seemed to call to me for Katie's page. I started with colored pencils and added a bit of acrylic paint, and of course I had to make the snow sparkle with some glitter glue, my new favorite staple.

It's subdued yet I think it says something.

Bring on the winter because we'll still be here in the spring!

I hope you like it Katie.

Since I'm not sure how you'll be finishing the book when it gets back to you, I'll leave it up to you if you want to glue this to something more hardy. To keep postage at a minimum for all, I'll just leave it as it is.

Light and breezy, easy-peasy. Enjoy! ;)

Lolo's Cover and pages...finally!

2009-11-30T07:54:00.001-08:00

I got off to a pretty slow start on my own journal but this weekend it finally created itself. It started out as our journey cross-country which really ended up being a spiritual journey for me.

The snail represents taking the slow way home (car vs. flying.) We're moving house and home with Bliss and Emma trying to balance themselves on this trek. My raven guide is with us, of course!

Several times along the way we felt like giving up but we pushed on telling ourselves every day "we can do this!"

The snail has left a glittery trail to our new home.

Open the doors...

Look inside the envelope...

Keys to our 'new life.'

I'd like it if you ladies did something about journies, any type, physical or spiritual. We're all on one big journey, after all!

Just do one page that folds in half measuring 12" x 6". I'll glue the back of your first page to the back of the previous second page resulting in a book format.

This is on it's way to Joss today so she can add her special touches!

I'm looking forward to the beuty you'll all add to this journal.

Thank you! xoxo

Katie Jane's Page

2009-11-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here is my page for Katie Jane's Book. Her book is about nature. A subject that if you read my blog any at all you know that I love nature. This page has a watercolor sky with dried flowers, ferns and feathers. I will be getting this sent to Lolo today (Tuesday).

To All My Arty Soul Sisters

2009-11-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

Marianne

Mim

Lynn

Suki

Kate

Caroline

Lisa

Lolo

I wanted to drop in to your lives and say a BIG BIG thankyou to you all for the tremendous effort you are all making to get stuck into these books as they arrive, the delight you are showing in all the art you do, the pleasure you are all experiencing in receiving each book, and the thrill I get every time I see a new page.
I never in my wildest dreams ever thought this project would take off like this and be so successful
All I can say is:
THANKYOU
Joss xxx

Butterfly for Lisa Front and Back

2009-11-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

This brightly colored butterfly is no doubt inspired by the African American quilts I saw yesterday! It is made up of machine felted velvet and woolly bits surrounded by variegated ribbon yarn, embellished with beads.

If you click on these to enlarge them you can just about FEEL the fabrics!

close up and then
the back which I left uncovered.
It makes for a rather delicate page on scrapbook paper, as the machine felting
hammers holes in the
fabric to adhere it to the paper. I did not want to weaken it further by top sewing on it.
So handle with care please.

Here you can see the hundreds of tiny holes felting gives the work.
I added brads to strengthen the side of the page that is fastened into the book cover
with all the other wonderful pages.
It will fly off to Suki tomorrow and then only Kate and Caroline need add their
artistic endeavors before it finally arrives in Lisa's hands!

Suki's pages

2009-11-22T11:01:00.000-08:00

The first page for Suki's book is a sandcastle.

Notice the heart inside.

Home is where the heart is.

The second page is inspired by a poem by Twilight Whispers.

I wrote the words on the back

I connected the two pages by making the horizon longer.

So they formed one image in the end.

When I started I planned something very complicated. I wanted to make a collage. Use the stamp I got from Linda and her beautiful papers etc. I wanted so much and it ended so simple.........I just started and it turned out this way.

I was pleased with the outcome. I hope you will too Suki.

and here is the poem:

Finding My Home

Finding where my loyalties lie
Finding where the bluebirds fly
Finding the path that leads back in time
Is finding my home

Finding where my young years are
Finding memories from afar
Finding where my mind has gone
Is finding my home

Finding where the rainbows end
Finding where the oceans blend
Finding a quiet and calming place
Is finding my home

Twilight Whispers

It was so nice holding Suki's book in my hands!

To see all the pages everyone has created in real were a sight for sore eyes!

I will send these on to Mim this week .

Have fun Mim! In between all your busy things.

A Page for Caroline by Soulbrush

2009-11-22T01:13:00.001-08:00

As Caroline's book is all about strong images and forms, I decided to do this flower for her. I used 4 inks only (the green is under the gold on one leaf to accentuate it). I painted over strips of newspaper, which always gives depth to a piece. I loved the startlingly vibrant effect.

Hope you like this Caroline. It will be winging its way to Marianne on Monday.

Kate's Page for Soulbrush's Book

2009-11-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

I was trying to figure out something good to make for Soulbrush's sketchbook and I remembered how much she likes artist trading cards. So much that she has over 400 of them! Well, Joss, here's a really BIG one! I did a paper collage about friendship done with my dyed tissue paper, fuzzy thread, rubber stamps and postage stamps from the US.

But that's not all. I also attached some of my real artist trading cards to the main page with clear corners that can be removed if she wants to store the trading cards somewhere else. Hope you like it, Joss!

This book is winging its way to Caroline in Malaysia right this minute!

Flip side of Mim's page by Caroline

2009-11-15T02:56:00.000-08:00

I bought some lovely handmade paper yesterday and couldn't resist using it right away! I decided to do another quick something for the back of the page I made for Mim, so began by cutting out some paper dollies from a magazine page. I then covered them with this swirly world- like paper!

Kate's Page for Marianne's Book

2009-11-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

This is my page for Marianne's book. Marianne's cat Sjimmie is traveling the world through her book. She wants him to get a feel for life in each of our areas and so I call this painting "Sunday In The Park". Here I am taking Sjimmie on a nature walk through my favorite sculpture park, Pyramid Hill. We had a lovely day enjoying all the interesting sculptures that many of you have already seen in photos on my blog. He especially liked watching the ducks in the pond. Thank you, Marianne, for letting Sjimmie go with me on this special nature walk.

A page for Suki by Soulbrush

2009-11-14T08:48:00.001-08:00

I wanted to make some sort of 'angel' figure for Suki.
So, I drew her and stuck bright papers all over, in a mosaic -type pattern, with black outlines.
Then I looked at her and realised that all the paper may come loose in transit around the world. So I placed a piece of weaved fabric over her and stitched it round the edges with black cotton to hold it all in place. (you can't see the cotton here).
I like her. She is calm and gentle and will be with you Suki, helping you in your quest to find a new and wonderful place to 'rest your weary bones'. Made and sent with my love.

Mim for Lisa's book

2009-11-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

The artwork in this book is amazing - thanks Lisa --it goes off today to Lynn - and is just wonderful!! wait till you see it. Here is my little contribution.

A page for Mim by Caroline

2009-11-13T06:48:00.001-08:00

Here is my page for Mim's travelling book. Mim's lovely book is all about Women around the world so I plunged right in with a bevy of international gals and a flock of international birds for good measure! This has been created with oil pastels using the 'sgraffito' method. It was such fun to do and I have written a complete post on my blog about the techniques I used - hope you'll pop over to see! The book will be winging its way to Lisa on Monday! Now I have no books :( ..... looking forward to receiving another soon!

Lolo's page for Caroline

2009-11-11T05:58:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun doing this page! I always start out a bit intimidated without a thought it my head, but then as with most art it just evolves.

The first thing I did was draw a raven in pen and ink cross-hatching on this light green tag. I didn't like the way he turned out so I added colored pencil to darken him and acrylic paint for the highlights. I then painted the branch and juicy blackberry with acrylics and added a whimsical vine with a sharpie.

The little bag that holds the treasure was embellished with rubber stamps, Distress-Inks and glitter glue. The card inside the bag was a piece of cardboard that came with something I bought and I kept it because of the wonderful vines and flowers. I thought I'd use it in the future for an atc or something.

I painted only a few leaves and one flower in watercolor. Then I added that wonderful diamond glitter, after all the flower holds magic!

The background is patterned paper which I embellished here and there with colored pencil in aqua and light green to tie it all in. The postage stamp and words are stickers.

There you have it. Raven's search is over. Who knew he'd find the flower in Malaysia?! Now he'll fly to London so Jossie can do her page.

What fun this was!

(The flower card didn't scan well at all. It's really very pretty!)

suki's page for Marianne's book

2009-11-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well my jacket blocked off the bottom of this but I'll leave it. Acrylic paint on Stonehenge paper. Two pieces of scrap paper for tablecloth and bowl. The shutters open and close and the shutter shadow in this picture is caused by the sunlight and is not painted on.
Marianne had a peace sign and a silver moon on her page so I repeated them here. I think I made Sjimmie a tad fatter than he is. Marianne said Sjimmie likes to eat tomatoes and canned mushrooms which is why those are on the table top.

I am not really good at direct painting like this so there are numerous mistakes. I prefer painting on a surface that I can paint over and over until I get it "right" which only means the way I want it. I will mail Soulbrush and Marianne's books to Katie Jane hopefully on Monday.

Suki's pages for Soulbrush's book

2009-11-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

I purchased some London stickers a few months ago in anticipation of doing Soulbrush's page. I also had, in my collection, a London A to Z which consists of London street maps. So the background center section of each page is a London street map covered in white paint. I used sturdy art paper as the page and painted it with acrylics.

I found the airplane sillhouette on line. Yesterday I bought the stick on letters at Job Lot. I wrote all our names in the windows of the bus. I hope I didn't forget anyone. Doily on lower left with gold leaf.

With permission from Soulbrush, I downloaded Maggie Rae's photo from Soulbrush's blog. I put black glitter around the map edge and didnt like it so painted over it. Now it looks like shading. I will hold this until I finish Marianne's page. I received both books at the same time. What fun!!!

PS the idea for the pages is that we all are flying to London to visit Soulbrush. Click to enlarge photos.

pages for Lisa's book

2009-11-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today I finished working on Lisa's pages.

I received the book in the weekend ans first I admired the pages inside.

My... what gorgeous pages, the book will be so nice!

The front of the page is daytime, the back is night,

there is less to see but everything is still there ,like magic!

The owl can see it all.........

The pages are done in watercolor and ink.

I know Lisa loves birds and nature so I tried to incorporate those elements.

I loved working on these pages because I love animals and nature as well.

Well who doesn't?

The white sides will disappear later in the cover.

On the back page I wrote (in white pencil)

the last lines of a poem by Hazelmarie Elliott.

I will soon forward it to Mim and hope to get a book soon again.

Hope you will like it Lisa.

Between the Now and Then

Upon horizon, night to day ~

there between the now and then,

I often pause along the way,

to tiptoe through the moonlit glen ~

or perhaps take in sun's light,

night to day ~ day to night.

Upon horizon, day to day ~

there between the then and now,

as seasons grow along the way,

to crease the face of timely brow ~

or perhaps steal time away,

day to day ~ day to day.

Upon horizon, day to night ~

there between the now and then,

I stand beneath my autumn light,

bereft as memory calls again ~

to pain the heart with bygone sight,

Night to day ~ day to night.

Upon horizon, night to night ~

there between the then and now,

I know that winter casts its sight,

on one last leaf that will not bow ~

to frost within its golden sight,

night to night ~ night to night.

Upon horizon, night to day ~

there between the now and then,

I know my spring will fade away,

and summer's soft remember when

will echo gently autumn's way ~

day to night ~ night to day....

Winter's near ~ Winter's near......

Hazelmarie Elliott

A page for Lynn by Caroline

2009-11-03T05:17:00.000-08:00

'Gather ye rosebuds'

Last week I reported that I had an idea for Lynn's page - hmm, well that didn't quite work out as I expected but nevertheless, I'm pretty happy with this collage resulting from my many experiments! Lynn's book has some lovely textile pages, so it seemed a good idea to keep going. What's that you say? You don't see any fabric? Well, my finished page does have one small piece of fabric in it, honest! Can you tell where?..... It's actually the strip of rose petals! These are petals from roses grown in the Cameron Highlands (a beautiful area in Malaysia where it is wonderfully cool: flowers and vegetables are cultivated alongside tea plantations up in those hills. I will be posting about my recent trip there over at my blog in the next few days, if you're interested!). Anyway, I digress - back to the fabric. I bonded these petals to a small strip of silk fabric and though I intended incorporating it with other textiles, I got side tracked when I found a lovely magazine image of pink roses! I didn't want to stick this directly on the page so used an image transfer method which results in a slightly distressed look. On top I layered pink tissue paper which gave it a nice misty feel. I then took another sheet of watercolour paper and washed on some pretty colours, wet in wet. I chose areas of this to tear up into strips and drew rose outlines with coloured pencils, adding more colour to the large background bloom. A few lines of text were postioned and coloured to blend into their backgrounds. I covered the main rose bloom and leaves with hand made paper, leaving a white edge on the background for emphasis - I love the way the fibers in this paper make the bloom look so realistic ! I also added a little water to the coloured pencil on the stem to give it form.

Hope you will like this Lynn - I so enjoyed the process and learnt a lot along the way!

Suki's Book, Lolo's Pages

2009-11-01T14:03:00.001-08:00

I was on a bit of a creative roll after doing Gina's ATC so I thought I'd seize the day and get going on Suki's journal which arrived yesterday.

I started with some wonderful textured paper that has been put away for years. I 'Googled' raven images (of course!) and came across this wonderful Celtic design that I 'borrowed.' If the artists name was available I'd give proper credit.

I glued the raven and started embellishing the edges of both sections with scrolls in aqua and purple. I then spotted these sweet tags I bought on Etsy a while back and inserted one in a little atc bag that I also embellished with doo-dads. On the back of the tag I wrote "May your travels take you to your heart's desire."

I also glued a fotune on the page that says "The greatest gift of all mistakes is to do nothing because you think you can only do a little."

On the next page is that lovely raven. I drew in snowy hills, bare trees and a full winter moon. I wrote "Gently falling snow, guide Raven home."

I also found a line I cut out of a magazine a while ago that says "find your happy place and just be."

I finshed it off with glitter for the snow.

Now it will be on it's way to Soulbrush for her magical touches!

This was such fun for me. I hope you like it Suki!

Soulbrush's page by Lynn

2009-11-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

We all know that Soulbrush (Joss) loves South Africa and she is generous with her gifts to us too. This page has a background of hand painted muslin, which I also stamped. It's top sewn free motion style and my tension was loose which I decided I liked so left it so.

The giraffe's, her favorite, and zebras were cut from the tea towel she sent me a while ago...what goes around comes around... and some of the beads I sewed on and around it were also a gift from her generous soul. It's sewn as a quilt with inner batting and is backed with burlap for a African rustic feel.

The colors are much brighter in person. You'll just have to wait until it arrives at your door to see. Tomorrow it travels to Suki in NH.

I have no doubt she will love it.

How's that for confidence?!

;-)

Click on photos to see details of which I speak

it's sewn in gold metallic threads and black bobbin thread which comes to the top

in some places.

Marianne's Page from Lynn

2009-10-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sjimmie has arrived in California. You can see him sitting on top of the state looking down on his host, Henry V. Henry plans to show him the sights, first the sunflower fields and then off to his friends the burrowing owls. Not sure what more they will do, but they'll enjoy the California sunshine before he heads East to visit Suki Poet. This 6" x 6" quiltlet is sandwiched with batting and muslin backing; donned with hand painted cotton fabrics, adorned with photos by Lynn, paper, and metallic threads. Sjimmie is black velvet just arrived from Chris' store in Shady Grove. The whole thing is top sewn free motion style.

Lisa's page for Caroline's book

2009-10-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

Color color color. Of course we all love color. What artist doesn't like color.?? Caroline says that color and form is what came out onto her book first. I was in a quandry about how to depict color. The very thing I love so much. Don't you think that the people, places and things that you love are most difficult to depict? When I think of my most cherished places etc I think of the outdoors. Sunrises and sunsets inspire me to colorful thoughts.

Here is the back of the page.

I will try to get this into the mail to Lolo either today or Monday. Cheers...

A page for Katie Jane by Caroline

2009-10-29T02:52:00.000-07:00

Blackbird Feeding on Berries - Watercolour

click to enlarge

Phew - at last I've done it! It took me ages to decide what to do and I spent yesterday painting a picutre that I was already to post, then changed my mind! We Librans are experts at indecision! So, anyway, here it is!! This is a watercolour painting on gessoed mount (mat) board. Another new technique for me - it's amazing what the watercolour does when you apply it to the gesso surface. All sorts of interesting textures appear like magic - the paint seems to bubble and skim over or settle in brushmarks. You'll see what I mean if you enlarge the pic. However, it's not ideal if you have a fixed idea of what you want or where you want the paint, as the paint can have a mind of its own, but it's great fun to play with. Also the paint lifts off like a dream if you make a mistake! My only regret is that I didn't make the bird a little smaller - she's tending to head off the page here and I think composition wise it would have been better to have positioned her a little further to the right - or, probably better I should have painted the whole in landscape rather than portrait format - ah well, we live and learn! I hope you will like the painting Katie! Now it's on with Lynn's book - I do at least have an idea for hers (which, by the way, is so lovely - everyone seems to being using fabric...!! Hopefully it won't be long before I post again!

Suki's Book

2009-10-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

I have to say when I received Suki's book from Caroline I was inspired immediately to do my page since there were several pages already done. Suki you will just swoon when you get to see all the pages of your book. It is fun.

This is the front of my page. It is all about the great Outdoors at every season of the year.

The back of the page has the full poem that I wrote and the description of materials etc that Suki requested. I will be getting this into the post today, going to Lolo.

Suki's book

2009-10-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ladies!!!! I have received two books this week. One is Carolines...it is soooo colorful it has an amazing beginning that you can't see in pictures. The other is Suki's book. Oh my gosh it is coming togetherr beautifully. So creative. I have been so inspired. I am off to create.....

This is my first time to participate in making a book. I so wish I had sent along a note to you all as each of these has a sweet note in it. Just remembrer I am thinking positive, loving thoughts of you all.

Two pages - Sjimmie travels and Soulbrushes book

2009-10-24T18:37:00.001-07:00

Joss says that her book has no theme, but Marianne did "Flying" so I carried that along to this first cloudy flying strange people.
And Sjimmie is leaving here on his worldwind tour after his stop in Massachusetts.

These books are fun, I can't wait to get more. I think I send these to Lynn...now where did I leave that list??????

2009-10-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I received Mim's sketchbook in the Artysoulsisters round robin. Her theme is "women", as in strong women, women around the world, etc. There are already several beautiful pages in her book done by herself, Lynn, and Suki, so I had to think a bit about what I wanted to add. After much deliberation I finally ended up with Mother Nature, probably the most important woman of all. And so my contribution is this watercolor of Mother, herself.

I will be sending this off to Caroline, in Mayalsia, later this week.

Page for Lisa's book

2009-10-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

'Ebony and Ivory'

I got Lisa's book a few days ago;what a wonderful cover and your page and Lo's page too. WOW!
Today I woke up with a clear idea of what I wanted to do.
It is based on this piece I finished recently, which I enjoyed doing so very much.
I used acrylic paints and sponge printed the hair, noses, eyes and mouths.
I listened to this song of while doing it.

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard,
Oh lord, why dont we?
(Paul Mc Cartney and Stevie Wonder 1982)

I think Lisa will like this.
It flies off to Marianne tomorrow. Byyyeeeeeee little book.

My Book Cover

2009-10-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

The front of my book cover.

Acrylic on canvas

The back
This is the way it will look when the edges are folded

Must think of a way to put it all together nicely......

And this is how I did it......

A page for Suki by Caroline

2009-10-13T01:27:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge

'Ocean Bed'
Acrylics with collage

I've been working on this piece for a few days now - mostly thinking about it!! I finally decided to try to follow the Cape theme of the previous page by Kate and ended up with 'Ocean Bed'. I'm really enjoying trying out different techniques on this project and went all out for a messy time with this one! First I tore a piece of some gorgeous embossed silver and gold wrapping paper and a couple of small pieces from a page of chinese newsprint and pasted them on the page. I then slapped gesso all over, wiping back in places to expose the wrapping paper design and some newsprint. Before it dried I made lots of different marks using anything I could find! Credit cards are great for this and a cake decorating tool I bought ages ago (and never used) works wonders! Next I drew the design in pencil and then used acrylic paint with a roller, brushes, a sponge and my fingers to tone down the bright white and work up the details.

Sending by post tomorrow to Lisa and starting work on Kate's !

suki completes her page in Mim's round robin book

2009-10-12T05:08:00.000-07:00

At first I was stymied. The theme is women or women around the world so I had to ponder a bit. Then resolved on a collage using magazine cutouts. The red paper has Japanese calligraphy on it.
This is the back of the page. The oblong shapes were made by a friend: decorated toilet paper tubes. On Tuesday I'll mail this on to Katie Jane. Have fun!

Finally something by Caroline!

2009-10-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

1st page of my book

Cover image

Well, at last I am able to say that I've made headway with the Artysoulsisters project! So sorry for holding everyone up; I've had visitors for the last two weeks, so no time for art! Anyway, now my book cover and 1st page are ready to be mailed out to Lisa. I have also made a start on Suki's lovely book and will post the page soon, then I have Katie's to work on ...!!!

My book didn't start out with a theme - in fact, I really didn't have a clue what to make, but just went with the flow! I started with the 1st page and the cover followed on from there - as you can see colour and shape seem to dominate! I used several sheets of paper that I had in my store. These had been painted randomly with acrylic inks and some dry gold pigment mixed with gum arabic (which you can see much better if you enlarge the pics), then sprayed with water to encourage dribbles, splashes and puddles. I pressed plastic wrap onto the wet ink, pushing the wrap so that the ink collected in the folds to make interesting patterns and left the paper to dry. I looked for suitable areas to work on and on close inspection found little landscapes, waves, or foliage in some, and birds, fish, flowers and people in others. I cut some of these into small squares and worked into a few with watercolour crayons to enhance my 'discoveries' . Thus 'Purple Haze' was born, closely followed by my bright cover image based on the colour wheel.

My book is loose leaf - the pages are 20 x 15.5 cms, which includes a 3 cm margin on the left side for binding, which I will do when my book returns home.

I've also made this small pocket which I will attach later to the inside of the book. In this is a note to you all and an arty soul sisters tag for you to add your names to, please!

I'm having a lot of fun with this project and look forward to creating with you!!

Lisa's Journal with Lolo's pages

2009-10-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Ta-daaaaah!!!

Here are our pages put together. I had such fun with this, thanks Lisa!

Now it's off to Soulbrush for her magical additions!

Lolo's second page for Lisa's journal

2009-10-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

I love it when things just evolve without a plan!

Here's the flip side of my page for Lisa's journal. This pattern reminds me of vintage wallpaper. I started going through my bits and scraps of collage cuttings and this is what I got. I used another stamp with birds, a piece of my special "studio lolo' notepaper for the center, I added a little atc bag, some butterflies and rubber stampings. I thought it would be appropriate to put a postcard from Rhode Island in the mail bag with a message for you ladies! I hope you can enlarge it to read it.

What fun this is! Lisa, thank you for such a wonderful venue ;)

I'll assemble it soon and post it and then it goes to Soulbrush!

xoxo

My Page for Mim's Book!

2009-10-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is the back of my page for Mim's book! The background is mono printed fabric, which I glued some quotes to. I then stamped flowers and circles using foam stamps and acrylic paint and circled the quotes with Elmer's glitter glue. And this is the front of my page.

Mim's theme is "Women"... I drew nine women in my sketchbook, (using macro pens) for the nine of us participating as artysoulsisters, gathering together from "across the miles" . I colored them using marking pens. cut them out and glued them to the mono printed fabric background glued on cardboard from a cereal box...I added a few stamps from my foam flowers and circles and acrylic paint with a little dab here and there of Elmer's glitter glue in gold.

Click on photos to see details more clearly

I'll probably let this dry all weekend and mail it to Suki on Monday.

Mim's pages arrived today!

2009-10-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that Mim's pages arrived in my mail box today.
I cannot express how WOW'd I am to see these pages in person. Our computers cheat us of texture in paint brush strokes that are delicious to see in real life. Same goes for her panel of Ms Ems for each of us and our states. Okay, I know what I will be doing with my FREE Friday tomorrow!!!! Books ARE MOVING~

Lolo's page on Lisa'a Journal

2009-10-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

yay, I finally got the muse to hit me between the eyes!

This is my first page for Lisa's journal. The other side of this paper is a different pattern which I'll show when I get it done, then I'll show you how our pages look together ;) I went with her bird theme because I love birds. I started with decoupaging the poppies from napkins, then I glittered them with a light dusting. I stamped faint leaves and purple swirls, drew and painted the Cardinals, added a stamp from a letter I got from Canada and a pretty little sticker, and then I topped it off with finding that perfect quote from a magazine.

Now I'm ready to continue! Stay tuned for page two, and then eventually I'll get going on mine.

Cover and Page 1

2009-09-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

My muse abandoned me! I had an idea for the journal but no matter what I did, it just wouldn't work out!!! I tried and tried, but all I came up with was tired looking collage - so I gave up. But I still wanted the "women" theme - so the Miss Em muse did come to the rescue.

Here is the cover of my journal, I will keep it here and not send it out because it's big. 9 x 12 big (wow - sorry I got carried away).

I'll be punching holes in the side and clipping everything together with those loose ring binders when the time is right. Don't worry about punching holes in yours, I'll do that. Leave at least 2 inches on the left side to allow me to put it into the book. So in reality, the art space is 10 inches long by 9 inches high.

Here is page 1. The theme is Woman or Women of the World or anything along those lines. Be creative and don't really worry about the theme since whatever you do will reflect a Woman of the World.
This goes out today, to Lynn I believe.

My Page For Lynn's Book

2009-09-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is the second page I have created in the artysoulsisters traveling sketchbook exchange.
This page is for Lynn's book. I used stiffened felt for the background and stitched fabric and handmade fabric paper cut into random geometric shapes to that. Then I attached buttons, beads and trinkets. The little strand of beads I made in a jewelry making class I took many years ago.
This page will be added to the others in Lynn's book and will be sent out to Caroline's Studio in Maylasia early next week.

I started I really did

2009-09-25T03:49:00.000-07:00

I started my page last night - was having artistic blockage. Finally grabbed a few items and - boom - it's coming together and is completely different than what I had envisioned. Oh well, the muse works in mysterious ways. will unveil as soon as she is presentable...and yes...it is a SHE. Theme is now "sisters" or "women" or something along that line.

Lisa's Book beginnings

2009-09-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

I finally got time for making my book. This is the front outside.

On the inside cover on some textured paper I printed everyones name, with their blog names and a name of an artist they mentioned on their postings.

On the first page I did a haiku with some sandhill cranes.

On the back of the page I did what I call a big brush painting with a little sparkle.

This is how it looks opened to the first page.

The way I put it together is with those little brass plated fasteners that open in the back like a butterfly. All you have to do is make a tiny hole in the 1" at the side and stick them through your page to include it. I hope this isn't a problem for anyone. If the little jewels come off in shipping don't worry about it. I have more. I will be removing the fasteners when it comes back to me and binding the book anyway. I thought about removing the feathers on the front so shipping might be easier. Then again you might want to see it. I will send it as is. If it pops off during shipping just stick it into the mailer and send it on. I will deal with it when it gets back to me. All right. I am ready for the next one. Send er on... Cheers.

P.S. If you have forgotten what size... the page should be 9"wide x 7" tall. This will give you an 8"x7" space for your art with a 1" left tab to bind with. Have fun ladies.

suki's page for lynn's book

2009-09-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

I made my page from canvas, to match the soft feel of Lynn's cloth pages. I used wire to attach these little paper gatherings( I cant sew), gold pen to outline and small brads for decoration. I had quite a time getting the size right. I cut it down twice and then cut it too small. Except now it is actually too big. You need two tabs, one on either side of your page actually. It also took me forever to figure out how to attach my page to Lynn's so that the front faces out. I am not very mechanical.

I glued this piece of painted canvas onto the back of my page. I am soon mailing it off to Katie Jane.

Lolo's Cover so far...

2009-09-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well I finally came up with a square format. I love squares! But I couldn't figure out if I wanted a theme or not. I was going to go with "Wings and Wishes" because there are so many ways to go with that. Birds, butterflies, bees and all things you dream or wish for. But then I said, nah, no theme! I did title it though, "9 Visions." I did the cover on my computer in my greeting card program. The eye has the world in it (although I stretched it to an odd shape!) and the eyelashes are nine paintbrushes representing us. I'll be embellishing it when it finishes drying.

I'd really love it if you could do a two page spread. The pages are only 6x6"...no worries! I'll do the first page and the last page because they're single as well as doing the first 2 page spread. And I'm just going to punch holes in the corners, so when you do your pages please punch the holes to align with mine. And remember that the holes will be on the inside when you open the book, not on the outside of the page. I'll probably tie it together with a ribbon or 2 binder rings.

So draw, paint, doodle, collage, sew whatever you want. The possibilities are endless in these journals! I hope to do my pages soon and send it off to Soul!

xoxo

Sjimmie's World

2009-09-20T10:40:00.001-07:00

~Sjimmie's World~

Sjimmie's world is small and comfortable.
I am sending him around the world to visit my blogfriends to expand his view.
New adventures are awaiting him.
I would love it if you could show Sjimmie something typical of the country/area you live in.
Everything is ok as long as Sjimmie (a black cat) is in it.

The pages are square: 6 x 6" with 1" to attach your pages.

It was hard to get started.
Just like when I was a kid; I love to be creative, but when you put me in front of a blanc page with no theme it takes time before I get creative......
That's what I like about mandalas there is already a beginning and an end, all I have to do is go!
For me it was easier to work on Soul's book: the beginning was there. All I had to do was continue.
So I forced a beginning: I cut out a size, I love round and square things, so square it was.
And then I just started, the rest came as a mandala, step by step!

2nd page for Soul!

2009-09-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Amazing what you find when you google!
I typed in the word fly and see this is what I found.
I am not good in collaging things so I just made a watercolor about fly and flying.
Let it fly......... was Soul's message.
I started with her page instead of my own.
I didn't got any idea of what to make or do.
So I just started.....................
I will try to finish it today so I can send both Soul's and my pages to Mim!
And I will be ready to receive the next.

Here are Soul's pages together.
Hope you will like it!

Have a nice Sunday!

2009-09-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my contribution to the "artysoulsisters" traveling sketchbooks.

This is the inside cover and first page of my book whose theme is "all things beautiful in nature". I did a mixed media collage with handmade paper, pressed flowers from my garden, rubber stamps and torn, dyed paper. I'm doing a loose-leaf style book this time with pages that are 5" x 7".

This is the page I made for Suki's book. Suki has no theme so I did another mixed media collage page to remind her of Cape Cod. I hope to have this book out to Caroline's Studio sometime this weekend.

Lynn's First Page of her Traveling Book

2009-09-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

A sunny garden path filled with Terry Busse "Woolie Bits" and hand dyed dryer sheets was fun to make...lots of machine embellishing/felting...top sewing...glitter gluing... Oh there are candy wrappers in there too... And then there is the back..

more close ups....

I had great fun making this and spent a lot of time on it. Amazing how lost I can get in my sewing process...loved every minute of it. The book will get mailed to Suki when she returns from the Cape.
As it turned out my pages are 10 1/2" X 7 1/2"

My first page is done (Joss)

2009-09-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

'Moon over the sea'.

I first painted different kinds of paper, e.g. newspaper, and kitchen towel. Then I assembled it and saw this scene emerge. the last thing was a big round silver moon.

Please keep it this way, and attach the next page (Marianne) to the bottom (sea half).

Mine is 6"x15"..if that is too long for yours, then make it 6"x12" (Any theme)

'This little book of mine,

I'm gonna let it fly

Let it fly

let it fly

Let it fly."

Lynn's Book Cover is Done!

2009-09-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

I first drew the picture of all of us in my sketchbook. Then I copied the drawing onto a white silk inkjetprinting sheet. I felted one soul sisters clothing (me) first in line bottom in blues; and then colored the rest using fabric pens, other colored pens and markers.

I was going to felt them all but it contorted the fabric too much so changed

my mind. The second photo is the back of my cover; off white muslin, batting between front

and back for quilting;

the machine felted fabrics show through in blue;

the bobbin thread is metallic red.

The circle shows our countries and states represented;

close up

Click on any of the photos to enlarge them

the letters across the shirts spell out Soul Sisters

the letters across the skirts spells ARTY

I have begun my first page and when it's done I will be mailing both

cover and page off to Suki!
My book is 12" X 7 1/2" including

one side for gluing to the next page.

I liked going a little larger and hope this works for the rest of you.
Suki and each subsequent artist will make one 12" X 7" page with half an inch left over

for gluing and the pages will fold back one on the other in an accordian style

but no one page will be folded itself. Each will lay flat.

My book has no theme so each artist can do their own thing!

The pages will be eclectic.

When the book returns to me I will tie it all together with yarn of some sort.

Suki's book page one

2009-09-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hi All. I have completed the first 2 pages of my book and mailed it on to Kate. I have no title and no theme. I would be thrilled for you all just to create your own pages however you want.
The paper is Stonehenge art paper size 5" wide and 13" long with one inch folded over for the next person to add a page.

I used rice paper, glitter glue, self-painted tissue paper, magazine cutouts, tulle, wire and brads. Also magic markers.

Good Morning Arty Soul Sisters

2009-09-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Just a note to tell you I woke up dreaming of my cover or first page this morning and hope I can pull it off. (the above picture is not it, just a bit of whimsy to add to this post!) ;-)

I do not want to have a theme for my book. I love every ones unique art and want you to be able to express yourself in any form you wish, about anything that delights YOUR soul in my book.

I look forward to receiving your work at my doorstep and adding my own flair to your books.

I am more than happy to wrap my mind and art objects around your theme.

This is a fun journey I know, as I already participate in another traveling book group! I am happy to keep the art flowing and traveling around the globe!

Welcome

2009-09-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my arty soulsisters and everyone else who reads this blog.
Ten of us are about to embark on a crazy and wonderful adventure, each making our own book, and then sendng it around the world for nine of our arty sisters to add a page to it. Finally in many months to come, our little book will arrive back on our doorsteps, well travelled and well used and well filled with this wonderful art; collage, paint, inks, fabric, wool, paper, stickers,stamps, cards, and lots of love.
When I told my art teacher about this idea a few months ago, she was flabbergasted at the 'honesty' and 'willingness' that everyone displays when doing a huge project like this.
I explained that none of us see it this way. We are all in a 'zone' of friendliness and even love, where we just want to spread our joy around. She isn't a blogger (yet), so she doesn't know the vibes that whizz back and forth between us.
Let's go make some art-sisters!