A Giveaway from Making Handmade Books

I follow a wonderful blog, Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. She is well-known in the world of handmade books and art. I have a few of her books and if you're wanting to teach yourself the art and craft of bookbinding, they are great resources.

 A few weeks ago, she did a Mystery Valentine giveaway, with collaged cards that she made back in 1995. I *love* a good mystery, and had the good fortune to be one of the lucky people to receive one. It arrived in a gorgeous hand-painted envelope.

Sealed with washi tape!

Inside the envelope was the mysterious package that intrigued me from Alisa's blog post.

Inside, I found this: a very pretty stitched and collaged valentine on thick blush paper. The paper is infused with a golden shimmer.  

I love the vintage-style metal cupid!

I almost never win anything, so I was incredibly pleased with my good luck this time. And next year, I'll be passing this on to a friend for Valentine's Day, with pleasure. 

From The Sketchbook: Complete Within Herself

Just a little something from my sketchbook. I haven't been drawing much lately, and I'm trying to change that. I'm happiest with the text, which has exactly the effect I wanted - loose, a little archaic, without referencing any ancient culture in particular.

Work in Progress: Medusa

I've been doodling around in one of my throwaway sketchbooks - one of the ones I use when I don't feel like being at all serious about what I'm drawing. It's a good way to work through some block issues, convincing myself that it doesn't matter and it's just for fun. I started drawing some monsters/mythical creatures, like the Sphinx, harpies, angry fairies, and so on. Apart from being an excuse to draw boobs (always fun), I'd like to draw more fantasy art, and this is good practice.

The Medusa popped up in a corner of the sketchbook page, and it made me want to do a more finished version with watercolor pencils. It isn't quite there yet - it's missing something to make it special - but I'm not unhappy with it so far. I layered some iridescent green paint over the pencil as kind of a representation of the power of her gaze. I'm thinking about maybe doing some collaging over it next, adding more mixed media. It's also considerably larger than I usually work for drawings like this, 8"x10".

It's interesting how things changed between the rough initial sketch and the more formal work. They are two very different faces. In some ways, I like the sketch a little better. It's rougher, but it has a vitality to it that I don't feel in the painting. Maybe it's that the snakes are wilder. Maybe it's her open mouth and wider eyes. Both expressions are ambiguous, though, and I like that.

Fogs of January

Winter continues. So far this year, I've been concentrating on getting myself into good daily patterns, like riding my bike every day that I can, and making progress on my various resolutions and goals for the year. It helps that the valley is in the middle of one of the driest winters we've had in a while. Riding in the rain always feels so purgatorial for me!

But I ride in the cold and fog because improving my health is probably my most important goal for 2014. And sometimes the beauty of the world smacks into me like the wind, even when – maybe especially when – it would be nicer to be home in the warm, with a nice cuppa. Riding in the fog yesterday morning, gathering frost on my hat and arm warmers...it was worth it for the beauty. 

One of my other big goals is to whip the house into shape. It's slowly coming together and feeling tidier and homier. My basic strategy has been to do five things per room per day, which may seem like a small, but it starts to add up and I never really feel overwhelmed. Even when I'm really tired or don't feel like doing anything, I can still get myself through five things in each room, even if it's just picking up a stray sock or putting a book on a shelf. 

I need to get back into making art soon, though, with my first show of the year coming up next month. 

Beauty in Ice

We spent a few days in southern Oregon with my mum. She'd been feeling poorly and needing a bit of support and company, so down we went, through ice and snow and freezing fog. I have mixed feelings about where I grew up, but if nothing else, I learned how to drive in the snow.

The sun came out in time for us to drive home, but for a few days, the landscape was rimed in frost and ice. I found amazing beauty in Mum's backyard.

Of course, I brought my knitting, pencils, sketchbook, and ACEO blank cards to keep my hands busy and my heart happier than it would have been otherwise. This little fox looks like I felt, alert and a little wary. He's available in my Etsy store now.