Pulled string art and altered book pages

They made it look so easy...

Finished pulled string art from some other, more talented artist

So I tried it...

Um, nope. Let me try thicker string.

Well that was a #fail. Let me try less paint, and pull quickly and more smoothly. Also less pressing down.

Ah! Getting there! That one looks more like the ones I saw in all the videos. Let me try again, still less paint, less pressure.

Voila! Now I have the trick! I still find it harder than it looks, but then again, I find all art harder than it looks.

I persevere though. Now for my altered art.

Fifteen years ago I learned about making Altered Books. You take a discarded book, preferably one that has a vintage cover, and glue together bunches of pages, and of the remaining pages you collage or pant over the words, leaving exposed the words you want to highlight. Each page can then tell your own story, or be a poem. Here is the title page and preface of my altered book. It's the story of my journey toward salvation.

I had a hard time gluing the bunches of pages together and the book came out bulky. I also had a hard time because it was a big project. My talent is small and so my projects must be small. I kept my completed book but abandoned the process, hesitant to try again.

Recently I figured out that you can alter just ONE page. Duh. So I did a few pages last night . They look childish because I used childish materials, colored pencil and crayon, but it's a start. It is harder than it looks, too. Writing poetry is difficult. Even looking over a series of words that already exist to patch together a poem is hard. But it's relaxing and sometimes the stuff comes out pretty, and it's fun, so that's all that matters. Who doesn't like coloring?

More books! The Special Store sells hardbacks for $1 and paperbacks for fifty cents. I got the Sherlock Holmes, Unbroken and Huddle of Sheep, plus the McEwan paperback there. I got the Puritan Paperback The Doctrine of Repentance for 2 cents from Amazon. Yes, 2 cents, the rest was paid for by Amazon points I'd accumulated. Score!

Summertime is time for trying new things, being leisurely, meditating on different things I'm learning, reading, and just relaxing. I hope that even if you don't have vacation time coming, that you can find some time to gather your thoughts, have a cup of coffee straight through, or take a nap. It's the little things.

I have decided...

...that for the rest of the day I am going to MAKE STUFF. Here is an example of previous stuff I made:

Watercolor

Altered book

Collage

Altered photography

I  don't know what will emerge from this burst of creative impulse today, but if anything is, I better quit blogging about wanting to make something and actually go make something.
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a page of collage

from my altered book. The page is titled The Trumpet of the Lord: Redemption, from the altered book, Stranger than Fiction. It's in the Hauntings exhibit but I think I will not sell it. I decided today to put a "not for sale" sticker on it. That, or price it at $195.

I can't alter the due date

The gallery show I have entered is coming and tomorrow all the pieces and parts are due because the curator needs to hang them. Thirty-four artists have entered, woo-hoo! Should be a good show. The curator wants titles, prices, dates, artists' statements, dimensions, synopses. I need to finish writing an artist's statement, develop prices for the pieces and e-mail them, and here, finishing the last page in my altered book.

I had taken photos of several of altered book pages and framed them as entries. When I brought the enlarged pieces and also the book to show the curator, she asked if the book could be in the show too. So that means I have to finish it!

Tea: jasmine blossom. Fresh exacto, new scissors, cutting mat, and a Smithsonian magazine as glue pallet.

Hauntings: Dark works by Georgia artists

A well-known local gallery is hosting a new exhibition, "Hauntings: Dark works by local Georgia artists." My work was accepted into the show and I'm excited!

Located in downtown Comer, Blue Bell Art Gallery & Pottery Studio is a beautiful building exhibiting over 30 local artists. It was built in 1900 and was originally home to the Chattanooga Wagon Factory and in time, became the Blue Bell Sewing factory. The downstairs has 16-foot ceilings and the upstairs are about 14-feet high, with brick walls at least a foot thick. The proprietors are Tina and her husband Shannon McCullough, with Tina herself an accomplished potter.

A variety of photos, collage and an altered book is going in the show. You can see the show pieces here, in my Flickr set, keeping in mind that photos of the textured pieces have lost something in the translation to web. There others at my local artist site hosted by Artists in Georgia.