art journals

Last spring I learned how to make a book in an 'art journaling' workshop.  I was feeling a little stale in the studio, so I took some good advice from my friend Julia and tried out a new medium.  Disclaimer: I am not good at the whole measuring and neat stitching thing.   I admire those who have the precision to craft beautiful bindings, mine remain utilitarian at best.  What I did find was that working in a book format really opened up some new directions in my own work.  First of all, work in a book is probably never going to be work on a wall, so it takes down the barriers of what might be shared with an audience-more on that later.  It became for me a place to try some new ideas without committing to stretching canvases and preparing surfaces for paint.  My work felt immediate and fresh, intuitive and experimental.  I liked that. Here I could combine observational drawing, printing and transfer techniques, painting and stitching.  I have kept up with the practice of working in a book in my studio throughout the year.  So far I have filled two books and have almost completed my third.  Here are a few pages from that first book.