Since I posted my little altered book journal "Yankee Lawyer: The Autobiography of Ephraim
Tutt" (or Mr.
Tutt, as I like to call it), I have had a few questions about it. Mostly about the size of the book. Well, the cover measures about 8 1/2"x5 1/4" and it
approximately 2" thick (but that changes
every time I work in it). "Mr.
Tutt" is an old book, there's a label inside the front that states that it was manufactured during wartime (WWII) but I chose it because 1) I like old stuff. 2) The spine was in good shape and I knew that it could handle being altered. 3) I like the color of the paper and felt it could hold up to a little paint and water and well, abuse. 4) It had interesting content that I felt I could work with.
I started by
gluing together 2 or 3 pages with Mod
Podge to give the paper good thickness. After
gluing together a few pages, I'd tear out a few pages, to give the spine a bit of room when I started adding in extra paper and things. After tearing out a few pages, I found that some of the other pages would start to separate from the spine so I would Mod
Podge a strip of fabric, scrap of paper, piece of patterned paper, or whatever I had sitting on my desk at the time, down the middle of the book to keep the two pages together. The page below had a crazy floral print fabric in the middle of the book. It's just there to keep pages from starting to fall out.
This "Tenth" page is about an awesome quote that my new friend Phyllis gave to a friend of ours and I just had to sit down and copy it. Here it is:
"For every nine people who denounce innovation, only one will encourage it...
"For every nine people who do things the way they have always been done, only one will ever wonder if there is a better way.
"For every nine people who stand in line in front of a locked building, only one will ever come around and check the back door.
"Our progress as a species rests squarely on the shoulders of that tenth person. The nine are satisfied with things they are told are valuable. Person 10 determines for himself what has value." -
Za Rinpouche and Ashley
Nebelsieck "The Door To Enlightenment"
This is a page about the party I met Phyllis and many other amazing women. Every single one of which, I would call a "tenth person" The Mark Twain quote (another of my favorites) was printed by my friend Deb on canvas and it was a lovely little sailboat and very much NOT me, so I cut it up and added my own touch. I glued the envelope for the invitation to the page and painted the background similar to the canvas colors. After it was dry, I added journaling and put the invitation back into the envelope.
Yesterday, my friend the wonderful Kate, came over for an art day. My aunt Ilene joined us, too. I just love getting together and creating with Kate and Ilene and we had a great art day. My son also was involved in the art making process and made me this picture. He was so proud when I glued it into my journal and used it for a page. The marker drawings in the middle are Jake's and the acrylic paint around the outside is mine. I think this is my first collaboration piece.
One other question I have had about "Mr. Tutt" is what brand of watercolors I used in my watercolor sketch. I have a small set of Windsor Newton travel pans that I take on the go. I use a Koi water brush (I LOVE Koi water brushes, I think they are, by far, the best water brushes) that I can fill with my water bottle or whatever I can find (gas station bathrooms, etc.) when I am travelling. I think that I have answered all the questions about "Mr. Tutt" but if there is anything else you would like to know, I'm happy to tell you about it. As for now, I'd better head off to bed.
Remember THIS post. Well, I used some more of my painted canvas to make two more pencil/cosmetic bags and I just added them to MY Etsy store. I LOVE this piece of canvas and I am working on getting paint onto another large piece of canvas. I have a little project I have been working on for myself (I know, it's amazing, I am never working on my own stuff) to get me started on The Sketchbook_Challenge. It starts in just a couple of days. I've got my sketchbook, pens, watercolors, and whatever else, all ready to go. Just have to finish my project (it's so exciting). I can't wait to show it to you. But I had better get going...or I won't make it in time.
Brent has always been an inpiration to me when it comes to setting and achieving goals and his accomplishments this year have been amazing. Makes my little (big) list of resolutions look much less daunting. Thank you Brent! Love you!
My grandparents gave us a beautiful poinsettia for Christmas and I did a little sketch in my book of one of the flowers. I have been teaching art to my daughter's class at school so I decided to have them do a study on poinsettias. I had them do a quick sketch to understand the shape of the bracts and flowers before they tore the petal shapes out of tissue for their ornament project. They did great! I took my 4 year old with me and sat him down with all the supplies and just let him do his thing while I was teaching the class. I was shocked at what he did. His was every bit as nice as the rest of the class but I noticed something interesting. He just sat down and boldly did his thing while the majority of the older kids were somewhat panicked and critical of their work and not doing it "right" and using the word "can't". I HATE the word "can't". I had to ban the "can't" word from the classroom when I am teaching art. When do kid's develop this self critical attitude and fear of making mistakes? My little guy doesn't seem to have developed it yet but so many 9 year olds have. It is so interesting. What happens to them between 4 and 9? They had no reason to be critical of themselves, they all did wonderful art, but were so hard on themselves and some even seem paralyzed before they even tore a single tissue paper petal. I just found it so interesting, especially because when we become adults, we spend so much time trying to get rid of our fear of mistakes and critical attitudes. Apparently we didn't come into this world with these fears...when does this happen? Can it be avoided? I don't know but in an effort to combat this fear of making mistakes, I think I will go work on something scary...I think.
Sorry the picture is not great, but inside the box were prints of 6 of my art. There were six 5x7 prints and one 8x10. Underneath was an entire box full of 8x10 prints of my "Follow Your Heart" painting. On the back of one of them was a note from Deb. Here's part of it: "So I was figuring the other day that I've been VERY fortunate to follow my heart and I think you should too! I took the liberty of printing your first run of prints." Each box after contained hundreds of 5x7 prints of the other paintings. I just sat there speechless (and if you have ever spent more than 5 minutes with me, you know the significance of that statement). I am still in a state of shock. Deb is my absolute idol. She finds a way to make everything she decides to do a success and no matter what, she always follows her heart. For instance, she recently felt she was supposed to be living in Portland, so she sold just about everything, closed her storefront in Idaho, and moved herself and her two sweet boys to Portland. I just think that is so cool. She's such an example to me of just taking the leap, when your heart says "leap". You can see more of her work 
Once again, not a great picture, but hopefully you can get the idea. Diamond Glaze is used on the top, which makes for a difficult picture, but it makes it a bit dimensional, which I love. Deb's purpose in having my art printed was to help me jumpstart my art business and so I have been working on legalizing my business so that I can finally open my Etsy store and realize that goal. It is such an amazing gift and I haven't even been able to find the words to adequately express my gratitude. Here's is my altered book art journal page.
I used the quote from Anais Nin because it accurately describes my art journey and inspires me as I continue on this path. I also thought that I was an accurate description on Deb's journey too, so I used it again to make a painting for her as a thank you.
And here is my bright spot. It's my daughter's 9th birthday. I can't believe that she is 9. She is the best girl ever and makes my day....each and every day. She is always the one to give hugs and kisses and is so kind. We crazy love her. I have always LOVED making cool birthday cakes and parties for my kids' birthdays but this year, since I have been so sick, I have had to really simplify. I honestly can't do it this year and it's killing me but my daughter doesn't mind. She tells me it's OK and I just love her for that. She is so compassionate. I love this girl! Happy Birthday to my sweet Miss A! LOVE YOU!
Here is my 3 year old's paint experiment. It didn't take him long to finish his rocks, but he thoroughly enjoyed mixing paint and seeing what color he could make his rinse water.
Here is my 8 year old (at least until Monday) working on her masterpieces.
And here's our finished rocks. Since after applying paint to rocks, they are now too special to part with, my kids' rocks are now living in our home on a semi-permanent basis, but mine had a special purpose. My daughter and I headed out to the walking path that runs along the river and left my rocks for others to find.
