Traveling Journal # 2557

Have you heard about the 1000 Journals Project?

This is was started by Someguy in San Francisco, who decided to distribute 1000 blank journals in various locations, hoping people would add to them and pass them on.

A website for all the scanned images of journal entries was established. You can visit that website here.

There has been a book released - called "The 1000 Journals Project", which contains excerpts from those first 1000 journals. I ordered a copy from Amazon. I will be giving that copy to my step-daughter, Erin for Christmas.

I decided I would also like to give her a blank journal, which I have registered with the 1001 Journals Project. This journal is for her to write in, and then send off into the world, hoping that it will find its way back someday.

I decorated the cover and added an entry to several pages, which I have scanned and added to the 1001 Journals website.

The journal has been assigned # 2557, so anytime, it will be possible to view pages that have been scanned and uploaded - even before the journal comes back home!
This is the cover art I did.

Here's what it looks like inside the jacket.

The first , second, third, and fourth pages are shown here.

This is inside the back jacket. I used computer printing, magazine cut outs, screen printing, block printing, sponge painting and paint sticks on the artwork in the journal.

Now I need to go get it wrapped up!

Stitching by Hand

It's winter. Short days. Chilly outside. Drafty in my basement studio. Being cold natured, I am not comfortable this time of year. It seems like no amount of clothing can compensate for the fact that it everything outside is frozen.

It is a transitional time for me. I've spent the past year renovating our commercial properties and that will be winding up shortly. This has been a week for medical stuff - other people - with me in the support role. I've been knitting to fill the time . . . a soothing repetitive, mindless task. A good thing to do in the waiting room, etc. But (hopefully) I am about done with waiting rooms and hospital rooms for a while.

All that time and energy spent on other things . . . It is time for me to begin some new work in the studio, but I am undecided about where or how to begin. I am yearning to do hand work - embroidery. The last piece I did with a lot of embroidery, Primitive Hearts (see it here) and hand work, and buttons was very satisfying and I know I want to do more along those lines.

With a little downtime, I found myself reading blogs this morning. I really enjoy Judy Martin's blog. She recently posted a wonderful entry about hand stitching that spoke to me. She was able to beautifully articulate the appeal of sewing by hand. Of hand stitching, Judy Martin wrote, " It's thoughtful. It's a repeated caress. It’s visible time." I know this is why I feel so compelled to take up the needle. I need the tactile time - and need to make it visible. It isn't just the fact that it is cold outside! Here is a link to Judy's entry related to hand stitching.

I have also been thumbing through Stitch Magic, with Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. These two people always produce intriguing work that inspires thought. Here is a link to the book on Amazon. While I admire this type of work, I don't think I am up to the densely stitched work usually done by these two. I don't see myself as an embroiderer. Rather, I think of embroidery as a layer of embellishment on my textile art.

Nature is the Art of God

I did several more journal covers using gelatin plate prints, stitched Tyvek leaves, and hand stamped fabrics. The one pictured above has already sold.

I've been away for a week. My father had shoulder replacement surgery on Monday, and I've spent the past week with him and my mother. The surgery was here in Billings, and I drove them home when he was released from St Vincents Hospital on Wednesday. Then, I stayed with them until Saturday, when I was the "guest artist" at Prairie Collections gallery in Stanford, MT during the Christmas Stroll.

I am seriously considering opening an Etsy store to sell these journal / sketch books, and other small items. I looked for journals on Etsy last week when I was trying to decide how to price these. I realized there is nothing like this available anywhere - at least I couldn't find them!

More Journal / Sketchbooks - Trees

I've had a little time in the studio this week and elected to use it putting a few gift items together. I liked the idea of creating journal / sketchbooks using screen prints from trees I've photographed throughout Montana.

All of the covers are quilted fabric. I hand painted and/or hand dyed all of the fabrics.

These larger books are 8 1/2 by 11".
About every 5 pages, I screen printed a tree image. I love the way the pages look and think I will enjoy writing and sketching in these books - coming to a page with a screen printed tree will be a nice surprise.

My favorite size is this smaller size - 6 x 9 1/2". I combined the screen printed fabrics with some hand stamped fabrics made with my own hand cut stamps on these smaller pieces. I liked the way these turned out - the two fabric types seem to really compliment each other.