cobaltika

sample page from altered board book : bricAbrac

sample page from altered book : the vegetableQueen

strange, but fun! there is also one more, my favorite, but it has many more pages and is taking forever to scan nicely. soon. soon…

what i did yesterday. no. not wandering around with a camera. i just didn’t want to go OUT.

instead i finished a gob of prepared books, that have been sitting around in assorted half-prepared states for months. now they are ready for someone else to finish and make into art objects. or me? i can’t do them all, i’m sure. besides, i am realizing that the preparing is the part i like best. (mostly) so i am thinking that if i can make myself sit here, at the scanner and computer, for the next few HOURS, then i might list them on etsy to see if there is any interest. they won’t be cheap, because even the preparing is quite a bit of work, but they could be lots of fun for the right person, especially those terrified of the blank white page. there are no blank white pages here. anyway, we’ll see … it is cold and rainy today, so it is definitely a staying-in day, maybe the scanning would be a good task for part of it. you can be sure i am not watching a football extravaganza today. the end.

the daily pencam book. in progress. it is one of my artsomofo projects and it has been coming along very well. especially after yesterday. it is a little simple and naive, gluebookish, i guess, but i like it. i am not so pleased with the quality of the images (but jeez, they *are* pencams!), because i did not want to use heavy photo paper, as that would add far too much bulk to the book, so used ordinary paper. but when complete, i will finish all pages with dorland’s wax or varnish and that should brighten up the colors. anyway, it is fun.

i loved the storms and rain yesterday. it meant we had to stay in and not go out to do errands, as there is no window on the driver’s side and we can’t drive with black plastic on the window. i have some heavy clear plastic to tape on for winter, but we haven’t done it yet. a tedious chore to avoid for as long as possible. yes, it is tacky, but my car Saffire is a DNR car. she receives vital fluids and that is all. $250 for a new window is better spent on travel or artToys! but today i am already feeling a little restless and not only do i want some FOOD, i would also like to wander around a little with that new Diana+.

it is very fallish. there are leaves down everywhere.

i have been very quiet and very busy. going to the office every day, sure, but also working like a demon at finishing books, and scanning scanning scanning and making web galleries. it’s done enough to show. be afraid. there will be more.

in other news for the week, we have been eating like royalty, gazpacho, okra stew (hush. it’s DELICIOUS, especially with many herbs from the garden), 4″high cornbread with jalapenos and cheese, mango, etc. i am trying to buy more local foods, being greatly inspired by Animal Vegetable Miracle, which i am still reading.

in contrast, we experienced our first random act of meanshitheadedness. yesterday i went out to my car to find the driver’s window totally destroyed and fragments of glass everywhere inside the car. it was awful. poor old Saffire. she did not deserve that. it took an hour to clean her up. bloodied fingertips & mosquito bites. very very sad. at least there is nothing to steal and no rain in the forseeable future…

margaret has arrived safely in Taiwan. betsy will go this weekend. they are going diving in Malaysia with their dad. i miss them.

mostly it is just summer.

dinner:
butter and sugar corn from the farmer’s market this morning
purple potatoes (same)
tiny carrots
cucumber hummus
pinot grigio

yum

i have (finally) been scanning books today. earlier this week i finished many pages with dorland’s wax. finally, i have 4 absolutely completed books sitting on the table (others from another year on the shelf). i have 3 almost-completed books on the other table. then there are others stacked on the table in various states of completion. i don’t really know what i am doing with all these books. i wish i could find a different format that would give me the same pleasure of repetition, objectmaking, boundaries, randomness and obsession. i guess the cloth pieces and “quilts” were like that, but i just don’t have the space for such things now. so i keep doing it.

last week was difficult with something like a depression enshrouding me most of the week. friday i felt a snap-out and that was good. we watched Our First Netflix last night (an antonioni!! but not a very good one). we walked at the swamp today after buying lots of food. i am trying to fight a sinus infection. i love the weekend.

now returning to books, the last half glass of that pinot grigio and The Swell Season (again).

(ps - i will show the books, but not until i have them in an orderly and presentable fashion)

i have almost finished my half-year journal, which i actually started on january 1 this year. it is an altered health book for pre-teens with many interesting references to sexual body parts. of course most of it is glued over, as it has turned into a gluebook, using-up-leftover-shreds and experimenting with new and ugly glazes book. more than a journal. in fact, i even glued over the parts where i actually WROTE something. it was only a few early pages. they seemed so dumb. the book is only big enough for about half of a year, so i am compelled to finish it by the end of the month and i am very very close. it seems like a book about nothing, but it is turning out to be a personal journal after all. i rather like it.

there is also another spread on flickr, upon clicking, but no way i am putting it right out here, since there is a gruesome polaroid of me with my bangs trying to grow out. why did i spend 3 hateful months in such misery??? i look terrible with no bangs and my rabbity pale eyelashes and brows. i look like my DAD. not good. not. so i took the scissors and WHACKED them last weekend and felt so much happier, even if they are crooked. they are very very short and weird and that makes me happy. and i am just letting my hair be fuzzy and untamed again. i can’t afford the nice aveda salon right now!! and besides they *never* cut my bangs short enough…

i also painted my toenails. summer!

in progress: EAsTer - a zenCollage book about spring, religion, food, rabbits and female body issues.

after a fairly long (for me) “dry spell” in the studio, i began work this past weekend on a new book. i decided i wanted to spend the holiday weekend on a project with no expectation or plan. i have many prepared books, ready to be filled, but wanted to start with a plain and ugly book.

at first, i believed i would just cover up the pages and make a “book about nothing”. i did not want to use words, even random clipped ones. i did not want to work pale and grungy as i always do, requiring much drying and waiting time. i did not want to think, but only work intuitively, with happy busy hands. i wanted to use up a specific amount of ephemera, but not be overwhelmed with materials.

it was fun to see consistency and concept evolve as i started working, subconsciously inspired by the text of the book and the limited materials i had chosen to work with. i was working like a madwoman and that felt very fine. more images are on flickr, upon clicking the image above. this is the first layer of material, another simple layer of decoration will be added, but it is not going to be a complex and heavy book. showing only 5 of approximately 30 spreads does not do the tale justice, but more will likely be shared later.

normally, i don’t like to share work in progress. it makes me nervous. so this is a good exercise.