Journalfest 2011 - Day 3

I spent last Friday at JF taking a class with Traci Bunkers called "The Maiden Voyage".  We first spent some time preparing several blank journal pages with layers of gesso and paint and then Traci gave us some prompts to help us create our finished pages.  In this photo, she is showing us how to spread paint quickly with a brayer, while my friend Laurie looks on:

Here's a photo of our classroom, which was upstairs in the School building at Fort Worden.  I especially loved the old glass lamps hanging overhead:

The first prompt was for us to put the words, "Create", "Imagine" and "Dream" on our page and then go from there.  I found this amazing photo in a magazine of a dog surfing and you can see how my finished page turned out in this picture of me and my table mate, Kathy:

Me and Kathy with finished pages

Traci also had us do an exercise where we made ourselves a legend at something.  I decided to do my journal page like a newspaper article (featuring another picture of a dog surfing! I don't know what magazine I got these photos from but I love them!), here's how it looked when it was finished:

After class, I had a 15 minute massage given by a woman named Arianne who had set up her massage chair in the lobby of the Commons building. She was busy for several hours each evening and what a great idea, after spending all day hunched over a table! It was bliss.

That night was Vendor Night.  Several of the teachers and a few others were invited to sell their wares to the Journalfest attendees.  What a fabulous collection of artwork and supplies there was to be had!

I bought a small (3.5 x 4 inch) journal with a metal cover made by David Steele, who makes amazing items with a steampunk flavour, as you can see from this picture of him at his booth:

The delightful Cindy Petska had a booth set up with all sorts of journal kits available featuring vintage items. Her company is called "Kick Start" and the idea is that the materials in her kits are enough to give someone a head start in finishing a journal.  Her goodies were very popular, I think she sold practically everything she had brought with her!  Here she is holding a beatiful binder she had made, just before it went to live in its new home:

I met Dawn who runs Mother Rubber Art Stamps but alas, did not take any photos.  I enjoyed chatting with her though, after things slowed down later in the evening.

I think my favourite purchase of the evening was this small painting called "For better, for worse" that I bought from Lisa Cheney Jorgensen.  It's a rainbow bee eater, a bird I had never heard of before, perhaps because it is native to Australia. 

I am very happy with all my purchases, which I am enjoying even more as I finally unpack today. :)