My Sketchbook Project 2013

I had been wondering whether to go ahead and post the contents of my Sketchbook Project when I saw that my fellow artist Fran Meneley (whom I met at Journalfest 2011 and then got to know a little bit better at Teesha and Tracy Moore's art retreat PLAY a year ago) blogged about her book today (can you stand how awesome her pages are?!?!?) and thought I would go ahead.

There were several possible themes to choose from. Fran chose "Almanac" but ended up with more of an "Atlas" flair.  The other choices were:  travelogue, memoir, narrative, chronicle, sketchbook, chapbook, documentation or photo log.  Or you could also go with:  dwellings, strangers, participate, diagrams, warnings, lists, creatures, dinosaurs, upstairs or mystery. 

I knew I wanted to use some of the vintage black and white photos in my collection so I chose "mystery" (click on any of the photos to enlarge and/or for a slide show format) as my theme, based on the fact that photos of strangers that I find at flea markets, auction sales and antique shops are full of mystery.  Who are they (or who were they) and why are their photos available for me to take home, instead of with their families or descendants?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I picked up a box of vintage papers
at a yard sale that turned out to be
a bunch of paperwork from a local funeral home
- how cool is that?!

 

 

Stay tuned, tomorrow I'll show you the rest of the pages!

A Short Video To Watch

While we're still on the topic of the Sketchbook Project, I must tell you that you HAVE to watch this 3.5 minute video just to check out the 2 fold out sketchbooks featured therein.  The first one is at about 1:40 and the second at about 2:45.

Honestly, some people are just so darned creative! 

Tell your mind to be prepared to be blown.

SKP 2013 Done!

My little book for the Sketchbook Project is finally done.

I successfully added a spine yesterday (don't you just love the zebra duct tape?!) and bound the two signatures in place with an X pattern binding.

 

I finished not a moment too soon - according to the project rules, the books need to be postmarked by tomorrow, January 15th.  I'll take it to the post office on my way to work.  I could have mailed it today but I was hoping that the replacement label they are supposed to be sending me would arrive today but it didn't.  So I took my sister's advice, printed out the photo of the label I had taken when the book first arrived and glued it on the back. Hopefully that will be enough for them to be able to identify it when it arrives at the Brooklyn headquarters and they can replace the label there.

So tomorrow I will be sending my little book out into the world, first to Brooklyn and from there, on to Austin, Atlanta, (back to) Toronto, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco and L.A. from March to September before returning to its permanent home in Brooklyn. I have a hankering to visit all those places - wouldn't it be fun to plan trips to coincide with when the SKP will be in town? Hmm, might have to give that some thought!

Work In Progress

Here's what my kitchen is looking like at the moment, as I count down the last 48 hours of the Sketchbook Project (books are to be postmarked January 15th):



Kitchen counter and stove top

 

In front of the microwave

 

Kitchen table top

 

And here's what happens when the kittens try to help! As you can see, it's hard to use the paper cutter when there's a cat lying on top of it!

Everything was going smoothly until I realized the finished book was going to be too big for the required size of 5 x 7 inches.  Luckily, we're allowed a 1 inch spine, so instead of one signature, I'll need to do two and add a 3/4 inch spine.  Which wouldn't be a big deal except that now I just need to take a few pages apart as several of my spreads are a double page, which kind of throws things off now that I need to bind the book a different way.  No worries, bookbinding skills learned from such masters as Diana Trout, Tracy Moore and Mary Ann Moss should get me through this!  It's just going to take a little more time than I was expecting.  Luckily, it's a very rainy Sunday out there and I had no plans other than to be working on getting my book finished, so it's all good!

Getting There

My Sketchbook Project is slowly coming together (did I mention it has to be in the mail by next Tuesday? And that I'm out of town all day tomorrow and won't be able to work on it again until Sunday?!).

I had an idea for the middle page, which turned out to be about love (because, really, love is at the centre of everything, isn't it?) this morning as I was having my breakfast - did I mention I've been doing most of the work on this project standing up at my kitchen counters so as to be out of reach of the kittens' paws?? - and quickly laid out the bits and pieces of my potential collage and took a photo before I had to leave for work.

When I came home, I started gluing everything into place (I say "gluing" but I've been attaching almost everything in the book with double-edge tape, just to be sure it will stay stuck for the long term).  A little bit of rearrangement and one or two minor changes and voila, the finished spread.

I am especially excited to have included a photocopy of a portion of a love letter that I have in my collection of vintage ephemera.  It dates back to 1931 and is one of a group of letters my friend Diane picked up for me at the Rose Bowl flea market in California last year.  Imagine ending up with someone else's love letters from 80 years ago?!

Under the Stove

Every once in a while, one of the kittens will stretch a paw as far as they can under the stove as if they are trying to reach something that has accidentally rolled under there.  Today I got the broom out and used the handle to sweep out that area.  Here's what we found:

- the plastic protective cover from a paint brush;
- a bread closure tag (did you know there are other uses for these tags? Check out this blog for some ideas.  FYI, I was already using them on my rolls of masking tape!);
- an emery board;
- a tape dispenser;
- a spool of thread;
- one or two dried up pieces of kibble (which Belle Cherie immediately ate!);
- a foam brush;
- a pen lid;
- various pieces of paper and plastic in various sizes;
- a spiral-shaped cat toy (not shown)(which both kittens pounced on and began chasing back and forth); and
- a pen.

I had no idea all this treasure was hidden under there, but the kittens certainly did!

So, what's under your stove??

Kitten Photos

Haven't posted any pictures of the kittens in a while, so I thought I'd share this one of Belle Cherie that I took the other day.  She was napping with her arms crossed but opened her eyes as I crept near with my camera.  I couldn't help myself, it was just so darned cute!!

She and her sister Belle Matisse are about 9 months old now.  They've been staying with me for about six months, waiting to be adopted.  They really are a very sweet pair, much calmer than they used to be now that they are a little older but still very playful and active, both with each other and with my cat Maggie.  My other cat Katrina doesn't hiss at them any more but she doesn't play with them either, although she seems more playful herself lately - perhaps they are setting her a good example?!

Here's a recent photo of Belle Matisse (black cats are harder to photograph, I have discovered, which is too bad because she has the cutest face and adorable expressions that I haven't been able to capture well enough!)

Sometimes having four cats on a full time basis seems like a lot but most of the time, it's no problem.  The kittens like to be picked up and cuddled - I do it a lot, just to be sure they stay used to it! The longer they stay with me, the harder it will be to let them go but knowing how much joy they will bring to someone else's life makes it easier.  Until that time, I am enjoying having them stay with me.