Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Karen

Yesterday I woke up at 6:30 a.m., which is what time I usually wake up during my work week. I don’t like to sleep late on the weekends because I use my precious Saturdays and Sundays to cram in all those things that I’m too busy to do during the week days. My perfect daily schedule would be to wake up early, stay up late, and take a nap in the middle of the day when my batteries start to run low.

So I woke up early, had some coffee, and started cleaning. Saturday was laundry-dishes-floors-pay bills-general straighten-up the house day, all in preparation for SUNDAY!, the day that I’m determined to dedicate to working on one or more of the dozen altered book and collage ideas that are pressing on my brain.

I did take a couple hours off from my housekeeping duties to get down to the library book sale. Yippee! And I had a wonderful impromptu lunch out with a friend who was working there. I filled three bags with books and paid $19.50. What a bargain! Of course, these new books have given me even MORE IDEAS for things to create, so there I go again, making more trouble for myself.

On a sad note, I received an email from the woman who bought Anatomy of Paradise, and she’s having buyer’s remorse. Unfortunately, her dog got sick and she’s having to spend tons of money on vet bills and wants to return Paradise. She said she loved it, but can’t afford it right now. While I totally understand and am willing to take the book back, I can’t help but feeling disappointed that things turned out this way.

Now, off the computer and onto an artful Sunday!

Altered Books Take a Journey

Karen

I mailed out three altered books today. It was sad to see them go. I shipped two books to the show in San Luis Obispo, and Anatomy of Paradise to a new home in San Jose. I am hoping the kind woman who purchased the book enjoys it as much as I have.

I had never really given much thought to how I was going to ship one of my wall hangings, especially this one. With the Reliquaries, I just wrap them up in copious amounts of bubble wrap and everything is fine. I couldn’t do that with Paradise because there were so many fragile three dimensional elements. I was worried that the flowers and vines and other paper parts would get squashed. So I decided to surround the altered book with those styrofoam peanuts that everybody hates receiving. I placed the book inside the box and buried it in foam popcorn until it disappeared from site. I just hope that Anatomy of Paradise has a safe trip to San Jose.

Accepted! and Rejected!

Karen


Saraswati Reliquary

Well, I’m batting one for three so far. During August I had submitted entries to three juried shows. First I got rejected for the Book Arts show in Oregon. I was disappointed, of course. But then, about two weeks later, I got a call saying that two of my pieces, Saraswati :: Saraswati Reliquary and Contemporary Wall Sculpture :: The King’s Garden had been accepted for an for the San Luis Obispo Art Center. The artist reception is October 15 from 6-8, and the exhibit runs through November 13th. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get accepted into my first show. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to package The King’s Garden and send it down there safely.

Wall Hangings :: The King's Garden

Having been accepted into that show softened the blow of the rejection letter I received the following week from the Roseville Art Gallery. They turned down my three Dia de los Muertos altered books.

Last time I wrote about being rejected for a show, I had so many nice people write to offer their encouragement and support. Thank you all so much for that.

I’m heading to Reno this weekend to watch the Grand Finale of the 2000 Supermoto Bike Series. It’s not exactly my first choice of events to attend, but my son and husband are into that, so I’m going along for the great seafood platter and ciopinno they have at the Atlantis Hotel where we’ll be staying. I’m not the gambling type, but if I can find a $1 blackjack table, I’ll play for hours. Do they still have such a thing??

Handmade Paper Sculpture :: Anatomy of Paradise

Karen

I haven’t been keeping up with the blog lately because I’ve been trying to tie up some lose ends on my web site. Wait!! Back-up. Erase that. I promised myself that I would never be one of those blog apologists. Sorry. I won’t do that again. . . Moving right along . . .

I have finally added three more book sculptures to my Wall Hangings Gallery. I am particulary proud of the one on this page: Handmade Paper Sculpture :: Anatomy of Paradise.


Wall Hangings :: Anatomy of Paradise

I started it right after school got out last June, but then my mother’s alzheimer’s suddenly got a lot worse, and I was spending two to three days every week driving to my parents’ house and helping out my father. Coming back home, I’d always have a ton of stuff to catch-up with, and not only that, I didn’t really have the energy to devote to this book. It languished on my table, taunting me to come back and get it finished. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Finally in August, with the summer slipping past, I was able to pull all the many pieces of this book together. Flowers, leaves, dragonflies, hummingbird, butterfly, tendrils and vines were blended together to grow out of the book. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. Unlike so many other pieces of art that I do, this one turned out just the way I envisioned it in my mind.

Eye of the Storm

Karen


Altered Book Journal :: The Art of Happiness

Like others around the world, I have been transfixed, appalled, and saddened by what I have seen happening to the people in the Gulf states in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I have been following one blog in particular Dancing with Katrina where two journalists who stayed holed-up throughout the storm have been updating us daily with conditions, news, pictures, and their personal experiences.

Ironically, when I came to the latest page in my altered book The Art of Happiness, the text was full of imagery about the wrath of Nature. As I selected words and phrases for my poem, the pictures of the hurricane poured into my mind. When it came time to do the art, I searched on the internet for one of those deceptively beautiful infrared satellite images of the storm and that became my inspiration for the art work. Such bright colors hiding the murky, gray reality of the devestation of so many lives

Visible and invisible
Nature
inexplicable
unfathomable
disaster.
stirring and heaving
chaotic, panic
drifting towards the darkness.
tossing and wailing
recurrent winds
a battle between
the forces of destruction
and the forces of creation
and all the poor creatures of earth.