Capturing the world with my phone

Saturday night's dinner at Bastille - after the PictureShow app

Are you taking more pictures than you used to? 'Cause you've got a camera in your phone, right? Taking photos with my Iphone has become an obsession. It's just so dang easy – it's always with me. Strangely enough, many more photos are taken than calls made. Intriguing vignettes abound, and with photo apps everyday images can be easily manipulated, and cropping, rotating, adding borders or color are all just a click away.

Here are several before/after photographs. What worlds are you capturing with your camera phone?

same shot - before PictureShow

coffee with my friend Wendy at SAM - before

jazzed up with BestCamera app

fragrant freesias in my living room a la PictureShow

untouched by any app

New Project, new journal, more collage

collaged cover

I'm participating in another sketchbook project - The Sketchbook Challenge. As self-directed project, it's a perfect activity for me. Each month a new theme is posted - the first being Highly Prized.

inside cover (lots of stitching) and empty first page

I liked the book that was provided for Art House project but wanted a slightly larger format. The 3-pack of Moleskine Cahier XL plain journals fit the bill and were only $17.95 at Annie's Art and Frame here in Ballard. The pages are a bit thin, but I like the surface, so I zig-zag sewed two pages together, reducing the 120 pages to 60.

For the cover I started with the Indian blue dot paper (left over from a client's invite). The Japanese fabric has been floating around forever - can't remember where I purchased it. The acrobat card is a reproduction of an 1850's deck of Italian parlor game cards. Cookie fortunes are a favorite collage item, I collect them and kind friends also add to my stash. A little bit of art a la Seurat (those $1.00 Dover sticker books are the best), gold dots and blackbird (Birds and Blooms photo) finish it up.

two more waiting

I've just got to give this month's topic a bit more thought before I start. What's highly prized to you?

I'm seeing dots before my eyes

my friend Susan altered a baby pix of me,

which I've used in several collages

I call her Disguise Maude - my alter ego

Have you ever noticed how motifs or design concepts sneak into your life? Maybe it's the color blue (you own 10 light blue shirts) or red shoes (yes, I have several pairs), or maybe all the walls in your house are yellow. Whatever . . .

I've always been drawn to polka dots - in any form, but now I'm seeing them everywhere. Thought I'd share a few with you. Enjoy!

ribbons in my studio

papers that I use to collage

dotted socks and polka dotted buttons that

I sewed on my new coat,

the buttons were purchased at Earthues

Like a concert tour - with sketchbooks!

outside back cover - with my identifying barcode

and theme information – yup, that's me in 1953

I'm participating in The Sketchbook Project, sponsored by ArtHouse Co-op. Last Thursday I mailed my completed book to the Brooklyn Art Library where the collection will be permanently located (after a national tour). Tour cities include: Brooklyn, NY • Austin, TX • Seattle, WA • San Francisco, CA • Portland, ME • Atlanta, GA • Chicago, IL • Washington, DC • Winter Park, FL. Check the website for details.

colored pencil, Japanese washi tape and ink

along with some antique stickers

28,835 artists signed up, paying $25.00 to receive a sketchbook, pick a theme (or use one provided by ArtHouse) and fill the journal, returning it NYC postmarked no later than January 18, 2011.

handmade paper, metallic bird scrap,

letterpress hand and more cool washi tape

I received the journal last April and for awhile it just sat in my studio. I had chosen Happy Thoughts as my theme, which gave me a lot of latitude. The book's pages were thin, so I decided to sew two pages together to accommodate all my heavy pencil and marker work. I ended up with around 36 pages to work on.

a promotional card featuring one of my favorite authors,

Stephanie Kallos, was this spread's inspiration

this New Yorker cover reminded me of July's x-country drive

wish tickets, Japanese ribbons, fortunes and more adorn the last page

and

inside back cover - I took the castle photo in France

fabric is sewn to the cover along with a ticket

ready to mail - so long Happy Thoughts, it was fun

Let's keep everything it it's place

big ideas (in a very small folder)

I'm always collecting stuff. Sometimes it's intentional, like when I travel and can't resist postcards, paper bags and other trip ephemera. Other times it's not–what to do with all the great holiday cards we get every year? I can't just toss those cute pictures of toddlers and new babies. And how about those art ideas that only come to me when I'm in the car and forced to scribble on the back of an envelope? All these items need homes and shoving them into the junk drawer does tidy up the studio, but kind of defeats the purpose of having my art materials easily accessible (yes those baby pix sometimes resurface in collages).

all the cool maps, etc from my Paris trip

As I was asked to submit a class proposal for LOJ (Letters of Joy), the annual mini-conference held every May by the Write On Calligraphers, I decided to use this opportunity to teach something that would also help me solve the "clutter problem." I'm not a calligrapher so I teach classes in collage and related book arts.

France folder - inside, a shopping bag from Kusmi Tea

provided many colorful labels

Manilla Folder Magic is the title for this year's class. I love re-purposing office supplies. Folder stock is sturdy (yet easily manipulated), the surface is smooth (takes paint, marker or ink well) and the pale color is just waiting to be enhanced. Designing a project that students can complete in the short 2-hour class is essential and these folders totally fit the bill. Plus everyone owns folders and all the other supplies are easily accessible.

postage stamps I purchase for clients' invitations

have moved out of their plain envelope into a pretty home

I'm sure that Katherine Hepburn is much happier now

More information will be up on their site in February/March and you don't need to be a guild member to participate. The instructors are talented artists and I've always come away satisfied (I learned a ton in Randi Kander's fabulous colored pencil class). The conference fee is only $85 (for non-members) and includes three different 2-hour class sessions and lunch! Edmonds Community College is just a short jaunt from Seattle. If they accept my class, I'd love to have you come play with me and create wonderful folders to corral all your treasures!

Looking at January with new enthusiasm . . .

my little pin cushion can't wait for me to sewing again

Until this year, January has always been my least favorite month Why? 1. Seattle, for the most part, is gray, rainy and dark ••• 2. The holiday hoopla is over ••• 3. Taxes are due and I have to go through all my invoices and receipts that I haven't yet filed ••• 4. Resolutions loom large ••• 5. This month's workload is generally light and fears that I'll never get another design assignment haunt me

ribbons in my studio, materials for future projects

Our tropical vacation (thanks again to Virginia) has totally altered my outlook, since we left the country in December and didn't return until the new year had been chugging along for 5 days! Between relaxing, seeing new places, laughing with family, eating, drinking, more relaxing and walking up and down 8 flights of stairs on the ship (at least 10 times a daily) I totally forgot about January's impending DOOM.

great inspiration to see other artists' workspaces

Now, fretting over this "month" seems like such a waste of my time. My studio is calling me (thankfully tidied up before I left). The wonderful things I saw are prompting new ideas and at the moment it's not raining. January's not looking so bad after all!

Again, traveling into the new year . . .

Cabo is blue water and tanned bodies,

but an oversized cup caught my eye

Traveling definitely affords opportunities to see the world in unexpected ways. From Cabo San Lucas to Cartagena, Columbia, my recent family vacation through the Panama Canal was an amazing experience, and the colors, smells, sounds and movement (I'm still feeling the ocean swells from our cruise) will be with me for quite some time. Here's a little of what I saw . . .

rainy weather & empty tables at the Getty in LA

coffee beans and ruins in Antigua, Guatemala

and smoking Guatemalan volcanos

animal masks in Antigua

riots of colored Guatemalan textiles

whimsical door knockers abound in Cartegena

as do brilliantly colored walls

a peaceful sunset, calm sea & (sometimes dolphins) at day's end