Two days ago (i.e. 2 days before the start of a New Year, and seemingly a good time to start a new “thing”), I was reading Myrna Wacknov’s blog about her project called Drawn To The Mirror in which she sketched herself every day for 365 days. The sketches were done on a page-per-day calendar with quilt pattern images as a background. It got me thinking. Yesterday I was walking past the local stationery shop and there, on sale, was a simple, lined, page-per-day desk calendar that screamed “buy me”, so I did. I have decided to give this sketch-a-day for 365 days a go. I have two cats and they will be the only subjects involved during this time. I have always been impressed by Roz Stendahl who sketched her beloved dog Dottie for 5 years in a series called “Daily Dots” and she has also inspired me to try this for 1 year with 2 cats. Sammy (a girl) is now about 17 years old and she is a reliable model because she doesn’t stray and sleeps most of the day. Bella is 10 years old, still full of beans and not easy to locate during the day so the sketches will be of whichever is available. My main points of focus will be: 1) keep it very simple 2) try different media as desired 3) keep it to less than 10 minutes and preferably less than 5 minutes 4) a sketch a day 5) enjoy the process
It will either be a Daily Wonder that I will love, or over and done in 7 days – A One Week Wonder!
Many years ago when I learned to use Excel, I also learned a new word: Concatenate. It’s a formula in Excel that is extremely useful and I have used it many times and it has since been a favourite word. I like the sound of it as well as it’s purpose. It seemed appropriate for this project because this will be about uniting in a series, and also because each sketch will be a cat.
and so, con.cat.e.nate is the name of this project - [kon-kat-n-eyt] to link together; unite in a series or chain.
Here goes …..
31 December 2011
con·cat·e·nate – a New Year Project
20 December 2011
19 December 2011
10 December 2011
5 December 2011
EDM 84 Bread
Vogel’s is New Zealand’s famous bread, yearned for by many Kiwis living round the world …..
2 December 2011
EDM 83 A Nearby Body of Water – lake, ocean, pond or river
I live in the North Island of New Zealand and as such, this is not “nearby”. It’s in the South Island and I visited it in February 2011. I guess I consider that anywhere in New Zealand is “nearby”. This is Lake Dunstan, Cromwell, near the Clyde Dam, a spectacular spot.
29 November 2011
20 November 2011
EDM 82 Draw Your Art Space
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Here’s a slice of my art space. It would take too long to draw all the stuff in my space. I think it would be a good project for Andrea Joseph, but not for me.
15 November 2011
9 November 2011
A Palette for Palette’s sake
5 November 2011
16 October 2011
13 October 2011
11 October 2011
1 July 2011
26 June 2011
Lauren's First Bound Book
I have introduced my friend Lauren to book making. She decided she wanted to make the covers with fabric scraps randomly stitched onto a calico backing and featuring many of the decorative stitches her sewing machine offers. I showed her how to do some basic beading, and away she went in a flurry of creation. And voila! Lauren’s first book, an A4 coptic bound sketchbook to be used for botanical illustrations.11 April 2011
25 March 2011
12 March 2011
Book Binding Experiment
I made this 140mm x 140mm leather journal at a recent workshop. The leather cover was not firm enough for my liking so I unbound it. I strengthened the pink leopard fabric by ironing Applifix to it and then a layer of pelmet vilene. The buttons were sewn to the spine and the plaited elastic band was sewn to a piece of flat binding then glued along the back cover. Next, the stiffened fabric was glued to the leather using EVA. The experimental bit was the rebinding of the sections back in to the cover, and the red headbands – very much a Design-As-You-Go process that I couldn’t put down on paper if I tried. Quite happy with the result though. And the closure was my idea.
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