Handmade Books

For the last couple of months I haven't posted anything because my creative interests took a turn into bookmaking! The above photo is the front and back cover of my own new sketchbook. It's done in oils on primed canvas fabric that I bound around some bookbinding cardboard.

Here's the book. I finished it yesterday, with the help of a tutorial by Sea Lemon.

I put the back cover on upside down. Haha! Good thing I wasn't charging myself much.

Here's a book I did for a friend.

And here's a small stack of my first 3 books.

I still have 2 more books in the works, to give as gifts, as well as trying to perfect my own personal Traveler's Journal.

Here's the Traveler's Journal. A friend made it for me several years ago. The outside was a plain cotton canvas which I had requested so that I could paint on the design. I'm now trying to decide what exactly to carry in it - calendar, to do list, sketchbook, etc.

I love planners, bullet journals, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, diaries, etc. and my interest in doing all of this comes from my desire to find that perfect balance for myself. I've been keeping a planner for probably about 10 years, and each year I've learned what works for me and what doesn't. I just decided that to have the perfect book for me, I was going to have to make it myself.

Also, all of the beautiful cover options and embellishments inside the books, open creative play in areas of sewing, embroidery, beading, paper making, marbling, and polymer clay! The sky's the limit!

Here's a small embroidery piece, for the interior of one of the books. I did it with the help of my best friend who has a subscription to Spellbinders and a lot of crafting equipment!

A couple of days ago I received a text from her asking me if I wanted to come play. WHAT?! Those are the greatest words to hear from your buddy no matter how old you are!

Granddaughters

I've finally been painting again! I started this one, last summer, before my desire to create nearly disappeared. I didn't take any progress photos until I got back to it a month or so ago. By the time I took this first photo (below), the acrylic underpainting was almost done. 

The next photo is the last of the acrylic underpainting, before I switched to oils. I switch to oils because they are my comfort zone. I have more experience getting them to do what I want. 

The image below is after working in oils for 2 sessions. Getting started on the hair was fun. When I first painted it, it was way too light, but it's easy enough to come back in and glaze more color over the top.

After the session in oils I had below, I was almost done, down to the tiny details. The one big change I made on the final day, was brightening up the light area of grass in the background. You can see in the top image that the final piece has a little more pop. 

By the way, the girls were a hot mess after their serene looking beauty shop session, with nail polish up their arms, legs, and on their clothes! They also polished the legs of a babydoll, who has mysteriously disappeared.

Personal Space - Meditation

PERSONAL SPACE

My thoughts as I try meditating for the first time:

I am taking a bubblebath on the moon.

It is an old-fashioned, clawfoot tub.

The bubbles . . . the bubbles are flying out of the tub!

Because there’s no gravity on the moon, right?!

Heck! The water is rising out of the tub.

I am flying up out of the tub!

It’s cold here. 

What was I thinking?

I am almost 240,000 miles from home.

If I try to get back, I will burn up on re-entry into earth’s atmosphere.

I am suddenly extremely lonely.

And, Oh my God!!! People have telescopes!

Strangers have seen me naked

Flying out of a bubblebath

On the moon.

A couple of weeks after practicing meditation.

I am taking a bubblebath on the moon.

It is a deep, old-fashioned tub.

The barely-there texture of the bubbles reaches my chin as I slip a bit further

Beneath the warm water.

There is a muffled silence as after a heavy snowfall.

The only sound, the delicate pop of bubbles as they burst, 

Releasing a hint of strawberry.

My responsibilities are a million miles away.

Nothing is expected of me during this bath.

My soul and my mind recline here together

In a bubblebath

On the moon.

 To see the two older versions of this piece, click below:

 http://tracyonoz.blogspot.com/2015/11/if-whimsical.html.

Baby Fox

I almost skipped this week because I've been working in oils, and oil paintings take me a Really. Long. Time. This little guy, however, has been a work in progress on my iPad for several weeks and I thought I'd just get him touched up and share him with the world. What an angel, huh?

I have one more thing to share:

I saw this amazing tree while riding in the car with my husband. He immediately pulled over, without being asked, and circled back, so I could get a photo. Is there any world in which this tree would not grab hold of the imagination?

Happy Wednesday!!!

Carousel Horse

I don't think I'm the only person who feels a sense of childhood awe while gazing upon a carousel.

The first two summers after my high school graduation, I worked for a concessionaire, traveling to various fairs and festivals in west-central Ohio, selling coney dogs, corn dogs, and cotton candy. It was hard work at times, but probably two of the best, and most memorable summers of my life.

Since then, I gravitate toward any books, movies, or pieces of art having to do with fairs and carnivals.

Working from a photo I took at King's Island, I did a large 28"x40" charcoal drawing for my senior show at UC. This piece, along with a couple other carnival images, has hung in my basement for many, many years, and as the years passed I became more itchy to attempt another of my do-overs.

Last summer I finally got to it. I still had the original photo I had taken at King's Island!

I wanted to try it in color, so I experimented with this little 5"x7" oil painting.

I also have a 24"x36" oil painting that I began last August. It has been sitting lonely and unfinished in my basement studio, but it was 2020 after all, and I feel grateful to have even finished the 5"x7".

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped a photo of the small piece into the Procreate app and began playing with it some more. I ended with the image at the top of the post. Using all of these attempts as a learning experience, I hope to have the large painting completed by the end of summer. Woohoo! Time to paint!

 

Your Invitation to the Moonlight Ball

The honor of your presence has been requested

at

The Moonlight Ball

Follow the flakes of silver that sway from tree branches.

Soft, pewter grass spreads over the path, waiting to caress you feet and shins.

Come barefoot.

You’ll hear crickets and frogs as they tune their instruments.

Tonight they are playing the classics.

An owl, with his subtle finesse, will announce your arrival.

At the edge of a pond you will see your hosts.

They’ve been expecting you. 

Would you care to dance?