Dispatch From LA

Full Tilt Boogie Sneak Peek...

I have been working away over here in Beatrix Potterville.  But alas my animal friends have NOT been helping me!  I've been going it alone.  And enjoying every mess-making minute of it.  There are piles of books & albums on every surface.  I leave a paper trail in every room.  Journaling my heart out.  I'm a fireball of ideas.  Full Tilt Boogie.  It's a labor of pure love.  That's a true story.

 

Video Music = "Fold" by José González

Final details coming by June 1st, Wednesday.  Class begins June 17th and will run for 4 long lovely weeks.  I'm looking forward.

Parrot Games!

Oh um, I'm still here!  Making books on video and watching the flowers bloom.

I was videotaping in my art room late this afternoon and one of the big flocks of parrots zoomed by.  Squawking and screaming.  Their winged shadows literally moving across these sunlit walls.  I ran outside, but missed their flight maneuvers.  This happened a few more times.  Parrot games!

And the epis presented me with a double bloom this morning.  

And last week a band of racoons were cavorting under my bedroom window at 3 a.m.  I sat up in bed and leaned into the window sill to talk to them.  I feel lucky to be surrounded by city wildlife.  At times I feel like I'm in a Beatrix Potter movie.

The Yearly Show

And in the garden the epiphylums began to bloom.

One after another.  I watched hour by hour as they opened slowly to the night air.

They bloom every year, but you forget how jaw-dropping they really are.  Until they bloom again.

Working away on Full Tilt Boogie, but still making time to enjoy the pinkness out back.  

Full Tilt Boogie

Here it is!  The big mother of a post that's only slightly overdue.     When I'm off on an adventure in my art room.  I always think this is it, 'I'm in FULL TILT BOOGIE! ' Swimming in pure narcotic bliss.  I wanted a name to convey that gorgeous feeling of being lost in the moment.   Absorbed and transported by enthusiasm and love for the creative process.  And FTB sounded better than Vintage Photo Album or The June Class.

 By day I've been monkey whispering, but by night I've been moonlighting in my laboratory making class samples (some featured in this post), spinning idea after idea on my spinning wheel.  Now that they're mostly ready, I'm off to the next chapter in online class creation:  videotaping.  When I'm done with that I will be able to be more specific about price, supplies, registration logistics, and dates.

In the meantime, I can tell you about some of the supplies you will need. 

1.  Vintage  photo albums like these (check back in my categories under online classes to find tips on Ebay auctions and search terms)

OR these:

Celluloid, velvet, leather.  They'll all work.   Decide what size feels most comfortable to YOU.  Clasp intact or not, doesn't matter.  The condition of your album and your personal preference will dictate the type of journal you make.  I'll be making 2 different journals with the COVERS of the albums and 2 other journals with the inside photo frames.  If you have 2 vintage photo albums you can make all 4!  

For those who can't find a vintage photo album.  You can use books like these:

OR these:

If you can't find books like those you can use ANY BOOK you have on hand.   If you're afraid of not finding a vintage photo album fear not!  Ideas will blossom in your art brain during class that you hadn't thought of before. 

If you don't have photo frames you can use cardboard or whatever your imagination deems appropriate.  If you're a crafty gangster I know you can find alternatives!  I'll be teaching you 2 chimp-proof binding stitches that are surprisingly simple, and that I haven't taught before.  Both are very common, classic bindings.  Neither are complicated.   Both will make you feel like an Awesome Genius when finished.

You'll also need a small bit of fabric - under a 1/2 yard in total, but can be composed of scraps like this:

The pages of one of the journals will be a jumbled mix of fairly sturdy papers.  Unlike ROD, these pages will not get the sewing treatment.   They will also lie flat.  During class I will demo working in a longer, odd-sized album, and a small album of perhaps 6 by 9.  You can work in an oompa loompa sized album, a monster album, or any size you choose.

  
A sewing machine will NOT be required, however it may be useful.  You can get by without one.

My intention for FULL TILT BOOGIE is to open a can of ideas.  The journal-building portion of the class will be detailed, explicit instruction.   Once you have your journal made we'll switch gears to begin the visual journaling process on the inside pages.  This will be less instructional.   I won't play teacher here.  I'm just going to be ME doing MY thing (lots of different things) and you can watch.  Simple.   If you have questions I'm here for you.  As a student I always learn the very most from watching people and I think this is the beauty and wonder of online classes - the ability to watch someone make something.  

  I will talk about my process, but mostly I'll SHOW not tell.  I will be using a combination of photos, collage bits, various papers, tape, glue, ink and a little paint thrown in for good measure.     FULL TILT BOOGIE  will be rooted in my ongoing visual journal practice.   

If you are a novice or seasoned visual journal keeper I invite you to climb on board and relax into a natural rhythm of visual journaling that is uniquely your own.  Your big world.  Through your eyes.  On your pages.  Captured on paper.  Through repeated dedicated practice my hope is that you will grow bolder, more confident, less critical, more enthusiastic about this rich wise act of mess-making.

FTB will be ongoing and open indefinitely.  You can revisit the videos and pdf's as often as you like for as long as you like. (providing you don't lose your password!)  Start immediately or watch the videos and let your ideas simmer for as long as you want.  No stress or guilt allowed.

happy birthday sister!!!

Coffee in the afternoon.  Yes please!

Today is my SISTER'S birthday!  Saturday is my other sister's birthday!  I'll leave it to you to figure out who's who.

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Stuffed, fried, squash blossoms.  Slap-your-mama good.  Cacao Mexicatessan.  If you live in the vicinity...JUST.  GO.

~

I'm swimming in a sea of rose petals.  I'm going to be sad when this wild flush of blooming is over.  

Eden is COVERED with roses.  They aren't fragrant, but they are pure pink buttercream deliciousness.  I think Willy Wonka would be proud.

Fragrant Yves Piaget opens up to reveal frilly scalloped petals. 

I'm a rose dunce.  Luck is the only reason I have this many this year.  I'm going to attempt to fertilize regularly and see if that will keep me in roses this summer.  I won't hold my breath, but I will enjoy these while they last!

I've been held captive for the last week while a ferocius art storm has been raging inside my mind.  Whirling dervishes have been spinning inside my art room.  In other words someone has been making one big mess after another and it isn't the cat posse.  I work really well when I'm given a deadline so I'm going to say that within a week's time all of the prototypes will be completed and you will be flooded with one big MOTHER of a post about the June class.  Including the name so I can stop calling it "The June Class."  However, I'm not ruling that out as a name.  

In the meantime go amuse yourself over at my SISTER'S blog.  She's been making pies and drinking again.  Who knows what you'll find there.

hello summer

balmy days.  cool nights.  sleeping with the window open.  my bed is dressed in flannel sheets.

hello garden.

hello pink.

hello sweet intoxication.  you're my favorite petal color.

and everyone knows it.
 

~

sunday afternoon in LA

I like to walk along this ridge where I can look out across the hills.  I look for Moss Cottage nestled in a rabbit warren of trees and power lines.  If someone walked by I might say, "That's my nest!"  They might say, "See the green house over there that's mine!"  People doing things people do.  Looking for the place they call home.