Journal Page in Progress

I'll show you the finished page soon! I am having a great time working in this journal. One of my favorite things to use is scraps and waste (like the sticker waste above). If it looks like it may have potential, I'll save it. If not, it hits the recycle bin! I've noticed that the background collage papers that I've been gravitating towards lately are book and magazine papers. Funny how it works sometimes. Tristan is having his bottom braces put on today. Fingers crossed he'll be okay with them. I remember how tough it was the first couple of weeks and what it's like to eventually get used to them. I'm all done with my prep work for No CA this weekend so tomorrow will be a play day for me. Yay! I am super excited about the classes this weekend. I always get so jazzed about new ideas. Hope you're having a good week so far.

Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage by R. Klanten, H. Hellige and J. Gallagher

I hate to post new books back to back but I saw this last night at the bookstore and must've looked at it at least five times. I couldn't put it down. I didn't love everything in it but I saw enough of it to know that it is a must have for my bookshelf.

Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage by R. Klanten, H. Hellige and J. Gallagher is published by Gestalten (they have the book available on their website at a discount, as well as free shipping). You can view many of the pages here.

Just a quick reminder folks, I'm trekking to Oakland on Thursday. I'll be teaching Fri-Sun five NEW classes. I just finished the the handouts yesterday for Journal This! and Musings and I am beyond super excited about the new material. I am really looking forward to it and I hope to see YOU there!

I'll be teaching some of the new classes in Scottsdale next month. Whee!!!

A quick post today as I'm off to celebrate another revolution around the sun.

Print & Pattern 2

One of my favorite blogs is Print & Pattern. Last year she published a collection of various artists and their work called (what else?) Print & Pattern. I loved it so much that it took me months to read as I wanted to go through and slowly savor each page. I still look back at it as a reference and inspiration guide.
Well now she's done it again and released Print & Pattern 2:
If you love the blog and the first book, then this is a must have. If you've never seen either, drop everything and run to her blog to check it out.

What I really love about the book is that it lists the various artists inspiration sources. It's a bit of going down the rabbit hole but it's always worth finding new artists to admire. I expect that this one will also take me quite some time to go through it completely.

New Journal Started 6 October 2011

“One thing is certain: the arts keep you alive. They stimulate, encourage, challenge, and, most of all, guarantee a future free from boredom. They allow growth and even demand it in that time of life we call maturity but too often enter it with a childish faith that what we learned in youth is sustenance enough for the years when most men are mentally famished but won't admit it—or when they are apt to curb their hunger with the sops of complacency, security, and the assurance of death.” Vincent Price

Happy Birthday Mary Blair!

Mary Blair has been an influence since I was a little girl. I didn't know her name back then but I knew that she could work magic with drawing tools:
If you've ever read a handful of Golden books, been to that ride at Mouseland in Anaheim (you know, the ride where the song doesn't leave your head for days on end), or seen any movie made by the Mouse studio after 1940 (even if she didn't directly work on the film as a concept artist, you can see even modern films and shorts that were inspired by her brilliant use of color and pattern), then you know who Mary Blair was.

She worked with watercolors and gouache:
She worked on tiles:
She also did gorgeous collages:
I saw this one up close last night at the special Centennial tribute (as part of the Marc Davis Lecture Series) to Mary Blair hosted by the Academy. On the second floor as a special surprise for the night only, they had a heavily guarded display of a selection of Blair's artwork. If it weren't for the guards breathing down my neck and the crowd, I would've been like a kid in a candy store with my nose and fingers pressed up against the glass display case.
A favorite from the evening:


Happy 100th birthday, Mary Blair. May your inspiration live on.

More information on Mary Blair can be found:
Fuck Yeah, Mary Blair tumblr
Mary Blair tagged on tumblr
Magic of Mary Blair Gallery
Wiki page
IMDB (see what films she worked on)
Books devoted exclusively to Mary Blair: The Colors of Mary Blair and Art and Flair of Mary Blair (I have both books and I have to say am disappointed by the color reproductions in them as they're not up to par with the originals.)
L.A. Times article 10/21/2011

4 August through 4 October 2011 Journal

Things are crazy busy here the next couple of weeks. I'll be posting daily but the posts may be short and sweet. No class tomorrow, but possibly Saturday at Zinnia if you phone before 3 tomorrow (Friday)! If not, it may get canceled. Just a heads up! It's one of my favorite journals and I guarantee that you will be inspired by it, too! I hope to have a slideshow up soon of the above journal. It was a joy to work in. Some words by Henry David Thoreau to ponder: "Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."

1 October 2011 Journal Page

"Collage is like a hall of mirrors. Every direction you look, you see something different and visually stimulating." Nita Leland

28 September 2011 Journal Page

I loved playing around with this page. It has exactly the feel that I was going for using bits and pieces of scrap papers, tissue, tape, rub-ons, alphabet stamps and more.

I have two new classes lined up this weekend:

21st Stampin From The Heart L.A. La Petite Muse

22^nd Zinnia So Pasadena A Beautiful Life

There are samples online and in the stores. If you have any questions, please email me!

Next weekend I am trekking to No CA (Oakland) to teach five classes that I'm super excited about! I've never taught in Oakland before and I'm really looking forward to it. Any trip up North is a good thing to me! I'm still trying to decide if I can leave a day early or not and have fun in my favorite haunts. There's still room in the classes but don't want too long to sign up!

I am a busy bee this week with a full schedule that includes ortho appointments for my boy, movie outings with the family, teaching and working on new class handouts! Busy is good!

Blog Love:

Literary Landscapes via the English Muse

10 Great Places to Take Self Portraits

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Gorgeous prints

Jose Camacho

Cinnamon Bread Recipe

I've been on a quest for cinnamon chips (like chocolate chips) since I ate The Best Cinnamon Bread Ever at the Great Harvest Bread Company in South Pasadena (across from Zinnia) several months ago. I have been on a mission to make this bread! Thanks to Karen Hutchinson (owner of Stampin From the Heart in L.A.), I finally found bags of cinnamon chips at Albertson's on Venice Blvd (near Robertson). 3 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1/2 cup sugar (I used less than that) 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup warm milk (I melted the butter and then poured the milk into the pan. Yeah, I'm lazy like that. One less pan to clean!) 1/4 cup butter (melted) 1 egg 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup cinnamon baking chips* In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, yeast, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, butter and egg. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; beat until smooth. Cover with a dishpan and let rest for 1 hour in a cool, dry place. Stir baking powder and cinnamon chips into batter. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. If desired, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. (I sprinkled just cinnamon onto mine.) Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for five minutes before removing. Devour, I mean eat, as soon as possible! This bread is best warm (in my small opinion). We ate ours within ten minutes of removing it from the oven. *If you can't find cinnamon chips, I would just add more cinnamon to the mixture and stir it up! I've often added cinnamon to vanilla cake mixture. It just makes everything yummier! I will be making this bread again!

4 July 2006 Journal Pages

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Happy birthday, Oscar Wilde!

December 2004 Journal Page

More pages where I was playing with paint in a journal. The journal is over 12" square.

Teaching tomorrow at Stampin From the Heart. I'm looking forward to it!

Blog Love:
MYO Perfume
A Peek inside Raine's Studio (lovin' those groovy journal shots)
This just makes me happy
Vintage Book Collection
Drooling over artwork by Elizabeth Bunsen
Stopped in at Anthropologie last night and saw that they had Sibella Court's new book, Nomad. If you loved her Etcetera book, you will love this one.
If you can read any book right now, read The Night Circus. It. is. that. good.
A favorite weekend radio show

Late 2005 Journal Page

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration." Frida Kahlo Interesting to look back and see some pages that are just full of paint while others are paint filled pages full of my own musings and yet others are thick, rich layers of paint and paper.

2004 Journal Spread

I was flipping through an older journal from 2004 today. The journal was full of painted pages, experiments of various texture gels, some collage and a lot of writing. This is one of the few spreads that has a lot of collage in it. I thought that you might enjoy seeing some of my older work. I believe that this spread was done in a class I took with Juliana Coles. With all of the teaching that I do, it's extremely rare that I get to take a class. I've been very lucky to take several classes over the years with Juliana. It doesn't matter how much you think you know about the art journaling process, Juliana always pushes you outside of your comfort zone. She now has online classes as well as kits of classes in her etsy store. She's one of the best teachers out there. My attitude is that there's always something new to learn. You just have to keep your mind open and be willing to experiment with new ideas, techniques and approaches. This is something that I have repeatedly stressed in my 14 years of teaching art. ***** I saw the new book, Safari as a Way of Life (about Dan Eldon), last night at Book Soup (in the biography section). It's probably a must for die-hard fans. However, you should know it's being marketed towards teens and it reads like it. There are some cool attachments sprinkled throughout the book. It looks like there are some new photos and journal pages included as well. I didn't buy it yet but probably will down the road. If you're new to Dan Eldon's work or you don't have any books about him, I would highly recommend The Journey is the Destination: the Journals of Dan Eldon. Chronicle Books just republished it (though your library or used book store should have a copy.) Also visit the Dan Eldon website here. ***** My son makes stop motion lego films. He just finished a new one if you'd like to check it out. It has sound, too, fyi. He has more on his youtube channel, as well.

26 September 2011 Journal page

I taped in some movie tickets:
I am teaching two new classes this weekend. On Friday, I'll be at Zinnia teaching Passionate Declarations. On Sunday, I'll be at Stampin From the Heart in L.A. teaching Serenity Pages. At the end of the month on October 28-30th, I'll be teaching in Oakland (there's still some room left! Please don't wait too long to sign up.) I'll also be trekking to Frenzy Stamper in AZ November 11-13th. More information on all of the classes is here.

Hambly is having a great sale on transparencies. I've been running low for classes so this was perfect timing on their part.

I've been keeping my nose deep in this book the last few days. I'm almost done with it and it's almost impossible to put down.

The new Dan Eldon book is finally available on Amazon!

New Lynda Barry soon, too!

Blog Love:
Twin Peaks Party!
Sparkplug Books will continue
Shelley Kommers: Artists Who Blog
Behind the Scenes Artist's Studios
We Love Mail Snail Mail Competition
Has anyone seen this magazine? I'd love to buy one but it's very expensive. They have a facebook page, too.
I love this post on Matisse.
Eric Drooker has new posters available to download (free). Pass them on if you're so inclined.

26 September 2011 Journal Page

"Art is essentially the affirmation, the blessing, and the deification of existence." Nietzsche

New Classes Added in Simi Valley, CA

I'm SUPER excited to announce that I have added two classes to my schedule for Fall/Winter 2011. I'll be teaching at a private home in Simi Valley, CA. Yes, the classes are open to the public! I've taught there in the past and loved it! (Thank you again, Janet!!)

I'll be teaching TWO classes. You can sign up for one or both (if you're so inclined!)

You may send someone else in your place if you are unable to attend the workshop, or you will receive a kit for the class. You can either pay via paypal (see button below) or send a check or money order.

Once you've signed up for the workshop, you will be sent the address and directions to the workshop location. If you have ANY questions you can email me. I will also give you my cell phone number so you contact me.

Please note, space is extremely limited! I will generate a waiting list, need be. Thanks

Interested in signing up? Questions? Please email Kelly for more info!
EGorey99@sbcglobal.net

The Schedule is:
Sunday, November 6th
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A Beautiful Life

Sunday, December 4th
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Expressions

Simi Valley Classes

Beautiful Life Sun Nov 6 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $70.00 Expressions Sun Dec 4 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $70.00 Both Classes Beautiful Life (Nov 6th) Expressions (Dec 4th) $140.00

Sunday, November 6th

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A Beautiful Life Journal

What do you get when you combine paper, ribbon, glue and a little special somethin’ something? A soft covered (but extremely durable), quickly stitched and totally made by your own hands journal! You will learn not only how to create your own Beautiful Life Journal but you will discover how to successfully blend color, texture and imagery together onto the pages of your book. You’ll create luscious layers that combine rich, personal imagery with colorful, textured bits of paper ephemera. I’ll dig deep into my bag of tricks for this class, unearthing and sharing what I know to be the key to creating unique, personal journal pages that you will love!

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels, permanent black inkpad, container to hold water, 1" brushes to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks, bottle of tacky glue

*******

Sunday, December 4th

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Expressions

What story will your book hold? Express yourself by creating a hand bound journal covered in luscious handmade paper. Create pages that fold out and hide your secrets or uniquely display your treasures. You will learn how to free your artistic self upon the pages of this book, creating a multitude of rich, colorful pages as you work. You will be learning not only how to make the book from scratch but also how to create a multitude of layered, “paper painted” pages.

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels, permanent black inkpad, container to hold water, 1" brushes to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks

*****

I hope to see YOU there!

Questions? Please email me at EGorey99@sbcglobal.net

More information on my workshops here.

Thanks!!

23 September 2011 Journal Page

On the above page, I used found images via books and magazines. Lately I've noticed myself hoarding more book and magazine pages than store bought papers. Don't get me wrong, I love paper in all forms, it's just interesting seeing what I reach for when I go to create a journal page. I've mentioned this before but I always encourage people who buy paper to tear the paper in half as soon as possible. Put one half aside for "now" and the other half aside for "later". It makes the paper not so precious and you'll end up using it (at least half of it) as opposed to just hoarding it. Scrapbook paper: I cut in half. Parent sheets of paper: I fold into quarters and use a 1/4 of it now. Folding your paper doesn't hurt it even if you plan on making books from it. It also makes storage a lot easier. How do you store your paper? If you post a photo to your blog, please leave a comment with a link! I'd love to see!! Thanks!

23 September 2011 Journal Page

One of the things I'm often asked is what do I journal about? What is my life like that gives me so much material to journal about? My life is simple, quiet and boring. Rarely do I sit down with anything in mind to journal about (the page above is an exception. I sat down knowing what I wanted to say and what I wanted the page to be about. I was very upset and used my journal to focus that energy and get it out onto the page.) I will journal about anything and everything: from who is in the room; my thoughts and feelings about them; something that happened, a reaction to something I heard, read or saw; what I've done or what I want to do, etc... I journal about everything it doesn't matter if it's good or sad. I get very upset when I hear people say that you should only journal about good things. What good is a journal if it's not a complete portrait of the human self? Every person I have ever known has good, bad and downright ugly stories. Your journal should be a place of refuge, companion, sounding board and even dumping ground. It should be a book that when someone opens it up, they see you on the page. If you feel like it, think about what I wrote above and how you can interpret it and make it work in your own journal. Start simple. Don't overwhelm yourself. Open your journal and document one small thing that had the most emotional impact on you today. Have a great weekend!

Beginning a New Journal

I love the possibility that lies when you open a new journal. All of the "What ifs?" that cross your mind. There are no mistakes only many different choices and different opportunities.

New Journal Cover: Work in Progress

I finished the journal that I've been working on the last couple of months Tuesday night. I wanted to do something different as well as make my new journal a bit bigger in size. I started the cover of my new journal yesterday. The photo above is one of the many I took while I worked. It's interesting to see how it progressed. I'll show you the finished cover soon. I'll also show you the rest of the old journal soon as well. This new journal closed is about 8 3/4 x 10 3/4". My goal with this new journal is texture. I want it to be touchable and full of luscious layers. I also only used 5 sheets of cardstock, folded and nested together gives you 20 sides to work on. I tend to get bored with journals that have more than 20 pages. In other news, I'm super excited to give a little tease announcement: I'll be teaching in Simi Valley, CA the first Sundays of November and December. I'll have more details soon. I also booked December 29th and 30th at Ink About It in Westford, MA. Class information and details will be available shortly. I'm looking forward to it!! Huge thanks to all of you who sent me get well wishes. I'm still feeling crappy but am slowly on my way to recovery.

Typography Sketchbooks

I've been waiting for what seems like ever for the debut of Typography Sketchbooks.

First impressions? This is one helluva big book (over 365 pages with over 900 illustrations) that feels somewhat lightweight (odd how so many big books are not feeling as weighty as they did in the past. I know it's the paper quality that they're using.) It's a beautiful and yet at $55 (cover price), it's an extremely expensive book.

It's well known that I'm a sucker for journal pages. I love any kind of insight into an artist's thoughts and processes. I adore being able to flip through a sketchbook and seeing the glimmer of an idea come to life on a page. If you love typography, and sketchbooks make you go ga-ga, then this is the book for you!

Do you need to rush out and buy it right now? No. The holidays are coming up. Put it on your wishlist. Start to scour your local used bookstores. Put it on your wishlist over at paperbackswap.com (you never know).

The cool thing is that you can flip through some of the book here and here and here and here.

This is wildly cool here.

If anything, I hope that this post inspires you to crack open your own journal and play around with your handwriting. After all, you don't know what will happen until you try it...

True.

Slowly on the mend. More as soon as I'm not dizzy. (Photo taken behind Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles)

Home Sick

I couldn't escape it this time. I'm home sick with a sore throat and a funky feeling head. More to come as soon as my head stops spinning. I took the above photo a couple of weeks ago behind Alias West, one of our favorite bookstores in West L.A. If you want to save it, print it out and use it for personal use, knock yourself out!

Sunday Night Dinner

I wanted to make something somewhat new for dinner. I found this recipe and decided to try my hand at it for dinner. I bought a puff pastry shell, fresh mozzarella, mint and tomatoes at Trader Joe's. I pretty much followed the recipe above but used the ingredients I mentioned instead of everything she listed. (It's hard enough getting my boy to eat mint (he kept joking that I was trying to serve him drugs) and tomatoes let alone "funky" cheeses. Even then he picked off most of the tomatoes until I insisted he eat a few of them. Boy gagging noises followed. If you ever want free entertainment, watch my kid eat a tomato. I should video it and stick it up on youtube.) I added a spinach salad with onion, pear, tomato and strawberries. Yum! Last night, we went to The American Cinematheque in Hollywood for the 50th anniversary of the Dick Van Dyke show. It's a theatre that we rarely go to (I've been twice, I think) as it's just too expensive for a family of three. I love their sister theatre, the Aero in Santa Monica. I just feel more comfortable there (not to mention it's cheaper, there's plenty of free street parking, and there aren't any tourists asking what's going on because at the Aero there's a freakin' marquee.) We had fun last night! It was definitely the Carl Reiner and Gary Marshall show. Those two need a sitcom together circa 2011. I'd totally watch it. They had us in hysterics. Dick Van Dyke didn't do much talking though we did see him dance (off to the side as he was waiting to be introduced) and even sing the Dick Van Dyke Theme Song (yes, there were lyrics but they never used them!). Rose Marie (sitting in the audience) asked the best question of the night: "Where's the bathroom?" It was fun hearing the stories and finding out that various cast, crew and family members were sitting around us in the audience (Marshall quipped that "next time I'll bring a flashlight" as there wasn't a spotlight nor did they raise the lights so you could see who was where. Odd.) All in all, it was a fun night and definitely a rare treat to see such a cast and crew assembled again 50 years later. I did videotape almost all of it and David may put it on his blog. If he does, I'll link. If anyone is wondering, the show is just as funny now as it (probably) was then. TV Land is going to be airing it soon. David and I watch very little (ridiculously so) modern television. We have shows that we tape and watch on a regular basis: Ebert Presents at the Movies, the Simpsons (last week's episode was horrendous), and Community (hit or miss). Our favorite shows tend to be the older ones. I love Burns and Allen. We've been watching them for months now. Other favorites are Kung Fu, Hill Street Blues, Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Moonlighting to name a few...We usually end up watching films over television shows. Any favorite tv or movie recommendations?

21 September 2011 Journal Page

October 2011 Classes

Here's my list of classes for October 2011. I may add to this list. I'm ALWAYS looking for new teaching venues so if you know of any that may be interested, I'd love to hear. You can email me at EGorey99@sbcglobal.net

If you're not near where I'll be teaching, but you're interested in taking a class, I do offer a variety of online classes. You can find out more info on the right side of my main blog.

Thank YOU for your interest!

October

Fri 14^th Zinnia So Pasadena Passionate Declarations 11:30-3:30

Passionate Declarations

What do you get when you combine paper, tape, pens, and more? A completely one of a kind journal made by your own hands! We’ll begin the workshop by constructing a quick but totally cool journal. We’ll then dive right in and begin to learn a plethora of mixed media collage techniques upon the pages of the journal. We’re all about the layers in this class as you learn explore new composition and design techniques as you work on the pages of your new journal. I guarantee that you will love working in this book as much as I did!

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels, permanent black inkpad, container to hold water, 1" brushes to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks

*****

Sun 16^th Stampin From the Heart L.A. Serenity Pages 12:30-4:30

Serenity Pages

In this workshop you will construct a unique journal. You will “paint” with paper learning composition and design techniques as you create your pages. Learn how to combine a variety of mixed media including paper, tape, transparencies, stickers, stencils and much more.

You will learn tons of new mixed media tips, tricks and techniques as you work hands creating your own Serenity Pages.

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels, permanent black inkpad, container to hold water, 1" brushes to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks

*****

Fri 21st Stampin From The Heart L.A. La Petite Muse 11:30-3:30

La Petite Muse

With your own hands and in your own style, construct a small, personal journal completely from scratch. You’ll start by choosing your own handmade and decorative paper to use as the cover and as the inside pages! Create your own unique book sewn by your own hands. After constructing the book, you will then learn a multitude of new collage techniques for working on the pages. This was one of my favorite journals to work in and I hope it will become one of yours!

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels, permanent black inkpad, container to hold water, 1" brushes to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks

*****

Sat 22^nd Zinnia So Pasadena A Beautiful Life 11-3

A Beautiful Life Journal

What do you get when you combine paper, ribbon, glue and a little special somethin’ something? A soft covered (but extremely durable), quickly stitched and totally made by your own hands journal! You will learn not only how to create your own Beautiful Life Journal but you will discover how to successfully blend color, texture and imagery together onto the pages of your book. You’ll create luscious layers that combine rich, personal imagery with colorful, textured bits of paper ephemera. I’ll dig deep into my bag of tricks for this class, unearthing and sharing what I know to be the key to creating unique, personal journal pages that you will love!

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels, permanent black inkpad, container to hold water, 1" brushes to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks, bottle of tacky glue

*****
28-30th Five NEW classes in Oakland, CA Please click here for slideshows, photos, full descriptions and information on how to sign up for the workshops!

*****
Here's to a GREAT October, my favorite month of the year!

22 September 2011 Journal Page

Has anyone read the new book, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern? It is very high on my wishlist. It's supposed to be excellent. She even has a blog here: http://erinmorgenstern.com/blog/ No classes this weekend. No classes locally now until mid October. Some would say I should be grateful for the mini break, but I'm still not used to it. I used to teach every weekend and that's not the case with fewer stores and shops to teach at. It just makes me anxious and a bit like a bum. Don't get me wrong, I work from home more than 40 hours a week but teaching is what keeps me going on so many levels. There's something to be said about being in a room full of creative folk who get it and seeing how the ideas you're sharing transform and mutate into something else entirely in a class setting. It's magical and I really miss not having that every weekend like I used to when I had 11+ stores to teach at in So CA. Now I have 2.

17 September 2011 Journal Page

When you have a minute, go here: http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/post/10769089980/what-is-the-near-sighted-monkey-thinking-about and then follow the link on the page to the book artist. Trust me!

My Thoughts on Teaching

My November samples are on their way to Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale, AZ. Hopefully Debbie will have them by Friday or Saturday. I'm VERY excited about these new classes (heck, you guys already know how much I love to teach!) You can find out more information on my upcoming workshops here: http://kellykilmerworkshops.blogspot.com/ I'm often asked how I decide what I want to teach. First off, I only pick classes that I am most passionate about teaching and that interest me. I learned a long time ago that in order for me to be a passionate teacher, I had to stick with subjects that push and interest me. I have to teach what I know and LOVE. There's a ton of source material when it comes to art journaling. There's always a new way of looking and experimenting with ideas and approaches. Opening an art journal is like giving someone permission to say, "It's okay. You can do it. You don't know what happens until you do it. It's okay to make mistakes and experiment. That's what a journal is for." (How come Yoda's voice is going through my head: "Do or do not. There is no try." See? Even Yoda wants you to go for it in your journal. Yeah, it's well known that I am a geek.) My other big thing when it comes to teaching is making damn sure I know what I'm doing. I want to be able to answer a student's question or offer them a different approach to solving a problem. I want to share with them the many ways of looking at a blank page. I want to show them that it's all about exploring opportunity and your choice (no matter what it is) is always a good one. To journal means to be an explorer of new ideas, new directions and new possibilities. I also really want to make sure that I know my materials inside and out. Anytime you are teaching something (be it art to cooking to computers and beyond), you should respect your students by making sure that you know as much as possible about the materials used and the subject matter. It's something that should be expected. I also like to make sure that in my classes students get as much information as possible. I don't want to overload them but I do want to make them aware of the many possibilities. When I teach how to make and fill an art journal, I want the students to realize that they can take that material and apply it to other areas of art. It's not only making a book and working in it but it's a way of opening one's eyes to composition, design, color and other visual delights that can be applied to ANY art form. It's also an exploration of the self. We are cartographers of our own lives upon the pages of our books. Finally, my main reason for teaching is to expand and encourage the minds and creative hearts of my students. I really want them to learn how to open their eyes and to see that inspiration really is everywhere. You just have to learn to see, be willing to make mistakes and just go for it.

A Simple Autumn Meal

During the Summer, I rarely turn the oven on. Our apartment itself can act like an oven, so we tend to eat simple dinners like spinach salads and things I can cook on the stovetop. Autumn, however, is a totally different matter! I have been itching to make whole wheat bread the last few days. I followed this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/simple-whole-wheat-bread/detail.aspx (Please note, any breads I make are by hand. The bread maker in the house is ME, not a machine.) I was going to make soup, but David said he preferred roasted vegetables. I cut up a whole onion, 3 very small potatoes, a small butternut squash and 2 small sweet potatoes. I wish I had bought some broccoli for some greens. (I had expected to make soup!) I cut everything very thin, lightly drizzled some olive oil and garlic powder and stuck it in the oven at 375° for 30 minutes. I figured the cost of the meal to be about five dollars for a family of three. I love the farmers' market!! There's even leftovers (as I wouldn't let David eat all of the bread.) Maybe I should've made that apple pie...

15 September 2011 Journal Page

A short blog post today as I've got a sick boy on my hands. A huge thanks to all of you who take the time to stop in and see what's new. For those of you who leave comments, I try to comment privately if you leave your email. I appreciate you stopping by! A quick note on the spread above. I've been taping odd things into this journal. Above you'll see a brown waxed paper sandwich bag from Whole Foods that holds some recent finds in it.

Bounty from The Last Bookstore in L.A.

David, Tristan and I recently trekked downtown L.A. to visit The Last Bookstore. I advise going there at night (if you can) as street parking in the evening can easily be found. As I walked in the door, I spied Longing for Darkness (Kamante's Tales, Collected by Peter Beard). It's a book I have never been able to afford (usually with a minimum pricetag of $50.) I gasped at the price. $10! Something had to be wrong with it for that price! Nope! I grabbed it and ran to show David. The whole store was filled with books (records and dvds, as well) that were priced at a cost that makes reading affordable to many! We were in there for over an hour. David loaded up on several film and fiction books. My bounty is what you see above. Yes, that's a second copy of Richard Scarry's The Best Word Book Ever. I'm keeping my original and this one is going to my nephew. I'm a huge Richard Scarry fan. I could spend hours as a kid looking at his books. I also bought The Merchant of Marvels and the Peddler of Dreams as a gift for a friend who I know will adore it as much as I do (a favorite!) From the Land of the Moon is a Europa Editions title and I go out of my way to collect their titles. The last title, The Hidden Writer, has been on my wishlist for years. It was one of those books that I wanted to see first. I didn't hesitate to scoop it up when I saw it! It was well worth the trip! We'll definitely be visiting again soon. http://lastbookstorela.com/

15 September 2011 Journal Page

I'm off this weekend. Sad to say, my class at Zinnia tomorrow was canceled. September can be such a hard month. I'm hoping to try to get some more work in my journal done this weekend. I'm one signature away from being finished. I did two pages today. I seem to be most satisfied with my journal pages when I'm full of raw emotion. The pages pour out of me. Do you like posts like the ones with lots of links, videos, etc...? If so, let me know! I'm always interested in hearing what my readers think. Thanks for stopping by! Happy Weekend!

11 September 2011 Journal Page

A quick reminder that I am teaching a NEW class this Saturday at Zinnia called Passionate Declarations. It is a square journal (quick and easy stitch, I promise) filled with luscious pages (think bookmaking + collage + mixed media + art journaling = lots of fun!). More information (including class description and a slide show) can be found here. To sign up please contact the store asap!

Some short but sweet blog love:
Drawn and Quarterly have the BEST blog posts (especially when they travel. There! I said it!) in this post they visit Tove Jansson's studio (yes, the Tove of Moomin fame!). The studio/apartment has been untouched since her death with the exception of a few paint touch-ups. Inspiring!
Theo's collaborative tribute piece to Dylan Williams.
Pixie Campbell
Lots of yummy looking bread recipes that I hope to be trying very soon!

Watched This:


Reading This. Check this out:


And yes, I now want to collect every Sophie Blackall book ever published. Visit her lovely blog here.

A quote from Helen Keller to leave you with, "Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained."

21 September 2011 Journal Page

Stacks o' Tape

As I was setting these up, I kept thinking, "I hope we don't have an earthquake!" Seth over at the Altered Page posted a call for stacks of inspiration. Here's my contribution! Tape! Above is a photo of every roll of washi paper tape that I own. This is my personal pile (though some have been brought to share with students occasionally. I usually have a pile of tapes for class use and one for personal use. It does make it easy when it comes to travel and storage!) You can tell the ones that I use the most. My favorite designs are usually solid colors (like hot pink, orange, gold, cream) or anything with text on it (especially the pink text that comes in the French set from Marks that Ginko Papers sells.) Fyi, for more tape (and where I buy it) click here. When I buy the washi paper tape, I usually prefer the regular size rolls (I'm not a huge fan of the skinny rolls) that I can tear down into the sizes that I want. When it comes to storage, I have a small black, zippered soft case (that used to hold small computer stereo speakers) for on the go use. At home, I have an iris case and a 12 x 12" scrapbooking paper case. I have also stored the rolls in baskets and on pant hangers. Stop by The Altered Page and see what other Stacks of Inspiration Seth and his readers are sharing on September 21st!