Robinsunne

Heart Buddies

2011-11-26T16:33:00.003-05:00

I am reading Noah St. John and being shaken up with challenge! He wants me to find "Loving Mirrors and Safe Havens". Who does he think he is??

Well, among other things a guy who can tell his story, inspire people and make a living. And all of that is on my bucket list too.

So, being a visual kind of gal I thought that I would make paper dolls to stand resolutely on the shelf above my desk and silently repeat the kind words that my friends say to me: encouragements, smiles, cowabungas and other such.

You are welcome to join in: copy and print the Heart Buddies above onto cardstock. Color them, and cut them out* NOTE to cut straight across the bottom of the feet - it will make the legs sturdier. Follow the directions on the paper to make the stand and fill in the speech bubble with quotes from your friends.

AND IF you leave me a comment telling me the general direction of encouragement you want to hear I will send you one.

I personally, while I am in the midst of writing three books at once - and having a ton of fun until I realize that I am going public here - would love to hear if you think I might just go ahead, have fun, and write two art-how-to books and one personal memoir.

Joyous, Abundant Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:34:00.005-05:00

I am sitting at the dining room table writing a book which is turning out to be so much more fun than I thought it would be.

I mean I love writing, and I have had all of these books inside of me for, um, decades. I have wanted to be a writer since high school. So, I am here and writing. I had a lovely, colorful, playful idea for a book to celebrate the opening of my new website. I thought that the idea was so great that the writing would be fast and furious, but now that I am past the concept stage and into the writing process I remember how I love being changed myself as the idea morphs into words.

There are always surprises and, um, can I call it 'deepenings'? The magic of connecting symbolism, to passion, to a carefully chosen word. I love this.

So I am sitting in our dining room while my daughter takes on the WHOLE Thanksgiving dinner! (Wonderous Girl.) I am sitting next to my son who is attending to his cyber world while I attend to mine. We three regularly stop what we are doing to feed our bunny a morsel of kale or a bit of carrot and marvel at his adorability. The new pop album is blaring, yesterday's new snow is stunning. And I am writing.

Now how lucky am I? Very. Very.

I wish you all the life of your dreams.

New Classes: Hand-made Books & Felt Intention Cloths

2011-09-28T17:58:00.007-04:00

My autumn classes at Five Towns Adult Education are open!

First, here is Felt Applique Intention Cloths: little art quilts for your wall and also to use as an object of focus and an opening into your inner wisdom. Set an intention (it could be about your new car, your wedding, what to do with that closet down the hall) and then as you sew, magic things happen in your brain. I will tell you all about it in class, but it works. Art makes us smart. I swear. And if you just want to come to learn the really pretty design technique, that would be fab too. xo

Sign up here:

http://fivetowns.maineadulted.org/courses/searchResults?search=robinsunne&area=04856&x=27&y=8

You could come over to the High School and take the Handmade Books class which is geared specifically to parents and teachers. I teach you (and we play and have fun) and then you take these cool ideas home/to class and show them to your children. It is a great way to have time with one's kids, especially if you use it as a way to watch just how creative and smart they really are. All that color. All that folding, and handling, and experimenting with paper. What a way to brainstorm wonder.

http://fivetowns.maineadulted.org/courses/searchResults?search=robinsunne&area=04856&x=27&y=8

Art Quilts

2011-09-15T11:40:00.003-04:00

There is a lovely peace that comes with beading. A sweet rhythm of counting the beads: "One and two and three and oh! and umm." (The oh! being a slight intake of breath as my needle picks up the accent bead and the umm a gentle release as I add the last 'knot' bead to a line of beads that will hang down from the edges of the applique.

The meditation for this piece is about foundations. I hired a business coach. Now with so much new information to assimilate with what I have known for truth all these years, my head is busy and buzzing. Where do I belong? What is happening to me? Where have my feet gone? I wanted to know, and years of experience has taught me that my fingers will find the answers in my stitches.

So I stitch colors to colors and beads in lines to lead my eyes ... and at the end I always know.

I am teaching a version of these quilts at Adult Education this fall. I long to have your company. We will discover what is rich and wonderful in you - or you can just sew a little quilt. They are so pretty. Like jewels. If you are local to mid coast Maine click here to sign up - 4 Thursday evenings in October.

The Times That Are For Changing

2011-08-14T16:08:00.005-04:00

Where once there were three there are now two.My brother died. I took my children to the beach for the healing. The air was soft and kind. The tide was full-ish.

I have been remembering my history with my brother and the times that were the best were the ones where we were around dirt and water and sand.
There were the roots of the tree near the front door that we dug up regularly to make roads for his matchbox cars.
There were the big rainstorms that poured thrilling cascades of water down our steep driveway to crash through our mud and leaf dams in the gutter.
There was the Connecticut beach that we shared with our cousins where we spent whole summers making exquisite drip castles.

I looked for striped Good Luck rocks. I said prayers for him. I have grown up in a world which assured me that the place hereafter can be trusted for its goodness and I choose to believe that.

Then I said prayers for the living: our family and especially, especially, his children.

May the Whole Universe convene to keep them well loved in this time.And I have been thinking about what I said yesterday to a friend: that our Treasure is in the place where grief, tenderness, yearning, anger and love all exist together. It is messy but this is the truth of my life: a somewhat chaotic gathering of emotions and thoughts. With all of these resources I will walk a rich journey and write a deep story. A steadfast adherance to only one, pristine beauty might be poetic, but then the adventure is over.

There is more.

My children, there, on the beach within arm's reach, had needs. I wanted a good cry and was being required elsewhere. I considered feeling frustrated but then laughed inside at how good a circumstance it is to have my teens trust that their well-being is safe in my hands. We turned around and picked a few more pebbles and photos.

My treasure won't go away.

I told my sister how the grief rolls in and out.

All of it is rolling in and out.

The Beauty and Power that is U.S.

2011-08-08T13:58:00.006-04:00

A little over two weeks ago I set out on an adventure with my two children. I had signed up for a workshop/retreat with Christine Kane who is an entrepreneurial coach - no, as she puts it she is a "mentor to women who are changing the world".

Yes'M. That'd be me. (There are some things that I know about courage and I think that it is about time I let loose with the secret.)

So, because the retreat was in North Carolina, and because of 47 other reasons, one of which being some excellent homeschooling opportunities on the way, I packed up my teens and headed out.

ROAD TRIP!

Yes, we drove. One of the educational opportunities taken by my daughter was to learn to play Navigator. She learned to read directions (TripTiks are great, but not all at once. She learned to ply me with only certain, shorthand amounts of information at a time), make sense of maps (red roads, blue roads and the like), and even use her pinkie to estimate distances. She's been awesome since the day she was born. 12 days of car and hotel room proximity were further proof.

Views of US: The Tappan Zee Bridge in New York.

I grew up near here, and am still delighted by its length, and math. The mid-river perspective of the banks of the Hudson are really too lovely to be appreciate while driving. Bummer.

Views of US: Virginia Highway
Views of US: The Virginia Mountains
It was a little hot and hazy in VA, so we couldn't see the mountains in the far distance, but as we got near I was thrilled. Up close and personal they were soul strengthening. Really beautiful.

Views of US: A Map of US c. 1774 (at Colonial Williamsburg)

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and New Jersey look much the way we expect to see them today, but you'll notice that Maine is a wee, squish of a thing, and New Hampshire and Vermont seem to not have come into the picture yet, perhaps on account of the map-drawer allotting an awful lot of pink to New York. Pennsylvania is only slightly misshapen form our modern maps and I am absolutely either amused or horrified by the straight lines, east to forever, for Virginia, The Carolinas, and Georgia.

"Hi, I'll take my portion straight across here."

Kinda tells us a lot about the mindset of the Europeans on this continent: 20,000 years of history on North America ... GONE. (And yes, I am completely aware that my great...grandparents, on both sides, were some of those Europeans.) They talk that way still -in Washington DC - that the history of this country began with a bunch of folk from across the Atlantic in the 1500's. I think that I keep dragging on about all this to somehow figure out if my children's Asian ancestors were on this continent before mine. I mean, they were. It is just that the history books keep forgetting to mention it.

Well, anyway, The Capitol of US captured all of our hearts and minds. For me, the thought that has gone into the beauty and symbolism of the architecture of Washington is stunning. I could look at it for a very long time.

Views of US: The Capitol Building in Washington DC

Views of US: Lady Freedom on top of The Capitol Building

I grew up near New York and Lady Liberty has long been a favorite of mine. Now I have a new friend.

Views of US: Cousin Barack's House

So, um, yes. Cousin Barack and I have mutual great...grandparents. My guess is that there are several million people with a relationship less multiplied and removed than mine, but hey, it makes our visit to WDC all the more personal. :)

Views of US: Hot in DC

Yeah, yeah, I've already mentioned that, but see? Even the panda thought so. (How cute are pandas??)

Views of US: Power and Beauty

So, since our road trip, my own journey to my own power and beauty has become more clear and more worthy. I still feel honored to have been able to spend those four days with Christine. There is a reason for all of this. It makes me work harder to be worthy of it all. To be worthy of my children. There is so much for us to learn. Homeschooling never stops.

Delight + Excitement

2011-08-02T16:37:00.004-04:00

Yes!

By All That Is Good, Here I Am. For the last two weeks my kids and I have been out wandering the wide world.

It had occurred to me that I had somewhat come to a stop in my studio. I needed a great big, astounding infusion of Thrill and Inspiration. I knew it. Then I saw Christine Kane's invitation to work with her in Charlotte, North Carolina in July. I decided to go. My two teens worked it out with me that they would come along for the ride and we'd play "Tourists" on our way back home.

Flowers, indeed.

Christine is warm and sweet. She is also a powerhouse and had to keep restraining herself from "fire-hosing" (deluging) us with information. And this presence, this power, this wisdom is exactly what I needed.

So: SUNNE SPOT is getting a revamp.

New classes.

New books.

New embellished art quilts.

A brand new video and e-book package; well, actually, four of them.
And,

(I figured this out today while driving the last leg of the trip home,)

my logo up there is going to get a lovely new set of colors.

My kids and I saw a Momma deer and her two babies on our front lawn just before we left for our trip. Deer have been a beloved symbol for me since I was little. Read here. (Scroll down to what "Sherry" said.) I also kept seeing people with North Carolina license plates up here in Maine. I just took it all for good luck and blessings.

And it seems like it was, because the trip was some kinda wonderful stuff. A lovely time with my dear-ie-o's, a somewhat cosmic time with Christine and the other women who came to the retreat, and even the mess-up on following AAA's Trip-Tik directions and driving across the George Washington Bridge smack dab into New York City by mistake ... (AAAAAH!!!) (We were told by everyone to leave City driving to the New Yorkers and skirt to the north and west) ... well, it all worked out because I was born and raised north of the City and I ended up recognising the names of the highways and we made it out laughing at our fears of living large in the Big Apple. (O.K., O.K. We were there for all of about 10 minutes, but still...)

So: magic and delight are afoot. Sign up for my newsletter over there on the left and keep up on the "In" list.

I haven't had this much fun in ages.

Come to Paint Papers with me.

2011-04-17T14:29:00.006-04:00

From May 2nd to May 23rd I am teaching a class at Five Towns Adult Ed, here in Rockport, all about lavishing brilliant acrylic paint on paper.

Here's the info:
http://fivetowns.maineadulted.org/courses/course/painted_papers_5211

Why paint on paper rather than on stretched canvases? Well, because it is less expensive, and thus gives us a lot more freedom to play. And this is the point of this class. Oh, sure: you'll get bunches of info to take to your next acrylic painted canvas, but the work we'll do layering color on paper will give you rich, fabulous papers with which you can collage, decorate, scrapbook, art journal and design. I will show you some simple bookbinding and card design to get you going.

There is still some room left. I am really looking forward to 4 weeks of pure play. (And you will have a ton of georgous papers to take home with you so that you can play on, and on, and on...!)

On Handmade Journal Making

2011-03-08T10:12:00.006-05:00

Good morning. I have been away. Not so much physically, but emotionally. I think that I have been shifting gears. Laurie Adams, the once-potter and now paper artist, used to plan a come-down period after she'd take her pots to a big show. It just takes some time to shift from that "out" energy back to the inner focus of home and studio work.

I appreciate the time I spent in an outside-my-home teaching studio, but the timing wasn't quite correct, and now I am glad to be home with my excellent homeschooling teens. I have gotten our groove re-energized and the solidity that I feel there is spilling around.

Lately I have been getting some calls and emails about my studio work and here is a post about journal making, thank you to S from Alaska. :)

We always have questions about the sizing of our hand made journals. The answers are found in what we use them for, and what they are made of. The focus today is using brown paper grocery bags - the big ones. It is a sturdy paper and able to stand up to lots of paint, crumpling, collage and more. I love working with it.

So take a bag and cut off the edges of the two long sides of the bottom. Then slip your scissors inside and cut the two short sides.

(Sorry that this pic came out sideways!) This wierd little layered and folded piece can be saved to make a wierd little piece book:

Cut the circle of the bag open along the seam in back.

And you end up with a lovely, huge piece of art paper.

(Another crazy sideways pic - I don't know why the computer turns them and won't keep the corrective rotations that I do..)

Anyway, here are two journals that I made with brown paper pages. Both of them had covers - that I made first - from painted cereal boxes, so the size of the boxes determined the size of the journals. The brown paper didn't easily fold into the correct sizes and so I folded the bags in half twice, and then I bound pages that were too long for the covers making some of the pages into fold-out pages where needed to fit the pages into the covers. Check this post to get a few more photos.

Another thing that you can do with the bags is to NOT cut them, but bind them just as they are. Stack them bottom to top and then top to bottom. Fold the stack in half (this book uses 4 big bags) and stitch them together down the middle.

The flaps of the bottoms of the bags make secret hiding places for writing...

And the open end of the bag tops make huge pockets for extra pages, or storage of art materials.

Here is a bottom flap (sideways, grrr) taped up to make a shallow pocket for these three mini-tag-books.

Another brown paper and cereal box book:

Punch an odd number of holes through the center of each signature of paper as well as through the cardboard of the spine - sooo much easier if you make a template, use an awl, and use an old piece of "blueboard" (hardware store) as your surface. The binding here left a long tail of ribbon at the top and I sewed a running stitch down, and back up again. I rather like the hand binding. Thicker signatures are possible. But experiment with your heavy duty sewing machine and see what happens.

And notice how much space I left between the signatures: I am planning on adding many layers of ornamentation to these pages and the wider spine and signature spacing will give me all the room I need to not have the book bulge.

Here is a photo of the flaps that open the spread a little wider.

Another question to consider is whether to bind the book first or to paint the papers first. Here is a journal where all the painting happened before the binding. The journal looks a little neater but functions more like a book (content first) than like a journal (place, not perfection). It's just a choice. There are advantages both ways.

Notice on the yellow page the ripped, uneven edge, and the green paint showing from the other side of the page. When I bound this book I found that the pages kept sticking together and so bound it with paper in between each painted page that is very like tracing paper - that weight and texture. It does the trick.

And the "hand" of gessoed and painted, double sided, is just great, kinda cloth-like, like canvas.

In this pic you can see how widely spaced the signatures are. Clearly, I am not finished yet. :)

As for binding, (if I am not using the whole cereal box) I like, and use most of the time, a strip of cardboard for the spine. The spacing between the two covers and the spine makes the covers very easy to open. You can use a strip of cloth wide enough to span the edge of the two covers, the spaces and the spine in the middle. Glue the boards with gel medium, white glue or whatever you have. Alternatively, a couple of widths of duct tape will hold your book together. And check out the wonderful colors that duct tape comes in now.

Good luck Have fun, S, with your children. I love answering questions. Anyone is welcome to write with more.

Now I am off to quilt a boat. (Pictures to come.)

Very Excellent Article

2011-01-28T09:52:00.003-05:00

Aislinn Sarnacki, of the Bangor Daily News, wrote a fabulous article about the crayon papers - and me. Go see. She mentioned that I am going to post the crayon paper directions here, but I thought they'd be easier to find on my blog. Where I am off to post them now. :)

Thanks, Aislinn.

Crayon Papers Give-A-Way

2011-01-27T11:37:00.009-05:00

Early in January there was a post on Facebook about how I could get a free piece of art from an artist friend of mine, Claire. I made the requisite comment to her post, re-posted the offer on my own facebook and got 7 replies. To these 7 people - and you know who you are - I now offer these images from my exhibit at the Rockport Library. Crazy, I know. But very fun to do.

So, you seven: First-Come-First-Choice: Comment here, or email me, or facebook me: give me your 1st and 2nd choices and I will send you an original piece of my art at the end of February when the show comes down. O.K.?

The names are on the left side, above the stitched and beaded papers.

Oh! and thanks for playing!
Yes: (goes to CW)True BlueSeashore (shown sideways)Sacred Journey (going to BJS)Meditation (this goes to AM)Garden Grow (this goes to GL)Daily Practice (claimed by CP)

Crayon Papers: The Exhibit!

2011-01-22T08:44:00.005-05:00

After working on my crayon papers for months now I have been invited to exhibit them at the Rockport Library! Please come to the Open House on Wednesday the 26th from 4:00 - 6:00 PM to view them in person. (The detail is luscious.)

I will also be teaching a workshop on Saturday the 29th from 1:30 - 3:00PM. All materials provided. And it is easier than it looks: coloring brown paper with crayons. But then there are a few twists to make it interesting. (There's ironing and crumpling, embroidery, and embellishments with buttons, papers and beads...)

I am so looking forward to seeing you there!

Bible Studies...

2011-01-10T09:22:00.004-05:00

Hokey, Dokey: I have a question for you all: What is a Christian?

Did I tell you that I am taking a Bible course? Well, as one might expect, I am getting more, not less, confused. The one that came up this week for me was this one about who - or what makes - a Christian.

I am only reading the Old Testament just now, and I will tell you that the prevalence of rape, and pillage, and murder in our world is no surprise when you read about the behaviors of YHWH. That is one violent god. (If you think that I am out of my mind: comment below and I will tell you how the New Oxford RSV translates it. I am totally shocked.)

So I got to wondering why there is this big story of a loving god. Well, YHWH sings his own odd little praises in Exodus, but... do Christians actually believe that about YHWH?

I started looking at all of the folks who call themselves Christians and I am just at a loss as to what the common ground is. I mean in New Mexico women pray to our Lady of Guadalupe, in New York prayers get sent to any number of saints, and in Georgia men pray to Jesus who is their personal savior. Now the Hindus and the Hopi have multiple divinities too, and I have no problem with that, but why is Christianity called a monotheistic religion? In any state there are Christians who either regularly or pretty much never go to church. In any city you could get a really good argument going over whether Jesus is or isn't a god (again: back to the monotheism question.) Inside the membership of many churches there are lots of different interpretations of the Bible including whether or not God, Moses or the J, E, P etc. sources wrote it. And no matter where you go there seems to be this ferverent urge to chit-chat about original sin and what a bunch of loosers we all are. Is that really the link: that the Christian notion of god is a guy who makes wrong people?

No. That cannot be it.

So I keep thinking about who call themselves a Christian. There is the lovliest minister at the church where I am taking this class. I love to hear him preach about how he brings various theology to bear as he walks through the lives of his community and his family. It is hard work to be a loving person and he doesn't shy from the hard tasks, nor from the delight he receives as he gets support from the god of his understanding. It is an inspiration to listen to him.

But then I looked up Hitler in the encyclopedia. He was a Christian. He actually thought a lot about how his murder campaign was doing "God's work". (You can read about YHWH's cleansing campaigns in Genesis either in the Noah story or in the Soddom and Gommorah story. Or various other stories.) And Robin Hood was a Christian. As was Richard the lionheart. Which is why they both went on crusades to cleanse Jerusalem of the Muslims.

Teresa, and my mother and my father were/are also Christians. So are most of my neighbors I think. So are Southern Baptists, the Amish, Episcopalians, and Catholics. So are the Quakers, who won't fight for religious reasons and GW Bush who started two wars and has the blood of hundres of thousands of Iraqi's, Afghani's, Europeans, Australians and Americans on his hands. And so far my list shows no glaring resemblances.

My big question this week was about whether Christians worship YHWH. Or did the notion of god change by the time Jesus was teaching? (And has god changed more in the last 2000 years? Is god different now?) Because YHWH kills in the OT. A lot and often. He threatens harm and disertion too. And don't even get me started on the cutting babies in exchange for stolen lands deal. Eeew. So how many Christians think that all of this murder and pillage is OK? These teachings seem to be taking their toll on our modern times. Ask Ms. Giffords.

Because I'd say that none of the folks at this class I attend kill or steal anything. They all work daily to be hard working and compassionate people. They sure are being kind to me as I stumble and throw-up my way through the Pentateuch.

Clearly, I have a point of view, but comment to me. What is a Christian? I will stand educated.

Moving

2010-11-28T19:13:00.003-05:00

Hello Gentle Artists.

Well, I am here today to make an announcement: I am moving my studio back home. This studio on Route One was in many ways a dream come true. And yet, the timing isn't quite correct.

So here are some of my plans:

***To continue as an art party and retreat planner. Please call me (207-323-1629) and we will work out something wonderful for you.

***To continue teaching classes at community and retail venues in the area.

***To get back to writing books: craft how-to books.

***To re-engage my etsy.com presence.

***And certainly to keep blogging. :)

I liked working with all of you who came to the Studio very much. That was fun and something I hope to do again someday. The short answer is that I need my schedule to be dictated by my homeschooling demands. Blessed Be.

Art Journal 1231

2010-11-15T06:26:00.003-05:00

I worked on binding my journal for Dawn Sokol's 1231 journal making class over the weekend: I was able to work out the math for a cross stitch binding for both of the journals. The blue one had two signatures...

and it also has all of these great flip open pages. Lots of room to work.

The green one has three signatures, and I wasn't sure that I could make the stitches work, but they did. Yay. I like how they look. The spines are structured with duct tape - DID YOU KNOW that Wxxxxxx (THAT store) has a zillion (OK, like 15) colors of duct tape? I never imagined! Flourescent colors, and teal, and bright red, and hot-rod-flame and even a tye-dye pattern. Now I have to go check out the local hardware stores to see what they have...

The covers of the big green journal have modeling paste/spackle stars on them. I painted them gold for the long winter nights ahead.

Oh! And we have a new benefactress: she brings us wire spools. They are free and you are welcome to come stake a claim on one or two. Tables? Chairs? Bookshelves in the round? A spine for a book or a scroll? What would you do with one??

And I am thinking of making a Knitting Spool with the cardboard tube. Make hats, or blankets...

Did you know that Sunne Spot will be open all during Thanksgiving week? (Except the day itself.) Sunne Spot can also be rented for parties, and even inpromptu gatherings. What are you doing with your in-laws all week? Call me. We'll set up a couple of hours for ornament or present making: 323-1629

Homeschool News

2010-11-09T14:34:00.007-05:00

We had a lovely bunch of homeschoolers at the Studio today. One child took a look at the paper chains hanging from the ceiling and directed us hither: so we spent some time figuring them out.

A colorful tabletop of bits and pieces: A lavender and violet chain:

In the top photo, the red-green-lightblue chain belonged to the boy who's interests we were following. I love working with other people. We all have our own perspectives (of course) and when I work alone I can go some distance before I reach the end of my view, but still: I can't push any further than what I can perceive from where I stand. None of us can. Its only natural. So then when you all come into my studio and you are working from your point of view, if we are paying attention (and I mean that spiritually and emotionally, as well as intellectually) then I get to travel to your horizon.

Teaching is often portrayed as one know-it-quite-a-lot pours facts into the brain of somebody less knowing. I keep finding, both in homeschooling my own children and in opening my studio to others, that if I make it more like a walk that we are taking together then I get gifts to take home too. Plus, you are sooo smart, and creative. I love learning from you.

So the boy who took us all on this paper chain walk today put one of his almond/mandorlas on the side - which looked cool, but set the construction of the chain askew. I knew that there had to be a way to reconfigure the link. I used up a few little papers (as Thomas Edison would have said) figuring out how not to do it, and then I figured it out. We worked it into his chain and when he was setteled, I went off to personally test the properties of this new link.

When I had a few pieces tucked into a chain I held it up to show everyone .. and then it slipped out of place .. and into this marvellous curve. Check it out:

Oh. My. Heavens.

A whole new Point Of View. Thanks, J!

The rest of the room was working on crayon paper. I wish that I had had the presence of mind to take a second picture of the later stage of this mother-daughter picture. The part after the acrylic wash and crumpling. But here, earlier, it was already an intriguing piece. Maybe they will bring it back next time they visit the studio to show us. Yum.

So. I am blessed by your presence. It was a good day.

Catch Up

2010-11-08T19:58:00.002-05:00

I have been at work on a couple of different projects. I am in Dawn DeVries Sokol's 1231 Art Journal class again this year. Making journals to get us through the end of the year. Here are two sets of the collaged and painted covers. A small one in blue: And a bigger one in green:

Binding is actually done on them and next come the signatures...

I also wanted to show you how the big crayon paper piece is going.

Golden beads:

and some blue seed bead filler:

A different kind of bead filler pattern:

I have a great little fringe going - I will have to get some process photos to show you.

Hey, I have a question: I want to try using corporate publishing (rather than self publishing) for my next craft how-to book. Does anyone out there have information on how to find an agent? I will appreciate any suggestions on how to cull the Google possibilities.

Thanks.

a morning of color

2010-11-05T08:30:00.002-04:00

Good morning for painting at the Studio. Please do come share in the fun. It is all play - to shake the sillies out: I have been beading all week. :)

So: 461 Commercial Street - that is Route One. I am upstairs in the red, big, Cheese Co. building just up from Fresh Farm. 8:30 - noon.

Come play. This is good for us to look at color for a while.

Inanna

2010-10-28T05:04:00.005-04:00

I have been working on a couple of projects ...

Today I want to show you how Inanna turned out. I decided that the stacked painted papers that I had been working on looked like jewels to me, and my Bible class had been getting me into thinking about the royalty of Heaven ... So I decided to paint the former Queen. I'd been curious about who everyone was worshipping before Adam, Abraham, et al, got the idea to worship just one god. Nobody seems to have ever thought of that before. For the 35,000-plus years before that, all cultural artifacts seem to point to a many starred Heaven. I figured that if I painted the Queen I might begin to understand more.

Firstly, I finished layering and sewing my miniature collages. I hand sewed them together, using my sterling and goldfill beads to add a little bling. This was all going to be for the Queen of Heaven and Earth after all. I sampled an arrangement of how they would look around the edge of a canvas. I measured the result and went down to the art store for a 24" x 28" canvas.

Meanwhile I had been practicing my drawing of Inanna

Did you know that about 1000 years before they say Lilith and Adam and Eve were, uh, made that there really was a drought? That a whole lot of the world had been greener and much more lush, but then the Atlantic currents changed, temperatures dropped, various things happened - and not just in the Middle East, but in the Americas too. The monsoons in northern Africa, for example, slipped south and the Sahara region which had been forested became a desert.

Thus the background colors for Inanna's painting.

So was there really an historical weather event that booted some folks from an Eden-like habitat? And I wonder: if I was the "recent" inheritor of a much harder lifestyle would I too wonder if my tribe and I had done something wrong? Would I too dream and be wooed by a god who promised never again to leave me and mine "in the desert"? Would I, like Abram, think strongly about the offer of settling down in "my own land", no matter what violent crimes I had to commit to get it?

As I am now, living in the lush environs of grocery stores: nuh-uh. No way. But if my recent ancestors had been scratching it out with the sheep in the wilds ... maybe so. (And I read somewhere in the internet that Adam and all of Abram's Semitic ancestors were maybe, probably, desert shepherds in the time before Abram and his family were living in Sumer, the Fertile Crescent, between the rivers.)

So in curiosity of these times, of this prior culture surrounding the decisions of a few famous men and their visions, I transferred the drawing to the canvas and painted this Lady. The daughter of the Moon God who visited her sister, Queen of the Underworld. Who died and was reborn. Read one version of her story.

I gave Her the seven attributes of civilization that She relinquishes at the seven gates to the Underworld, including her dress or breechcloth which I made by laying on pleated tissue paper and lightly painting over it.

And Her golden hip girdle and crown which I made by covering paper cutouts with candy wrapper foil. (It is gold on the other side.)

So here you see her laid out with her breastplate, her measuring rod and line, and the paper medallion jewels.

I backed the layered papers with sticky-back craft foam after I sewed them. It gave them a little heft and made them seem like pins - that's when I started thinking of them as jewels. Little treasures of story.

The etymological root of the word "bead" is the Old English word gebed or "prayer".

Were the stories and prayers told to Inanna very much different from those told to Adam's YHWH?

And here She is: this Queen of Heaven and Earth who was one of the Heavenly Community listening to our stories before Adam heard YHWH.

With Her magic and lapis earrings.

And what I still don't know: what did Inanna demand of her people? Was she a jealous goddess? Or was the abundance of the Fertile Cresent a training in divine generosity? Did she graciously accept the altar offerings from her shepherds? Did she ... well ... is the god that the Christians worship now the same as the one Abraham struck a deal with 4000 years ago? Do the Episcopalians and the Baptists believe in the same divinity?

This is a 4 year course: I suspect that there are a few more paintings on the way.

Birthday Party Art Village.

2010-10-16T17:54:00.002-04:00

Oh! Yay! It was birthday party time today!

Sunne Spot was invited to provide the entertainment for a lovely 8 year old's birthday party today. Her mom chose the Art Architecture project. At the end everyone gathered the houses into a fabulous little village of the coolest and most avant garde architecture that you have ever seen.

There were roof-top star gazing platforms, origami wallpaper, and one clothespin person got wings!

Below you can see a balltop tree, a lovely pin doll with naturally curly blue hair, a spinning silver ball hanging from the ceiling, a front door jingle bell, dollies with pink tissue paper skirts and metallic tops, and glass bead stepping stones leading to second floor stairs.

Down at this end of the village one house has a bejeweled rooftop, and a chimney with smoke coming out of it. Blue carpets and glass drops on the stairs furnish one house and just on the left edge of the photo you can see how the Birthday Girl hung a star from the peaks of her roof.

Oh, there is the angel next to his second floor ladder.

In the back left of the first picture you can see the armoured castle and below is the back where there is a ladder that takes one from floor to floor.

What a champion collection of child architects and their artistic parents! Everyone came up with such wonderful ideas for their houses - and each house was such an excellent voice for these parent and child teams.

Thanks to the mom and her daughter. Love to you! A good time was had by all. :)

If you ever want to throw an Art Party, just let me know. Visit the link at the top of this post or email me. (We discussed how this would make a great grown-up party too!)

What I Should (or shouldn't) Be Doing

2010-10-11T06:53:00.004-04:00

Well, first of all Sunne Spot will be open today. I would love to see what art you have up your sleeve. :)

And second of all, this is what I should be doing: It is the crayon paper that I am using to answer the question: "How do you know when you are done?" I have finished the painting for now (after the machine and hand stitching, after the writing and paper cutting, after the original crayoning). I am ready to get to the beading with my tiny little size 12 needles.

But I got distracted. While I was at my desk I flipped through an old issue of Cloth Paper Scissors to an article by Beryl Taylor about layering papers. It was soooo yummy.

I had to see what I could do with my painted brown paper bag papers.

And then I hand stitched and beaded them together. I couldn't stop myself.

"Help! I'm hunched over zillions of pretty paper bits and I can't tear myself away!"

This is so thrilling. I even brought my 14K goldfil and sterling silver beads. I brought in some georgous stone beads too. One whole table is covered in small paper stacks of .. yes .. juciness.

I backed them with sticky craft foam which almost made them into pins or jewelry of some kind ...

But I think that they might be better on some kind of art quilt ...

Or painting ...

I might have come up with an idea ... I am taking a class on the Bible (who me??!!). I have been pondering on the culture and religious climate of the middle east before Jacob got rich and had all of those boys, before Abraham got headed out on his Walkabout, before Adam lost control of Lilith ...

I have been planning a piece that might need a few little color jewels around the edge ...

To pay homage to the goddess who was there before. Just to get my spiritual ancestry clear.

This is seven kinds of luscious.

Come in to see.

More crayon paper instructions...

2010-10-07T03:29:00.005-04:00

Jan wrote me a comment in the last post and it got me to thinking about why I like the way my crayon papers are working out. So, to be more helpful maybe I will give you all a list of steps and materials that gets a little more specific.

1. Draw and color. I have been drawing in these grids, which is fun, but maybe I should try landscapes, or portraits, or something...

2. Then I fold the paper in half and iron with a high, dry heat. I noticed that when I used a covering protective paper a lot of the color would come off on the protective paper, so I got the brainwave to fold the brown paper so that when the crayon melted onto something it would at least add to the effect on the brown paper rather than subtract. The wax of the crayons melts through the back of the brown paper so protective papers under and over are a good idea.

3. Brush or spray a wash of very diluted acrylic pait over the surface of the paper. Rub it in and then off. Dry naturally or by re-ironing.

4. Crumple the paper several times. The goal is to make lots of tiny creases, so crumple and flatten several times to get the wrinkles small enough. It makes the stiff brown paper bag feel more like cloth.

5. Color again, but this time with gel crayons or metallic crayons. Cray-Pas, oil and watercolor oil pastels make great marks too. Also try changing colors: accent something that you drew in red with yellow - like that. Oh! And Crayola makes these crayons called "slick sticks" They are so much fun to color with.

6. Iron again.

7. Draw again but with markers or gel pens. Again, think of changing and accenting colors as well as overdrawing patterns on top of the original shapes.

8. After that I layer underneath the paper with a piece of felt and machine sew through the main lines of the drawing. I have experimented with free machine drawing on a couple of pieces and also played around with pattern stitches on the machine.

9. I hand embroider, bead and embellish with buttons, or felt, or found objects as a last layer.

Post pics on your blog of your papers and leave your blog address in my comments. I'd love to see what you are doing.

Crayon Paper 4Ever!

2010-10-06T16:19:00.004-04:00

I needed new art on the Studio door so I got out some colored paper...

I love the layered look.

And I just had to make some more crayon paper. :)

So:

1. Draw and color.

2. Crumple.

3. Iron.

4. Draw-over.

5. I tried out the fusible again ... (shiny, but it only got the top of the wrinkles ... still not so sure about fusible-ing)

But I am sooo glad about the beading!

Hey: This month I will be starting to book art parties and gatherings. I have some great party projects set up. Go take a look. Book your party by email: robinsunne@robinsunne.com

Day Off Notice

2010-09-30T06:31:00.002-04:00

Hey there,
Just in case you were heading over on Friday the 1st, Sunne Spot needs to be closed on that day. I have somewhere I need to be just in the middle of the morning..
See you on Monday.
Robinsunne

Fabric Transfer Drawings

2010-09-29T04:05:00.002-04:00

Sunne Spot Studio welcomes homeschoolers to the Studio every Tuesday morning. Yesterday we made fabric crayon transfer drawings. Here was our process:

First was the drawing part: on plain paper we drew with these special fabric transfer crayons. They are very similar to drawing with regular crayolas - except only about 6 colors. Not a problem for our artist here who is a pro at blending and shading. Next we flipped the drawing onto polyester satin and ironed to transfer the colors with all of the prerequisite parchment paper protecting the iron and the board. A fussy process, but after a few tries the part about keeping the drawing from shifting and creating a kind of shadow effect got easier.

Note: you can find crayons that work with natural fibers, these happened to be the kind that only work with "man"-made fibers, thus: the polyester.

This clever artist then cut her picture square from the fabric...

...(you can't really see this) and layered the fabric picture on the top with some WonderUnder fusible web to a square of felt underneath for stability.

The ironing champion at work:

And the results! That is my flower in the lower right. I have just started to hand stitch it, working along the lines to embellish the drawing. I can't wait to see how the anime girls look with stitching.

Homeschool kids are great to work with. Love it. Love it.

In A Scrape: Challenge

2010-09-28T06:46:00.003-04:00

Blogging is so much fun: people sit around and think up ways to engage each other - me. How great is that?

Well Michelle Ward over at GPP Street Team put out a challenge: don't paint your surfaces - scrape them.

So I did. Here is what happened when I did it in the Studio's 1001 Journal And here is what happened when I scraped the inside of a cereal box.

See those cool little polka dots? They come from holding the scraping card at a very low angle while running across the page.

So take the paint onto the card in a thin layer an inch (5cm) or so up from the bottom (not just on the edge)

and lay the card down pretty low to the paper as you scrape across. It makes the paint skip in bubbles and bursts across the page and the bottom edge is not pressed so fully down as to homoginize the line of paint.

Cool, eh?

Examples from other papers.

Michelle has loads of links on her blog to see more scraped paint examples.

How much is too much?

2010-09-28T05:50:00.007-04:00

Well, its been days. One thing after another and I haven't matched my camera chip up (from the studio) up with my computer (at home).
Anyway ...
I spent a couple of days putting hand embroidery onto the crayon paper from last week. (See below for earlier posts about it if you are just tuning in.) The peice is kinda big (18 or so inches or maybe about 40cm square-ish) I had an idea about staying with just three different stitches: the herringbone, like in the pale blue checkerboard in the middle; a blanket stitch, as in the big circle on the right and the dark blue Xs below it; and the chain as in the smaller blue circle in the lower left. But I couldn't quite stick to that and used a running stitch (hmm .. not entirely satisfied there)

After I decided that I had put enough embroidery on the piece I got to thinking about the question How much is too much? Or: how does one know when one is done? I had an artist in the studio this summer asking the same question. She was having so much fun that I thought her answer was probably "whenever you want to stop", or "whenever you have to give the piece back to its owner" (there was a schedule for this costume).

But for this piece I thought that I would take it through several layers and media and see if I reached a state of Too Much.

Not yet apparently: I had some painted brown bag that worked beautifully with the colors of embroidery floss so began cutting and gluing them in place:

and here:

Do you want to know how I got the triangles and ovals to exactly match the stitched spaces?(this seemed vaguely brilliant and terribly fussy to me: I laid a piece of white tissue paper on top and traced and labeled each triangle, each little space. When I had cut them out I could put them on the section of painted paper that I wanted(either the dark blue parts or the white dotted parts) and set them in their proper places awaiting some gel medium for gluing. I glued and weighted all of the parts overnight to make sure that the corners stuck. It worked.

Still ready for more visual intrigue, I got out some acrylic paint and had at some surrounding areas:

And here too: (very top and very bottom)

And so, to date, the layers and stages of ornamentation include:

*crayon and other color sticks on brown paper

*acrylic paint wash

*crumpling

*iron on fusible

*paper cut

* tulle

*writing a poem-ish statement about Who Forgets and Who Remembers

*drawing in marker the general over-pattern inspired by Indian sari patchwork

*machine stitching to felt

*hand embroidery

*collage

*paint

Juicy.

We await the next step ...

Stay tuned.

A Little Bit More Crayon Paper

2010-09-18T12:19:00.002-04:00

I walked into the Studio two days ago and just had to try out some more things. Here I have crayon paper layered with a fusible layer, then a papercut, some tulle, a social statement, and a good deal of free machine stitching. Looks sooo cool on the back to me. Now I am in the hand stitching stage. I don't think that I am going to be able to hold back. This is gonna get encrusted with a whole lot of stitches and color and texture. Beads probably too. I mean it. I can't help myself.

Yeah, yeah: that's a grocery bag there. You can see the printing on the back. The texture, the "hand" of the piece is so marvellous.

crayon paper the end, maybe?

2010-09-14T14:57:00.004-04:00

The second paper is finished! Embroidery, beads, buttons... Chain stitch on the left and blanket stitch on the right. Then an odd little feather stitch in the upper right.

Green herringbone, red and pink French knots, red cross stitches and green and lavender closed feather stitches. I loved working on this paper. My hands felt a little waxy as I worked, but I liked the finished weight and texture a lot. I like the muted and blended colors very much.

I had a girl in the Studio this AM (the homeschoolers Tuesday morning group) who was curious about what I was doing so gave it a try. Look at her luscious eye. Great!

crayon Paper In Continuance

2010-09-14T05:47:00.007-04:00

("in continuance" ? Is that actual English?...)

Well, anyway, my fascination with these crayon papers continues. After having finished the first one (see the post below) I got back out my cray-pas and oil/water pastels and went over my other three papers that I configured from the rest of the paper bag. I added more color and lines here and there.

I ironed again, but not so much as before. The ironing seems to take away a lot of the color. Of course it also melts the color right into the paper... so I guess that that is just a decision that we make. I got very interesting top sheets out of the ironing though:

And here are my crumpled and then flattened papers. You'll see the paper in the middle is kind-of shiny. Jill - oh! I forgot to tell you: the author of the article in Quilting Arts magazine is Jill A. Kennedy. Anyway, Jill instructed to iron interfacing to the back of the papers - which I didn't do as I thought that the brown paper was pretty sturdy by itself, though you will see that I did back the papers with some acrylic felt when I started to stitch. Jill also instructed to iron WonderUnder onto the front of the paper. I am not sure why. I am thinking that it helps to adhere embellishments later on (basting isn't so possible on paper, leaving holes and all). So the fusible web leaves the paper shiny. I only fused one of the pieces. I haven't started hand embroidering that piece yet, so I don't know if it will warm in my hands and be sticky??? I will let you know.

Here is some early machine stitching. As I did not bond the felt to the paper I had to take this beginning stitching slowly, working from the center out, so that I didn't get wrinkles.

Then I started working in the fancier free machine stitching: (and you can see did not center the white felt evenly and had to snip the paper to even things out a bit.

Here: some machine stitch patterns (yellow) mixed with free stitching (red):

More free stitching:

More of both kinds of stitching: I love how this looks.

It has taken me all day to get this written. I started before breakfast, but had to stop due to a crashing lightning storm, it lessened, I wrote, I had to go to the studio, I stopped ...

The Continuation of the Crayon Paper Adventure

2010-09-09T15:03:00.004-04:00

The thrill continues: these were my tools yesterday: regular crayons like the article described. Then I thought that I would try cray-pas pastels and Portfolio's water color oil pastels as well - just to see what happened. Well the cray-pas and especially the water/oil pastels are such a dream to lay down color with.

Then I sprayed again with my watered acrylic ... and rubbed it in with a paper towel.

See? See? Nice rich colors with that muting of the blue.

Like a goof I ironed it under freezer - not parchment - paper. (It all stuck together.) And it also came off on the freezer paper - so I am going to stitch on that too. Later.

Then the article said to crumple the paper to soften it.

Then I machine stitched it onto a backing of acrylic felt:

Drew gold dots and then hand stitched. I like it.

So tomorrow I will go back to the original crayon paper (see the post below) and draw/spray/stitch into that.

Really, very nice texture and muting/blending softening of color, yeah?

Making Crayon Paper

2010-09-07T16:42:00.005-04:00

Well, I am hale and hearty. I visited with a homeopath about the headaches and am having some very wierd dreams on the Constitutional, as well as a bit of luck staving off the sad behavior that begets the headaches. (See the entry below for why in the world I am chatting about my head health.)

So, back on board, I was perusing last summer's issue of QA>>>>>

and came upon this great article/lesson about making what I am calling "crayon paper".

Oh! And I am so sorry: I cut off her name in the picture of the article and the mag is not with me at the moment.

She starts with paper - like bond I think, or drawing weight? I started with brown paper bag because, well, I had it.

And I got out my box of colors:

Drew a little like the article instructs.

Then, instead of using an ink wash, as she says, I decided to try my very watered down acrylic paint spray water.

Wow!

It worked sooo well!

I rubbed and scrubbed the now wet paper with a paper towel and the paint water gently soaked into the empty part that the crayon missed.

Then I kept drawing - there is something so calming and lovely about drawing with crayon on an old grocery bag: the materials are uber-inexpensive, crayons have a fit to one's hand and a scent to bring one comfort and sureity of talent ... what could go wrong?

And look what went so well.

I love this look.

Tomorrow I will give you some pics of the rest of her instructions ...

... which will include running the paper and backing of some kind through the sewing machine. :)

Sick Day

2010-09-01T09:29:00.002-04:00

Lots of apologies here: I won't be at the Studio today: September 1st. I've got a crashing headache and at last am succumbing to the understanding that over-the-counter, allopathic meds do me more harm than good. So I am home, staying very quiet, hardly using my eyes and slowly getting through it. I hope that I will be back in the Studio on Thursday. Call first if you want: 323-1629.

India Journal Completion

2010-08-27T19:05:00.006-04:00

OK, Here are my cover boards for the India journal (see below/earlier blog entries for the beginnings of this journal if you are just tuning in). They have gel medium on them and are ready for the screening just above them there. This will make very durable hinges in the cover. Now, with the screening glued in I attached them to my painted paper grocery bag and flipped it over for you to see.

That all dried under a stack of magazines for a while today, then I cut it to size and folded and glued the edges over.

Below you see the paper signatures ready to bind into the cover ... but wait ...

See how the gluing didn't work so well? Pondering the situation I came up with a repeat cut border in metal tape to cover the errent edges and make them stick - but in a pretty way.

Here is the cut. You will see it set in a few photos down ...

Here I am punching the holes into the signatures according to a template carefully measured to fit the spine board.

There is the metal tape border. I like how it turned out. And here I am punching the spine board according to the same template. (Sooo much easier with an awl. I have always used tapestry needles and a thimble. Ouch.)

The beginning of the binding ...

And the mostly completed book. I still have to attach the closure bead which must be somewhere in my stash at home. Somewhere.

The journal open. See the envelope on the front inside cover? That is for whatnots. (You can see it better up above.)

I like this binding a lot. I am very pleased. :)

So here is your enticement: Come to Sunne Spot and I will walk you through the binding and give you a sketch of the stitching pattern.

Now what magic thing will I have fill these pages?

Good night! Thanks for wandering through this with me.

Maine Media Workshops Visits Sunne Spot

2010-08-27T15:43:00.006-04:00

Well, this summer has been a season of serendipity and good fortune for Sunne Spot. Through this and that little turn of fate I have met, and had the good fortune of working with, some wonderful artists.

One of my favorite groups of people to work with are parents with their children. I have had the astonishing and nigh on miraculous opportunity to work with my children over the years. I have a theory that keeping this practice of art - like meditation or prayer - is both intimate and healing when we regularly share it with someone. And when that someone is our child we parents are given a sweet way to deepen and strengthen both of us in the relationship. I welcome you to visit the Studio and test my theory. (!)

One of my favorite and regular moms, Beverly, happened to meet Clem Spaulding, a student at the local art school: Maine Media Workshops. Clem has been a still photographer in Texas for years and was taking a class to move his work into videography. In their conversation Clem found the subject of his Workshop video: Sunne Spot Studio.

You can see the result here at youtube:

Well, Clem showed the video to his longtime friend, photographer Judy Herrmann, also teaching at Maine Media Workshops this summer, and it turned out that Sunne Spot filled a need of hers and we were able to collaborate this past week.

Judy has been teaching "Jump Start Your Career", a course about using creativity in business develpoment. (It sounded so wonderful - wish I'da been there..) Judy wanted to have her students not only do the classroom work, but also to have an opportunity to just play, knowing that this kind of visual "what if-ing" gets all of our work re-charged.

How true.

Here they are at work: And here are some of the results. They painted, printed and stamped some papers on Tuesday ...

Then came back this morning to make paper chains, journals ...

(make some more papers)

make an Artist Trading Card (this one is called Paper Bag Elvis) ... (and is actually up on the Trading Rail waiting to be traded on...) and even origami.

I enjoyed working with the Workshop students very much. (Thank you all for visiting! Beautiful artwork.)

And I was delighted to be asked to brainstorm with teachers this summer.

I might be turning into a part time art consultant.

It is all good.

India Journal In Continuation

2010-08-26T09:04:00.002-04:00

You stayed tuned!
Hi again.
I figured out what I would do for binding strength and flexibility. Now, I have been home and had a chance to raid my fabric stash, but I thought that I would give this a try: window screening. (!) There are my cover boards all laid out ... and below are some papers to cover the insides of the boards ... but I needed something yummy - and long - for the outside ...

So I got out a brown paper bag and started scraping on some gesso and then some color.

The blues were too similar so I added a bit of white to smush around. Nice big, gross motor movement here.

While that was drying I glued the cardboard to the inside paper.

And now that the boards are drying under a stack of magazines I stenciled the paper for a bit more interest and activity.

Now that is drying and I am here writing to you.

Oh! I meant to tell you: I am calling this my India Journal because the little journal that I am copying was made in India. Mine of course, is being made here in Maine, USA. but that would be a less fun, thrilling, exotic name for me. (Now if I lived in India ...)

More tomorrow when everything dries. No, I have a class in here tomorrow ... well, I'll figure something out. I think that I will get to the binding tomorrow. I will draw you little pictures and how-tos. Then you can comment and link to what happens when you do this.

Stay more tuned.

India Journal Bookbinding

2010-08-25T11:06:00.002-04:00

So, I bought a pad of acrylic painting paper, 9 x 12", and cut the pages in half the long way to make 40 pages, each of them 4.5" x 12". Then I folded them in half, divvied them into 5 signatures of 8 papers each - 16 pages. Next I took the sturdy back board to the pad and cut it not quite in half so that the cover boards would shelter the papers by being bigger. I made the back a bit longer too, which then made the front cover a bit shorter - but that is OK with me as there will be a front flap to cover any discrepancy - and even may make the flap easier to close.

Here are the covers laid out:

And here are the covers balanced in their eventual closed position:

The pages are so thick and sturdy (the better to paint them by) that the signatures pushed the center papers out. I decided to cut them even.

Next will come the part where I get the covers bound to each other and after that I will sew the signatures onto the back spine piece in the pretty pattern of the book that I am copying.

Now I have no fabric here at the Studio, and there is nothing quite as strong as fabric for a binding that will open and shut often. Hmm. Be patient and bring some in tomorrow? Or scrounge around here and see what I can find?

The mystery awaits a solution...

Stay tuned again.

Glue Drawings and Bookbinding

2010-08-25T09:42:00.002-04:00

Good Morning. Some more painted glue drawings have dried, and I thought that I would show them to you. These will make wonderful medallions in my art journals. (We are not getting it in these photos, but the silver paint on top makes them shimmer.)

Add-a-Project: (as if I didn't have enough journals going...)

A friend gave me this journal back in 2004 and I started writing and gluing.

It is pretty stuffed full now. I love the structure a lot, and have always wanted to copy the binding.

So here goes.... I have my papers cut, I am off to cut the cover boards. I will photograph as I go along and let you see.

Stay tuned.

tidbits and ATCs

2010-08-22T16:55:00.005-04:00

Hmmm ... this picture is sideways. - Well, anyway, yesterday I taught some ATC tricks at the Rockport Library. First we took fun foam, like on the left, then covered it with metal tape (center), and then took slightly dulled pencils to draw into the foam/tape. The combination of soft foam and metal take the impression really well. We then cut out our shapes and added them to the watercolor crayon drawings that we had made.

The circle on the left is what happened when I drew into the plain tape - the circle on the right has the foam under it. See how rich the texture is? Great.

Then yesterday I also went to a yard sale and got some great little bits for the collage treasure chest of drawers at Sunne Spot. Dominoes and game pieces ...

Game money. :)

And excellent little treasures ...

Plus a spirograph for the Studio. We had fun today testing it out.

faux granite woven basket

2010-08-20T14:54:00.003-04:00

It started here. Spray paint on brown paper. O.K., grocery bags. I started using it in a book/journal project but then I saw a picture of woven paper.

I had to.

A woven basket.

It is so fragile. I love the metallic sheen, the nubbly visual texture...

Results of some painted papers

2010-08-20T09:23:00.003-04:00

This is sooooo cool: I saw this on a DVD of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's called Collage: Fast and Furious. (Great show.) She is very generous with video and photos on her blog, here. Anyway, she shows this on her DVD: drawing a white glue resist. I used watercolor paper here: The next day, after it had dried thoroughly, I sprayed it with blue and red acrylic water that I made:

And here are a couple of photos of the dried paper:

A side view:

And the paint, being acrylic, not watercolor, will stay put on the glue as well as the paper. Great. Don't know what I will do with the paper ... make ATCs?? make a little book cover?? Hmm.

Oh! And I have seen this done lots of times before and have never figured it out: plastic wrap wrinkle texture. One paints, lays plastic wrap atop with wrinkles, lets dry and Voila! gets great texture. So I did ...

... but got these interesting but veeeery subtle textures:

The gold is lovely, but only at an angle.

THEN, I discovered the secret: I sprayed acrylic water on the paper (so it has to be quite wet!)

And I used a color that contrasts significantly from the color below.

Very successful, n'est-ce pas? Come see it quickly, before I cut it up into some project.

Thursday News

2010-08-19T09:25:00.004-04:00

First: I made a collograph plate here in the Studio the other day. Now to print it in the traditional way I would ink it and press or rub a sheet of paper on top. So far I have only used it with crayon rubbings - to lovely effect. I want to try water-based oil pastels next ... then I will varnish it to prep it for some ink/paint printing.
Next: I want to show you some acrylic painted/printed papers that I made - or started to make yesterday.

Just delicious, I think. I may work some more on them, more layers, more colors...

I think that these will end in some new book structures. I was rambling around in my library at home and found a fabulous book by Michael Jacobs called Books Unbound. He is a very precise artist (unlike moi) but has some wonderfully complex book structures that include fold-outs with multiple spines, portfolios and pockets, and very exciting closures.

This morning I will be experimenting with some watercolor techniques from a book called Paper Transformed by Julia Andrus. Spraying, staining, blotting, texturizing...

Bring a sheet of watercolor paper and come play with..

Why is art so easy?

2010-08-16T20:15:00.003-04:00

I had an interesting thought wave this morning. Where is the pattern and path, the meaning between the so, so simple artwork that I do in the morning open studio and the amazing amount of precise detail I am capable of in my art quilts?

Well, that's the pattern: I teach the easy stuff in the morning. We use lots of (free) recycled items and do easy stuff like paint brown paper (from grocery bags) to later bind into art journals or use as collage material along with the wooden, plastic and metal found objects in my treasure chest of drawers. A kid could do it. Kids do that here. So do their parents. The result being smiles, and pride, and confidence, and hand-eye coordination, breath, brain stimulation and happiness.

So here is my path: I start where everyone can join in ... which turns into my meaning: a daily practice of art is as crucial to our good health as exercise and vegetables. Art needn't be difficult or esoteric - unless that is where you want to go. Collaged art journals can be plenty demanding, or not, but we get brain vitamins either way.

So let me know when you are ready for a dozen yards of 1/16" inch blind stitch applique with size 11 seed bead fringe. That's evening class time and I'm your girl.

New Sign!

2010-08-16T20:08:00.004-04:00

Way down there ... past the OPEN flag ... There is a new street side sign at the Rockland Market Place.Sunne Spot Studio. (!!)

Dance class comes to the Studio

2010-08-05T13:06:00.004-04:00

I am having a great week at the Studio. A local teacher asked me to help her with her dance camp for teens this summer. She and I plotted and planned and I put together the visual arts part of her week. The girls have travelled to Sunne Spot and I have been walking them through the play and delight of journal making.

(Yeah, yeah, it looks like a mess, but actually) it has been fab, and the girls have been doing some really lovely work. We are going through the ballet that they have been studying, turning the lessons of an age old story into art for a modern day girl. We have painted georgous papers, decorated pages with playful paper punches,and are creating georgous books.

I am delighted to have these prima artistes in my studio this week!

Why make art??

2010-08-03T11:01:00.002-04:00

So I have been thinking about my studio a lot lately. Why would I open up my studio to other people? What am I hoping to get out of this? What am I thinking you might get out of this? Well, it is summertime, just like it says in my journal above. I have been thinking that everyone might like to have an art journal. But what is an art journal and why in the world do I keep inviting you all in here to paint, and cut, and glue? Do I think that you all should put your great artistic ideas down on paper to impress us all?

Nope. I think that you could put your great and even meager art ideas down on paper because it makes people feel good, and because it is fun to play with color like this, and because when I teach you to do something and you do it slightly differently then I learn something too, and because when we work with color, and space, and shape, and texture we are using our brains in precisely the kind of way that makes us really smart, and because not every day in the summer here in Maine is a perfect beach day, and because I feel so cool to walk around with a book stuffed with fabulous colored papers sticking out as if there iS JUST TOO MUCH WONDERFULLNESS IN HERE TO KEEP WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF A BOOK, and because I bet that you would feel this way too if you had a book like this that you had made, and because it is a pretty cheap way to entertain yourself and your children (the spiral binding is about 4 bucks down at Staples), and because while the school year is about books that someone else wrote to tell you all about what they think, summertime might be a very nice time to make a book that had all kinds of stuff in it that told the story of you.

Some August Classes at Sunne Spot

2010-07-29T08:00:00.002-04:00

Hey.

New photos for some of the August classes at Sunne Spot.
First, here is the Last Sunday Art Meditation class project: Mola Paper Cut Birds. These are layers of colored papers cut away to reveal the colors underneath. This is way simpler than it looks. Sign up here. The other new photo today show the scrumptious cut paper crowns that we will make for the birthday boy or girl in your life. Also good for anniversaries, graduations, or any event that makes your friend into royalty-for-a-day.

Easy, breezy sign up here on my website.

Painting Girls at the Studio

2010-07-27T14:14:00.007-04:00

Today at the Studio I had a couple of teens come by to fill up their morning with something scrumptious. They got to painting some brown paper bags to eventually turn into greeting cards or art journal papers or ... well, we await their decisions. I had them scrape on the gesso and paint. It saves a little paint and it also makes a flatter paper - not so much paint texture to write over.

You can see the stencil one girl cut for her paper at the top of this picture.

Some drying papers... Some work with alphabet stencils...

I like how this stencil turned out:

After this art girl stenciled she traced the letters with paint, stamped the paper with blue circles and white stars, then sprayed the whole with watered blue acrylic paint. I love this and I loved watching her work. My job here at the Studio is so excellent.

Lots of drying wonder pieces:

2010-07-25T10:40:00.003-04:00

Oh! We had a great time yesterday at the Studio with Cate Wright, our visiting artist. Cate is a great teacher and taught us how to make the coolest beaded circle earrings.

Here are two of us beading away:

Here is my pair of finished earrings:And here is a picture of another pair.
One of the next classes coming up is going to be so much fun. It is called Art Architecture, will take place on the morning of August 14th, and you can sign up here. So: it is kind of about making dollhouses or Gnomie Homes, but if you are mostly grown up and your dolls already have houses, then maybe you need an altar, or a garage for your pocket sized cars, or a cubby for some special objects?

Check out this village:

Notice the very awesome use of recyclables?? We like to call it Trash Fashionable Housing.Here is the clothespin Lady of the House welcoming you. Come into the Studio any weekday morning to take a closer look at the village. The materials are very inexpensive and the process is pretty simple. A parent and child team may pay as one. Love to see you there.

What Do We Do On Vacation??

2010-07-03T13:54:00.005-04:00

What if it is raining? Or pouring? Or what if your old man is snoring??

Come on along to Sunne Spot and make art. Make birthday cards or very personalized thank you notes. Watch your children draw. Make paper figures (warriors, fashion plates, fairies...)

Work on some pages in your summer art journal - Or better yet: register for our July Art Journal Making Class over at http://robinsunne.com/sunne_spot_studio_classes Or register to make these intriguing beaded earrings with visiting artist Cate Wright on Saturday, July 24th.You'll find a pleasant morning awaits you when you bring your current project or let us help you get inspired to make a new work of art.

Classes at Sunne Spot

2010-06-17T05:56:00.002-04:00

The list for July Classes is up on my website. http://robinsunne.com/sunne_spot_studio

I am really excited about THE PAINTED-PAGE, HAND-BOUND ART JOURNAL. Space is limited,though, so sign up soon.

And you will love the BIRTHDAY SCEPTER class on the 15th. I am planning a series of birthday preparation classes where we can make the accoutrements of Birthday Royalty for the beloveds in our lives. http://robinsunne.com/sunne_spot_studio

See you at the Studio this or any morning for some drop-in art making.

Birthday thank you

2010-06-17T05:37:00.003-04:00

Thanks to all who visited and for the many lovely birthday wishes. The party favors will go out in today's mail.

Guests at Sunne Spot continue to have a great time:

*A sister of a friend came in to help me with my press release and walked away with (my gratitude and) delighted by the several ATCs that she had made for her collection.

*Two friends came in to make some ATCs (which they did) and ended up taking my kids and I to a celebratory dinner. (Thank you again!)

And speaking of ATCs: this Saturday is Art At The Library time again: from 2:00-4:00pm we will be learning a technique that I call "papercut molas" after the Kuna reverse applique. Now those beautiful quilts are done in fabric and we will be working with colored paper. Let me get you a photograph. I have a couple on the Trading Rails here at the Studio.

These are made of cut paper - each layer cut separately. I think that this might sound confusing, but the way that I have devised to do the cuts is actually pretty easy. Everyone is welcome at these Library groups. Anyone not old enough to work with an exacto knife can still make ATCs with scissors.

We hope to see you at Sunne Spot on any morning and at the Rockport Library this Saturday.

Birthday Blog Party - Welcome!

2010-06-16T04:31:00.006-04:00

Today is my birthday and you are invited to my party at my Sunne Spot Studio! I am so glad that you are here.
Well, come on in, and get yourself something to munch on...

Come and sit with me ...

... and I will tell you the story of how this Studio came into being.

Years ago as I walked around the track at the local gym I would look at those long blank walls and get to thinking. It started looking like a long opportunity for a gallery. Our part of Maine is just rampant with wonderful craft and fine artists and I got to imagining how it would be if we all got to display our work. Then I realized that I would just want to stop and look at it up close - rather defeating the purpose of the track. (!)

I kept thinking about art though. I looked around at all of the people in the gym gathered in community to make their workouts easier: no one person had to buy all of that equipment which saved everyone lots of money. And there was another benefit too. It makes it easier to drag one's self over there every day because of the encouragement of others doing the same thing. Community is both support and inspiration.

"What about art?" I thought, "Wouldn't art be easier to practice regularly if we knew that we had the companionship of others?"

Have you had your art exercise today?

Well, one thing led to another and what with the general rigors of parenting and the fascination of homeschooling, my dream of a community art studio got back-burnered...

And then it just got to be the correct time:

I found a perfect space and filled it with lots of wonderful mixed media, paper and fiber art supplies.

Now the (Artist Trading Card) ATC Trading Rails are up, filled with the art of several Studio-goers.

Let's take a seat at one of the tables and see what we can make.

So, this is a Birthday Party and it is the custom to have party favors. So here is the deal for our Blog Birthday Party: I have 25 party favors - for the first 25 people to write to my email: robinsunne@robinsunne.com and give me your postal address, I will send out the party favors! I am happy to have international party guests and will send favors to wherever you are. (The email is for address privacy but you can comment here too!)

Thank you for attending my birthday party. I am so glad to see you here.

Love from,

Robinsunne

2010-06-13T05:37:00.003-04:00

In 2008 I joined a group of bloggers having All-Hallow's Eve blog parties. I gave my own blog party. It was such fun.
That year I also had held a 2008 birthday ATC give-a-way. People from around the world sent me birthday wishes.
Last year I had a 2009 birthday blog party where I not only partied heartily with friends far and near, but gave out party favors.

Today, from Noon to 5 o'clock I am having a real Grand Opening Party/Birthday Party at Sunne Spot Studio. You are all invited. Well, I guess that works out best for all you local friends. So this year, I continue my world-wide party tradition and invite you to my blog birthday party this coming Wednesday. Stories, lovely birthday cake, friends from all over, art play, and, of course!!, party favors. It is a special year: I am starting the business of my dreams: Sunne Spot Studio, a community art studio. Drop-in or take a class. Make some art and find your heart. I have wanted to be an artist in business since I was at least 11 years old. I am coming home. Many blessings have gotten me here. Many challenges have made the journey a rich one.

Last night I went to a concert where 140 people sang about how it takes a village to raise our children. Well, quite a few tears later I am home and I am building my business in this village.

Join me.

New Journal!

2010-06-11T04:46:00.005-04:00

Oh! Lucky me. I have a new journal. I have needed one for months, but have been so busy with plans for Sunne Spot that I haven't taken the time to make myself one. I have little stacks of writings and pictures everywhere that have been my journal on the run.

So, finally: a journal home.

I started by painting the inside of a file folders box. There are lots of spare pieces of cardboard around here as I unpack various shipments of supplies.

**As a matter of fact I have a great corregated cardboard, potential book cover here at Sunne Spot which will go to the first person who comes in to ask for it. I will give you ideas for decoration and binding too, if you need it. **

Then I got out the gold paint and did some stencilling and texture painting on top of that base.
And as long as I was painting I pulled out some previously painted pages. Here is, I'm not kidding, gessoed and acrylic painted plastic bag with stenciled letters on top.A piece of pulled waxed paper. (I will be showing this technique in the July journalling class. (Keep an eye out here on my website for the calendar of classes.)More pulled waxed paper with letter stencils.So, do you get the idea that these were all headed to be pages in the new journal? Here is paper that is layered in the way "cloth paper" is made but I layered dictionary pages over plain old tissue paper, painted and sprayed it with acrylic paint and then more stenciling.Same paper method as above but with play money instead of dictionary pages.

The dried papers got cut, very generally, to size and bound into the cover ...

and here you can see the painted papers mixed in with old calendar papers and tracing paper.

That red paper is actual "cloth paper". It is a lovely, juicy journal.
I have already started to write in it. O! Happiness! Next, I get to start making little medallions and decorations for the pages. Little badges of art glory.

I think that I have 6 people coming in to the Studio today, that I know of anyway. All Moms and children. Sunne Spot is beautifully set up for this. Lots of space for children to work, lots of ideas to get them going, giving Mommies a bit of breathing space to imagine their own worlds of color and texture. Happy all around.

Today is the last day of free week. Everyone still gets their first hour free starting next week, but this morning you and your friends and family get the whole morning free.

Drop-in hours: 8:30 - Noon, Monday - Friday.

What does Sunne Spot Studio look like?

2010-06-08T18:47:00.007-04:00

What does a drop-in community art studio look like? How does it work?
Well, start here:

It began as a plain room. I added some tables. And bureaus to hold lots of paper, glue and scissors. :)Then I wanted a special table to accomodate the making of ATCs

So a good carpenter friend came to build one.Here it is finished with lots of layers of polyurethane on it.

It has shelves below to hold all of the paint, and rubber stamps, and paper punches.They are filling up fast. We artists need lots of ways to express ourselves, y'know.

Today I tried out that back table - to see if it worked. I need some party favors for my real life Grand Opening Party on Sunday the 13th ,as well as for my virtual birthday blog party next Wednesday(!!)

I laid out my cards...

Painted them with gesso...

Then painted them with acrylic paint...

And then a little more paint... the freezer paper underneath gets pretty painted up too.

I have them all resting now, drying overnight. We'll see what they look like tomorrow, and then I'll get to adding lots of juicy accoutrements. Drawings too, and maybe go through my stash of wonderful art quotes.

Please do drop in tomorrow and I can get you going on your own set of ATCs - remember: this week is our free, trial-run week so you can make art for free. 8:30 - Noon.

This is one of my favorite quotes recently:

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

What IS a "drop-in community art studio"?

2010-06-04T07:11:00.002-04:00

What is a "drop-in, community art studio"?

Well, let's take it a bit at a time.

Studio: A place to study, a place to practice, a place where all of the instruments of one's work are gathered together. A studio is a dedicated room to explore and manifest the thoughts and skills of a particular accomplishment; in this case ...

Art: A particular set of [performance, or literary, or] visual expressions and the techniques which render experience, wisdom and facility. O.K., very big words, here. We are talking sewing, drawing, collage, painting, journaling, knitting, paper constructing, and their cousins. Hopefully we will be adding in clay, wood and a little metal work too. And lots more needlework of every kind.

One of the points of great interest to me is that this work not be about perfectionism. Certainly gaining skills is crucial to the art we will all practice at Sunne Spot Studio. But what is deeper than that is the intellectual and emotional, and yes, even spiritual exercise of our handwork.

Which brings us to ...

Community: Working together to allow the skills of each individual and the energy of the group enrich our own personal life experience and each other.

What I know about craft and art could fill a book - oh, yeah, I already wrote one ... So I could have sat at home in my own studio writing books (I have a couple more in mind) but I longed for the energy of the community. And when I looked around I saw other moms (not just me) who longed for gentle work to do with their children in the company of other adults. I also heard about part time artists and crafters who need to have a special place and time to dedicate to their handwork, because if they try to do it at home they are both alone and distracted by the chores that call loudly.

Which brings us to ...

Drop-in: We plan our days the best we can, and then there are the little crises or unexpected demands that throw it all askew. So I planned Sunne Spot to just be available to you all morning during the week. There will be afternoon, evening and weekend classes, taught with specific goals in mind, but the mornings are for you, on your schedule, for as long as you need or want.

Now you know a little more about Sunne Spot Studio. Please come in to visit and see what we are all about for yourself next week. It's FREE. In exchange for a quick questionaire about your time in the Studio, you get to work for a while, using Studio materials, drinking up the companionship and atmosphere - yup - for free. During the week of June 7th - 11th. See you then.

Progress in the Sunne Spot Studio

2010-05-30T07:42:00.005-04:00

Well, haven't we been busy...

I have been having little moving parties into the Studio, and just this week I had a carpenter friend build me a wonderful ATC table along the back wall. Artist Trading Cards have been such a fun project in the past couple of years that I decided to dedicate a specific part of Sunne Spot to making them. Along the 17 foot table there will be a station for painting (which can also be used for painting art journal pages and canvas), then a station for rubber stamping - and just below the workspace there is a shelf that will hold the chests of stamps. On down the line there is space for collaging - with a collection of magazines and some gluesticks below, and also a place for making and adding paper punches to one's ATC (or greeting card, or collage) - with a full stash of punches in their chests on the shelf below.

I am busy putting layers of polyurethane on the new back bench and the two big work tables (freshly sanded by the aforementioned wonderful carpenter). Then I can place the supplies and we are ready to go!

I took some "before" pictures and then forgot to bring the camera home with me. >sigh<

A lot on my mind, I guess.

And then I will take some "after" pictures. Good.

We have a Free Drop-In Week coming up, (a whole week of free studio time!) and I hope that all of you who are nearby will come to our Grand Opening Party on June 13th.

Do you "like" me?

2010-05-11T10:25:00.005-04:00

Well, not me, precisely, but Sunne Spot Studio?

Well, if you do then go on over to the Sunne Spot Studio page on facebook and let it show! Yippee! The studio has 22 friends already. Thanks, you all!

This is all so exciting that events are starting to snowball. I might open unofficially sooner than I had thought.

The opening party will still be in June: on the Sunday before my birthday. Party week in Rockport. Bring your paper scissors and glue. Do We know how to party or what?

Y'know how last year I had a virtual birthday party here on the blog? Let's do that again. Only this year you, and not just the virtual you but the actual you, are invited! We'll do both. I'm gonna be a double digit so I will have a double birthday party: actual cake, virtual party gifts, for-real iced tea, and digital photographs. It is a date: Sunday, the Sunne Party Day, June 13th, 2010.

Absolutely.

This Blog Is Changing

2010-05-09T09:15:00.005-04:00

Once upon a time I opened this blog to be a chat-space for my art work.

But all that is changing. I am evolving from the virtual world and adding bricks and mortar:

I am so happy, glad, excited, (!!!) to announce the impending opening of Sunne Spot Studio.

Sunne Spot is a drop-in craft and art studio, here, in Rockport, Maine.

Sunne Spot will be open weekday mornings. I will also be teaching evening and Saturday classes.

Drop in to make a greeting card, work on your knitting, add a page or two to your artist journal, craft a royal crown, sew a "stuffie" animal, sip some coffee (available downstairs at the State of Maine Cheese Factory), hang out with your art friends.

Directions and materials are available at Sunne Spot, and/or bring your own favorite stash.

I will post class schedules on this blog, photos of the Studio, links and connections to important events, sites and ideas and more. I will also continue to have gratuitous art lessons here. :)

You can also follow and "like" Sunne Spot Studio on facebook!

If you are anywhere nearby Rockport, Maine, come to our Grand Opening Party on June 13th. Free food. Free art materials. Deets to follow.

Mother's Day Poem

2010-05-07T16:20:00.001-04:00

Mother’s Day Proclamation- 1870

by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then … women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity,
I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Quote Question

2010-05-01T00:44:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone,

I have a question: What can I do about the fact that when I try to affix quotes to my collage-paintings the words smear?

When I look through my art books I see that other artists use words cut from books mostly and they don't smear. Is it my inkjet printer? I think that I once heard that toner based copies won't smear - true? Any other word collage suggestions? Or do I just get out my Sharpie?

I would love some help. Thanks.

Robinsunne

And how proud am I?

2010-04-25T10:26:00.004-04:00

O.K., so she's my daughter. I'm crazy about her. Today she is outdoing herself. Check this out: http://www.zazzle.com/xarasunne+gifts

Whatta girl. She draws really lovely anime drawings, and when I suggested that she put them on mugs to sell she dove in. She used Copic markers for these drawings. I haven't had much to say about them ... until I saw what she can do with them! Mr. and Mrs. Copic made them with my girl in mind.

Really: click the link and have a look. http://www.zazzle.com/xarasunne+gifts

And read her blurbs about who the girls are. OMG.

And in case you couldn't tell - I am waaay proud. Go ahead: buy a mug. Drink your morning sips with these lovelies. (Keep my girl in Copic markers.)

The Artistic Mother

2010-04-23T11:27:00.002-04:00

I have joined an art group. Read all about it here: http://artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-artistic-mother-group-forming-i.html
I just got the book: The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole and will start on the projects and then keep you posted here. It is a nice concept. Y'know: that art makes us stronger, gentler people and that we, as mothers, need those two qualities in large amounts, daily.

Actually, I already know this. You know this too. But I wanted to see what everyone else was coming up with... and also challenge myself with some new projects.

Although I am never really at a loss for new ideas. Here is my latest: I needed a new checkbook cover so I had a bit of fun with scraps from my "yellow" box.

Here is the front:

And the whole outside:

And the inside - complete with penholder.So, listen. My life is changing. Befriend me on facebook ("Robinsunne Ismyfullname") (They kept asking for my full name - but Robinsunne is my full name!) and you will get all of the minute clues along the way. So far, there are many ducklings to get in a row, and I am not ready to let on about the whole big secret just yet. But stay tuned.

In all that is changing, my blog will be changing too. I will still be here - just in a new-ishy way. These projects with The Artistic Mother will be my last Oh-guess-what-I-did-today type posts.

Keep an eye out. So much fun to be had.

Something is changing...

2010-04-16T17:22:00.002-04:00

So, I am working on a change. You can be a part of it. I will open the lid slowly. Stay connected with me here and see what happens.

April Art at the Library

2010-04-13T09:39:00.003-04:00

Artist Trading Card Art at the Library this month is all about zentangles.

"Zen" as in the meditation tradition.

"Tangle" as in the intricate paths of our pens as we draw.

Does this sound complicated? Well, it isn't really. We start with a blank ATC card:

Then draw 3 curved lines:

And start filling in the spaces with simple designs:

After that we decorate the smaller shapes:

So why am I giving out instructions before we meet?

Because drawing like this is fun. Certainly. You know.

But drawing in a room with others is wonderful. It is a good time multiplied. And you deserve that.

So, we will see you on Saturday afternoon, 2 - 4 PM, at the Rockport Public Library, O.K.?

Choosing (a) God

2010-03-25T06:47:00.008-04:00

I was challenged the other day to know whether God loved us. I said that I couldn't believe in a god who didn't.

So, I got to thinking about that. Imagine that the gods were lined up to apply for the job of being my god. I have a mental picture of the scene: YHWH, Ganesh, Bridget, Quan Yin, Kali, Zeus, Jesus, Allah, Astarte, y'know: a long string of the all-powerful and omnicient. I have a clipboard and am asking some questions: What is your definition of Love? How do you deal with Human Error? Would you be willing to use me as a channel for bringing your Blessings to Earth? Are you available for comfort calls in the deepest, darkest night? What creative act are you most proud of? What role do the arts play in your daily worship? How much do you love me and my kids?

Now I will tell you: the minute I start getting answers that include shame and violence I direct the applicant over to the tea and thank-you-for-your-time table. Thunderbolts are a weather pattern not a teaching tool. Patience is a necessity for us humans. They are gods, I am guessing that they have infinate resources: I expect them to use them, not just sit around cataloging their assets. One of them is not willing to shed good red blood for my family? It is a handshake and good-bye for Him/Her.

Maybe Jehovah and Jupiter were the only options we had once upon a time, but this is the age of the internet. There are a lot of choices out there. I want Someone who will teach with kindness and comfort with passion. And if the answer to that last question about how much they Love doesn't include some explanation about travel to the ends of the known and unknown Universe then I will keep looking. I love my kids that much. I certainly expect the same from my God/dess.

Great Party

2010-03-23T23:01:00.003-04:00

We had a great party at the Library the other day. Here are a few pictures for fun. We had five "stations". The first was painting. (Complete with a hair dryer for drying speed.)

The next was collage.

We also had paper punches to construct little medallions and a little collection of rubber stamps.

So there we were nestled in the stacks finishing our ATCs with some doodling..See you on April 17th for zentangling. Ooooh.

ATC Party at the Library!

2010-03-13T06:25:00.004-05:00

We are having an ATC party at the Library

Saturday, March 20, 2:00 - 4:00

You are invited.

I wanted to make it really easy this month to make a bunch of new cards all at once. You know, get a little stash of ATCs and fatten up your collections. There will be different stations - a very quick, really interesting paint technique, a couple of new ideas at the collage table, very cool medallions to make at the paper punching station, plus drawing and rubber stamping, of course.

All of the techniques are easy enough for school children, but, as always, the artistically dexterous get this stuff in their hands and come up with amazing little works of visual delight.

To entice you further I have put together some great door prizes: if you are a newcomer to the group, or the friend who brings a newcomer there is one prize, if you are a K-12 teacher or a medical professional then I have a different door prize for you. Other categories for door prizes include professional artists (visual, performing or literary), high school students and prolific ATC makers.

The Library staff will have some refreshments for us, and I will make time for trading at the end of the party.

I can hardly wait. I have been having a lot of fun planning (making sample ATCs!)

I will see you there.

portfolio

2010-02-03T07:38:00.005-05:00

I am taking a class wherein we are making protective covers for books. This might be the kind of thing that I would expect that I knew how to make by now, but our teacher is very talented and takes a lot of pleasure in making her edges straight and having her corners match up. This is something I am not so patient with, and also there is the added bonus of having other artists to play with. Great.

We started out learning how to make a portfolio. Here is the back of mine, all neat and lovely.But then on the front I got overeager and slopped glue in the wrong place - see over there in the left hand corner? OFO: Opportunity For Ornament.

We were then supposed to glue ties into the center edges of both front and back to tie the book closed. Well, I had had too much fun with vertical bindings lately so I adjusted that direction, and glued my closure ribbon under a Model Magic (a Crayola brand air-dry clay) medallion that I had made by rubber stamping it and painting it gold with a leafing pen.Then I couldn't stop. I made pockets inside. The one on the right holds another paper bag journal, and the one on the left holds some decorative elements:I had the thought to use these painted paper and thread elements in the book, but I just got going on the pages ...

So that was fun.

beading a valentine

2010-01-23T10:01:00.001-05:00

Yup. I've been beading a Valentine...

Painted Paper Freebies

2010-01-15T08:31:00.003-05:00

O.K., so I have been painting all of these journal pages ... I also got out a block of watercolor paper to paint then cut up and use as embellishments and medallions on my pages.

Well some of the color combinations I liked a whole lot, some were O.K., and some have some colors going that I am really unfamiliar with.

So I am going to give them to you. For free. Just copy them and print onto whatever kind of paper you like. But then here is what I would really like to happen: Whatever you end up doing with them, take pictures and post on your blog, or Flikr or wherever. Comment here to link to your page so that we can all go get inspired.
Waiting to hear from you - and I hope that you have fun with it,

Robinsunne

Art Journaling

2010-01-10T09:22:00.009-05:00

So, as I said, I have been studying this "art journal" thing, learning, perusing web (check out Teesha Moore among the many) and printed page (check out 1000 Artist Journal Pages among the more many) and delving into my ridiculously abundant stash of paper, scissors, glue and paint. I have come up with questions, answers and more questions. And: I have this relative who went to Cambridge University in England where they have the phrase "reading for one's degree". A concept that as a homeschooling Mom I love - as if we are all intelligent enough to read ourselves to Aptitude. Yes, well, I am reading for my degree in Art Journaling, even if I do not have the luck to also attend Cambridge. (Will colleges be outmoded by the elaborate profuseness - is that a word? - and facility of the Internet as they say the printed book will be??) (Ha, As if.) So I will show you pages that I have painted. Remember that I said in an earlier post that the pages were odd papers that I had hanging around? Maps, calendar photos, brown paper bags, not completely successful painting experiments...

Thus the crazy shapes of the pages.

This pink page was gessoed (the back of a calendar photo and so: upside down), then painted, then sprayed with water and after sitting on the paint for 20 seconds or so, a paper towel laid on top, patted gently, and lifted up to reveal the polka dots.And I have been wildly, and with abandon, playing with, not brushing the paint onto the pages but, scraping various layers of color onto the pages.
I have no idea why these pre-edited pictures have come out sideways...

And then I started to make medallions for the pages...Another paper cut. This might be the one I taped into place with packing tape. Or maybe it is the one I glued with Paper Mod Podge.

As I scraped the paint I made designes on the cardboard. I liked this one so mych that I let it dry and made an embellishment out of it.
I think that it looks like mountains.

Gold chocolate coin wrapper here (a favorite embellishment) painted into place with sequin glue, metal tape affixed to fun foam and embossed with the blunt end of a 1.25 crochet hook.A really favorite paper cut and layered medallion. (Glued together with bits of felt in between as I could not find my sticky foam dots.)

Another with a bit of gilding. And lastly this morning a few words about writing. On the dark pages I write with a white Sharpie poster paint pen, and on the lighter pages I write with either a blue poster paint pen or a Copic black pen. (Sorry, I don't know what the fuss about these expensive Copic pens is. I think that a Sharpie medium point does about the same job for about 1/4 the price.)I am being intrigued by my process with the pens. In order to make the writing visible on these colorful, visually noisy pages, I have to use these broad-nibbed pens. Not at all the control of a lovely fountain pen, or the clarity of a black fine point gel pen. But something is happening to my writing. Not the letters themselves but the forces unleashed by expression. They are different. I am different. A wildness? A released call just from the very slightly more gross motor movement of my hand? That much difference (between Bic and marker) can unloosen such a tongue?

And then I am here with my very pretty, extremely fun journal that has these beat up pages, altered through time, and paint, and decoration until they feel positively precious as I turn them; and I ask myself:

studio time

2009-12-26T09:04:00.007-05:00

It is cold outside, and warm and bright in my studio. I made some presents this month: scarves amongst them: stitched scraps in various whites with black velvet on the backs.

And a crocheted ruffle scarf. (Easy: working the long way, stitch up and down the length a few times and then do a couple more rows increasing at the rate of 2 new stitches for every 1 stitch in the row below, or 3:2. Automatic Ruffle.)I also made a Christmas journal in November to use in December with Dawn Sokol and loved it. This process of using any old papers, of all different sizes, painting some, collaging others, doodling, writing sideways - and finally I am beginning to loosen up. The payoff to that un-lock is that I really journaled this past month. Not just daily planner stuff in longhand (which has its place - that Edwardian Lady Gardener), not just ranting and raving (which is important I think, especially in the privacy of one's own journal), but actually trying on thoughts and then the paint and collage work, maybe, allowing enough breathing time to listen to the answers from the Universe.

Here is the end product:

-ribbons sticking out from the tags I put into the collaged pockets - I even did an embroidery on felt (it was a prayer one day when I was desperate) and because it had come out of the writing I wanted to add it into the journal so I stitched it into the seam of the next page. It came out lovely, and thick, and rich.

So I decided to make a new journal, sort-of like the last, to take me into 2010. Here is the cover. Hmm ... that looks a little bland. Dawn encouraged us to draw on our covers... Later.

The construction was crazy - different from my Christmas journal: I machine sewed 5 signatures about 1cm apart onto a double layer of cotton cloth. Then I zig-zag stitched the cardboard covers to the fabric, here. Slowly, gently, my machine agreed to all of it. I painted some canvas for the outer cover. See the pocket of brown paper bag that I glued under the canvas? That will be for medallions or components that I have yet to collage into place.

And then for pages I used papers that I have in an I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-you box. Some are experiments like this orange monoprint I drew on freezer paper and then printed onto drawing paper. Some are old tourist maps from various places in Maine. (Next to a not very successful, uh, I don't know what orange page.)

A short fold of a calendar photo page on the left, between my fingers, and a Traci Bautista idea from her book, Collage Unleashed, on the right. (Dyed paper towel brayered, with wrinkles, onto drawing paper.)

A page of old photos I got at a yard sale 20 years ago that I sewed in upside down!! Which is getting ready for some gesso - I will just paint over that.
And an acrylic painted page, complete with sprays of red, watered acrylic.
So, I am off and running. I have lots more pages to gesso and paint. Then collage, draw and write on. God is in Her heaven, and the voice of the artist is heard in her journal. This is fun.

Free printables

2009-12-14T08:53:00.002-05:00

Lisa Volrath has done it again: given us some Christmas images to play with. Go here, to her site, to check them out.

Happy crafting.

Oh, My. You have to go see this!

2009-12-04T08:33:00.004-05:00

This is called Extreem Sheparding.
I laughed and laughed. It is brilliant. Quick: go now:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=17075685001

December Journal II

2009-12-01T04:50:00.010-05:00

Oh! Here we go: The front cover of my December Art Journal: For me there has always been a big wind-up to the actual day. So I thought that I might just come out and name the journal after what is going on for me this month. Although, I am not much of a Christian anymore. I was raised that way, but as I grow older I find the Wiccan Winter Solstice traditions to have more meaning. I could have named my journal that ... but I think that I have some exploring to do here. So I am O.K. with the cover as it stands.

Here is the back cover. I am liking the bird.

And now for some of the interior pages. The page on the right is a brown paper bag that I stamped, drew, collaged, and sewed for some ATC backgrounds. I love it and this was about all that there was left.And a close-up of that green page - see that wrinkly part at the top? Well, when the paint below was pretty dry but the red paint on top was still a bit wet, I scrunched up a tissue and blotted the paint a few times. I love the texture.

And! And, do you know what? I often find acrylic painted pages to be kind of rough and bumpy - not excellent for journaling - but when I was painting the page above, and these two below, I streaked the paint down and around with tissues: it made them wonderously smooth!

You probably knew that. Well, as I said, there is always something more to learn.

How about this page? I made it with Traci Bautista's Collage Unleashed technique of dying paper towels and then transferring the dye to white paper.

A page made from an old map:

The center pages are all of a paper doily that I could get to fit. They are so fragile. I may have to come up with a scheme to make them stronger. I am waiting to see what I write/art on them first.

Three yummy photos of two pages that I painted and then stuck against each other - when I pulled them apart (immediately) they made all of these little "prarie grasses" marks.

Look:

And here: (tilt your head to the left to get the prarie grass feel)

This page on the right I painted, rubbed smooth, and then dragged glitter paint across.

So how much fun do you think I will have journaling this month?!

Yay!

December Journal

2009-12-01T04:35:00.002-05:00

Eeeeee! I am taking an art journaling class with Dawn Sokol, of 1000 Artist Journal Pages fame. She is walking us through the making of a special journal that she calls 12.31, as in it will be done on the last day of December. This has been fun. A new way to see December and this holiday that is so huge in this culture.

Even though I am familiar with some of the techniques, I am still stretching and learning. So I am here today showing you some of my progress so far ... er, here I am trying to show you ...

Y'know, I have heard of Blogger having trouble loading pictures...

Phooey.

I am going out and in again, that worked last time.

Art. Beading. Music. Cleaning out my studio.

2009-11-24T09:45:00.005-05:00

Beading again.

And then this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpunQZ4cUyI

Three Copyright Free Paintings

2009-11-20T06:19:00.005-05:00

These are the three paintings that I mentioned in the previous post. They are acrylic paintings for a new artist journal that I am working on. They are just the base pages, ready for collage, drawing and writing.I offer them to you, completely copyright free, in gratitude for what abundance af art and beauty I live in, indeed for all the Gifts I have been given.Print them out for your own journals, Artist Trading Cards, greeting cards, origami, or whatever else you would like. Again, I - we - would love to see what you have done, so post a comment here with a link to your blog, flickr, site, wherever. You are free to pass this post/these pics to anyone you like.

Have fun!

I am here...

2009-11-20T04:37:00.008-05:00

I feel like I am Rocky, in that moment where he is running up the steps and stretches out his arms into the morning sun. Well not quite that triumphant but bloody well determined anyway.

You probably thought that I fainted and fell off a cliff.

Not anytime soon.

Life happens. I go non-verbal while I process it all. I have been longing to get back to writing, so I am dragging myself over here to begin. I am seeing that when I hesitate, stumble around wordlessly, a bit scared (or even nigh on to petrified) maybe, perhaps, I am closer to saying the true thing, being the strong one. That Marianne Williamson quote about fearing our fabulousness. I swear to God that pisses me off: that any of us should ever doubt - that we are taught to doubt - what is excellent in us because it is outside the norm. Although I get the whole go-along-with-the-community-to-dwell-within-the-safety-of-the-community thing, I also am experienced enough to know that it is our unique gifts that will save the world.

Also I am a parent and see how very easy it is to get caught up in the yearning for status quo and bark at my family to strive for that too. Thus squashing the tender blossoming I am soooo honored to bear witness to.

I was graced yesterday to allow my deep need to fit into whatever personal version of "community synch" I imagined to be true just slide on past, and simply support my child and his demanding, but brilliant, pace of learning. I came home thrilled, or maybe just amazed that I had listened to that same God I just swore by. And I came home with a happy, engaged child. No squished blossoms on anyone's part.

Parenting is the most amazing Gift. Like the Goddess Inanna stripping off her every outer adornment and protection, we are offered an opportunity to leave every last vestage of "normal" and bear witness to Ereshkigal: moan and rock like the flies with the Queen of our Souls:

The kurgarra and galatur [the flies] moan with Ereshkigal, appeasing her anguish by the echo of their concern, affirming her in her suffering. Enki has understood that complaining is one voice of the dark goddess, a way of expressing life -- valid and deep in the feminine soul. Such complaining does not seek alleviation as much as it is to simply state the existence of things as they are felt to a sensitive and vulnerable being. There is no need for a stoic-heroic superego perspective of judging it as foolish and passive whining, but rather it should be viewed as autonomous fact -- “that's the way it is.” Suffering is seen as part of reverencing.

Ereshkigal is so touched by the attention they offer her in her pain that she extends herself and offers gifts of fertility and growth.

We are offered the chance to allow another's reality to be True and Good (straight from God) no matter how late it will make us at the grocery store or how awkward we think it might make us look in front of our friends, and that very stretching to listen (with God) to our unutterably marvelous children is, although absolutely a treasure for our children, also, fantastically, a gift to ourselves as well.

Like Ereshkigal, our children (and our own inner children) (and God) hear our attentive moaning with and extend themselves, offering us Blessings.

I grew up hearing all about how I was supposed to be seen but not heard. (Raise your hands: how many of you heard that too??) And so I thought that that was my job as a parent: to "spend the first two years of their lives teaching my children to walk and talk and the next sixteen years to sit down and shut up". But I now can see that this method just teaches us that we must be pretty enough to be visually pleasing and yet that we have nothing inside of any value to anyone, least of all ourselves. I can see, miraculously, in my children that this is blatently not true.

At every turn my children open doors for me. Through loving them (listening to them, even when their hungers or needs don't fit my schedule or sense of decorum, and even when I am quite sure that I have no strength or talent for doing what they need to have done) I have experienced my own wonderfullness. This happens when I am making way for what they can do, as well as making allowances for what they cannot do.

And then sometimes, often, yesterday, if I stay right with them, mirroring to them what I see, confirming to them by altering my pace to suit theirs that they are infinately loveable, then what they used to not be able to do they can now accomplish.

Oh. My. God.

And so my life has been full lately of this work. Or maybe just reverence.

Anyway, also, I have been painting. I am going to put three of my latest base journal pages here. In gratitude for all of the Gifts and Blessings afore mentioned in this post, and to keep them flowing, I offer them to you, copyright free, to print out and draw on, or cut up and collage with, or whatever strikes your fancy. Of course you are free to tell your friends and blog readers where you got them, and of course I would love to see your blog or Flickr links to what you did, but really, they are free for you to use however you would like.

Eeeps! I am having trouble loading photos... I will post this and try to load the photos in a separate post...

Goddess Bless all of us parents.
Goddess Bless the artists.
Goddess Blessings on and on the children.

Kreativ Blogger Award

2009-10-14T06:37:00.002-04:00

Good morning. You will see in my sidebar that I was given the Kreativ Blogger Award by GypsyLulu. Thanks, G. So: I need to tell you 7 things about me and then pass this award on.

Hmmm ... Let's pass this on to:

1. http://jafabrit.blogspot.com/
2. http://alewivesgirl.blogspot.com/
3. http://beadlust.blogspot.com/
4. http://comfortdolls.blogspot.com/
5. http://alteredbelly.blogspot.com/
6. http://paperforest.blogspot.com/
7. http://claudinejalajas.blogspot.com/

And now some public secrets ...
1. I always wanted to be an artist and thought that this title was about the most wonderful and completely out of reach in the world. For me, anyway.
2. I have been sewing and cutting/pasting paper since I was old enough to hold the scissors (about 4 years old).
3. Thought #2. and all those years of practice and training had very little impact on Thought #1 for many decades.
4. I still feel a little odd about letting it be O.K. that I am who I most want to be.
5. I tried to stop. I thought that my work had to be elsewhere, but figured out that I couldn't. I now have two careers, and am making inroads to a third. Third Job. Third concurrent job.
6. What am I: nuts?
7. Whatever. I am a Mom: single parent of two homeschooled children. I am an artist-writer working on my fourth book. And the third is some kind of advocacy professional. Haven't worked out the deets yet. Good thing I'm a woman.

I Love this song!

2009-10-13T03:29:00.000-04:00

I Was Interviewed by Laura Bray

2009-10-12T18:47:00.003-04:00

I have just finished an online class from Laura Bray called Multiple Streams of Income. Well, that is to say that the class is over, but I am not finished: I am going to be pouring over my class materials and learning from it for a very long time I think.

Laura is a great teacher, filled the 4 weeks with lots of information and really got me seeing all kinds of new options for my work. We were given lots of ways to view our livlihoods, and really asked to exercise and brainstorm our way through the possibilities with the company of others - worlwide. Very good.

Laura asked me for an interview at the end of class: read it here on her blog.

I would recommend her classes to any of you out there, not just artists.

Art Charms From Number 6 Plastic

2009-10-04T13:26:00.005-04:00

Remember a couple of days ago when I showed you some images of how I made charms for my art quilts? (The birds and heart triangles.) Well I discovered a slightly healthier source of #6 plastic - shrink plastic. Newman's Organic Ginger-O's.

So here is a fun project.

#1. Eat the cookies. By the way, I am pretty sure that all of the different flavors of Newman-O's come in #6 trays. Share them with friends. Read fairy tales to your children in between nibbles. Settle in with a cup of tea, your dreams and a couple of cookies.

#2. When the cookies are all gone (or if you put your cookies in a jar) rinse out the tray. Dry it off or not: see below, #4.

#3. Take a regular hole punch and punch a few holes. Because I will be sewing this onto an art quilt, I punched once at each top corner and five times along the bottom so that I can both attach it to the quilt and also hang beaded dangles from the bottom edge. You will not be able to punch the charm after it is heated. It becomes very thick and strong. (Like the magic shine on my hole punch?)

NOTE: If you are using the kind of shrink plastic that is sold in craft stores you are likely to get a thicker sheet which will shrink, but not shrink as much as these trays. The Newman People make these trays as thin as they can to keep waste down to a minimum. Thank you Newman People. These thin trays shrink to almost 1/3 of their original size. I started with a 6" x 8" x 2" tray (15cm x 20.5cm x 5cm) and ended up with a charm measuring 2.5" x 3" (6cm x 7.5cm). So use a regular 1/4" (5mm) hole punch - nothing smaller as the resulting hole will be too small for a needle. Look below to see where I threaded the green floss to help you see where I put my holes.

#4. With either a heat gun or a designated art oven at 275 degrees F (I have an old toaster oven that we never use for food), and in a well ventilated area, heat the tray on a metal baking sheet. I use aluminum foil over the oven tray or an old aluminum baking tray with the heat gun. It took me about a minute with my heat gun. In the oven you have to watch it. In both cases the plastic wrinkles and curls - it may even flip over. It will then uncurl and nearly flatten. I use cloth or tongs to pick it up out of the aluminum tray (mine has ridges) and set it on something flat, and while it is still hot press the piece completely flat with something flat (I had a jar lid, or use a book, a block...) Oh! And do you see below where there are little spots and bubbles on my charm? I did not dry my tray off first and I think that the water spots made the plastic take the heat unevenly. I have decided that this was an intentional design consideration...

You can still see the happy cookie ridges.

#5. Decorate with permanent markers. Consider the possibilities of drawing one design on one side and another part of the picture or design on the other side: the trunk of a tree on the back and the leaves in the front? The frame on the back, with accents and a quote on the front? Something like that.

I hope that you have fun, and please do leave me a comment linking back to your blog with photos of your Newman-O's charm!

Online Open Studios Event

2009-10-03T13:29:00.008-04:00

Greetings from my studio. Quilting Arts is publishing a fall issue of Studios magazine and invited its members to open our studios for an online tour. I am actually combining this with a view of some more of my Reconfigured Trash Art. You can go here to see who else is on the tour. This should be so, so good. I am going on tour as soon as I have posted. Meanwhile, Welcome! I am so glad that you stopped by!

Here is a view of one of the walls that I use for display. And below are some close-ups of a couple of my Trash Vessels.This one is called: Broken Shells From The Egg Of Desire. Can you see the diamonds from an egg carton? The beads are sterling silver.A close-up from "Bells of Clarity". The bells are caps from water bottles, the clappers are clothing clips. Those bugle beads are 14K goldfill.

This one is "Make A Wish" and has silver stars cut from milk cartons.I have been painting brown paper bags lately. I am finding that it makes a great collage-able paper. It is thick and makes even more dimensional the finished collages - which I like. Above is one in blues and greens. Below is the start of another. I first paint the brown paper - a bag cut open - with gesso which gives the paper a lovely malleable, rubbery hand.I am painting, you will see, on a piece of BlueBoard. It is an insulation board that I got at the hardware store. I think it came in a 4' x 8' piece and I cut it with a utility knife into six pieces. I paint on them - and don't mind the spatters - then pick up the whole board and place it somewhere out of the way to dry. Ever tried picking up wet paper? So awkward. This solves all that. I love these boards. If I ever decide that they are too paint ridden, I will carve into them, paint them and turn them into art. :)I have been taking painting lessons from a local painter. A whooole new way to use my brain and the acrylic. I am learning that one paints a little, lets it dry, adds new colors and depth, layering on until lovliness is achieved. I have a ways to go here...Here is a yummy view of one of my bead walls. Jam and peanut butter jars mostly on specifically measured shelves.

I have art hung everywhere...And my computer: an important art tool. Recognise the wallpaper there? It is from my birthday party in June.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I have a little door prize for the first 25 visitors: an ATC, an ATC sized piece of that blue and green painted paper that I just showed to you, and a bit of ephemera from my studio. Just leave your mailing address at my email: robinsunne@robinsunne.com. (Don't leave it here: not so private for you.) International address are O.K. I will amend this post when I have your 25 addresses.

Hi--- Thanks for all of the visitors and comments. The doorprizes are all done. I will send them out today, Monday, you should have them by the end of the week.

"See" you around...

Accordion Book Hinge Part II

2009-09-29T12:46:00.004-04:00

Well ... here are the results:

I would say that those are too many glue warpings. Huh. Does anyone know: is there a better kind of glue to use? Would the warps flatten out if I left them under the books overnight (instead of for only 1/2 an hour?)

Now that pale green/contrasting fabric is really noticeable. I would want to use fabric that was the width of both pages and whose pattern or color really added to the statement of the book. For now I like better the matching blue:And here is the book all folded up:I think that I will fill the book and post about that later.

Was this helpful?

Accordion Book Hinges

2009-09-29T10:24:00.010-04:00

Good Morning/Day/Night (wherever, whenever you are).

I am a member of the TrueNorthArts Yahoo Group and there was a question of how to make a really loooong accordion book without really loooong paper: how does one connect shorter papers without bulking up the book?

Here's the idea I had: use fabric as the hinge. Now, as I am not really sure what I am talking about, I thought I'd do it myself, photograph the steps and see what happens. Let's go.

Step One:

Cut your papers into the correct height for your book's pages. I am using Canson art paper here. A little shout out to the Canson People. Nice papers, thank you.

Step Two:

Fold the papers into the correct width for your book's pages. You might be noticing that not all of the papers are folded to the same width. I just wanted to see what would happen. Stay tuned.

Step Three:

Cut one piece of fabric for each hinge between two ends of the various accordion folds for your book. NOTE: Cut them a bit taller than the paper - we'll trim them exactly later. I used solid cotton broadcloth. Now I have cut one pale green fabric that doesn't match the paper for contrast? An artistic statement? And then I used one blue cloth that almost exactly matches the fabric to see how invisible I can make this hinge.

Step Four:

I neatened the long, vertical edges, cutting off the little fringies and unwoven threads. I did not cut the top or bottom as we will do that later.

Step Five:
I placed one fabric piece on a piece of clean paper (I cut up all of my recycled papers to make notebooks for myself and didn't have any big enough for this project.) I got out my Elmer's white glue (Hello Elmer's Products, Inc.) and squirted some (too much! - read below) on to get ready for ...
Step Six:

...where I painted the glue all over the fabric. Make sure that you get the glue evenly spread aaaall over the fabric. Pick up the gluey fabric and put it on a clean piece of paper (so that you don't get the extra brushed glue where you don't want it.)

Step Seven:

Place one end of one folded paper down, rubbing it into place.

Step Eight:

Then press the other down. Now, see how the papers are wrinkling a bit? Too much glue. I tried using less glue on the next hinge...

Step Nine:

So I tried less glue ... but it wasn't enough ... so I about doubled the amount shown here, ending up at slightly less than the pale fabric above.

Step Ten:

I put the next set of folded papers on, abutting them about as precisely as I could. But I was in a hurry and cut badly - see how they don't match at the top?With the pale fabric I cut off the extra fabric at the top and bottom with a pair of scissors, but here I used a metal straight edge and an X-Acto knife.I liked how very much easier and neater that was. Can you see in this photo that I just cut off the extra tall paper. (No one ever accused me of being a Type A personality.)

Step Eleven:

I covered each page, both sides, with some plastic wrappers that I had in my studio then laid books on top of the paper/cloth hinges. I will send off this post, go undo the stack - hoping that the wet-glue-warps might have flattened out, and post you the results. (A short advertisement here - I used my own books for the stack! Nannee, The Great Library ATC Swap and Chang E, The Lady of the Moon.)

Open Virtual Studio this Weekend

2009-09-28T15:19:00.004-04:00

Hey! I am going to be a part of Quilting Arts' Online Open Studios Event! It takes place on this Saturday and Sunday. Do stop by my blog, here. I will be waiting for you and might even have a door prize for you.

Another Trash Walk Through My Studio

2009-09-24T16:12:00.005-04:00

Hi, another Thursday, another Trash Walk.
You asked for photos of the whole pieces, so here you are: Prayers I and Prayers II: These art quilts were both done on cotton cloth; mostly reverse applique, then embellished with either sterling silver or 14K goldfill beads, then glass beads and various bits of reconfigured trash. They are each about 43" x 9" (1.25 x .25m). This week's detail pics come from Prayers I.

Here in the first close-up is a silver colored, plastic wrapper from a printer ink, cut to shape and fit to shape the triangle that I had made, and then sewn on with silver thread.

These lovely stars were cut from black vegetable tray foam with a little polymer clay cookie cutter. It actually only impressed the foam. I had to go back and finish cutting with a craft knife.Next is a row of CD drops.A chip cut from the top of an oatmeal box.Another little glass vial with a teatag saying in it.

A feather shape cut from that silver plastic, this time slightly etched with a dull pencil for texture, and sewn again with silver thread.

A curious couple of lines: the top one has tiny squares of blue packaging held on with one size 11 seed bead each. The bottom one has silver beads bracketing a piece of packaging wire that I wound around a pencil then fanned into shape.More packaging black plastic with silver beads to hold it on.And lastly an applique web with the silver nibs from some pens.

I loved making these. Maybe I will make some more someday.

I have more to show you so stop by next Thursday, O.K.?

A chat with Jane Davies, a trash walk through my studio ...

2009-09-17T15:16:00.007-04:00

I just got a lovely email from Jane Davies, author of Collage Journeys. She and I have been chatting a bit about using recycled items in one's work. I told her that I would tell her a bit of what I have done, but I thought that you all might enjoy the conversation too. The photos that I will be telling you about all come from a work entitled Prayers II which I did in 2006.

This view has one of my favorite uses for "reconfigured trash". There are three letter beads caught in what I keep calling bubble packaging - plastic packaging that is blown out to generally conform to the shape of the item inside. There is usually a flat outer rim which is perfect for sewing, or gluing, onto one's art surface. This bubble was around a short camera battery and I must not have liked the color of the torn off cardboard because here I cut a rectangle a little smaller than the outer shape, clipped the corners and turned the fabric under making a reverse applique hole for the bubble to fit into. I sewed it all down with size 11 seed beads.Next there were some polymer clay fish cut from a pancake of bits and pieces left over from another project. That center blue diamond is very carefully stitched foil that once graced a rather nice chocolate. :)

Sorry about the fuzzy focus on this one: between some more reverse applique I sewed little tiny bottles of the chopped up purple plastic of a raisin tub top. What if one could buy little bottles of LOVE from the apothecary? I wondered... These bottles came from stampington.com

Here is more of that purple top cut to fit the applique and blend nicely with some more beads. Above the triangles are more leftover clay buttons. Very marvellous how a bit of faux gold leafing classes them up.

I hope that you can see these well enough. They are water bottle tops over the little world maps that are printed on those fake credit cards they used to send us in the mail.

More chocolate wrappers cut to echo the shapes that I had sewn. Those are little blue birds settling in made of shrink plastic. DID YOU KNOW that #6 plastic (a very brittle plastic often used for bakery and deli foods at our local grocery store) is shrink plastic?? Depending on what you buy at the grocery store, this could be good news.More shrink plastic ... I drew the hearts and borders in gold marker and it kind of bubbled up as I heated/shrank it. Interesting.Here I put in two dollar coins with a shisha stitch and a cancelled USA stamp. The purple cardboard had been another piece of junk mail.And lastly an image from an old Tibetan incense box. In China two fish mean "abundance". Is it the same in Tibet

In Prayers II I put 24K goldfill beads next to plastic beads and real coins next to trash, but cut and framed by cloth, and thread, and bead, it all starts to make sense. Just like prayers.

Did you enjoy this little walk through my studio? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear what you are doing with your reconfigured trash.

Chang E, The Lady of the Moon is published!

2009-09-10T15:56:00.004-04:00

Greetings!

I am so pleased to let you know about my latest picture book:
Chang E: the Lady of the Moon
The book is available at:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=542011

As a fortuitous treat, the printer is making a special offer good through September 30th.
Go to: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=542011
Click “Buy” and enter the code ‘LULUBOOK’ at checkout and receive 10% off your purchase!
Void where prohibited.

Chang E is the story of the Chinese Moon Goddess and how she came to live on the moon. Each year at the Autumn Full Moon Festival people in China, Viet Nam and all over the world gather with their families to celebrate the harvest, our children, and being together. When you read the story you will find out why this night is so special to Chang E and her husband, Hou Yi. This year her festival falls on October 3rd in Asia and on October 2nd here in North America.

Chang E is a picture book that I drew for my Asian born children back in 2001 when they were very young. Our adoption group has read this story to the children every year at the end of our own Autumn Full Moon celebration. We too look up at the moon, and imagine.

I have always wanted to share this story. This past year I polished up all of my original drawings and prepared the book for international publication. It is done; the book is ready.

I invite you to curl up with your children on this special night, enjoy the gorgeous colors of this picture book, and whisper your wishes to Chang E.
.
The book is available at: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=542011

Please pass this on to anyone else who might enjoy this retelling of the wonderful

Chang E, The Lady of the Moon

and her brave husband, Hou Yi, now, just in time for the Autumn Full Moon Festival.

Oh! And if you love this illustration you can find it on a mug and some other items in my store at http://www.cafepress.com/sunneshop

Yay! O Blessings are everywhere! This is all wonderful.

Happy Day to you too.

Artellaland...

2009-09-09T06:35:00.002-04:00

Oh. Wow. I have just found a, a, an amazing web-land: http://www.artellaland.com/affiliates/jrox.php?id=1442

I have dial-up. This is gonna take a while. Their site is soooo chuck-a-block full of beautiful downloads, and intriguing classes, and the most lovely attitude about art - about saying "Yes."

So I really reccommend that you go take a look around. Actually, a lot of little - and even huge - downloads are free.

And you can get a membership as an art journalist, a business artist, an image junkie (my words, not theirs) and more and more, and MORE!

wow.

Happy Days!!

2009-09-08T19:42:00.004-04:00

I tell you: I have some major star allignment going on!

First, I was made the Featured Member Artist on the Maine Crafts Association web page for September. Go take a look: http://mainecrafts.org/2009/08/31/robinsunne-rockport/ Hooray!

Next, I was notified that my work was chosen for inclusion in the upcoming book by Quarry Books entitled 1000 Artisan Textiles. Yay, O Yay! The book is being released next May. I can hardly wait - the book will be a feast of inspiration. Wow. There is more info on the book here, at their website: http://1000artisantextiles.com.

Stay tuned for some happy news about Chang E, The Lady of the Moon, my new picture book. Oh, and if you want to see what Chang E and her husband Hou Yi look like go here to see them: http://www.cafepress.com/sunneshop

May you all be fabulous, and lucky, and have excellent work to do just like me.

Chang E is delayed

2009-09-03T14:08:00.004-04:00

Ooooh! Noooo!

I have received my second proof of Chang E. There is a mistake. We are not entirely clear why the revisions that we sent did not complete properly. One of the pages is incorrect. Phooey! It is some combination of a human misunderstanding of a computer program that was problematic and then, we thought, corrected. Oh. >sigh<

It probably doesn't matter. It is just an error to fix. An opportunity to breathe deeply. Find God (Whomever.) Practice my stitches as I enter into the work for my next book. (Yes, the next one is another art/craft How-To book, this one blissfully about stitching, one of my very favorite activities here on Planet Earth.)

I have been sooo on edge, so excited. I really love this Chang E story - I love the way we (the families-by-adoption group) have been telling it to our little crowd of children for years. How sweetly the littles have grown up to be big kids and now have joined in to read the book aloud to the new little kids in our group.

I want you to see it. The colors are so pretty. The heroine so strong, the hero so brave. Qualities I am honored to bring as a gift in this story. And clearly patience and a willingness to see to the details are also gifts from this story. I can do this. Not much more than another week to see this third proof through its process.

Breath. I will sew, wash dishes, what is it - chop wood, carry water. Different chores but the same process: look for blessings in the 'what-is'.

I can do this.

waiting for Chang E

2009-08-24T15:17:00.002-04:00

I, personally, am going insane waiting for Chang E (my proof copy) to arrive. Oh, >sigh<.

Bead Ribbons are now available!

2009-08-23T16:09:00.003-04:00

I have been making Bead Ribbons as my part in getting Chang E began to slow down. It seems to calm my heart, get me breathing regularly again.And I have been wanting to show these to you.
They are so amazing to hold.
They look like a ribbon, but being made of glass seed beads they are actually heavy.Go on over to etsy and have a look.

Chang E is at the printer

2009-08-22T12:11:00.008-04:00

I am waiting ... waiting ...

Chang E, my newest Picture book, is now completely uploaded and at the printer. So, I wait for the final proofreading and O.K.

I thought that in the meantime I would update my website and some other places. So I am at the library where they have a much faster internet connection ... except that it is not working very fast today.

>sigh<

I am working on a new handmade book and some ATCs while I wait.

So here is an ATC journal that I made about a year ago.

And here is a new handmade journal that I started working on last night.

Above you see it closed with a thread loop and rose quartz bead. Lovely handmade paper from our local art store.

Below it is open. I have sewn the signatures at quite a distance apart on purpose - so that I will be able to add lots of 3-dimensional treasures. It will keep me busy and keep me from getting too impatient while I wait for the final proof of Chang E.

Chang E reaching the printers!

2009-08-21T05:48:00.003-04:00

Eeeeeeee!

I am so excited! I am in the process of getting Chang E: The Lady of the Moon off to the printers. It won't be long now. Lots of proofreading at this point, making sure that what we are sending them is actually what got over the web waves to them. There was a bit of a snafu last night, but my computer guy will fix that this morning.

I am self publishing at lulu.com. This is a print-on-demand publisher. Actually, they are a printer. I am the publisher: Robinsunne Postcard Press. I had this all figured out when I was 11.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this in the past week: I have always thought that I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always stared in wonderment at my friends who left college and went out and got a "real" job. You know: in a bank, or a business, or went to graduate school, got some alphabet after their name (LCSW, MSED, MB, PhD) and then went and actually got a job doing what they had studied. I have always been so impressed and so totally helpless to do anything of the sort.

What I am seeing now is that I was in an educational system, just not one that gives out sheepskin. I have had a rather unglorious string of jobs that have actually included fast food joints. Of course there were some pearls in there too (ever been to Coyote Moon in Belfast?) But I haven't been making the money that my peers have. I don't have more than a BA on my wall, and that is in History. I still haven't figured out what that was all about.

So I have always wondered: what is my job? What is my work? What am I doing here?

Well, now I know. Sort-of. I actually think that I am doing the thing that will take me to the real work of my life. Anyway: I write books. I have been wanting to tell stories and teach art most of my life and now, with the miracles of the internet and print-on-demand publishing, I can just write out all of the stuff that has been gathering in my brain for decades.

It is very exciting. Chang E is my second picture book and next on my list (already underway, in fact) is another how-to art book. It is odd. I actually know a lot. I have been practicing stuff that isn't out on the art shelves at the bookstores yet, and I think that you all will enjoy the books a lot. This next book has many, beautiful and amazing art quilts in it. Yeah, they are all by me, and I don't mean to be bragging, just to get you excited about the technique because it is simple and, well, just plain luscious. You can do this and you will make even more thrilling pieces than I can imagine.

Anyway, I belong here; in this way, doing this thing: writing books.

Keep checking in. We are only a week or two away.

!!!!!!!!

bead ribbons

2009-08-03T13:19:00.002-04:00

It has been all about bead ribbons lately ... yeah, that and messed up computers. Thus: the long blogging vacation.
But lots of beads!