Saturday Morning

Repetition

I feel I am making great strides

with my BookArtObject project

and am enjoying the 

resulting multiple images

made from repetition.

BookArtObject - Progress

 Am

 working

away on my

Book Art Object 

project.

Have finally

sorted out my ideas

and played around a little

bit with materials and

processes.

I

think I'm

ready to take

on the daunting

task of actually

putting in the hard

yards and making

my

first

edition

of handmade

books.

Lots of work ahead of me, but looking forward to the results.

Paid Forward - To Me!

Herewith some photo's of the gift I received from

Jo Murray

for the Pay It Forward exercise.

Included in the package was a 

small ceramic brooch, an artist trading card 

(both handmade by Jo),

along with an explanation of how artist trading cards work

and snippets of rice papers for

me to add to my own little projects.

The beauty of these Pay It Forward gifts is

the insight they give into the character of the giver.

I think you can tell a lot about Jo's 

personality from the selection

she shared, don't you?

Thanks for the lovely gifts Jo,

I've really enjoyed 

making new connections and learning

more about others through their generosity.

Paid Forward to Lancashire

Herewith the little book I sent to  Jac

over in Lancashire UK

for my Pay It Forward contribution.

I was glad to hear it cheered her up after

a somewhat busy week.

Receiving little surprises in the mail

does have a marvelous tendency to 

bring a small moment of happiness, doesn't it?

(as does sending a parcel to the other side of the world,

who knows if it will be well received and 

where it goes on it's journey in between?).

Like a present, 

the expectation of something tactile on it's way,

then the moment of arrival, before it's opened,

that anticipation of something being revealed,

not only the tactile object within the envelope but

also the giver's hopes and intent to gift a moment's pleasure.

Funny how that goodwill sticks to an object,

long after the act of giving has passed.

I have a few little gifts like this one

received in the post.
They still have the goodwill of the
sender/maker embedded within them.  

They still warm my heart long after their arrival
and remind me of the generosity of others.

Fern Prints

Been playing around with

the printing press and a few

natural bits & pieces -

ferns & string included.

Love the way the press has squeezed

a bit of colour out of the fern stems.

Will watch and wait and see how quickly it

takes to go brown.

This one's for Ronnie.....

But not just Ronnie

for everyone,
our environment included.

This is scary stuff on a lot of levels

and we here in Australia are shaking* in our collective boots.

(*shaking in fear, frustration and outrage)
We've seen the damage done elsewhere
and don't want it done here.

Poor Old Soul

Have driven past this poor old soul many times

  thinking to myself I should stop and take photo's.

Finally got around to it this morning

in between errands and showers of rain.

I like pondering on why these houses

end up left to the elements and

what happened to the people that

inhabited them.

Working Slowly

Alas, not getting a lot done creatively lately.

Too busy procrastinating with businessy typey stuff - blah!

Am still slowly plodding along with my

Sketchbook Project whenever I get a moment

and have some great things going on in my head

that I'm really looking forward to playing around with

when I get the time.

Betty Churcher's "Notebooks"

 

Have begun reading

 Betty Churcher's

"Notebooks"

in my quiet moments.

 

Have enjoyed reading the introduction so far,

in which Betty describes herself growing up around

familiar stamping grounds in Brisbane,

however, her travels and experiences thereafter 

are only dreams for this mere mortal

to view vicariously.

What would I rather be doing today?.......................

       

I think maybe today I would rather be wandering the

streets of Kyoto or Nara, 

but then you can't always get what you want, can you!

                                                                     

Shaun Tan

Shaun Tan

is a well known Australian artist & illustrator with extremely quirky and original concepts which have an edge of pathos to them.  

Many of his books have been made into short films and theatre productions.  

(A little bit like Brian Selznick ("Hugo"), 

in that his books are celebrations of story telling through illustration, 

although Tan seems to be living/working in/with 

much more fantastical worlds).

Some of my favourite of his books would have to be 

"The Lost Thing", 

"The Arrival" 

and 

"What Miscellaneous Abnormality is that?- a field guide"

If you haven't seen his work before 

head over to his website at  

Shaun Tan 

to discover a little bit about him.

Memories of Sunny Days Past & Paying it Forward

Taken on a recent sunny day 

during a stroll 

along our local beach.

Only one response to my "Pay it Forward" post from

the lovely Jac from Jac's Blog.

Jac is an Art & Design teacher

from Lancashire in England

who is currently focusing on printmaking

and book art.

Follow this link to jac's blog.

to read about some of her creative

thoughts & processes.

Jac is also a member of the Book Art Object

project for 2012. 

Thanks Jac for responding,

I will be forwarding a little something via

snail mail when I have completed it.

(I am a bit of a snail myself!!!)

As my blog doesn't tend to

generate a lot of comments,

and in the spirit of keeping up my end of 

paying it forward,

I would like to forward little handmade gifts 

to two more people as well,  

(no commitment required

on their behalf to pay it forward

- same goes for you too Jac!).

If you would like to receive a

tiny token in the mail,

please leave a comment,

otherwise I will pick two people

who have been kind enough to comment 

on my blog previously and send 

them surprises in the mail.

The Pay it Forward idea came via

Jo Murray 

who was a link in the chain from

a post on

Erin Keane's blog.