Altered Book Project

{Altered Book Cover, 2010}

{Altered Book: Favorite Color, 2010}

{Altered Book: Favorite Books, 2010}

{Altered Book: Travel, 2010}

{Altered Book: Gardening, 2010}

{Altered Book: Ocean, 2010}

I am currently teaching a Mixed Media class for 9-12 year olds at the Des Moines Art Center. Our first project is an Altered Book and so this past week I have been filling up my demonstration book with examples of collage and ideas. I love the tactile experience of collage and altered books. (during and after the processes of making them) I still have several pages to fill, but I plan to finish the book. It can be pretty cool to have a visual record of what you were into at the time... like 2010 in this instance! For this altered book I went to the local thrift store and purchased a board book. The pages are generally pretty thick and shiny with UV coating to resist things that babies do (ie drool, food, puke). While its nice to have a thick board book, the shine can interfere with paint chipping off so I recommend sanding the book and adding one layer of gesso to the covers and each page before beginning.

Figure Study

{Watercolor Detail, 2010}

{Watercolor Sketch, 2010}

Today was the first day of a figure studio class I am taking at the Des Moines Art Center with instructor Tracy Duran. I worked on a small watercolor study today (probably around 16"x20"). Drawing from life is one of my favorite things to do because no matter how long you've been at it, a new pose always provides a new challenge.

From My Garden

{Watercolor, 2010}

I planted my vegetable garden pretty late this year. Due to the heavy rains where I live in Iowa, I kind of lucked out because most people I know had a hard time with seeds washing away and too much water killing plants. As a result of my late planting, I am starting to pick my first tomatoes, even though most people in this zone (zone 4) would be almost done with them. When I went to pick my Speckled Roman tomato this morning it was so pretty I knew I would be drawing it. The color and shape of the Speckled Roman is just beautiful and it is supposed to taste similar to a Roma tomato since that is one of the species that were cross bred to create it. This was my first year growing the Speckled Roman. The other tomatoes are Yellow Pears and they taste like veggie-fruity-awesomeness. This was my second year growing Yellow Pears and each plant yields tons of fruit (I even grow organically and with no pest protection)! The air has cooled off here so I spent the afternoon drinking tea and painting this in my Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

Illustration Friday - Immovable

{Sketchbook with Digital Color, 2010}

My parents have an old oak tree in their yard that reaches way up to the sky. It is one of the biggest trees I have ever seen and it almost seems like some sort of immovable character in my childhood. Some of my fondest memories are of my early school days when I would get off the bus and my mom would be raking up the leaves from under that oak. The tree still inspires complete awe in me because I know it saw days from long long ago and my hope is that it has many more years in its future.