altered book

i have been at an altered book class the past two days. the class was taught by a long-time good friend of mine- Jennifer Stone...who is incredibly talented....and in her A-mazing studio space!

this is the cover of my book below. (we had to try and choose a cardboard book from her vast collection of fun shapes and sizes.)

i had such a fantastic time on thursday gluing, doodling, and painting- that i spent the night and took the class again on friday! the class was really for anyone at any level and Jennifer did just a wonderful job explaining the process and answering questions as she went and helping anyone that needed any assistance.

here are a few pics from the rest of my book.....

my book is not quite done- i still have a few pages left to do something with....but, according to Jennifer, the book are never, ever quite done..... she told us that even in the books that may look done- she still grabs those, and finds herself adding something to a page. the books literally have to be taken out of her hands when sold to stop the process.

happy saturday! hope you are busy creating something!

cardboard book {collage and personal insight}

still slowly working through this little cardboard book i had purchased when the inspiration strikes. my challenge for this page was to only use scraps i could find around my work area.

as a collage/ mixed media artist i find it incredibly difficult to throw anything away.....let me be clear....i cannot hardly throw anything away. which is probably fine if you are an organized, neat artist. but, i am not.

nope. not neat in the least.

in fact, my studio is normally in a state of what i would call organized chaos. i tend to work and paint wet which means i normally have several projects "cooking" all at once. i will work on one thing and then have to set it aside and will grab something else. there are normally 2 or 3 art journals open, drying and in various stages of doneness.

sometimes though the project is not wet...sometimes i come to a point and i feel like i am not done with it, or i am not sure i like it, but, i do not know what to do next. i like to leave those around in unexpected places. sometimes it is easier to "see" what i don't like about it if i am not staring directly at it. i will come around a corner, and be like, "oh holy cow, i have no focal spot and this is a hot mess..." then, i can go back into the piece and fix what it needs.

do you have any tips or tricks? how do you work?

happy saturday!