Sunday, November 16, 2014


cover of homemade journal, watercolor and acrylic paint,
3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

last night i repainted the face on the cover of the journal i'm working in...


it looked like this before - it's an old painting that i used to like, until i began to not like it.   just looking at her made me feel kind of tired...    so i tried different things.  you know how it is, you seem to be going from bad to worse and then it all comes together and you like it.   i'm glad i like it now.  it's so much better working in a book with a pleasing cover.  or a book whose cover is a work in progress - that's good too.   i often don't do anything to the cover until i'm near the end.  that way i know what the  'flavor' of the book is and can make the cover have a similar one.

'intercessor #332' ~ watercolor and graphite on stillman and birn 'delta' paper', 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

i've been painting a lot of intercessors.

watercolor and graphite on stillman and birn 'delta' paper', 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

many of them.   this is one of the last pages that i painted while sitting outside, on a sunny ridge, watching grasshoppers fly around.   they were out and about that day.

'intercessor #531' ~ watercolor and graphite on stillman and birn 'delta' paper', 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

 i do miss painting outside.   i came to love that last summer...

'emergency intercessor #513 ~ watercolor and graphite on stillman and birn 'delta' paper', 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

anyway, intercessors spread beneficial energy around.   they're helpful...

'aquatic intercessor #444' ~ watercolor, graphite, and acrylic paint on stillman and birn 'delta' paper', 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

i'm not sure why an aquatic intercessor would be in a boat (bowl?), but there she is.

watercolor and graphite on stillman and birn 'delta' paper', 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"


pencil drawings from this morning...  sometimes i don't want the pencil to smudge onto the opposite page, so i spray it with


this.   one coat (also one coat on the cover of the book), and no more smudging.   this is my hands down favorite spray varnish so far.  it has none of the really bad chemicals in it, and is as close to no odor as any spray varnish i've tried.   it creates a soft, satin finish - not high gloss, just soft.  if you read the reviews at the amazon link, one says that it goes on milky - nope, haven't had that experience;  another says that the nozzle is crap - also nope.

i wanted to tell you about that...  

in the last post jeannie left a link with info about emailing stillman and birn to ask for free paper samples.  it's here.

and janine asked about a good book making tutorial.  i like this one by pam carriker.

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"You can't experiment and be flawless at the same time."

~  Nick Bantock, 'The Trickster's Hat'