Small Mixed-Media Fabric books, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
It really is the end of November and Art Every Day Month and I can’t believe how much I’ve created this month! Thanks to all of the AEDM participants, Leah Piken Kolidas, my friends and Tom for all of your support. It wouldn’t be as much fun without you!
Click on books to connect to my Flickr account.
Watercolor Polkadot Button book, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
I was cleaning up my office and put away my sewing machine and ironing board and I know now that I can’t put them away at least for long. I missed them way too much. I have three more little books like this coming together really soon. They are so much fun to make. They’ve come out of AEDM and my mail art postcards.
Art Every Day Month has been such a blessing. I want to make work that I need to make, to connect with it, to find out what it needs, where it wants to be… and it really feels like I’m doing that. I’ve passed the point of no return in many ways. So much of it is just trusting that I’m on that path. Today I was looking for and found some great yarns I had purchased several years ago from Article Pract. They’re going to be used in the other books I’m making. It’s funny how things connect. The scraps of fabric that I’ve had over the years fit right in to the projects I’m working on now.
I had a lot of fun teaching Erin and Dave how to make books. Tom came in and took photos of us. I got a lot of good feedback from them. It’s such an emotional process for me… to teach. I’m quite attached and want things to work out for my students. But at the same time I also know with my own process that classes can be valuable for different reasons in different ways and so often not for the product I produced in the class. So I think more practice teaching and less attachment will help.
Book Cover Beginnings (in progress), originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
This in progress “Book Cover Beginning” actually looks better on the screen than it does in reality. It doesn’t have as much contrast. I really like the resisting qualities of crayon underneath watercolor. I’ll be folding this paper twice and creating a 1/2′ spine for the pages to go inside. I want to try a new stitch. Looking forward to learning.
I really appreciated this quote by Natalie Goldberg posted on Leah Piken Kolidas’ Day 27 Check-in for Art Every Day Month “Sometimes when you think you are done, it is just the edge of beginning. Probably that’s why we decide we’re done. It’s getting too scary. We are touching down onto something real. It is beyond the point when you think you are done that often something strong comes out.” In Leah’s post she says: “Today is the 27th day of Art Every Day Month. So close to the end of this particular journey. How would you like to wrap things up? What would make a beautiful ending for you?”
In so many ways, I do feel like this is the beginning. I’ve touched upon what it’s like to blog very consistently and to notice what it’s like to do art regularly. I appreciate the chance to document it in such a supportive and encouraging environment. I don’t want to stop but I also want to transition into a new way of being around my creating and maybe it’s just continuing… and discovering what’s right for me.
I had a really nice Thanksgiving yesterday with family. Good food and really nice people to be around. Erin and Dave brought fresh vegetables from Chino Farms. Yum!
No image today but I started painting paper for little books I’m going to make… I’ll be doing a similar idea to the postcards I’ve been doing but a book. I’ll post something soon. My sister and her partner are in town but I’ll make time to post. I’m going to teach them how to make books. I’m very excited.
I’ve been cleaning up my office studio, maybe just consolidating piles but was inspired by this decluttering post by The Star Garden another participant in AEDM. I am putting art up on the walls in my office studio and will take photos eventually. Today, I was inspired by these beautiful books by Letterself.
I am feeling a bit challenged with Art Every Day Month but also inspired by doing so much art. The momentum feels really good. Looking forward to running tomorrow morning and celebrating Thanksgiving with family. To those of you who celebrate, enjoy!
A2 Envelope Blue with stitching, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
I finished piecing my squares together… my quilt top. Wierd. Guess I can’t believe I did it, attempted it even. A lot of work. I folded it up and I really like the way it looks in its folded position… similar I think to my earlier days of painting where I liked a certain area of a piece and not the whole thing. I’m actually getting used to the quilt as a whole, it’s growing on me. It’s a really different experience building colors in a piece by piece basis and then discovering it looks so different as it becomes larger. Well, then maybe there are ways to approach quilting that are more strategic, more big picture. Hmmm… anyway, I just want to make pillows now or little bags or curtains. You get the picture. Much smaller things. Kind of like the postcard series I’m doing I guess.
I love listening to stories. Enjoyed this To The Best of Our Knowledge radio program entitled Channeling Creativity, especially the interview of Lynda Barry.
Oh, found fun things at the estate sale today for $3. Watercolor paper, canvas paper, a strip of a painting someone did, two altas books and envelopes. Looking forward to playing!
I now have a plugin for comments thanks to Amanda Hawkins so you can subscribe by email.
Purple Landscape, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
I had a really good bookbinding class today at Frank Bette Center for the Arts and looking into setting up another one for next year. I am super tired and looking forward for bed.
Here’s another landscape in my postcard series. I’ll be sewing my quilt squares together tomorrow and going to go to an estate sale! Oh, and yoga and sewing lab at Rock Paper Scissors Collective.
Roots and Branches Revisted, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
So I’ve been writing about my latest obsession with WordPress themes and I found out about Paper the theme Amanda Hawkins created. It’s a theme for artists and crafters. Really fun and she’s got a great style. She also has a DIY planner template and sewing instructions on her site. Check her out if you haven’t already! I found out about her via Erin Zam who makes incredible books. I love digging deep through the sites of other artists. One thing it has done is make them more accessible for me, basically so I don’t put them on a pedestal.
I’ve decided I want to create my own WordPress theme. Today, I was working on creating email blasts at work and I have so much fun trying to figure out code. I know I’ll enjoy it, it’ll just be a while before I tackle it.
I found out about Zentangles today. You’ll just have to take a look… Maria Thomas says ” Creating a Zentangle is like painting with patterns instead of colors.” There’s a beautiful Zentangle gallery on flckr.
Above is “Roots and Branches Revisited Reverse”. I really appreciate all the comments I’ve been receiving from people participating in Art Every Day Month. Your comments have helped me see more of what I create. It’s been helpful to see that the backs are part of the whole work, not just something you never show. Thanks to Tom for listening to me and helping me with the words for this last sentence.
Heartscape, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
I missed a day yesterday blogging but I did do some art and I really enjoyed connecting with my artist friend Deborah Griffin. Check out her very inspiring and deeply layered work! So fun to be next to the artist as she’s creating! She has a fabulous book collection that I enjoy looking through.
I began some more postcard backgrounds with colored pencils. Looking forward to seeing what happens with watercolor on top of them.
I’m looking for inspiring Wordpress sites. I’m not sure if this is Wordpress or not but I was definitely inspired by Thom Sevalrud’s site.
I’m realizing with this postcard above that I think I’d really enjoy free form quilting. I’m becoming more comfortable with sewing paper and I’d like to do some hand sewing like Cathy Cullis’ beautiful work. As I work on art this month, I’m seeing the bigger picture and the importance of creating a LOT of work.
Showoff Revisited, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
Sewn to the watercolor paper above are scraps of my quilt pieces that were lying on my floor. I love those end scraps. Very patchwork like. They remind me of prayer flags. I’ve been wanting to make some prayer flags and it’s so so nice when things just happen without any planning. What started out as a postcard mail art experiment has turned in a fun little series and I’m feeling a bit attached. I don’t want to mail them. I’m curious to discover what’s underneath them… what am I meant to learn from them? It will be revealed.
As much as the mess on my floor bothers me, I love picking up a paper or fabric scrap off the floor and helping it find a new home.
I spent a fair amount of time looking for a Wordpress Portfolio theme for my website this evening. There are definitely some nice ones out there but not exactly what I want. I can super focused and not want to do anything else. The transition from one thing to another can be difficult and yes, I know I need to clean the dishes at some point. 
Thanks so much for reading!
Quilt Squares, originally uploaded by Leah Virsik.
I’ve been working on this quilt and I can’t say I love it and I’m not sure this is how it’ll end up. I think it actually looks better in the photo than it does in real life. We’ll see… I’m out of my comfort zone and I don’t want to finish… I would easily quit except I have one last class to finish up and I don’t want to be a slacker. This is that difficult part that I don’t so much enjoy but I’m in the middle and putting myself out there. I imagine other people can identify.
Lots going on… here’s my promised update from yesterday: I really enjoyed Alyson B. Stanfield’s seminar in San Francisco yesterday. She talked about the importance of repetition… of getting your name out multiple times, in different ways. It takes about nine times for a viewer to take action on something. I know many times I need to hear something in a different way, from potentially a different person before I take action. I really appreciated how she personalized her content to us. She shared some of our own blogs and websites and gave some mini-critiques. I personally got really great feedback from her and it inspired me to take action and make some changes. One artist website that she gave kudos to that I really appreciate is the site of Maria Coryell-Martin.
Alyson also mentioned some reasons why artists need to blog and two of them are (1) to learn about your art (yourself) and (2) that the process builds confidence. I would say the more often you do it, the more benefit you get. I realize this since I’ve been been participating in Leah Piken Kolidas’ Art Every Day Month Challenge. It’s pushed me in really positive ways. I realize I’m more connected to my creative self, not just about art. I’m thinking bigger and realizing how my life contributes to my art through cooking, exercise, sleep (or lack there of), etc.
I always enjoy meeting new people and I was lucky to meet some wonderful artists at Alyson’s seminar including Ellen Rosenthal, Barbara Downs, Deborah Caperton and Heike Seefeldt. Plus, I really enjoyed connecting with artist Matthew Kowalski and his lovely wife and writer Kathy Sterbenc who had turned me on to Alyson’s seminar in the first place. Thanks guys! Ellen signed up for my journal-making class this Saturday at Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda, CA. I’m really excited!