I'm feeling awfully clever now creating an itsy, bitsy art journal.

A good education teaches one how to think. I believe being creative is one of the benchmarks of good thinking.  I believe creativity is innate to everyone and can be developed and fostered.  

See this link for more: Lateral/ Creative Thinking, Edward de Bono  In the meantime...

 I had a wonderful day yesterday with some of the administrators and staff from the Pleasant Valley School District here in Camarillo.  (That is the name and yes, it is a pleasant valley...) Several of the artists here at the Studios held workshops for the school district in the morning.  Some made clay boxes, others drew, still others painted a la Jackson Pollock on the grassy field outside.  I had my group make art journals out of baby sandals and pages they decorated themselves.

Several people yesterday weren't sure what the workshop was about.  There is a huge movement that embraces this concept.

 Art Journalling Images

Stampington, An Art Journalling Magazine

I think of a journal as a place where my thoughts are gathered into book form.  An art journal is one that includes images of any kind.

Itsy, bitsy journal

I wanted to give people some ideas to take back to the schools. So, I went to the local craft store where I saw a sandal display at the front door.  Since I had a tiny budget I was taken in by the .80 per pair price.  (Each pair made two books so they fit my itsy bitsy budget.) I got stickers, markers, etc. to have the inspiration of new materials. I also sprung for some bristol board which can accept water media.  I like to be able to do a lot to the paper and the sturdy base is good.

Here are some photos which show the basic process I used to assemble the books.

Remove the back part of the thong

Cut the thong leaving a little tab
in the foremost hole

Once you've done this decorate the papers you want to cut up and use the bottom of the sandal as a template for the pages. Mark the spot where you need to punch a hole in the pages and punch the hole.  Then, wiggle the paper over the tab you've left. Finish embellishing and enjoy.  These are a great place to record little things about a vacation, to use as party favors, etc.  

Think on your feet (ARG!) and come up with other ideas for tiny books:)

An alternate way to attach the pages to the "cover."

Another technique I used during Art Camp with the kids.
One of them was inspired to make her own "envelope book"
with staples to bind it.  I made these by folding the tabs over
 on a catalog envelope and punching holes.  Then I used
ribbons to bind it.

When one thing ends...

Sunset from Home

Well, today is the last day of  SCIART Art Camp.  It's been a fantastic month and we have our final reception and exhibit tonight from 4-6.  It will be fun to see the parents and children enjoy the fruits of their labors!  I'm certainly very proud of everyone.  We've all done an amazing job.

I have a LOT of other work to catch up on. The biggest thing I have to do is to get some commissions finished and prep for my fall classes.  Of course I have ongoing shows and SCIART events I'll keep posting here as well.

The biggest thing I have coming up is a workshop on Yupo next Saturday!  I've purchased some transparent paper which will be fun to play with.  I love the look of layered images so this will be very interesting.  Painting on the paper and hanging it with lights behind it is one of the first ideas that comes to mind...  The transparency of watercolor will be gorgeous with yet another layer for the light to go through.

I am keeping the workshop small but have room for a few more artists.  Children over 10 are welcome with an adult.  Child's rates are 1/2 of the adult prices.  Here's the registration form.

Working with Yupo  Mary-Gail King

August 20 from 9-2 at Studio Channel Islands Art Center

2222 Ventura Boulevard, Camarillo, CA 93010

Join me in exploring an alternative to traditional watercolor using Yupo. Yupo is an innovative paper that is made of plastic. My focus is on design as I explore surface texture and color.  I will share some of the techniques I use to make this very spontaneous a material both easy and fun. I'll start with a demo and then we'll all dive in.  Best of all it's a great tool to loosen up the most structured of artists!  It's just plain fun.

Materials list available at registration.  Fee is $95.

_______________________________________

Contact me at:  805.217.9539 or mgking@mac.com.

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Register today to reserve your spot. $95 includes lunch and some materials

Name:________________________

Email:________________________

Phone:_______________________

Payment method:_______________Cash, check, MC/Visa (extra 5% for credit)

Much Ado About Something

Working consistent, long hours with attention focused on the important things to build a business is getting me somewhere.  I have a long way to go and a lot to learn but I'm seeing a payoff.  I moved into Studio Channel Islands Art Center on August 1st of last year.  It's been a year of study, learning and growth.  I've enjoyed teaching, painting and sharing my art.  I've also managed to keep it afloat...That's not bad for a first year!

I've especially enjoyed working with my colleagues from The Ojai Group and Debbie Fox on the show, Pink Moments, that is currently on exhibit at Fox Fine Jewelry.  The Ojai Group at Fox Fine Jewelry

Beatrice Wood

There's been a new event that has come up related to the show.  On September 11 and 12 Ventura will have an art event called Paint Ventura.  Even better, Debbie has made arrangements with the Santa Monica Museum of Art to loan some two dimensional work by artist Beatrice Wood.  That is a Big Deal.  It will go on my resume and be marked in my memory as a milestone in my career.

By being in the right place at the right time and working in collaboration with an amazing group of women, I will hang across an exhibit space from this 20th Century legend.  (She won't be there, of course, except in spirit...)

http://www.beatricewood.com/biography.html

I'm also featured in the latest Society 805 Magazine representing The Thousand Oaks Art Association.  I need to come back to this posting the next time I get discouraged and realize that, over time, hard work pays off.  Now that is something!

Scroll down to see the small profile Society 805 did on me:)

Mary-Gail King

Next up-Mondrian Collages

Mondrian

I'm taking on a couple of extra classes for SCIART's Summer Art Camp and tomorrow's project will be collage based on work by Piet Mondrian.  I looked into a couple of articles on his work and found this SFMOMA video to be very helpful.  I really didn't understand his work until seeing the video.  I've always known that he's all about design but this made it clear what he was looking for.  SFMOMA video on Mondrian

He, of course, was all about simplifying what he saw.  He systematically reduced the visible world into a series of vertical and horizontal lines with primary colors, black and white as his only design elements.  

Tomorrow I'll talk about design with the kids by showing one of his works and talking about his choice of line and color along with the logic of how the paintings achieve a sense of balance.  I hope that makes sense...it's late and my right brain may have left the room a few hours ago.  

The fun will start when I give them an assortment of cut out cardboard pieces, watercolor paints and glue.  I've cut 4x6 inch pieces of white cardboard out and painted it with absorbent ground.  The ground accepts watercolor paint well so I'll have them use primary colors to paint them.  This is a great way to reinforce the color wheel concept as well.  Once those dry I'll have them place them in a grid and add black lines to finish.  I haven't done such a "canned" project yet but these classes are bigger than the ones in our last two week session...

In my last painting class I introduced them to Jackson Pollock and they ended up painting the grass instead of the paper we laid out.  They were adorable crawling around with their little paint brushes!  We ended up using rice paper for monotypes.  Last of all we attached yarn to make kites.  Whew!  One thing certainly led to another in that lesson!

Maybe we'll walk the campus and talk about grids.  This is a mid-century modern school campus and a perfect candidate to teach students about reducing structure to simple linear elements.  Hmmm

Rough sample of project