more love for bulky, wintry attire.

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I like to draw. . . I am Awesome!!

I want to give these to my future students :)

Draw Your Own Planet...

This is pretty much the coolest idea ever. How ingenious to paint a globe with chalkboard paint! ...to state the obvious, I will be doing this.

wearable art materials...

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...Yes please! How fun are these? I'm going to have to make a version of these once I have art students or some little kiddos to hang out with :)

whoa.

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This girl {Marit Fujiwara} and her textiles {which she created for her BA show in Textile Design from Chelsea College of Art and Design} blow me away. See more of her work here.

Knitting

Typically, knitting becomes an unappealing activity beyond the brink of 80 degree weather. Yes, welcome to Arizona in March. For this girl, this is not so... especially after seeing this bit of heaven:


I am still dreaming of chunky cowl neck pieces, fabulous slouchy hats, and apparently cocoon-like textiles. I suppose spring hasn't truly hit me yet. I will let you know when it does; I am sure it will be soon :)

SWOON

I am still wanting 500 colored pencils!!!! ...I just can't seem to get over the lovely design of the display options and the enormous variety of hues! I dream of the wall display being in my art classroom, however impractical it may be... Too, I dream of them in my studio... in my living room... in my bedroom... Really, there is no inappropriate location to admire such a beautiful spectrum of color. Let's be serious; colored pencils are a universal material and an essential building block to be used by anyone for anything at any moment, providing infinite opportunity for creation by the hand of the beholder!! I'm hoping that professing my love for these pencils will convince the internet deities to send them to me!! Pretty please?









Too, I am still in love with exploring the idea of an origami installation in the art classroom, especially after seeing this image found on wise craft:

Swoon

<3

Neo-Traditionalist

We believe in being glass-half-full sorts of girls.

We believe that often times, granny is chic.

We believe in peddling vintage Schwinns with flower baskets.

We believe in poetry, picnics, and piñatas.

We believe one is never too old to keep a diary, the secrets only grow more scandalous.

We believe in arranging fresh flowers unruly like an English garden.

We believe in adventure and traveling the globe, be it to Marrakech or Malibu.

We believe in mixing lucite with oriental rugs. Thrift store finds with heirlooms.

We believe in handwritten thank you notes, better late than never.

We believe in needlepoint, letterpress, decoupage and forgiving Martha Stewart.

We believe in piggy banks and cookie jars.

We believe in book clubs full of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Austen and Woolf.

We believe station wagons are hopelessly chic.

We believe in recycling our Grandmothers’ names. Eloise, Jackie, Faye…

We believe in collecting: stamps, shells, books, big glittering diamonds…

We believe in marrying the boy that writes us the best love letters.

We believe in highly competitive board games—Chess, Scrabble, Chutes & Ladders.

We believe in spontaneous road trips and charming, chintzy bed & breakfasts.

We believe there’s something to fortune cookies, wishbones and 4 leaf clovers.

We believe in classics, shaken and stirred.

Aching for Bookmaking!

In the past week, I have become enraptured in bookmaking! It all began when my sister, who also graduated with her BFA in Art Education from Temple's Tyler School of Art, taught me a few years ago how to make books. Since I made my first book with her, years ago, I have wanted to do it again, but haven't had or made the time! Now that I have ample time to experiment and create, I am seizing the opportunity! About a week ago, I ventured to the library for some books and came across this FABULOUS publication called, How to Make Books; it is so remarkable, intelligent, and easy to follow {with fabulous projects and ideas} that I am going to purchase it to have and hold as a resource!!

Esther K. Smith, the author of the book, encourages new bookmakers to start their bookmaking adventures by creating instant books, like zines, cloth baby books, etc., which help a new book artist work out kinks and get accustomed to the process of creating books! I have made 3 self-hinged accordion dummy books thus far, and it's led me into wanting to experiment with the hard stuff! I'm ready to take a crack at some bindings such as Coptic and Long Stitch books.

This revived interest of mine, in an under-appreciated art form, is something I've always thought about exploring in the art classroom with students! How wonderful would it be for students to create their own, well-bound sketchbooks?! Ironically enough, Allie, a blogger and teacher who authors one of my frequented blogs called, Bakers and Astronauts, has embarked on a new unit of inquiry in her preschool classroom: storytelling, paper-making, and bookmaking; this unit is exactly what I am interested in! I hope you take a moment to admire and consider bookmaking as it applies to you and your needs or desires and look at Allie's post about paper-making, as a part of her and her students' book-making adventures! I hope you'll be inspired to make a book of your own, whether you sketch, journal, make lists, take notes... everyone can use a beautiful, personalized, handmade book!!












Additionally, as a profuse lover of textiles, making books creates an outlet for utilizing textiles which really excites me!! One can create covers, belly bands, pocket covers and even utilize textiles within books to illustrate with fabric {a lesson I explored as a student teacher with my 6th graders in which we created fabric landscape images with scrap/recycled/reused fabric, studying foreground, middle ground, and background components to composition}.


Allie, on Bakers and Astronauts, also recommends a book called, My Friends, by Beatrice Alemagna in which Alemagna illustrates an animal that is an odd amalgamation of appliqué, fabrics, and stitching which vaguely resembles a most unusual animal, perhaps a dog or sheep. How wonderful would it be to utilize Alemagna as an artist to explore sewing work, stitching, creating fabric illustrations, which in my mind all culminate under the umbrella of bookmaking!! Another potential unit of inquiry that I will tuck away for when I have a real classroom full of students :)

For those of you who are interested, please read this interview of Beatrice Alemagna on the blog, Fine Little Day!

One last declaration: through my bookmaking expeditions, I've discovered that the bone folder is the greatest tool ever; everyone should own one!! So, go out, get yourself a bone folder, and happy bookmaking to you all!!

Cin cin!