Animal Wednesday - Paper Wasp

There is some sort of paper wasp nesting in a clay pot that is part of a wreath I made some years ago. The wasps don't bother anyone. There are two guards. I haven't seen the other wasps come to the nest. I forget about for the most part. I thought it was sort of interesting that there is a lot of debris at the bottom of the pot under the nest. One thing looks like it could be a larva. I am not sure though.  I haven't noticed this debris under a normally placed nest. Maybe it all blows away or blends in with the ground too much to see it other places. 

Happy Animal Wednesday.

Football Season

Football season is upon us once again. Pro football is one of my favorite sports to watch. I was indoctrinated into the football gallery at a young age. My brother played football, my sister was a cheerleader they are 13 and 10 years older than I. My cousins played football too. When I thought I might forget about football my son decided to play football and my daughter was a cheerleader so no forgetting about football.

How does this relate to an artsy blog you are wondering.  You see a blogging friend sent me this cute little sketchbook some time back. She asked not to be identified but I wanted to tell her that I am using the sketchbook she sent.

The pages are very thin in this book. At first I wondered what I would do with it but I came to the end of my tv watching/doodling sketchbook and this one I have decided will fill in nice for it. Even though it isn't very big (10.5x16.0mm or 4 1/8"x6 1/4"). 

So you can see where I am going with this book. 

My "home" team is the Indianpolis Colts. I do watch other teams from time to time.  

As you may have noticed that other things show up in the sketchbook during the game. 

I have started practicing some new, to me, zentangle moves. Did you know some of these designs have names?? I sure didn't until I ran onto Enthusiastic Artist blog. I have learned all sorts of information about Zentangles.

If you would like to expand your zentangle repertoire you should go to her blog. She is a certified Zentangle teacher. Unfortunately she is located in Canada. She does give some helpful information on her blog here.   My crude beginnings are fun to make. Besides I love this orange ink that I found in a Pilot pen. I gotta use it someplace.

I also am practicing doing some different/artsy lettering. I love the fancy lettering that some use in their journals. I just need to find something that makes my lettering fly onto the page.  So what have you been doing lately??

One Single Impression - Wheat

Life sometimes grinds us

into submission, then we

rise as fresh loaves

And sometimes I just have to take a stab at a poem when it rises in my mind. This poem was seeded by the prompt of the word "Wheat" at One Single Impression.  Please join them and read more.

Hand Made Sketch Books

The past couple of weekends I have been having a sketchbook making fit.  My mind keeps coming up with different ideas. I noticed that I made the Tree Journal last year about this time. Ha... It must be that at this time of year I am weary of trying to fight the heat to be outside much.

What got me going on this idea is that my "Tree Journal" sketchbook is almost full and I wanted to make another. I am liking this size, 6"x8". It works well for me using a sheet or two of Arches watercolor paper or I can put in some sketch paper or writing paper as well.

I have some really interesting papers. This one is sort of metalic. I thought the little boy that will receive it would like the metalic look.  I did most of theses books with the coptic stitch.

When you use the coptic stitch you can lay flat your book to work in.

This one I used a different front and back paper. The recepient can start the book from either end really. It would not matter but I thought of the front being the circles. They are mandala-like.

Inside I used a variety of papers. Some handmade (not by me). Some for painting some for poetry.

This one I think would be good for a little girl, at least that is who it is being given to. It is pink and I put some jewels on the front. The front is very textural with a sand motif on the front. Little girls like to play in sand.

This is my first stab at doing a Japanese binding. It is a little larger, 11 5/8"x8".

You lose a little painting space along one edge which makes the painting surface 7.5"x10". That is fine with me. It is a larger format than I usually use. As you can see with this type of binding you can open the first page flat but the following pages are very stiff. I will probably have to mash them flater when I come to the page or use clips to keep it open. I will see how I like using this before I make any more.

The last style that I made is a folded-cover Journal. Easiest one to make. I used a difficult paper though. It is bark paper. Not a good paper for this type of cover. It has several folds and you knkow that bark doesn't like to fold. It is quite brittle. I have few pages in it so I hope it survives the short trip I will be making next month as I made it especially to record this trip.

Have any of you worked with this bark paper? Is there something I could put on it to make it more flexible??

I hope you all had a fun weekend.