New Year/New Changes

As many of you know, I'm making changes. My last post on this blog will be January 6, 2013. I hope you'll plan to come and visit here on that date as I'll be giving away copies of books.

From then on, I'll be posting regularly on my personal blog http://joannaslan.blogspot.com

Why should you join me on my personal blog? Well, that's where I'll share news about the contract I'm signing for a brand new series! Here's what I can share: It's a three-book contract for a mystery series featuring a spunky female protagonist and there'll be a whole lot of crafting involved in this cozy.

As time goes on, I'll also tell you what's next for Kiki Lowenstein. And I'll continue to share my love of crafting, which isn't confined to scrapbooking. More and more, I'm interested in drawing, painting, and other papercrafts.

Over the past few days, I've taken a bit of a vacation. I've been exercising my creativity in a new way by following some of the suggestions in Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop with Carla Sonheim. I believe the brain is a muscle. By exercising it, by stretching it in different directions, it grows. So above is my first attempt at an imaginary beast. To Sonheim's instructions, I added several Zentangle designs. 

My idea of a vacation is a time when I can read a lot. I've finished Manhunt by Peter Bergen (about the search for bin Laden), Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (about the slums of Mumbai), and now I'm reading Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (about Thomas Cromwell and his relationship to Henry VIII).

I'm looking forward to 2013. It's going to be a good year. I hope you'll continue my journey with me!

PS The clicker tells me that this is our 1952 blog post! Wow!

'Yes, and...' A Valuable Tool for Creative People

I've heard Chris Grabenstein's presentation on his days as part of an improv group twice now, and each time I come away inspired. One of the techniques the actors used was to tack on "Yes, and..." to anything their improv partners said. So if Chris and a pal were doing a skit about stuffed animals, and the second actor said, "My teddy bear owns an elephant," then Chris would reply, "Yes, and that elephant is purple. I love purple elephants." Or whatever.

When you're involved in the creative process, there're a lot of "Oops" moments. Times when things don't go according to plans. My sister, the art teacher, has counseled me not to give up too quickly on my artistic endeavors. Instead, Meg says I should see what I can do with what I've already done.

Chris uses the "Yes, and..." technique in his writing. I'm trying to do more of that. I'll admit it certainly adds to the unpredictability of any plot! I think it will, ultimately, make my work more lively and interesting.

Recently, I used the "Yes, and..." technique when working on my Zentangle designs. I tend to think of ink as permanent, don't you? Well, it's more maleable than you might think. I learned this while trying to correct a tangle with a white ink pen. You can use the white ink over black ink AFTER the black ink dries. Of course, you can't always tell when black ink IS dry, so that's a challenge. And then because I was so "into" what I was doing, I forgot I was working with ink and not with pencil! I tried to smear the ink the way I would graphite. And guess what? I had a "Yes, and..." moment! I learned that you can smear white and black ink!

Here's a sample of my process:

I was disappointed with this tangle. It's an attempt at "Punzel," a tangle that takes practice.




I defined the ribbons a bit more and added circles to the outside of "Punzel," the main tangle. I've started the shading process with those lines in the upper right circles.

Okay, now I put white ink over the black lines and smeared the two inks with the paper blender and my finger. I also used graphite to shade around the bottom of the circles and of Punzel. Finally, I thought the shading on the fourth ribbon from the bottom was too heavy so I went back over it with my white ink pen. Ta-da! Much better I think!

So I'm curious...can you think of ways you can use "Yes, and..."?

The Mysterious Painting

Back around 1967 in a storefront called Center of Consciousness, which was located in the area around Sixth and Portland in Minneapolis, there lived a group of hippies. One of them was an artist named Leah Peterson, or Jacobson. She took a very big canvas, about fifty by forty-eight inches and painted an abstract in shades of brown and orange – with one lavender exception. She didn’t sign it, and later, when she moved away, she left the painting behind.

The person who was to become my husband moved into the Center of Consciousness (it’s hard to believe, looking at him today, but he was a hippie back then) and liked the painting. When another artist proposed to white it out to paint something new on the canvas, Al offered to buy a new canvas the same size as a replacement. The offer was accepted and Al came into possession of the original.

When I saw the painting in 1979, I fell in love with it, too. It has survived three living quarters with us. Today, thirty-odd years after I first saw it, I still will get a glimpse of something new in it. At last count, I’m seeing up to thirteen figures swirling in its depths. We’ve never named it.

I sometimes wonder what became of the artist. We’ve never seen or heard of her, but I’d like to know what she was thinking of when she painted this. And I’d like to see what she’s painting nowadays.

Have you ever owned something you didn’t quite understand? Something you couldn’t explain your attraction to? Something that stirred an appreciation of the mystery that lives in all of us?

Crafting a "Riff" on Other Projects

In my preparation for Bouchercon, I've been "kitting" up the stuff for my scrapbooking class where we'll be making the page above. (See the Sunday post below for details.) Unfortunately, the creative bug hit me hard in the midst.

Maybe that happens to you, too? You're supposed to be doing "A" but you suddenly feel the urge to do "B," and away you go. I couldn't help myself. I stopped everything to see if I could translate the page above, to scraplift the design, and make a similar page in the Halloween spirit.

After a couple of false starts--I couldn't decide what paper to use for the branch--I came up with the page below:



Can you guess what I used for the branch? The owl was a hand-drawn and colored piece I created last year. I have a file of these, and frankly, I can't recall what was the original inspiration. Sometimes I'll look at a rubber stamp or clip art or even a purchased embellishment and decide to try for my own version.

I liked the finished page pretty well. One problem was replicating the border on the big area of yellow/gold paper. I did it with scalloped scissors and a hole punch, which totally wrecked the palm of my right hand. I've injured the muscle connected my thumb to my palm, and I never seem to let it heal right. Somehow I roll my hand when I put my purse on my shoulder in a motion that keeps ripping the same spot.

Another problem: Page protectors are generally smaller than 12 x 12 inches. It's a cheat. So after you make your page, you often find it won't fit in the plastic protector. Hence, the wonky trim job. After the scan I also noticed my jerry-rigged border isn't completely straight.

But the biggest bug-a-boo I have with the page is the owl. Other crafters would either have to download a copy of mine or get their own. I puzzled over that most of the weekend. In fact, my husband David and I were invited to Robert Duvall's farm in Virginia, so we had a nice, long drive in the country side. Mr. Duvall--Bobbie--talked to me about seeing an osprey grab a fish once only to have it snatched back mid-flight by a bald eagle. He said that image has never left him.

So, I've had birds on the brain.

This morning, I used my punches and created the owl below. The main paper is a sort of corduroy paper I had with ridges on one side and smooth on the other. I used a large oval punch twice. One oval is the body--with a flat piece trimmed off the bottom. I split the other oval and trimmed the interior edges to be concave for the wings--then I flipped these over onto the flat side of the paper. I have a neat punch to create file tabs in 2 1/4 by 3/4 inches (by McGill). I used it to create the head with the tufts of ears. Yes, I trimmed it, but I think you can still make out the base shape. The eyes are 1/2 inch circles of white with a 1/2 inch brown flower (daisy) stuck on them. Then I added two black brads even though owls' eyes are more like cats'. Finally, I used that daisy punch again and turned a petal into a beak.

How'd I do?

PS Happy Columbus Day! I hope you have the day off to do some crafting.

My Favorite Scrapbooking Tool

This week, all of us Killer Hobbies Blog Sisters will be sharing our thoughts on our favorite crafting tools. It’s a cool idea that our Blog Sis Terri Thayer came up with.

I started noodling around the theme, and golly, I have to admit, choosing just one was a bit harder than I expected. I’m lucky enough to have a crafts room/office crammed with all sorts of fun things to play with. After all, I’ve been scrapbooking since 1998, so I’ve had an entire decade to collect stuff.

But when I really got down to basics, to what I couldn’t live without, the answer was pretty surprising. Pretty simple, too.

I can’t scrapbook without a good pencil. My preference is a cheap, yellow plastic mechanical #2 lead by PaperMate. If it still has any eraser, I’m really in heaven.

You see, if I have a pencil and an eraser, I can do just about anything. First of all, I can use my pencil to assist me in creating a layout because even without a ruler, I can eyeball paper sizes. (Okay, it’s nice to have scissors so I can cut the paper. That’s sort of a given.) I use my pencil to make little tick marks for where to cut.

Second of all, with a pencil, I can create just about any art to dress up my pages. Here’s a sketch I’ve been working on. There's most of what comes to mind when I think of summer--a grill, flipflops, sand, and a bucket.

I start my images with a really loose drawing. Then I erase and refine my work. Now I’m on to adding color…probably with pencil in this case. I can pretty much “create” the art for an entire page with my trusty pencil in hand. I can also create lettering for a page title.

In fact, if you go to www.youpublish.com/joannaslan you can click on my 4th of July downloads and see how I did all the art for a big two page scrapbook page. That all started with, yep, a pencil.

Finally, if I have a pencil, I can add journaling. Sure, an archivally safe pen is great, but you know, you can still see pencil sketches done by Michelangelo. Pencil will stand the test of time.

By the way, you can always learn about the new, free art I make available by subscribing to my newsletter. Just go to my website http://www.joannaslan.com/ and sign up.

So, that’s my choice. My go-to, constant pal, can’t do without tool: a pencil.

A Work of Art for My Ezine

I send out an ezine (an online magazine) quarterly at least, and I'm trying to send it out bimonthly. It's always a lot of work, but it's work that I enjoy, and the discipline of sending it out keeps me exploring new ideas.

The ezine always includes freebies--downloadable art or patterns. Plus, a layout or two, and a project.

Recently I saw an online tutorial in how to use colored markers. I was inspired by the blended color effects the instructor could get, but I still am, um, colored marker challenged. They are typically too dark for me to use well.

However, I love water-color pencils. I like how fluid they are, and how well I can shade with them. Most often, I sketch the design in pencil, color with the water-color pencils, let the image dry, and go back over it with regular colored pencils and pens.

Here's one of the images I created this weekend, a black cat. I hope you like him! If you want me to send you the Adobe file, email me at savetales@aol.com and put CAT in the subject line. I think he's perfect for use on a Halloween page or a Halloween card.

What do you think? Is he the cat's meow?

That said, I wanted to create some seasonal images because I'm getting together