hello inspiration...

I found this video on etsy...Please check out Margaux Kent's etsy shop: the black spot books

Inspiring.

Speaking of Sketchbooks

I was browsing some webpages that I had bookmarked ages ago and came across Book By Its Cover...a website by a Brooklyn designer...I have been particularly obsessed with the Sketchbook Series. I thought this was fitting to go with my recent conversation about loving to see filled books! Here are some glorious images from the Ben Finer Sketchbook Series...

Sketchbook Interiors...and Glorious Rainstorms

The messy drawing studio...
text pgs: Ingres lightweight

covered with grass green book cloth and amate bark paper for the spine as well as screen-printed bits and pieces for fun

photos from a really old sack of lentils....
Anais Nin quotes and an old etching proof.
It is so peculiar how most of the best things could never be planned for. Today - iced coffee on the porch during a rainstorm...perfect.

It has been raining on and off for then entire week here (in rural PA), but it is the lovely sort of rain-warm and breezy and everything smells so wonderful when the drops stop falling. Plus, this has been a very productive week for drawing, so no complaints here!

In other news, I have been wanting to do a feature on this blog for a while about some of the books/journals/sketchbooks that I have made in the past...how are they holding up? Are they filled? How have they been used and by whom? I am afterall most interested in making functional items. I love gorgeous old bindings and really intricate detail work, but in the long-run I am always more satisfied when I give someone a journal that they will actually use, even if it happens to be a simple leather notebook.

That being said, I decided to begin the feature with a book that I have carried around for the past year. I created it as a sketchbook...filling it with an earthy toned lightweight Ingres paper, which I have always loved to draw on....though I must admit it has been used as more of a storage location for my racing thoughts and inspirations (photos, exhibit cards, quotes, etc.) that I want to remember.

Take a look, and let me know what you think...and please send any images and/or notes about the tangible press journals that you have been filling my way to be featured!

Oop Bop Sh' Bam

July is half over!?! Spending so much time on the road from place to place...I have lost track of the days....though now I have settled in Eastern Pennsylvania for an artist residency until August 9th. I am spending this time working on a series of drawings based on photos of the region. Today I spent the morning going back and forth between the studio and reading in a big chair in the sun....perfect day! I am so excited/spoiled that I get a whole month of this!

I have only been exploring the area for a few days, but I think the drawings are coming along nicely...I will try to have some images of those up soon. For now, check out my flickr for images of the super old church I am living in and various images of the area. 

The one downfall of the summer/travel adventures is that I will be away from my bookbinding supplies (the station) for way too long! In the meantime, I found this article in the New York Times archives about a wonderful craftsman in the Washington Heights area who is keeping the craft of book repair lively! Reminds me of my good old days in the Clements Library Conservation Lab at the University of Michigan....how the process of repairing old bindings teaches and inspires you to bind your own books....Read the article here...

Heidelberg Project and Tangible Press Anniversary!

I have been away from the studio for a couple weeks now, so the blog updates have been lacking as well.....I just drove from Idaho to Detroit to visit my family before I head off to Pennsylvania (tomorrow) to work on a series of drawings...much more on all of this later. For now, though I want to promote my JULY SALE in the tangible press etsy shop! I have now been happily sharing my handmade journals through etsy for 2 whole years, so for this month I would like to offer FREE SHIPPING for orders within the USA. Happy Birthday Tangible Press! 

Click on the etsy shop images at the right to view the sale items or click here.

The pictures above are from an artist (Tyree Guyton) project in downtown Detroit known as the Heidelberg project. Read more about it here!  A truly bright spot to visit in the city...I recommend it to all!