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Monday, October 26, 2009

Journalfest 2009

Last Wednesday, after a great overnight visit from Stephanie and Vince, we all threw our stuff in our various cars and headed north to Port Townsend, Washington, for Journalfest, along with approximately 130 other journal addicts from all over the world.

What greeted me there was gorgeous Pacific Northwest marine weather, dancing rainbows, autumn leaves and plenty of idle time to play in my journal. Time out from bills, telephones, the routine of home.

Where I could admire the books others had made, exchange ideas and form friendships.

Where I could learn about and buy a mobile PoGo printer made by Polaroid. Danger; this could give you the wants.

Where I could take classes from somebody else for a change and not have to ship boxes or schlepp packets or have a teaching on my mind. It was a wonderful holiday.

Teesha had a great band in the Commons to play for us on the last night and lots of wine to drink. We scribbled, laughed, sashayed to the music and had a perfectly delightful time.

I got to take a class from Anahata and try out all her techniques. I've never had to buy a pizza cutter for class supplies before.

Anahata is a great teacher, a great designer and a nice person. I feel so lucky to have gotten this class with her.

I also took a class from Theo Ellsworth who taught me against my expectations that I do not lack the doodling gene. I started from the middle of the above image and worked my way outward until it started looking fishy and then smiled happily at what had emerged under my pen.

Theo is writing a book entitled "The Quiet Family" about his family of thoughtful introverts. I laughed that I came from the loud family and did the drawing above to illustrate my thought. It was really fun. Maybe I should have been a cartoonist. he he.
On the last day I took a class from my comadre, Alex Shur. I've long been curious about her watercolor technique of finding critters in the soup. The thing that is so weird is that the critters look nothing like anything you've drawn in the past. Check out Lyle Lovett.

And then this entire menagerie of rodents, rabbits and whatzits. This is not how I draw!

A chicken with a hand coming out of its butt. And a Greek matron eating an olive.

An angel with only one wing.

Mercury, with unruly hair blowing smoke out his mouth. Strange stuff but fun too.

One of the coolest things I saw at Journalfest was a small, thick journal made by a woman who had filled over 500 of such books with her magical paintings. She shared with me that she just made an accordian style book and then glued on a fabric spine so I made one this morning to show you guys. In the photo above I'm folding strips of 4" wide Fabriano Roma paper like an accordian.

Then I affix the backs of the folds with a dab of ATG tape so the pages won't bulge out when they get wet.

The last thing I do is root around in my fabric scraps for a piece that calls out to me and I glue that with heavy gel medium to the spine of the book.

This is what the book looks like when it is all glued and dry. You can see the wad of thick gel that holds the pages to the fabric in the back. This is exactly the way paperback books are bound except the folded papers make it much, much stronger. Easy squeezy.

And now I'm home for the winter; eating ripe persimmons and drinking cups of hot tea. I have a big list of projects I hope to complete and a strong desire to cook more so I'll pop in and out as my mood dictates. Thanks for stopping by and thanks to all who touched my heart at Journalfest. We are a special community, we writers and paper lovers. It's good to share the love.

26 comments:

  1. Oh, let's see. What do I love the most? First the deer with the lovely face and the round object above and the whole page behind. I like the soothing look of that whole page. And are you kidding about "should have been a cartoonist?" You are that and much much more. I read in your tiny writing you are worrying about overextending. It is crazy and exhausting when we push ourselves to create and do, isn't it? I tell my self I will have plenty of time to sleep when I am ancient or dead - or both. I loved the glittery frosting like gel you must have squeezed from a tube. It was on the lady's dress and other places. The "fish doodle" is great. The accordion book is too. The loud family! Ha ha! What a laugh. Beautiful tatooed men. Great idea. Thank you for all this inspiration. Rest. Balance. Then get busy!

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  2. Judy Judy Judy...

    LOL Loved the bit about how you should have been a cartoonist. Woman, you do a book-be it a book of your art or a comic book and ya know we'll all be lining up bucks in hand and big smiles on our faces. I'd be first in line!

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  3. When will you teach an on-line class for those of us who can't travel to the Pacific Northwest?

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  4. Anonymous6:04 AM

    Burst of creativity!
    That is how I feel reading your blog entries. I feel like trying everything, amazed at how things take shape when you're open to creating.

    I think I'll even try binding a book just like that. Thanks for the tutorial :)

    Isabel

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  5. ahhh Judy! I love the doodle - it is SO cool.


    Cheryl

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  6. God dang, woman! You are the coolest. i never cease to be amazed at your talents, hidden even from yourself sometimes. Every single thing in this post is so inspiration-worthy and FUN. Glad you had such a great time and thanks for the great new ideas!

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  7. Glad my little book was inspiring! It is almost full now!
    Oh, I miss Journalfest...I have to go to work today!

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  8. Wow ! What a treat ! There was so much new in this post. I am so thrilled that you had that holiday of play time for yourself. Brilliant.
    I want to get the watercolors out and find my own critters. I want to doodle and see if something fishy happens to me. I want to grab a pen and go on a journal adventure right now, just like Judy did.
    Settle in nice and cozy at home, there , beautiful Traveler, and rest your soul for a bit doing whatever feels good. But don't forget to share it when you can - winter would be much too long without your light around.

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  9. Me still wants to be you! Living vicariously thru you can be exhausting, but oh, sooooo much fun! Pace yourself like a kindergardener...frenzied creating followed by a nap on your mat, followed by more frenzied creating. Sort of like a nap sandwich! LOVE your doodling, & all of everything you do as usual. You are a national treasure! deb/debbie/debra

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  10. Love that doodle that I call a Lyn tangle but others say Zen tangle.Yours is a Judy Tangle for sure!!!!

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  11. I LOVE the drawing you did with Theo and t he paintings with Alex. Every time I see the results of these art retreats, I so regret not signing up. I will be going to my first one at the end of February, but it is just one class for 3 days. But it's a great place and a great class, so I'm happy.

    thanks for the little book lesson. It looks like something even I could handle!

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  12. How nice to get to play instead of leading the playa :-) Lots of great stuff, Judy. Love the doodle. I have done that my entire life...while listening to lectures in class, while sitting in staff meetings, while on the phone...in airports, etc.... it is very meditative.

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  13. Anonymous9:08 AM

    Looks like you had so much fun at
    journalfest. I just saw that
    the new issue of Stampington Doll Quarterly has some dolls that I recognized right away. How come
    you didn't tell anyone that you were being profiled????

    So exciting, I am going out this
    afternoon to get the mag and check it out.

    Send some of those lovely persimmons to the damp dreary east coast, we could use their sunshine
    orange here about now.

    Hugs,

    Corrine

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  14. That's the coolest doodled fish I've ever seen!!

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  15. really, this is just lovely and makes me want to save my pennies to tend this workshop...i love that all the different classes took on a life on their own...lovely lovely

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  16. Anonymous7:03 PM

    It looks like it's good to be home!
    About Journalfest...I am GREEN with envy!!!!
    Glad you had a great time.

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  17. Judy, as usual beautiful images that you've shared...and how fabulous for you to be the student for a change. I bet that felt like a million bucks. I'm not sure if I should thank you for sharing the PoGo printer???? OMG... I think I may just die! Must. Have. It. (yes, happy you shared)...XO

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  18. Judy, glad you got to play and have fun at Journalfest. Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful work and new little journal.

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  19. Anonymous5:52 AM

    I am so jealous! :-) I wish I could attend.. the pages look amazing. Sometimes I get so inspired that I end up doing nothing at all!
    LOL

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  20. Holy S---! Judy you are such an incredible artist. that is about all i can type. stunned. wow.

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  21. love-love-love it all, judy! am intrigued by the 4x4 chunky accordion mini-journal. will construct one today!

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  22. i knew i had picked great classes...well they were probably all great... then to meet with you in two of them - tops! I love how you enjoy being a student - I so look forward to being a student of yours someday.

    I'll look forward to our paths crossing again

    keli
    the box from Montana girl...

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  23. Hi Judy - It was great to meet you at Journalfest. We were in Anahata's class and my collage package had the blue 'O' you used on your woman-with-hat collage. I'll be keeping an eye on your blog - good stuff!

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  24. this morning i'm making my own little accordian book, thanks for the mini tute. i was so inspired/awed by erin's beautiful little book of treasures, i'd love to create one of my own. warm thoughts on this dreary, rainy day... xox

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  25. I love that you photographed that rainbow - wasn't it the perfect prelude to the perfect few days in art heaven? I realized that we were in Anahata's class together! This was one of the many things that impressed me, that people who are normallly teachers got to be students and actually enjoy themselves at the event! So wonderful. I'm counting the days until next year already...

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  26. As you can tell, I am very behind with my blog-reading.
    How incredible to attend Journalfest and just wallow in all the wonderfulness and indulge in classes. Good for you!! I so wish I could have been there.
    Love what you made too :-)

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