Round Robin Art Journal

Andrea variations
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

2005 Round Robin Art Journal - by me

Andrea made this graphic of herself for her blog. I dropped into MSPaint and made a number of copies, then played paper dolls for a number of stunning variations.

~~~~~

Some participants of the Creative Mom Podcast Circle have tossed around the idea for a round robin art event, but nearly all have said that fall will be better for participation than summer will.

Back in 2005, I was part of an art journal round robin. I knew about them from the few altered book classes I had taken and thought they were so cool. [ Like being a freshman watching the seniors float through school. ]

Andrea had the idea for a journal to be passed around among friends and returned to her. I added the idea that we all start a book, send them around synchronously, and we all get a wonderful keepsake. It was well received, and then Andrea didn't feel guilty for being the only one keeping the art at the end, she said.

The participants were me, Andrea, TwoPeanuts, and Cait and her daughter K. Cait and K bound small booklets from watercolor paper. TwoPeanuts had a large wire-bound sketchbook. Andrea had a smalled, bound book. I was eager to try altered book techniques, so I started some art in an old Earth Science book that was part of a collection of books bought at an estate auction.

Click on the photo to get to my Flickr collection to see the art that I did in the books that came my way.

Confidential to Andrea:

Confidential to Andrea:

This photo is for you.

During a wonderful outing this week, I realized that six out the eleven in our group were wearing their Crocs the whole time, out in public and everything. I gathered them up and took a photo of their feet. When I finished directing the Croc-ers, the other non-Croc-ers were laughing. I had gathered the six in front of an office window and the employees inside were curious about what I was doing. After I showed around the resulting photo ("I wanna see next!") to all of the kids, I had to hold my camera up to the office window for the gentleman closest to see what all the hubbub was about. Quite a good laugh.

Father's Day Countdown from Lisa Vollrath

Lisa Vollrath has great free downloadables for Father's Day. GO now
before they disappear. ATC backgrounds, vintage hot air balloons,
label-maker tags.

<http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/index.html>

Star in the spotlight

Star in the spotlight
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

We went on a short nature hike last weekend. It was nice weather, too nice to stay indoors. Much to the kids chagrin.

CHG knew of a little trail near our house, just off a side road. Only a ten minute drive. The trail goes down to a creek, makes a broad loop at the bank, and returns the same way it entered the woods.

I took photos along the way. This was the best. The five-leafed "star" plant was in a sunbeam.

(I don't even own Photoshop - if I enhance at all, all I have at my disposal is MS Paint, my Olympus camera software and my HP printer software)

Seven Random Things

Jessica tagged me a while ago to cough up seven random things about myself.

Completely spur of the moment, top of my head...

1) My left ear curls over a little. My mom's right ear also curls over. My mom hates the way hers looks, so she was always fixing my hair to cover up mine. But I don't even give it a thought.

2) My husband once told me something that my best friend said about me, long after she had said it to him. I was impressed.

"I've never met anyone so comfortable with who she is than Heidi is."

3) My favorite grandma had a white glass hen that sat in a white glass nest. Whenever my brother and I would visit, "Chickie" would have laid some candy for us in the nest. Chickie always laid an even number of items. Smart Chickie.

4) I have short, squarish thumbs. I'm told that my grandma did, too. I found out that an online friend did palm readings. I sent her a photo of my thumbs and this is what she wrote:

Your thumbs have both Thor's Hammer (a blunt end) and Forseti's Spindle (a wasp waist between the first and second joints). Thor's Hammer indicates a strong will, someone who is very outspoken and tends to do the simmer-and-explode thing where anger is concerned. However, Forseti's Spindle indicates diplomacy, tact, and an ability to sugarcoat. So when the two are together, you have someone who manages to quietly go about doing their own thing despite what others are telling them to do. Or put another way, if they are told not to do something that they really want to do, they'll tend to smile and nod and do it anyway. They're also really good at getting their own way without a big confrontation.

5) A work-friend of my husband's made us an Around the World bed quilt for our wedding/marriage. He stopped by my desk on day and tossed me a copy of the Keepsake Quilting catalog. "Pick the medley you and CHG like best," he said. We chose a cat medley of six bright fabrics. The friend bought three more complementary fabrics locally and mad a great quilt.

6) I love the idea of quilting, I watch quilt shows, I bought a sewing machine, I have quilt books. I haven't put needle to fabric yet. I don't think I would like the actual quilting step. I love the math, geometry, and art of the patchwork. I like how one block can achieve so many looks with various fabric combinations.

7) My favorite number is 52. 5 + 2 = 7 and 5 * 2 = 10 and I was born on 10/7, October 7th. And I have a friend born on July 10th, 7/10.

7.5) Both of my kids have the same math equation for their birthdays. Month times four equals date.

-- Heidi

Trying an e-mail post

Blogger allows remote posts sent by e-mail. Since I have been so remiss in posting these last weeks, I'll try this method. I can always enhance the formatting later.
:
I have been a busy bee for my Summer Band job. I manage the personnel for our 60-member Summer Concerts in the Park. I'm also a musician with the group. My dad just retired from Summer Concerts in the Park after 60 seasons, and my husband has been a sub but this is his first year of nine-week full membership with Summer Concerts in the Park. Hooray for Kid-Watching Grandma.
:

:
But this blog is supposed to be about art. Not a lot of time for art in May. I finished my April bonus card for the CMP ATC swap. I found an ATC magazine: ATC Quarterly. I'll review more soon. Band will move from panic mode to maintenance mode in the next week or two. I need to come up with a card for "At Water's Edge." I have many detailed seashell stamps.... Hmmm. Now I have a crafty idea...