Pop-up Book Gods, and Technology Hates Me

Went to the Decatur Book Festival and saw the Picasso's of pop-up books, Robert Sabuda and Mathew Reinhart. It was wonderful, and inspiring.  Also saw wonderful handmade books, plus a lot of things I want to read. I would have loved to have stayed longer, but it was brutally hot, and I melted. Maybe tomorrow. In more depressing news, the printer/scanner and computer aren't getting along again. The tech guy says sometime this weekend, or Monday. I remain dubious. I am not making art right now, because my kids are here for the Labor Day weekend, which is better  than art. I have really interesting and amusing people for kids and I really love hanging out with them.

I've been having such adventures, getting this thing up and running. First, printer/scanner, old computer, and I were at odds. Enter Computer geek; leave $130.00. Problem solved. Then scanner reproduces images in tif. format, which this blog wouldn't accept. Several hours of futzing and figuring, and many thanks to Photoshop Elements, and here is my first image, at last. This is my first scratchboard effort. Recently I was layed up after knee surgery, and resistance weakened, I succumbed to an internet sale on scratchboard. I really enjoyed working on this little thing. The scratchboard I was using was only 4 X 6 inches, which made my thoughts turn to something small and precious. I cobbled this together working from several source photos. I think working negatively, by scratching out black to reveal white is in many ways easier than adding black to white. The process is slow, and might be tedious, if you didn't kind of focus on the Zen quality of it. Anyway, I wasn't too unhappy with this, my first effort.

in which a fairy tale beginning grinds to a halt.: Think Dorothy and Poppies.

There will be a slight delay getting this enterprise underway, as the scanner printer has decided to enter a vegetative state. Frustration rules. Also, I am ill, and not feeling witty, humorous, or profound.

A Fairy Tale Beginning

Today I'm taking one more step out of my comfort zone and into a brave new world by starting a Blog. I hope to share my drawings and paintings with friends and potential friends, and to talk about my creative journey. There is a lot of learning that will have to go on for this thing to be a success. For starters, I have to figure out how to get images onto this thing. Right now, I am working on some sketchbook ideas about fairy tales. Recently, laid up after knee surgery and feeling picked on, I ordered a quantity of scratchboard and tools to play with it . I have really been enjoying experimenting with it.  Scratchboard is illustration board coated with a white clay, and then india ink. To use it, you scrape away the black. You need to think much more about negative space, and use textures and mark spacing to achieve value. The result looks a lot like a wood cut, but is a lot easier to do. My first effort was a little index card sized illustration of bees, taken from rearranged photos.

When I paint I often listen to books on tape. I like young adult fantasy and science fiction because it is plot driven, and undemanding, so the painting tends to flow, while I am transported to worlds beyond, and back to my childhood. The combination of Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke and scratchboard led to thinking about fairy tale illustration. I started brainstorming with my sketchbook, and have rough ideas for two Cinderella illustrations, Red Riding Hood, The Princess and the Pea, The Frog Prince, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White, and Rapunzel. My ideas are a bit skewed though, I'm only showing the stories from the waist down. I drew the fairy godmother's lower half in crisp, lace trimmed apron, with black buckled shoes, and striped stockings beside a pumpkin and surrounded by mice. Red riding hood's booted feet are on a path next to a picket fence; beyond which are wolf feet. 

When I went to tackle the first drawing, Cinderella, the new medium scared me, and I retreated to more familiar pen and ink. I like my drawing , but now that I am working on Red Riding Hood on the scratchboard, I think I may redo it. I really like the more muscular, and mysterious feeling of the scratchboard. I have had a great deal of fun working on these two drawings, but this medium sure is slow! I am working 9X12", and each one has taken 2 days plus. I hope I get faster with practice!