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Sandy from California!  Sandy, you won a copy of Jill Berry’s Personal Geographies, Explorations in Mixed-Media Map Making book. I wrote you in email and hopefully you’ll email me your address so that the publisher can send you a copy of Jill’s book.  I was torn among several comments, but Sandy I loved that you would want to, in part, honor your great-aunt who owned a knitting store.  I can only hope that one day my one of my great nieces would want to remember me in such a loving way.  Sandy, I hope to hear from you soon!

Thank you everyone for sharing your comments.  I hope you consider purchasing Jill’s book and making your hand map.  If you do, please do be sure to share a photo of it with me and Jill.

“You don’t have to be a world traveler or a professional cartographer to embark on a grand journey of self-discovery through map making. Personal Geographies gives you the tools and techniques you’ll need to create artful maps of your self, your experiences and your personal journey. Chart the innermost workings of your mind, document your artistic path and create an unfolding maze of your future dreams and goals.”

So say Jill Berry, the engaging author of Personal Geographies, Explorations in Mixed-Media Map Making.   In this full color, 144 page book published by North Light Books, Jill takes you on a journey of making artful and expressive maps of your self, of your experiences, and of your plans, projections, and possibilities.  It’s an intriguing approach to exploration of not only the world around you but the world within you.

There are 21 map-related projects throughout the book that feature a variety of mixed media techniques.  There are flip book maps and post card journals, maps that explore different memoirs of life events, such as vacations or holiday memories, and maps that chart your perfect place.  A nice touch are the maps and their stories from 17 contributors.

I was particularly drawn to the hand map. The project focuses on a “collage of your hand using imagery that symbolizes people or places that have contributed to what you do with your hands.”  I immediately thought about the people in my life who have encouraged me to use my hands in artistic ways like my dear aunt who did exquisite and complex crochet patterns using the finest thread and multiple needles and my father who was a musician and enjoyed sketching. What would I collage together to create such a map?  What might you?

What would you include on your hand map?

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Jill’s book, leave a comment telling me what you would include  on your hand map.  On Saturday, December 10, 2011, I will pick a winner from the comments and the book publisher will send a copy of Jill’s book directly to you!

If you want to increase your chances of winning a copy of the book, check out these blogs, also offering a copy of the book:
Friday, Nov 25    Aimee Myers Dolich
Mon Nov 28         Carla Sonheim
Tues Nov 29         Diana Trout
Thurs Dec 1          Gwen Diehn
Friday Dec 2         Jane LaFazio
Monday Dec 5      Judy Wise
Tues Dec 6            Lisa Engelbrecht 
Weds Dec 7           Lyric Kinard  
Thurs Dec 8          Orly Avineri
Friday Dec 9         Tracie Lyn Huskamp

If you don’t want to wait until the 10th, you can go to this post on Jill’s site, scroll towards the bottom, and learn how you can get 35% off of the retail price from now until December 9th. You can also buy a signed copy directly from Jill at the same site.

by Joen Wolfrom

If you find yourself struggling with the essentials of good design, need a refresher, or simply want a good design reference book, take a look at Adventures in Design, The Ultimate Visual Guide – 153 Spectacular Quilts – Activities & Exercises. Opening the 142 page, full color book, is a beautiful journey down a creative path with Joen breaking down the principles of design, explaining the concepts, showing many examples of quilts and drawings to help illustrate those concepts, and providing activities and exercises to get you going.

This is a gorgeous and informative book.  While I am honored to have three quilts in this book, I do not exaggerate that everything about this book is first class, right down to the smooth, matte paper used on the cover which feels so good in your hands.  The content is broken down into three main sections: Setting the Visual Stage, eight ingredients for great design, which includes the power of design, line and direction, shape, color, value, texture, and visual finesse.  Section two is Creating the Visual Dance, a blueprint for superb design which includes ten stellar principles and info on visual balance.  The third section is Designing Spectacular Quilts, which merges everything prior to provide design strategies.

This is not a how to quilt book.  This is not a skim-the-surface of design book.  This is a serious design book presented in a beautiful and approachable format that inspires as it teaches. If you have any of Joen’s earlier books, such as Visual Dance: Creating Spectacular Quilts, The Magical Effects of Color, or Color Play (each of which are available as ebooks from Amazon), you’ll want to add this to the collection.  If you don’t have those books, the vast majority of quilt makers (and some other artists) will want this one.

It retails for $29.95.  If you don’t have a local quilt store in your area which you’d like to help support, you can get the book on Amazon at a discount.   If you’re on the fence about getting it, visit Amazon’s site where you’ll find a look inside feature will showcases several pages from the book.

The Sketchbook Challenge E-zine, is an 83 page, full color “creativity, projects and inspiration” PDF book from artist Sue Bleiweiss, the creatior of The Sketchbook Challenge blog, and 12 other Sketchbook Challenge artists. Each section of the e-zine presents an informative tutorial that is well illustrated with photos and drawings.  The e-zine has the good stuff that you might expect, such as Sue’s direction on making a sketchbook sleeve and Diana Tout’s direction on making binding stitches.  It also has tutorials on techniques that can go beyond the sketchbook and applied to fabric and other mediums.

Leslie Tucker-Jenison’s ten page tutorial is crammed with instruction for screen and thermofax printing. If the idea of having thermofax screens made for you or hunting around to find a thermofax machine seems too much of a bother, you’ll love the instructions she gives for creating all types of patterns using a simple silkscreen and easy to find supplies such as freezer paper.  Judi Hurwitt explains how to do stacked journaling, which is basically a way of writing over writing so that the journaling isn’t very legible.  This is something I’ve done when I was annoyed about something and wanted to write about it but didn’t want anyone to discover it.  Judi pushes the idea further by showing how to stack words on a curved line or within a shape, working with tin foil, and scribbling in paint.

Often when looking at a finished piece of work, I wonder how the artist worked through the initial idea to the finished piece of work.  Jane Davies addresses this in her section on working in a series from composition sketches. She shares work from two series and discusses how her sketches evolved into the finished work.  Lyric Kinard addresses the students who claim they cannot draw or aren’t creative.  In her Make Bad Art and become a better artist, she gives four exercises to help you make bad art, enjoy it, and hopefully awake your creative muse.

The price of this ezine is $9.99, a bargain.  It’s less than the price of many of today’s magazines, yet it has far more usable information.  Because it’s a PDF, you can print whatever section you’d like and then work with it.  Or, you can just read it on your computer or tablet device (instructions are given).  If you do a tutorial a week, you can have a full season of fun.  Inside the e-zine, you’ll find:

Learn how to draw a pinecone with Jane LaFazio
Exploring Text Collage with Kelli Nina Perkins
Make a Scrappy House Quilt with Jamie Fingal
Working in series by Jane Davies
Make bad art with Lyric Kinard and become a better artist
Sue Bleiweiss shows you how to make a sketchbook sleeve
Carol Sloan shares her remedies for blank pages
Take 5! with Carla Sonheim
Screenprinting for the Mixed Media Artist by Leslie Tucker-Jenison
Take your sketchbook out to eat with Susan Sorrell
Stacked Journaling with Judi Hurwitt
Learn how to use your inner GPS to create journal pages with Violette
Learn a trio of pamphlet binding stitches from Diana Trout

For more information on the z-eine, including a free sneak peak of it, visit http://suebleiweiss.com/schome.html.

Keys to Drawing with Imagination: Strategies and Exercises for Gaining Confidence and Enhancing Your Creativity, by Bert Dodson

I love this book!  While Keys to Drawing was published in 2006, I’ve only recently discovered it.  It contains “58 strategies, 36 exercises, and 13 step-by-step demonstrations” to get creativity flowing.  There is stuff like Escher tiling, sequences. making the familiar strange, distortion grids, and much more. The spiral binding keeps the book flat for those times you have your sketchbook out and want to give some of the ideas of whirl.  It gives instruction on doodling, as does some of the small doodling books that are very popular, but it pushes the doodles ideas and goes into many more ideas. The amount of fun and helpful ideas crammed into the 192 pages of this book (published by North Light Books) is darn impressive.  There is also work and info from 30 other artists. This book goes into my favorites bookcase.

Surface Treatment Workshop: Explore 45 Mixed-Media Techniques, by Darlene Olivia McElroy Sandra Dura-Wilson

Have you ever gone to the Sunday Sampler (or Friday Sampler) at Quilt Festival?  It’s a collection of some 30 teachers who demonstrate a particular technique in short segments of time.  Each time a segment concludes, attendees can move to a new demonstration.  While I suspect it’s hard on the teachers, it’s a great way for students to be exposed to a variety of techniques in a short amount of time.  Surface Treatment Workshop is similar in that in two-page spreads, there are 45 different mixed media techniques explained within the 144 pages of the book.  No one technique goes into deep detail, but that’s what I like.  There is plenty to experiment with.  Techniques include additive, resist, and subtractive or combination. For example, there is stamping, foils, masking tape, crackle paste, stucco and pumice gel, embossing, rubbing alcohol, painted leaf, and much more.  I like that archival quality is discussed, and variations and trouble shooting is included.  The book was published in 2011 by North Light Books.

DIGITAL ALCHEMY: Printmaking techniques for fine art, photography, and mixed media, by Bonny Pierce Lhotka

Bonny Lhotka is one of the authors of Digital Art Studio, which is a book that I recommend on a regular basis.  The moment I learned Bonny was working on a new book, I was on a list to buy it.  It arrived, and it didn’t disappoint.  In short, I love this book.  Besides it containing beautiful photography of stunning digital artwork, it is loaded with information on a variety of inkjet printing transfer and direct printing methods.  I particularly enjoyed her approach to using carrier sheets.  Her suggestion to use a sheet of foam core board behind the printer as a support is brilliant!  A small thing that makes a big difference.

The book is divided into four sections: The basics; alchohol gel and supersauce transfers; direct printing; and finishing up and looking ahead.  Transfers and direct printing explain several approaches using various substrates such as plastic, metal, paper, and fabric.  Gelatin transfers include white marble fresco transfers, gelatin to metal, tile, and plastic sheet.  Direct printing includes printing onto metal, metal leaf, and custom substrates.  There are various galleries of work. The final section has a chapter on postcoats and finishing and another on new technology and the future of imaging.

Besides the excellent step-by-step photos, there is a 60 minutes DVD with additional instruction.  While I am certainly not going use every method described in this book (I do have my favorites), I am in awe of the information covered. It’s a beautiful merger of technology and art  The only thing better would be working at her side.  The next time I get an email asking for an inkjet printing book recommendation, unless you are a complete beginner (as this may overwhelm a beginner looking for something basic), this is it!

Digital Alchemy
Pages: 320
New Riders, Part of the Voices That Matter series.

Once again, I’m behind on writing blog posts.  However, I do have some new good books that I’d like to share, especially since some may make a great gift.  I’ll start with Adobe Illustrator CS5, one-on-one by Deke McClelland and published by Deke Press/O’Reilly.

Like the CS5 Photoshop one-on-one book, this is another winner.  It’s a full color, 480 page book printed on glossy paper.  The book is physically heavy, and heavy on instruction.  It set up in lessons:

Lesson 1 – Starting a document; Lesson 2 – Lines, Shapes and Color; Lesson 3, Using the Pen Tool (yes, an entire lesson on it); Lesson 4 Creating and Formatting Text; Lesson 6 – Transform and Reshape; Lesson 6 Pathfinder Operations; Lesson 7 – Blends, Masks, and Gradient Mesh; Lesson 8 – Working with Transparency; Lesson 9 – Brushes and Symbols; Lesson 10 – The Amazing World of Dynamic Effects; Lesson 11 – Live Trace, Paint, and Color; Lesson 12 – Printing and Exporting.  Whew!

Going through this book chapter by chapter, or lesson by lesson, is truly like having a class with master teacher Deke McClelland.  But be forewarned, the book is intensive, and you will work hard getting through each lesson.  However, if your goal is to finally master Illustrator, this is the book to have.  Readers of my blog will know that Deke is a long-time author of instructional books and an incredibly knowledgeable and sharing teacher (you can catch him at Photoshop World).  If you cannot take a class directly with him, this is the next best thing.  While there is no DVD included in the book, there are URLs throughout the book to find additional instructional videos online.

It’s not an inexpensive book, retailing at $49.99; but you can find it at Amazon for less.  Again, if you want to learn Illustrator, this is your book.

Among my friends, I am the Photoshop go-to person.  I’ve been using the program for a very long time and feel extremely fortunate that I can generally get design work done using the program without thinking about what tools I need to use to get that work done.  Even so, learning the program was a long time in the making, and the learning never ends. In fact, I will never, ever fully understand that program because it’s an ever-evolving bottomless pit of possibilities which I feel compelled to at least try to understand or otherwise become antiquated in a nano-second.

In that effort to stay on top of the changes, I was a beta tester for Photoshop CS5 (yes, it is now permissible to say so).  It has some impressive new features that I’m still experimenting with (did I mention the learning is never ending?).  One of the best instructors I’ve had in helping me learn is Deke McClelland.  While I’ve taken various classes with him over the past decade through Photoshop World, I was also aware of him years prior because he wrote a book on Canvas, one of the first programs I used to design with.  In other words, that boy has been around for a long time, and his knowledge and ability to share his knowledge in written form and through the classroom has helped me tremendously over the years.

Many people email me asking for Photoshop book recommendations, and there are several I like.  However, Deke’s one-on-one series is particularly good, especially for those needing a good foundation on which to quickly build on.  It’s why I’m happy to share that  his one-on-one series has a new title: Adobe Photoshop CS5 one-on-one published by Deke Press/O’Reilly.  If you haven’t read an earlier Photoshop book in this series, this is an excellent one to start with.  Not for the faint of heart, this is a heavy book, both in physical weight and depth of information. It is  full color printed on 460 glossy pages.  It is not inexpensive, retailing at $49.99 – and that’s without a DVD ($32 on Amazon, click the book link).  But if you’ve been toying with the idea of taking a Photoshop class, or if you upgraded to CS5 are feeling a bit overwhelmed, this book is worth every penny and then some.  If you take the time to sit down and go through it chapter by chapter, set up as lesson by lesson, you can learn a great deal from an incredibly knowledgeable teacher (plus you can develop your biceps with it).  With the book, you also have online access to images and videos to accompany each chapter.

I love when people buy my book and tell me how much it has helped them.  But if you have that book (hint, hint) and want to go beyond the basics of Photoshop, consider this book.  And if you’re about to write me asking for a Photoshop book recommendation, here it is.

I have several new books that I think would make a good addition to one’s stash — especially the beginner.   Funny enough, the first is from “Stash – fabric arts for a handmade lifestyle,” which is a new range of books from C&T Publishing.  According to C&T, “Stash was formulated to respond to the quickly expanding handmade movement and the desire to get “back to basics” by creating unique and inspired fiber arts.”

“Me and my sewing machine, a beginner’s guide” by Kate Haxwell.  This book is something I wish was available when I had sewing in school many years ago.  It’s written in a no-nonsense, straight to the point manner and is a great introduction to sewing.  The book gives chunks of information on one or two page spreads with clear illustrations and photos.  Nothing is overwhelming, and a particular type of instruction can be quickly found and understood.

The main sections of the 128 page softbound book are My Sewing Machine, which goes through the parts of a machine — nothing technical, just what you need to understand — accessories, tools, and other basics.  Seams Simple covers a variety of seams, such as mock French, French, open, mock open, and so on.  Next is Hemmed In.  And as you probably guessed, it illustrates a variety of hemming techniques.  That is followed by Fasten Up, which covers various zippers, closures, and buttonholes.  Around the Corner, has info on making different types of smooth curves.  On the Edge offers various edge treatments such as basic bindings and scallops.  Fancy That includes pleats, ruffles, adding lace, applique, and so on.  It finishes with a projects chapter.  I like the cute handkerchief-hemmed skirt, it seems perfect for a summery bathing suit cover-up.  There is a front and back flap that I found myself using as a place marker.  If you’re going to use the book a great deal, consider bringing it  to a store, such as Staples or Kinkos, to have a spiral spine inserted into the book.  This will help keep it flat when needed.

While the book touches on patchwork and applique, this is not a quilt book.  Rather, this book is exactly what it says it is: a beginner’s guide to sewing  It’s clear, concise, and will give someone starting out — such as a person turned on to sewing as the result of watching Project Runway — the confidence to venture into the world of sewing.  You won’t find things like setting in a sleeve or adding a lining, but you will find a solid foundation on which to grow.  It’s also a solid reference for anyone who knows how to sew, and its clean layout makes it attractive to all age groups.  I’d like to one day see a companion book.  Could a “me and my sewing machine – beyond the basics” be in the future?  The book retails for $22.95

Next up is Linda Johansen’s Fabric Dyer’s Dictionary: 900+ Colors, Specialty Techiniques, The Only Dyeing Book You’ll Ever Need! While I don’t think it’s the only dyeing book you’ll ever need (as there are other good ones out there), it certainly is an excellent one to start with and a good color reference.

The meat of this 95-page, softbound book is over 900 color recipes to use for dyeing fabrics.  Johansen’s  process puts fabric, solution, and dye into a zip lock bag; those bags then sit in a plastic dish washing tub and eventually result in whatever range of colors you’re after.  While using zip lock bags for dyeing isn’t new, the information is presented in a straight forward, structured method that is easy enough for anyone to do, even an absolute beginner.  The beginning of the book is six pages of the basics, including what color dyes to buy.  The recipes are for dyeing 1/4 or 1 yard pieces, but there’s nothing to stop you from doing some math and putting more dye, solution, and fabric into a jumbo zip lock bag.  The meat of the book is the recipes, things like muted yellow, dark to light and muted yellow to muted purple complementary cross.  It concludes with seven pages of specialty dyeing techniques, such as rolling fabric on a rope, painting with thickened dye, and dip dyeing.

Years ago when my friend Cathy and I were dyeing fabric on a regular basis, we bought a large variety of Procion MX dyes.  The color names were luscious — seafoam, grape, amethyst, wisteria, mist gray — and the list went on, as did our collections of dyes because it seemed we needed them all.    Paging through Johansen’s book, I can see examples of the very colors we created .  Yet all of the colors in her book are made from no more than 11 dyes — three clear primaries, three muted primaries, three clear secondaries, and two blacks.  That is it.  From these colors her recipes result in over 900 colors.

I have friends who have taken extensive dyeing classes to learn how to weigh and mix dyes for exact colors.  They come away with a fantastic reference book of swatches and complete confidence in the knowledge they can create any color they’d like.  While this book may not be a reference filled with actual swatches, many will find having some 900+ color prints with the noted recipe of how that color was acheived well worth the $24 price.

by Kathryn Schmidt, AQS Publishing, 80 pg.

The theme throughout Kathryn Schmidt’s Rule-Breaking Quilts is escaping from the quilt police and freeing yourself to break the rules.  “They tried to sentence me to a lifetime of tradition, but I ran from the rules and escaped … I’m here to help you make your way to the same type of freedom.”  There are no templates or patterns, but rather instructions for a variety of “stack-slash-and move” and “easy-curvy-sewing” techniques that are explained in chapters with titles such as “cell block walls” and “major crimes.” The book comes across with a very friendly, tongue-in-check, feel that is very much geared to helping traditional quilt makers take the step toward creating with more spontaneity.

Stacking, free-form rotary cutting, and reassembly is certainly nothing new, and there have been different takes on it over the years.  I have seen some stunning quilts made with this method, and in some very prestigious shows.  While the quilts in the book do not intimidate the reader,  the variety of methods explained have the potential to make those show-stoppers.  Beginners will like that Kathy keeps it simple using 6 fabrics.  Non-beginners should  see the potential when thinking of using more fabrics, such as a variety of graduated color runs , accent colors, and so on, and combining techniques.

Considering the topic is “rule-breaking” quilts, I expected a more quirkly layout other rather than its structured, two-column one .  Even so, this book contains some of the best instructions I’ve seen on free-form piecing.  This is a good book for any traditional quilter wanting guidance in learning to let go, or any “art quilt” maker looking for clear instruction on free-form piecing.  It’s also an excellent book for quilt shops to stock, especially when offering classes on the topic.

I love this book!  I found it by happy accident and immediately bought it. It’s a collaboration by ten authors, each responsible for one of ten categories: art 101, the philosophy of art, art through the ages, profiles in art, a picture’s worth 200 words, art from the inside out, art around the world, unexpected art forms, artistic oddities, and step-by-step exercises.

Each day has a one-page nugget of art information to ponder. The book start with, what else, day 1:  The Elements of Art. Day 2: What is Aesthetics? and so on.  You certainly don’t need to read it in order.  Flipping through to Day 166: This is London, young British artists of the 1980s and 1990s.  Day 251: Using an Underpaiting.  Exploring the Initial Layer of Paint.  Day 316: Taking Art to the Streets.  Many days also have questions to ponder.  Day 232: Perception and Reality.  One question to ponder: When you analyze  a piece of artwork, are you analyzing its objective reality or just your subjective experience of it? Hmmm… I’ll have to think about that one.

The book is hardcover, with the cover art printed directly on the color rather than just the dust jacket (which I prefer).  It’s full color, nice quality paper, and includes a ribbon bookmark to hold your place.  It’s a comfortable size and feels good in my hands. The book is also very reasonably priced: $22.95 and less from Amazon.

It puts me in the mind of The Intellectual Devotional series.  Each book in that series include seven topics that rotate, one each day of the week (one per day) for 52 weeks.  If you haven’t seen that series, check it out.  There are various titles on culture, American history, and so on. You can learn more about this title: The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class here.

Wow, 2010.  A new year.  A new decade.

These past few days, maybe weeks, I’ve been in an almost manic cleaning mode.  Some evenings I was up silly late, like 4-5 a.m., cleaning and tossing and cleaning more.  Maybe it’s some subconscious thing to clean and clear and make way for the new decade.

I’ve also been hard at work on a new art quilt.  The quilting should be finished tomorrow, the finishing on Saturday.  Then I’ll have it – the first completed work of the new year, new decade. I spent months working on this design within Photoshop, and then a lot of time on it with color pencils, pastels, and some paints.  I always know when I did a lot when I begin second-guessing and entertaining the notion of tossing it all. I’ve been close a couple times, and I’m not even sure I like this thing.  But I’m carrying on. The piece is another in my illusions series.  Maybe the last – a bridge from one decade into the next.

There are a pile of journals from this decade that I’ve been paging through.  It’s amazing how much stuff has gone on in these past years — the people I’ve met, places I’ve traveled to, things I’ve accomplished.  While I have kept journals since being a teenager (and I am sorry that I tossed many of those early journals in the garbage some years back), after my dad died in 2000 I stopped for a while.  I started up again in mid-2001.   I was tempted to photograph a pile of the journals to add here, but it’s after 3 a.m. and I should get some sleep.

Oh, good book alert: Visual Poetry, a Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs, by Chris Orwig.  I stumbled up this book today while  in Barnes & Noble. It should simply be called Visual Poetry, but publishers seem to like the lengthy, more descriptive titles.

The book is beautiful and well-written. It’s some 280 pages and loaded with stunning photos and interesting commentary, including interviews – or “guest speakers” – with noted photographers such as Pete Turner (I remember him from years back when I use to cut out the photos from Nikon ads and collage them together to create covers for school books).  It always fascinates me to read the answer to “What inspires you?”

While the book does give photographic instruction, I am far more attracted to his creative process.  The instruction is icing.  Learning to see light, color, and shape certainly does not only apply to photography; nor does appreciating the passion the author has for his art.  In Part II of the book, tips, gear, and inspiration are given for different types of photography such as portraits, wedding, travel.  There are workshop assignments that include a good range of resources for further information in each area.

This is an excellent book, one well worth the $44 price tag (although you can get it for less at Amazon).

The book is a great way to start the new year, new decade … here’s to it!  And with that, I’m off to get some sleep!