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My sister came over for a visit and to use one of my computers. While she was working, I started sketching the cover of a magazine (the model biting her lip).  I used a large sheet of Epson archival matte paper, only because it was handy in a nearby printer.  The paper has a lovely finish — similar to a Bristol paper — and the Pentalic Aqua pencil that I also had nearby worked very nicely on it.  Why I placed the first image where I did is beyond me; I suspect because it was initially a doodle that I kept at as she kept working.  Because there was so much white space, I decided to add another model (the top right) and then another (center) and finally the one on the left (which is my favorite of the bunch, although more so the head/face than the shoulder area).  While I don’t mind the color, and I did like how soft the pencil is to work with, I wondered how it would look without the color. I photographed the drawing, and put a Photoshop black/white layer adjustment on it.  I’m not sure which I like better. Here’s the result:

I’ve been getting emails asking where I’ve been. I’ve been here! I took a break from blogging for what I thought would be a couple weeks and that magically turned into a couple months.

In any event, I thought I’d share information on a couple online classes that I took last year through Coursera. If you’re not heard of it, Coursera offers a huge selection of MOCCs — or massive open online courses.  It’s an incredible opportunity to take classes from over 80 top universities and organizations.

The first class I took was through The Pennsylvania State University (what I refer to as Penn State) called Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques. Although it was designed for individuals without any artistic background, I found it very interesting and believe anyone with any interest at all in art will enjoy. The seven week class covered art elements and techniques, fantasy, correspondence with memory (yes, mail art), stories through the lens (black and white portraiture), inside the space (installation and 3D art), personal collections, and the artist critique. Anna Divinsky taught the class, and she was excellent.  Each class contained reading material and a series of online videos.  Also, there’s a Coursera app which makes viewing the videos on an iPad great.

The second class which I finished in November was also through Penn State.  The 8 week class, Creativity, Innovation, and Change, was taught by three instructors: Jack V. Matson, Darrell Velegol, and Kathryn W. Jablokow. The class was so very eye-opening. One of the most fun concepts taught was something called “intelligent fast failure” and dealt with embracing failures because they eventually result in success. The success of one exercise was based on the number of failures, which was liberating!  Because the goal was to try over and over to come up with a large number of failures before you decided when to stop, I tried all types of things just to get my number higher.  But then I got into it, with me thinking, “but what if I try this, and that, and this, and so on.”  As a result, I came up with something that was much better than I suspect I would have had I not been required to come up with a number of failures!

Another aha moment for me was understanding the different approaches to creative problem solving and where one falls on the creative diversity scale.  After taking some tests, I learned I’m more methodical than shotgun in my approach.  No one approach or place on the scale is the correct one.  Rather, understanding how you work and recognizing how others work allows one to adjust how tasks are done to bring out the best of each in the creative team.  I’ve already been able to apply this in my professional life.
Topics included idea generation, idea evaluation, creative collaboration, research, metrics, experimentation, and synthesis of creativity, innovation, and change.

Here is one of the two certifications I earned.

I’m one of those people who enjoy getting some kind of proof of completion when I finish a class, and I’m glad that both offered a certification (not all classes do).  Such incentive tends to motivate me and keep me on track, which is especially important considering it’s a free online class. Each class had over 100,000 students — yes, that many — from all over the world.  Grading is done through weekly tests and, depending on whether you’re trying for an “Explorer” or “Adventurer” Certificate, can include participation in peer forums.  It was often enlightening to read the forums, both in how people from different areas of the world approach solving problems and interact.  For example, in one instance, a student created a beautiful final solution to an assignment that required one sheet of paper.  Looking at it, it was clear she used many sheets.  Even so, being it was a creativity class, I (and some others) gave her credit for creating something that was very good.  Others weren’t as kind, some slamming her for using more materials than stated in the instructions and saying things like she “cheated.”  She apologized, stating the country she is from, that English isn’t her first language, and that she interpreted the meaning of the assignment incorrectly.  She was so ashamed and suggested she drop out.  Even more then came to her defense.  It seemed such a slice of life!

As with any class, you only get out what you put in.  I did start a public speaking class that was excellent. However, there was so much work involved, and the videos were very long.  After several weeks, and knowing there was no certificate award upon completion, I goofed off and didn’t yet complete the class. Luckily, once you enroll, you have access to the class and can complete it whenever you’d like (although you don’t earn a certification for it; that is, unless you un-enroll, re-enroll, and start from the beginning).  You also have access to any class you completed so that you can revisit lessons.  It’s a win, win.

If you’re looking to study something new this year, I wholeheartedly recommend visiting Coursera and checking out their mind-boggling class offering (iTunes is another excellent resource of MOCCs). I’m scheduled for two more classes this year.  Anyone else?

This is the original image.

I posted these images on another site about a month ago. Since I haven’t posted in a while, thought I’d share them here.  I took the images in May in central NJ.  For the past couple years, there were plenty of poppies because of the construction of a new hospital. That construction tore up some fields, and the poppies blossomed. Since the construction has been completed and the earth is now settled, not many are coming up.  Even so, I was able to take some shots.  This is how I played with the above image.

First I darkened the edge a bit to keep the focus on the poppy.

I added a frame effect and like this as is. It’s already printed and in my journal.

In this I kept the first frame, added black, and changed the tonality. However, I still like the softness in the above image.

For the remaining images, I played around with what I call step and repeats — that is I play around with sections of the image in Photoshop.

Another version

And another

and another

And another

And another

I do have some of these images printed and in my sketchbook with some notes.  I was also experimenting with some small prints on fabric.  However, I haven’t yet stitched a thing.

Artist Leo Villareal created “The Bay Lights,” a public art light sculpture across the San Francisco Bay Bridge, which will shine for two years starting March 5, 2013. The artwork is made up of some 25,000 energy-efficient LEDs, mounted on vertical cables 30 feet apart. The LEDs are controlled individually by computer, with the light turning on or off some 60 times a second via a 1.8 mile fiber-optic cable, to create a variety of patterns that flow into one another. He states, “I’m interpreting all the kinetic activity around the bridge: the traffic, the motion of water, the sky — it’s such a rich environment to draw upon.” The artist told a reporter at Mashable that the computers controlling this are a “bunch of $500 Mac minis mounted inside the bridge” and that those Macs are running Windows via Apple’s Bootcamp. Wow!

As I mentioned in the post that follow this, I spent Saturday at The Center for Book Arts on W. 27th in NYC. The non-profit Center is open to the public, and I totally enjoyed both my class and wondering through the exhibits and other areas. If you’re in the area, I encourage you to visit. It’s located on the 3rd floor and even though I had the address, initially walked right past the place, as there was construction scaffolding in the area which blocked any signage that I might have otherwise seen.

The above left shows an exhibit by Tomie Arai called Tales from Home; the middle area houses another exhibit called Brother Can You Spare a Stack, and on the right yet another exhibit by Candace Hicks called Fabrications.

The above three images are from Candace Hicks. You can learn more her and her exhibit here.

The above is from Tomie Arai: Tales from Home, which you can learn more about here.

All of the above are part of the Brother Can You Spare a Stack, which you can learn more about here.  All of the exhibits run through March 30, 2013.

Also while wondering around, I saw some individuals typesetting.  Seeing this was such a blast from my past. I studied graphic art before the Macintosh revolutionized desktop publishing, meaning I learned to pull and set type the long and arduous way. While I have no desire to do any layouts in this manner, it was very cool to see all the wooden cases, draw after draw, filled with metal type, and to look at the various presses. I found myself wondering just when I forgot what letter was where in the case, when at one time I had them memorized, and when I stopped saying typeface and started saying font. And, how strange it was to see that equipment that I remember from several decades back along with a current day Macbook Pro.  It seemed surreal (yet inspirational – ideas for new artwork?).

In any event, if you have any enjoyment of book arts and in the area, do stop by and check out what they have to offer. At the very least, visit their website and blog.

I came across this YouTube video and was blown away by it. The artist, Hong Yi, who was nicknamed Red by one of her friends, created an amazing portrait using coffee cup stains. She states in part of her description, “The portrait was done using coffee cup stains. Quite a tricky medium to use – too much water and the rings wouldn’t form easily, very little water and you’d have to be precise with where you place the cup coz the rings would pretty much be permanent.”

After watching it, I found her website, to learn she is from Sabah, Malaysia, spent a third of her life in Australia, and now resides in Shanghai.  She is stunningly beautiful and incredibly talented.  You can see a portfolio of her work here.  What a cool thing to stumble upon, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sue Bleiweiss
Jane Davila
Jamie Fingal
Gloria Hansen
Leslie Tucker Jenison
Liz Kettle
Carol Sloan
Kathyanne White

I’m excited to start the new year with being part of a new group of talented artists from different areas of the country.  In addition to supporting each other in our individual artistic journeys, we hope to provide inspiration to others through our group exhibitions, publications, website, and blog.  We’re are all excited about our group and we’re looking forward to sharing our journey with everyone.

This weekend I was in the mood to make a journal.  My general journal is one that I have two pages for each week of the year.  It’s text and images on white pages with the date; it’s my way of documenting what’s going on during the year.  I’ve written such journals such being a teenager, although I tossed many old ones which I now regret.

I bought “Creative Wildfire” by L.K. Ludwig and decided to make a journal based on one of her examples.  From her idea, the base of the pages are paint chip cards from the local hardware store.  I removed the paint chips, sanded down the cards, painted a layer of gesso on one side of each, and then glue two sheets together, gesso side out, as they felt a bit flimsy to me.  I then used acrylic paints to paint both sides of the paper.  The pages are a bit sticky, something I was trying to avoid.  Next time I’ll be sure to scrap more paint off (or use less to begin with).  I’ll probably use the book for prints of photos and other misc. writing.  On one spread below, I have a print of a butterfly resting on the center of an open spread. Making the book gave me a much needed sense of getting something going as I’ve been in a creative slump for the past several weeks.

Here’s the book that I used for inspiration.  She shares a lot of cool ideas, inspiration, and enjoyable interviews with other artists.

Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms by Alisa Golden is a good one for different types of ways to sew books together.

Another that I like is Gwen Hiehn’s “Real Life Journals: Designing & Using Handmade Books.”  Both this book and L.K. Ludwig’s book includes extras.  In Ludwig’s book, there is a blank journal book included within an envelope attached to the inside back cover.  It’s made from scraps from the print run of the book.  Clever.  In Gwen’s book, the inside front cover includes a pocket with a booklet called “Choose your own bookbinding adventure,” and the inside back cover has a larger envelope with a fold out sheet called “Bookbinding essentials.”  For punching holes into a signature (a folded set of pages), a great tip is using an open telephone book to rest the pages into.