Getting schooled, part two

First week at the day job: done! Getting used to the new routine... well, that's still a work-in-progress.

The view on the way to work. Credit: Lisa Myers Bulmash

The morning routine has actually improved... The Boy now prefers to take the school bus, so he's out the door around the time TwoBoo wakes up. I get to spend a few minutes just hanging out with TwoBoo before school.

And I don't have to hunt for parking because I'm taking the bus... but it's taking some practice to find the right one.

No worries, though: My job is flexible enough for me to concentrate on next Tuesday's Artist Trust At Large presentation. (If you haven't already done so, register here.)

And today was a STUDIO DAY! Feeling like I'm on the right road.

Wake up! It's a new year!

Now that I'm (mostly) recovered from my New Year's celebrations, it's time to get crackin' on 2016. I got a little work done in the last hours of 2015...

... and I'm looking forward to sharing my progress on the Great Mystery Project (GMP) throughout the year. I'm also looking forward to more Artist Trust At Large presentations, starting with a conversation on marketing your art on January 12th (RSVP here)

a shrine inspired by this meme...

and possibly a group show in Portland -- we'll see... Rest up: we've got a busy year ahead!

The Great Mystery Project: getting a head start

I'd meant to start on the Great Mystery Project (the GMP) in January, but the ideas are coming right now. So I'm getting a head start with some prep work.

These will be similar to the washboard-mounted altered books I completed a few months ago. I've culled potentially useful text and images.

Next I'll seal the text block (all the pages) together. Normally I use a couple of trigger clamps to hold things in place while the gel medium dries.

But that section has to dry before I add more gel medium to the next section. Which slows things down, even if I speed things along a little with a heat gun. So I'm making book presses to hold the text block in place.

The presses are simple: vinyl cutting boards, carriage bolts and wing nuts. (The colors set my teeth on edge slightly, but these boards were cheaper than the bamboo ones.) On to smearing gluey stuff all over the place!