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!

This week in art: full house

I'm expecting a full house for Friday's Artist Trust At Large presentation -- RSVPs have been flooding my mailbox and I'm told several may be bringing their friends. You might want to dodge the holiday shoppers and find parking early...

And if I don't see you in Redmond, it's very possible you'll run into me tonight at Pioneer Square amid the holiday cheer. Look who's on the Hanson Scott Gallery home page for this month's show opening! Ahem.

Of course, I'd love to see you at both events. But you may just have to pick one...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you read this after having expressed love and gratitude for the people you hold dear in your life. Maybe you show love by stuffing them up to the gills with food, by having loud arguments in which you're sure you've won, or by staring at your respective mobile devices with the TV blaring in the background. Maybe you spend some time with them, and then you go somewhere else to make sure others have a warm and safe holiday. However you celebrate the holiday. I hope it's a good one for you and yours.