My new 'Haiku Piece' is a collaboration using haiku written by Susan Tweit - and my painting & calligraphy, of course. It was created specifically for the show Beyond Words: Art of the Poem that is currently showing at the Salida Library (through June 30, 2010).

Haiku Details

I have to admit this piece became a bit of a technical challenge - which is part of the reason it has taken me nearly a month to post it...there are only a few weeks left in the show, so if you're in the area I hope you can check out the piece in person.

The top image shows the piece hanging in my studio - in its final (hopefully) form. Originally the piece was mounted on book board, and I used those sticky back picture hangers on the back. Well - one did not want to stick and the piece plummeted to the floor three times in the library. Ugh...how embarrassing.

I had to trim out the crunched edges, and then paint the sides so you could not (really) notice the book board color. And then my husband helped me to get the piece mounted securely to wood...and put on new screw in picture holders. It seems to be holding up now...so fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

A great learning experience for creating my art pieces.

I'm a little bit past when I wanted to post this - but it is still 'Valentine's' week so I'd say it is still relevant. I didn't want to post it before I gave it to the person it was made for - the wonderful man in my life!

So, better late than never, here is the newest book structure I have made: a star book. I think photos don't exactly do it justice - because it is hard to see all the details. My last image is an attempt to show you the layers & details.

The piece is painted arches text wove paper - with some chin colle. It features my hand lettering hidden in the layers (you can see a little in the detail image).

Valentine Star cover	Valentine Star detail

I love experimenting with new structures, and will be happy to create any type of 'structure' you might need - for any occasion. Thanks for stopping by to check out my new creative adventures!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take a workshop with Daniel Essig, a book artist based in Asheville, North Carolina. We created a 'wooden cover' book with a fourth-century binding style known as Ethiopian style Coptic. This book making process was intricate and detailed, yet organic. Check out what I made below (inside spread features my calligraphy!