Making Little Zines

 

Got this great little book from the Library before the shut down.
So I get to keep it until things reopen. Bonus for me. Lots of ideas:
construction of a zine & how to print an edition.
The hand drawn illustrations are fun.

Zines have been around for decades.  They are usually counter culture.
The 2 links above give some history.

I've been making little zines of my own & have several more ideas.
Lots of creative folks have been making them & posting on Instagram.
#quaranzine

 To see a video of the other pages of my first quaranzine during sheltering
in place go HERE to Instagram, the 3rd pane in.
 

Check out #quaranzine if you dare.
There are a ton of them. Folks getting creative which is great.

I especially like this.  From The Quaranzine.
Each page is this little guy screaming.

 My second zine...

Zine #3 above.


AK Rowling made a little book that can be considered a zine early on in her
Harry Potter explorations. Expected to sell at auction for as much as 150,000 pounds.
That's $186000.

There we have it. The end of this years A to Z Challenge.
Hope you had fun! I did. It's been a great distraction.

Yoga

Just to be clear, this is not a picture of me. 

Once upon a time I could do this. Still very limber but

 range of motion apparently decreases with age.

I have done yoga, off & on, for most of my adult life. 

As a ballet dancer for years growing up movement, flexibility,

& attention to detail were all part of my existence.

 All these components fit well with Yoga. 

A little background if you are unfamiliar.

The focus on breath & mindfulness help with stress.

Very useful these days.

It has been a struggle of late to be consistent with a daily yoga practice.

It's a goal & I work on it.

Just do it!

Admiration for Tara Axford

I cheat on X if I have to. This is one of those times.

Tara Axford is a mixed media artist who lives in Australia.
I have admired for some time.
  The things found in nature are so different than here. 

Her observations & resulting art strike a cord. 
She collects things on her walks then creates "pocket finds". 

 A stroll through her IG is eye candy.

This is one of her "pocket finds". 
Take a look at her watercolors.



I have a bin of "Natural Items" I use in photographs, 

for stencil ideas, in monoprinting.

I could spend all day arranging still lifes from my box of natural finds.

Almost to the finish line of the A to Z. How is everyone holding up?

Playing with Water Color

Watercolor is a thing I have played with for some time. 

I am by no means proficient. A class showed up that combined watercolor, 

perspective drawing & architecture. I jumped in.

It is through Domestica. Had never heard of them before.

Alex Hillkurtz is the instructor. Image above is his. Link to the class here.
The video content is crystal clear. His explanations of supplies, techniques
& execution are very good. He did a live talk on Instagram
that supported the class content. Alex lives in Paris.
 There were attendees from all over the world.
We ARE all in this together!

I picked this picture from our gorgeous old State Hospital grounds
for my first run through.

The resulting thumbnail quick sketch.
That's all I've got so far.

 I would love to be comfortable sketching then 

adding color to scenes in my journal when I travel.

That means I need to spend more time at it.

A post from last year's A to Z included Candace Rose Rardon
Her sketches are so accurate and sweet.

If you have a minute scroll down & look at her images from her travels. 

A couple past forays into watercolor in my journal.  

 

On a whale watch in British Columbia years ago we saw grey whales breach. 

My minimalist sketch from a photo. 

Have you found more creative opportunities popping up lately?

Artists everywhere are sharing, teaching, & doing more during this time of isolation.

A silver lining however thin. 

 

Vegivore is the Way We Eat It's a Thing

Vegivore

I mentioned in my O post our diet has changed. Quite a bit. 

Best guess 60-70% of our meals are Vegetarian. 

We love meat & refuse to give it up entirely.

 Vegivore is what we are.

Researching the chemistry of eating vegetarian & the reported (?)

health effects on the body felt like a long rabbit hole.

You can find support for whatever way you'd like to eat: high fat, 

vegan, keto, intermittent fasting, Mediterranean, the list goes on & on. 

I'm a firm believer in common sense being the winning approach in most things.

I turned to the library to skim books recommended by my husband's 

doctor & friends. After I'd had enough of the research I went for the recipes 

& settled on few cook books that keep me going. 

Isa Moskowitz has an interesting story. 

Her book (one of many) has great tasting recipes. 

Her command of spices for flavor is the best I've found.

 Inside the book is visually wonderful. 

I'm a sucker for hand lettering & doodles.

This Test Kitchen book is loaded with info & reasons why a recipe works.

The cover veggie burger is the best!

Once you get familiar with the science it's easier to be improvisational 

with recipes & riff. There is a book for that too.  I've had this book for years. Once you get the hang of any cuisine the recipes become variations on a theme. 

You can get comfortable with swapping out ingredients, amounts, & flavors. 

Sally Schneider also authors 

A newsletter I have followed for ages. So much inspiration from her.

The Thug Kitchen books are a riot. You have to be comfortable with profanity as

their language is peppered with it. Pun intended. I find it hilarious. 

I'm so glad we started down this new food path awhile ago. Sheltering with these newer books has given me the opportunity to try lots of new meals that keep us well fed, healthy, and interested. 

Are you eating healthy while cooped up at home? Can you send me some cookies? 

Use It All Up

As a group artists tend to hang on to stuff because "you never know when..."

Here we are, lots of time to create & we need that stuff now!

We are vindicated in our tendency to save crap. 

Some of the fabric above dates back to my college days in textile design class,

 workshops years ago & scraps from my canvas bin obsession. 

Lots of quilting fabric lines my bins. The larger scraps have been sorted
by color & are being used to make larger pieces I can use up for the interiors. 

We have lots of old wall paint from various room & furniture make overs.

 They work on canvas for the background color!

I love red!

I'm partial to this can of metallic silver.

You should see it in person. 

 

Not sure what we were going to paint this color. 

I think it was a failed idea. 

It works well on fabric.

Old ledger pages become small note books.

 Gotta have paper with me at all times.

Old sweaters that have been felted are being used

 to make pin cushions and amulets.

That leads to using all that Floss I mentioned.

I could go on but you get the idea. 

Are you finding stuff in your home you can use up
while we are hangin' out?

Take Your Time

Time. We all have what seems like a lot more of it. But not really. 

We just have less structure. 

What can we do to "fill the time" with good things? How about you?

 

The link to these synonyms goes on & on with other starters...like "sit tight". Can we sit loose?

I've referred to a few things I'm doing creatively lately as going down the rabbit hole. 

 A reference to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Entering something strange & surreal.

Also time consuming. 

Yup that fits.

I love word play & origin, so excuse my enticing you down this particular rabbit hole.

But then again it could lead somewhere interesting. 

Keep wandering.