Comfortable Shoes Studio

Art Journal Video- frugal stamping & collage

This video is about how to journal on the cheap. pretty nice.

the best of twitter

the best of twitter
Originally uploaded by Thereza Rowe

collage and text, text and collage. love it. This is another person you should follow the link below the image and check out the rest of their work on flickr. GREAT STUFF.

I live

I live
Originally uploaded by Laura Serra

Follow the link just below the image and check out the rest of her work. It WILL blow your mind.

It's Spring R

It's Spring R
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista

Lovely journal page done by JournalArtista originally posted to flickr. Love the paint effects on this one.

The DIY Ethic: More Like Rip Off The Original Artist

A recent rash of posts have been going around the internet about DIY and knock offs. Perhaps my favorite is DIY is not Duplicate It Yourself.  Anyone who has been selling on the internet has come into this, a less inspired and far less ethical person will come along, order one of your items and start reproducing them. It happens all the time especially in the craft world, many etsy sellers have made a living off this.

My first battle with this was in 2002 when I was selling my original and handmade journals on eBay. I won’t go into the design or what not, but I did some research online and found NOTHING like them at all. I was also one of the first bookbinders to sell on eBay. A fellow craftsperson ordered one of my books. Shortly after, I found my designs being sold on her website. I also found that she was teaching people how to make my design. No credit was given. I sent her a brief and friendly email asking her to stop teaching it or to at least give me credit. The response? A terse “Great minds think alike.” Apparently, especially so after you purchase one of my items and replicate it.

I have been asked on numerous occasions if I’ll replicate someone else’s book design. I don’t and I won’t. I’ll make something similar but in my own style but I will not copy someone else’s work. I had someone email me a link to a very well known maker of leather journals and ask me how much it would cost if I made them the exact same journal. My response? Double the price. I’m sure that they eventually found someone out there to undercut the price, but I found it pretty sleazy that they would ask me to do it in the first place. This happens so often to me that I no longer accept custom orders. It’s not worth the aggravation.

So that brings me to my most recent issue. Does anyone know who first started selling “Jotter” notebooks on Etsy? No, well it was me. Yep. Look through the history of my sales and those of other bookbinders. I did a lot of research on words that meant notebook but weren’t currently used. I wanted a term that differentiated my item from everyone else’s. No one else on etsy used the term until it was noticed that my little jotters were selling. When I complained about it, I was told by several other crafters to quit my whining and get over it. Really, from a group of crafters I got that, you know why I got that response? Because I put the hard work into getting the name established, I busted my hump pushing my product, sending samples to bloggers and getting positive response. Then every bookbinder on Etsy was suddenly calling every small pocket sized notebook a Jotter. Thanks crafters of Etsy, thanks. Sales bottomed out as Etsy was now flooded with Jotters, my original notebook was lost among everyone else’s notebook*.  

Three years later the term Jotter is used by so many crafters on Etsy I’ve considered changing the name but like I Was able to do with my leather journals I get to say I’m the first and original.

The final point I wanted to make on this subject is how this sort of thing affects me emotionally. Obviously I’m a little angry about people using a term that I researched and put a lot of hard work into promoting. I spent a lot of time and money making sure that my little notebooks were known as jotters. I networked with the GTD community, sent samples out and managed to guerilla market my notebooks as high quality, inexpensive and interesting. So, yes, I was angry. I was even more angered but the “Get over it” response by the crafting community.  I was told “It’s a common word.” I was asked “Did you trademark it?” And worse yet, “I’m using it and I’m not stopping.”

So it’s frustrating, angering and hurtful to have something I worked so hard to create absorbed by the community and told to get over it.  I’ve come to the conclusion that as long as one is an innovator, has more ideas and creativity than the others in their community they will be ripped off, co-opted and ideas will be stolen. It hurt my wallet when people started to use the term jotter after I’d worked hard to establish it.  People don’t realize that when they use someone else’s idea they are stealing from them. They stole from me all the research and hard work I’d done and hoped to cash in on.

So just remember, when you use  a design or an idea from another artist or designer, you are stealing .

your being art journal

your being art journal
Originally uploaded by macchick1

great, simple art journal page. Not a huge amount going on but so much more visually. If that makes sense. I love how the stark black contrasts with the rougher background.

Untitled by Ms. Stephanie Brown

Originally uploaded by ms. stephanie brown

Take a look at this, really take a look at it. Go to flickr, look at it in it's original size and prepare to stare at it for hours. Seriously it's that full of detail and amazingness.

the False Husband

the False Husband
Originally uploaded by MATT MIMS

I'm in love with this guy's work. Stark black lines with flat colored backgrounds. Sweet stuff. Head to flickr and take a look at his work.

Art Journal Video:

Check out this nice little video. Brightly colored videos with thick black rubber stamps. Great contrast.

Memoirs of a Bathroom Wall

Memoirs of a Bathroom Wall
Originally uploaded by The Searcher

Read the story. I love everything this guy does. It's always great.

Colorful day 01

Colorful day 01
Originally uploaded by a-mac088

Blobs and washes of color make a colorful and interesting landscape. My goal for this summer is to work more en plein aire.

Venetian gondolier

Venetian gondolier
Originally uploaded by picturesofmaya

Lovely little watercolor of venice. I'd love to go before it sinks into the sea.

Amsterdam in ink and watercolour

Amsterdam in ink and watercolour
Originally uploaded by Sketchmanni

Love this little drawing of Amsterdam, again I strive to draw more en plein aire this year.

My Roots Ride Side

My Roots Ride Side
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

love the ink on the bottom of the page, lovely and dark. Very cool stuff.

IMG_0149

IMG_0149
Originally uploaded by CaseyDuggs

I love the juxtaposition of the drawing of abe in sanguine and text written in black, lovely.

Bagneux

Bagneux
Originally uploaded by 201169

I love these little train doodle drawings. It makes me wish I took the train so I could do the same.

moleskineries

moleskineries
Originally uploaded by DraK+

text and a nude. I like it. Again juxtaposition is good. 2 things that seemingly don't fit but work together well.

Say You Know Me (c.)

Say You Know Me (c.)
Originally uploaded by psycrasher

There isn't a lot of info about this one but again the frenetic scribbled energy is great.

327/365

327/365
Originally uploaded by Boz Schurr

I like this but I don't know why.

scribble sketch

Originally uploaded by stenz

I like sketches that are frenetically scribbled out, they contain an energy that a carefully rendered drawing sometimes lacks.

moleskine six

moleskine six
Originally uploaded by fill on

lots of good action in this, nice colors and I like the dark and light lines.

false

false
Originally uploaded by alshepmcr

They say confessions are good for the soul but I've found it's best to leave the past in the past.

Intense Conversations

Over the last few weeks I've had several intense conversations with old friends, the oldest sort, from before high school, people I've grown up with and who know me perhaps better than anyone else ever could. There is no remaking of my story with them, they know my awkward stage, the pain of senior year and the weirdness of my life, but also the joys and happiness I've had. These conversations took place over IM. Formerly I was of the thought that truly intense conversations needed to take place in person and that IM was a poor substitute for a conversation piece. I've always been a fan of going for coffee (for real coffee and not pretend coffee as I've been asked out for) and chatting for hours into the night until the night switches to morning and what you really need is sleep.

So yes, without IM these conversations could never have occurred. One of my friends is serving is 2nd tour in Afghanistan, his 3rd in the Middle East and we usually chat once per tour. The rest of the time its when he's home. The other friend is back in rural Maine. Again, the chat would never have occurred without IM. I hate the phone and avoid it at all costs but I'll tell you now this chat was amazing. We asked questions of one another we may never have if we were in person.

Sure IM sterilizes conversations and sometimes you go to places you may not go if you were not on IM and sometimes, that is a good thing. I realize, without thinking, without qualms that I miss these people in my life. I realize that even in my youth I was a good judge of character and surrounded myself with people whom I shared common themes and joys. We shared much happiness these 2 and I. Never together, but separately together with me we shared good times.

Just when I can't remember anything but bad from high school (Port boys tossing me into lockers, calling me names and my former friend outing me to the school*) something like this occurs and I remember some of those moments of joy and happiness and I"m able to point out that those 4 years I so commonly refer to as "4 Years of Hell" were not all bad and more often than not were full of happiness and joy.

Winter in Carrion's river

Winter in Carrion's river
Originally uploaded by Adolfo Arranz

This is a nice study.

March is here!

This past weekend smelled of spring here. Sixty degrees, sun shining and no need for the fireplace, it was a damn near perfect weekend. I even dragged my lazy butt out the door and took the dogs for a short brisk walk. It was great.

I also journaled for the March Art Journal Challenge. The idea is to journal every day for the month, not to finish a page or spread but to journal in some manner everyday. So far so good. I haven't completed a page a day but I have been working in my journal and its pretty good to step back and NOT finish a page, or feel pressure to do so.

I made a journal just for this challenge with just over 30 spreads in it but it looks like it's going to take me longer to fill it than normal. I used stonehenge paper and while I like it for larger work or watercolor it's a little more difficult to use with pen and ink. I may switch to a different media for the rest of the journal, or gesso the pages, or seal them somehow. I like the journal a lot though.

I have not been making many journals lately. I've been focusing mostly on art, journaling, ning and getting ready for grad school. Part of it is a trade off but part of it is also burn out. I used to make a lot of journals, it was a large part of my income. Now it's much less so and I'm okay with that. I've still got a ton of journals up on artfire,if you are interested, and I'm going to continue to make them but less of them. Last night I had an idea for making some larger one of a kind books using mostly recycled materials. I made a test book, it's rough but if I like how it turns out I'll make a few more. They will be pricey but hopefully worth the cost. What I've got so far in this one is neat. I'll post some pics tonight or tomorrow. I realized that I also like working on pages that are not white. There is a whole thread on artjournaling.ning.com about junk journals and much of the discussion is about working on pages that are not blank.

The Challenge is going really well, lots of discussion and sharing of images in the group. Anyone can join, it's a free workshop and there is plenty of room. It's a no pressure kind of group, few rules other than cracking open that journal everyday. head on over!