But for now, I just wanted to post that I have some new mixed media journals available for sale right now at amanobooks.

The Thread that Binds
7×5 inches, handbound blank journal
mixed media covers with exposed stitch binding

If you are local to Tubac, Arizona, I actually have three of my handbound mixed media blank journals in the Holiday Artisan Show at the Tubac Center of the Arts.

The Life of Trees
8×6 inches handbound blank journal
mixed media covers with exposed stitch binding

How I wish I could be there to see the journals in this juried exhibit. The exhibit will take place November 18th-January 2nd, so if you’re in the area, stop by!

Visit amanobooks to see the three new journals that I have just added.

Here is one of them:

Of Early Morning
6×6 inch blank journal

This journal showcases my current obsession with really working in different media onto one panel. The cover includes an image printed on tissue paper, beeswax, plaster, and acrylic paint.

Quiet Spirit
6×6 inch blank handbound journal

Imprinted
6×6 inch blank handbound journal

Please visit amanobooks.com shop to read more about the cover art for these two journals.

Intentions
5×7 inches

To read more about the art of these two journals please visit my art blog, Contemplating the Moon.

Refuge and Sanctuary
6×8 inches

Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. ~Peter Minard

Big Sky and Fields of Grass
mixed media panel
6×8 inch handbound journal

This panel uses an old record sleeve to frame the photo. This is an idea that I’ve used before and I got from L.K. Ludwig at one of her workshops that I attended several years ago. To protect the surface of the photo I brushed a thin layer of beeswax. Not encaustic, just plain beeswax.

While taking on commissions is always a little anxiety producing, I do enjoy them. It pushes me to try something different, to look at a project in a different way. Because when I work on a commissioned piece, each brush stroke, each stitch, carries the thought of that person in my mind. Normally when I work, I don’t think about the audience. And so I look at commissions as collaborations. Whether the person inspires me with an image, a thought or a poem.

handbound mixed media journal

Sepulcher
6×8 inches
available for purchase at amanobooks.com

A journal is a place to be present, to bring your entire self to. A place to bring your thoughts and feelings and to fully explore what is going on in your life and in your head. It can be a place to give voice to what may be silenced in our day to day doings. A place where we unearth our desires, our fears…and then let it be. Sometimes things just need to be released, in order to let go and move on. A burial, followed by a resurrection.

sep·ul·cher   /ˈsɛpəlkər/ Show Spelled[sep-uhl-ker]
–noun
1. a tomb, grave, or burial place.
–verb (used with object)
3. to place in a sepulcher; bury.

handbound blank mixed media journal

purchase xxxvi

The cover art for this journal was created using an altered photo of a winter tree. The image is encased in a thin layer of beeswax which adds to the glow of this ethereal image. Strips of white fabric frame the journal cover at the top. One strip has a flower design sewn on with gray thread. The left side of this collage includes ledger paper and strips of other torn paper. At the bottom, I included a polaroid transfer of a group of ferns.

This journal is handbound and signed by the artist.

Stay tuned….more to come!

rootless
5×7 blank journal
original mixed media art cover

Rootless is a coptic bound journal containing 72 handbound white pages (144 pages both sides). #70 paper. The cover for this unique journal combines a new interest of mine in working metal. Most of the panel is made up of a metal sheet on which I created prints using real grass reeds found outside in a park. Above the metal piece, I attached one of my photos to the top of the panel and then encased it in a thin layer of beeswax. I really like the juxtaposition of two totally different surfaces next to each other. One, smooth and buttery, and the other cool and rough. The edges of the panel are wrapped with linen bookcloth.

The words on the metal part read:

birthed from the earth yet
without roots:
rootless
no grasp
my past

The cover of this journal is signed by the artist.

To purchase this journal, please visit the Collage Section of amanobooks.com

Autumn Tree handbound blank journal
4 1/2 x 7 inches

I am excited to announce that the Tyra Banks show chose one of my handbound journals that I offer over at amanobooks.com as one of the items included in their Luxe Living event! Here is a link to the event and the other products that are going to be included too. The Luxe Living event happens once a year in which 8 lucky women win a gift bag of the industries top products. This year they are incorporating fabulous luxury chocolates, teas, handmade soaps, candles, and apparantly handmade journals!

Towards Wholeness
6×6 inch blank journal

I have been busy adding more blank journals to amanobooks.com. This blank journal, Towards Wholeness is now available for purchase in the collage journals section.

The cover of this journal was created on a canvas panel. The art on the cover is an original mixed media painting signed by the artist. This piece is about a journey towards wholeness. In the fragile beauty of the petals I hope to capture the beautiful impermanence in this world and the loving acceptance of our limitations.