a visit with anna

Last autumn I started a traveling sketchbook on the theme of self-portraits and home landscapes called portrait:landscape. Seventeen female artists that I met via twitter joined in and although the book's first stop was just a few cities away from mine, it soon traveled to the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the South and the East Coast before sailing across the Atlantic to the U.K.

Anna Jane Searle was the first artist outside the U.S. to receive the book and she has made a clever, personal and beautiful contribution! I wanted to post these on the proper portrait:landscape page, but have run into a boring technical difficulty that is really cramping my style. But! I did not want to let a silly glitch delay enjoyment of Anna's clean and elegant illustrations and besides ~ I figure that the first works from across the pond deserve their own post. Enjoy!



Anna's portrait page features herself as a bear in her trademark glasses and cute illustrations of her favorite things. Her blog, Annarack, is always fun to read and full of actual objects of a similar nature to these drawings, plus her ace artwork ~ amazing dioramas and three-dimensional papercrafts, very detailed and incredibly textured embroidery, fashion, handmade buttons, book arts and much more. Do follow her if you don't already have the pleasure!


I really love her landscape pages. She turned a local landmark into a piece of the British flag, effectively combining her region and country in one eloquent drawing of her location. She also drew Hadrian's wall, which somehow really makes me want to go there and walk along it on a sunny day.

She has already sent the sketchbook on to Valeria Poropat in bellissima Roma, Italia! I am sooo looking forward to seeing the Eternal City through her eyes. Valeria paints and draws at her blog Valeria Draws and her style is quite distinctive. From looking at her many female portraits, each a bit magical and a bit mysterious, I am coming up with a guess in my mind of how her she may go about her own self-portrait. Very curious to see if she keeps her signature painting style or heads in a totally different direction.

After Valeria, the book will travel to nine more artists before arriving back to me. At that point... we shall see ~ the book is becoming so tremendously precious as its pages are so beautifully filled that I feel I should think of something really marvelous to do with it. Thank you, my artistic friends, for your heartfelt drawings and paintings in our round-the-world collaboration! You are inspiring me with every page!

portrait:landscape ~ on its way!

The portrait:landscape book began its journey around the world today! Looking at the list of artists it will visit I wished I could travel along to meet everyone in person.

I put all the contributors' names in the front, added a table of contents, completed my portrait and landscape, and wrote a little something on a local postcard for the back pocket. Have a look!

Cover

End papers (front)

Title Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

My self-portrait (mixed media)

My landscape (watercolor)

Blank Pages 8-9 ~ for Chiori!

Back Pocket (with my postcard peeking out)

Now it's in the mail, on its way to my dear friend @hooka111. The journey begins! ^_^

new traveling book ~ {portrait:landscape}

The cover so far... I carved and stamped the girl and will add a title next.

We've been talking about it on twitter for a week, I've been bustling around on my end, and now ~ at last! ~ I'm ready to unveil our new collaborative project as it changes from bright idea to something we're actually doing. It's a new traveling sketchbook (a Moleskine Watercolour Notebook, to be precise) that has its own theme and a big line-up of talent ready to fill it up!

The theme(s): Self-Portrait & Landscape

Self-Portrait ~ Each artist gets a double-page spread to express their self-portrait in the broadest sense possible. The self-portrait is not limited to a bust or facial view, but can be abstract, representational and even figure-less. It is a portrait of the artist in whatever form pleases the artist or best communicates their character. I think it will be really interesting to see how each artist represents themselves.

Landscape ~ Because the book has many pages, each artist gets a second double-page spread on which to create a landscape of the area where they live. The landscape will be an interpretation of the artist's actual city or neighborhood (as opposed to a mental landscape or personal universe that would fall more on the self-portrait side). With each artist's unique style, it will be fascinating to see their interpretations of their surroundings.

I was initially nervous about choosing a theme, but I think the portrait : landscape theme is a fun play on words. Incidentally, artists are welcome to turn the booklet to 'portrait' or 'landscape' orientation for their respective drawings, but this is definitely not required in any way. Feel free to do what you wish!

The Talent:

Jessica Mack @BrownPaperBunny
Jessica Gowling @jessicagowling
Jeannine Saylor @saylor_made
Kye Sangha @KyeSangha
Anna Jane Searle @annajanesearle
Anika Starmer @aisforanika
Nicolle Cheung @heartleftbehind
Toni Rica @tonirica
Thuraya Lynn @thurayalynn
Juri Kosaka @juriko
Russelle Adams @HeedlessCeramic

and... room for four more contributors. I'm waiting to hear back from two more, so that leaves at least two spots open if anyone is interested! Just let me know.

The book will travel by mail to each participant and return at the end to me. I'll finish it off with an introduction, table of contents, etc. Then, one day in the future... we'll have an art show of collaborative books and we'll all gather together to eat, drink champagne, dance and have an art party. Perhaps Toni Rica will play guitar and sing for us! Doesn't hurt to dream, right? ;-)


The very simple and general "rules" of this collaboration:

1. When an artist receives the book, they have two weeks to complete their artwork. If life intervenes and you must take three weeks, then take three and don't panic or fret. However, a two week limit is more ideal since there are 16 artists that need a turn. Just do your best! :)

2. In the back pocket, each artist is encouraged to place a postcard from their town/area/country with a little note about themselves or their artwork. Since we have participants from many different places in the world, it will be fun to see their drawings as well as a postcard of their hometown.

3. Artists, please send me a message via twitter, email or this blog when the book arrives to you and again when you mail it off to the next artist. A list of the artists in sequence will be in the back pocket so it will be easy to tell where it goes next.

4. Please post pictures and information on your blog or twitter so that all the other participants can follow along and see the book's gradual development! We'll all be looking forward to seeing each person's contribution and the book's progress.

5. Have fun!

That's about it. If I've left out any information or you have any questions, just ask. I want to give a big Thank You to all my dear friends that are participating! You guys make me very happy. ^_^