I am not exactly the party type, and when I travel it's usually for business, and I have to get up early in somebody else's time zone. So after an early dinner I usually hang out in my room. I often bring beadwork with me, and this latest trip was no different. I brought a little zippered pencil case full of beads and worked on a luscious cuff bracelet.
But since I got the journalling bug this summer, I've been carrying my little Paper Chase travel journal (It's sort of like
this but with a different cover, and it contains pockets, zippered compartments, etc., along with several kinds of pages -- graphed, blank, ruled).
So I brought my journal with me, along with a little makeup bag full of art supplies (packed in my checked bag because of the scissors)
- A fine point black India ink marker -- doesn't bleed through like permanent markers
- A black calligraphy pen, also India ink
- A glue stick
- A set of 6 teeny tiny gel pens (I looked for mini-colored pencils just before I left but couldn't find them)
- A miniature white out pen
- A small pair of scissors
- A small glitter glue stick (clear with AB sparkles)
Before I left I tore out some pages from a used bookstore find called The Art of Tarot, and stuffed them into the journal's zippered pockets along with the pictures that were already stashed there. The images are small, and contain lots of historical images.
In the room I journalled about something that was bugging me, using collage, and words I wrote radiating outward like a sun. I also added to a mermaid page I'd already started.
Then I looked around the room for ripe collage victims -- and ended up tearing a magazine-weight page from a TV schedule into little squares, then arranging them by color and covering them with the glitter glue. Later I'll paint and draw over this prepared background.
Way satisfying! The beaded cuff bracelet took a fair amount of energy and concentration, but collage is an open door and I definitely found something creative to do that is a relaxing, no pressure activity.
I created this piece to showcase various sequin stitches that I've gathered from mostly East Indian textiles (see the book "The Shining Cloth" for inspiration). I beaded on a black-gesso-coated beading substrate, thinking I'd paint the background, but that didn't happen. Now I have to go back and touch up my sketch marks with more gesso. Hmmm, or maybe some acrylics? We shall see...
