Tuesday, January 11, 2011

First Post

When my most recent book, Real Life Journals (Sterling/Lark 2010), came out last summer, I felt sort of like I feel when I see a photo of myself that someone has sneakily shot while I'm eating or sleeping with my mouth open-- that sort of terrified cringe that all is now revealed and It Is Flawed.  On the one hand it was a great feeling to actually hold the new book and flip through, looking at the images;  but when I began to read it, regardless of the many times it had been revised, edited, and copy-edited, my critical eye lept on the mistakes that had mysteriously generated themselves.   And when I began doing readings and teaching workshops based on the book, the horror was compounded:   unclear passages, omissions of critical information, and awkward phrases all slithered out onto the page; and I wanted to recall all the copies and go through a final round of editing if not bury them in the woods.

This blog is a great chance to do that final round, and it's even better than great because it allows the book to be changed and changed again with suggestions from readers. The book can also be expanded and questioned as well as corrected. 

If you haven't read the book and have no intention of doing so, you might still enjoy this blog because it will also stand alone as a journal-keeping blog.  It will be full, eventually, of tutorials for building new kinds of journals, tips on materials, examples of other people's work, links to relevant articles, problem-solving, and ideas for different kinds of journaling practices.

I'll work hard to update the blog once a week after the initial flurry of activity while I'm getting it launched.  Eventually I'll talk about a new book I have coming out next year-- actually a revision and bind-up of two of my books:  The Decorated Page and The Decorated Journal.  So stop by often and leave a comment.  Your comments will help shape the blog.  Tell me what you want to know about, and I'll do my best to dig up the information.

Above is yesterday's page from my current journal.  I'm posting this because the next thing I'll do will be to post the instructions for how to make this little book.  I made the book out of a two-stick butter box.  I was getting ready to leave on a long vacation and wanted a small journal.  I saw the box in the dairy case at the grocery store, and, since the size was exactly what I had in mind, I bought the butter!  The journal was so easy to make and worked out perfectly.  It's based on a bookform that's in RLJ, but the cover is different.  Stay tuned!

21 comments:

  1. Hi Gwen. I hope I can do something creative while I'm stuck in the house because of snow tomorrow. Waiting anxiously for the butter box book and I'm going to alert Benedicte that you beat her to a blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely alert her! Will post the bb book tomorrow morning because we will surely be snowed in again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats Gwen!! I will help and poke and prod all along the way. Lovingly, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gwen...Congratulations! I am so happy to see your continued amazing work. You are still my artistic inspiration, now from afar. I just talked to a new WWC student today and told him about you...then I see this. Thank you for sharing your world...
    Love, Jennifer

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gwen,
    Congratulations. You said that you would do it and you did!!! Love the blog banner and can't wait to see all of the goodies that appear here. Our snow just started as I came home from figure drawing with Teri.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your blog banner is lovely, Gwen. You continue to teach and inspire. Bravo.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm glad to find you here, Gwen, I've really enjoyed your books! I'll put a link to your new blog on my Artists' Journal Workshop group blog, if you don't mind. You can find it here: http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks everybody-- and special thanks for tips! I think I've succeeded in adding an RSS feed so this blog is linked to my Amazon author's page. Try it out and see---

    ReplyDelete
  9. As I read about your horror at discovering that your book was flawed, I feel compelled to say to you that a book is like a child: You give birth to it, pour all your hopes and dreams into what it will become and ultimately, you have to let go and let it make its way in the world. No matter how hard you try, there will always be things you wish you had done better. It is what it is and that is the nature of life-you must be courageous in the effort and risk failing spectacularly.

    That said, I feel the need to also remind you that nothing is perfect. Even the most skilled of artists-the great rug makers of the world, or the Amish quilter ply their work and purposely create a single mistake within their masterpieces. It is a sign of humility, of being human.

    As an artist, I can tell you that some of my projects are more "Amish" than others. *grins*

    It takes courage to put yourself out there in the world. I applaude you for doing it, flaws and all.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Serendipity strikes! I just ordered your books from Amazon. Thanks for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congratulations, Gwen! I've subscribed in my Google Reader and I'm looking forward to reading more.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love all your books and got your new one for xmas. Thanks for the continued inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello Gwen. I have ordered your book and really look forward to getting it--it's highly recommended! And I'm happy to have your blog too! I took a 1-day workshop and made 3 different types of books: it was exhilarating. I walked out as proud as a kindergartner with her first school project! I'm hoping to re-create the experience at home, with your help!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yay! You probably can't imagine how much I look forward to your new blog!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Gwen,

    I'm so excited to find your blog via Kate's blog. I have your Decorated Page and Journal books and love them. I will definitely look into buying your new one also. What a treat!

    How neat that you made this journal from a butter box.

    Cheers,
    Serena

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks, Serena! I'm sad about the floods and hope you're doing okay.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gwen,
    I spoke to you on the Book Arts list. I have both of your books, The Decorated Journal and the Real Life Journal books. I just took a bookbinding class in NYC last Sunday and I plan on using your books to supplement/reference what I learned in that class to create my own sketchbooks, and to teach my Sketch Club how to create their own sketchbooks.

    Don't cringe about your book being "flawed", my first thought was, I'll just write notes in the book. Because of your books, I did well my first bookbinding class because I read about it first. :-)

    Thanks for starting this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks, all for your good comments. I will be better about responding to comments after I get this blog steady in the water. Gina-- thanks for encouragement! Yes, I too love to write in books -- it's a great time-honored practice, glosses on the text it was called in Medieval times.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hello Gwen,
    How exited I am to see you have written a new book. Your two previous books have been such an inspiration to me and I would like to thank you for them. They have accompanied me on many long road trips and "days off". Though you see the flaws in your new book, I am confident your passion and knowledge of journaling will shine though and continue to be a joy and help to many. I would also like to thank you for being one of the book artist who inspired me to keep a travel journal of a dream study tour I took to Israel. From that I printed, bound and sold copies to other tour participants. You can see a few pages here: http://colleenpope.blogspot.com/

    I can hardly wait to become fast friends with your newest book.

    Colleen Pope

    ReplyDelete
  20. gwen-just discovered this and i'm psyched to read through-

    ReplyDelete
  21. Gwen - just got your book on bookbinding - very nice - lots of great ideas - i am looking forward to creating my own journals and drawing in them - currently using Canson spiral backs

    ReplyDelete