Sedona Artist: The Art of Doing Not Much

Sedona Artist: The Art of Doing Not Much: What a nice image. To do nothing. A white porcelain wall plaque,  with cobalt blue lettering, hanging right before you to amuse and inspir...

The Art of Doing Not Much

What a nice image. To do nothing. A white porcelain wall plaque,  with cobalt blue lettering, hanging right before you to amuse and inspire. 
The Spanish saying so makes me smile, that I put it into a  permanent, high fired ceramic art form. This style  of calligraphy is called " Brush lettering" , done with a rather small brush, held at an angle. Harder to write on clay than on paper, with its irregularities.
As of these past few weeks, I have been required to live this lifestyle. It is called " healing". I had a bit of surgery and the prescription is as follows: Do nothing; rest a lot; ice and elevate;  rest a lot.
 It makes me aware  that doing nothing is the most fun when the time and place is of your own choosing. Having to do not much of anything when it is necessity rather than choice, now there is the real test of this art form.
It is something to think about. Everything is a real joy when we choose it. Having to do something, even when it is nothing, well there is the challenge.

Teaching a New Book

Here I am with my sample book from the recent workshop I facilitated here in Sedona. I am sharing  a method of creating a book  composed of  single sheets of paper. The  sewing technique has an exposed Coptic stitch binding when completed. To those who have never made a book, this may  sound rather esoteric. Simply put, you sew each page to the one before it, then every two pages you loop together. This shows as a nice braided, Coptic, stitch on the spine. A thicker bookbinding or embroidery thread is used. Of course it is never Quite that simple. You  must be very careful not to rip your pages as you tighten them. I chose to make a paper cover, of a heavier stock than the pages. Covered mat board will also work, and can be more durable.
Since I had no words in this book, I wanted to add  embellishments, such as this pocket on the corner. I like books where you tuck in a little something. For paper, here is the same pattern that is on the cover, where I added a few gold metallic pipe cleaners  that came out of my wrapping box. You just never know what you need until you find it!
I think the most fun is to see how you give six individuals the same assignment, and the creations that arise are completely different and intriguing. It is always a  lesson  for me when I  teach.