The other day when I asked what you thought about our dotPads and dotWebbies, we heard you loud and clear that you loved using them! Many of you shared with us your reasons for liking this format by way of how you use it. One suggestion was to use the dots as a guide for pasting things onto the pages. As in Halstead’s image above, “no more crooked tape!”

I keep a special blank book (glue book?) for pasting images which I use for art inspiration – colors, textures and the like. I’m not too particular with how I paste them in, but I can imagine that it would look even better and become more of a work of art in itself if I were using dot paper.

Do you tape/paste things into your journals?

This video shows an inspiration book similar to what I make:

Since participating in the Lehigh Valley Art Wars last year, (a local live art competition) I’ve met and have become inspired by dozens of amazing local artists including Joey Gourniak, shown here in his Easton, PA art studio.

I had the opportunity to visit Joey in studio last weekend when he opened it to the public as part of the 14th annual Easton Open Studio Arts Tour. This was my 1st studio tour and I had a great time walking around downtown Easton with map in hand, talking to some of my favorite local artists in their studios and galleries. If you are a fan of the tv show American Pickers, you might recognize the series of images at the back of Joey’s studio, as they at one time had been installed in the fun house of the currently defunct Bushkill Amusement Park that the Pickers picked back in 2010.

Aware of an art walk/studio tour in your area or one you might be traveling to? Do it! You never know who you might meet and what treasures you might uncover!

Have you ever tried writing, drawing or doodling with a colored pencil? There are several different kinds with the non-erasable wax based ones being the most common. Erasable ones do exist, though I’ve never had reason to want to try them. Watercolor pencils are probably my favorite because they can be used in many different ways. You can draw with them then wash over the drawing with a wet brush for watercolor paint like results. You can touch a wet brush to the lead and then paint with the brush – which makes for a nifty portable paint kit. You can also draw on wet paper which can create some pretty interesting results.

If you have access to an art supply store,  you can often buy what’s known as “open stock” meaning that you can select individual pencils instead of buying a whole set. This is a great and inexpensive way to try different kinds of colored pencils (in your favorite colors) to find the ones you like the most.

I’m personally a fan of the Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils which are a little on the pricey side but in my opinion, well worth it. If you buy some, make sure to have a sharpener on hand that can accept pencils wider than standard width.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to try something new this weekend!

We’ve got 12 people from all over the US writing, drawing, and creating collages dedicated to their “Favorite Things” in our first ever Rhodia Journal Swap. The dozen members of this project are all working in large Rhodia dotWebbies and are documenting their creations on the group Tumblr blog that we set up for the swappers. Each person is working on several pages in each book before sending it on to the next person.

Would you be interested in participating in a future swap? We are considering starting a second round midway through the first.

More recent creations from the swap:

From Sandra Strait

From Andrea

From Tammy

Top image by Kristina.

Playing around in one of the new Clairefontaine Carnet de Voyage Travel Albums – not yet for sale in the US. (Soon….) It’s noted as 180g (83lb) “drawing paper” but that wouldn’t stop me nor Sandra from trying a multitude of art supplies on its medium textured surface.

I used artist grade watercolors, colored markers and black ink pens to create this piece which I call, “Objects of My Affection.” The page did slightly buckle with the watercolors but I’m fine with the results and wouldn’t have a problem working on the reverse.

I’ve been working a lot lately with acrylic paints and I can see myself laying down a nice flat layer of black gesso and then working with Neocolor Crayons over top, or with additional thin layers of  acrylic paints.

These books come in two sizes: 8 1/4 x 11 3/4″ (shown above) and 6×8 1/4.” I like the idea of the smaller book for travel and also for working “in hand.” The back cover on each is stiff and includes an elastic band to keep the book closed when not in use – a feature I really like.

The paper is white (to my eyes) though noted as “ivory” in the Exaclair catalog. 30 sheets/60 pages of acid free paper are noted as “excellent for drawing, sketching as well as light use of wet media.”

Ask your favorite retailer to stock these!

Sabato “Simon” Rodia (April 15, 1875 – July 16, 1965) was an outsider artist who built the Watts Towers – an infamous Los Angeles landmark. Simon began construction of the Watts Towers in 1921, but did not finish them until 1954.

From the ArtJunction website: “Located in south Los Angeles, in a community known as Watts, stands a monument to one man’s spirit, ingenuity, and determination. Built single-handedly by Simon Rodia over a period of 34 years, the Watts Towers consists of 17 separate sculptural forms made of steel and covered with cement mortar embedded with pieces of ceramic tile, pottery shards, sea shells, and broken glass. The tallest tower is nearly 100 feet high.” To read the full article, please click here.

View a short documentary created in 1957 on Simon and the Watts Towers:

A beautiful photo documentary of the Watts Towers can be found here.

An additional detailed article about how the Towers were almost demolished can be found here.

Bonnie Jean Woogler is using the dot grid of a dotPad to create this amazing art.

Bonnie learned of the dotPad from her friend and ours, Sandra Strait- who frequently shares her Zentangle inspired designs on our Facebook page, is a member of the Rhodia Journal Swap and also pens the blog Life Imitates Doodles.

Would you like to see more of Bonnie’s dotPad art? You can see even more of her art on Flickr.

Okay yes. I’ll admit it. I am slightly addicted to Pinterest. What is Pinterest? It’s a virtual pinboard that allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things we find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

I love browsing to find new ideas for patterns color combinations to use in my art. I find so much inspiration there…

Are you using Pinterest? How do you like it? Pin any Rhodia lately?

Last call! Interested in participating? Read on, then fill out the form below by tomorrow Jan 18th. We’d love if you would share this opportunity with your friends! Questions? Please submit via comments.

• 12 people will be chosen to participate and will each receive a large orange dotWebbie in which to create. You do not have to be an artist/writer to participate. This 1st swap will be open to US residents only. (Future swaps may be expanded outside the US)

• Each participant will create on a specified amount of pages within the book and then is responsible to package and mail each book to the next person on the list at monthly intervals. (USPS 1st class mail or Priority shipping is recommended at a cost of roughly $5-7 per book) The participant address list will be structured in a way that should allow the shortest shipping time (and cost) between each person. In the end, you will get back the book you started which will be packed with interesting things…
  

• The theme of the swap is “Favorite Things” and can be widely open to interpretation via: thoughts, ramblings, short stories, poems, lists, art, doodles, clippings, printed photos. We ask that content be safe for public consumption.

• There are 96 sheets (192 pages) in a large Webbie. Your minimum contribution in each book will be as follows: Fill 6 pages on one side. (Leaving the other side blank) Start something on 1 page to be completed by the next person, finish something on 1 page that the previous person started = 8 pages per person (6+1+1) x 12 = 96. You MAY fill 12 sheets (6 pages both sides) if you desire.

• Participants agree to scan/snap/snag/upload/tag images to a group Tumblr blog documenting their process which could include: content, you & your Rhodia, your creative process.

• You own all the rights to your original content in the books and on the web. By submitting images to the group blog, you grant us permission to share them (with attribution) to the Rhodia Drive Blog and also our Facebook page. We encourage you to share your content via your own blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc.

If you are reading this via e-mail or in certain feed readers, you may need to visit http://rhodiadrive.com/ to see the form.

It’s here! Time to roll our our first ever Rhodia Journal Swap: “Favorite Things.” Interested in participating? Read on, then please fill out the form below by Jan 18th. We’d love if you would share this opportunity with your friends! Questions? Please submit via comments. 

• 12 people will be chosen to participate and will each receive a large orange dotWebbie in which to create. You do not have to be an artist/writer to participate. This 1st swap will be open to US residents only. (Future swaps may be expanded outside the US)

• Each participant will create on a specified amount of pages within the book and then is responsible to package and mail each book to the next person on the list at monthly intervals. (USPS 1st class mail or Priority shipping is recommended at a cost of roughly $5-7 per book) The participant address list will be structured in a way that should allow the shortest shipping time (and cost) between each person. In the end, you will get back the book you started which will be packed with interesting things…
  

• The theme of the swap is “Favorite Things” and can be widely open to interpretation via: thoughts, ramblings, short stories, poems, lists, art, doodles, clippings, printed photos. We ask that content be safe for public consumption.

• There are 96 sheets (192 pages) in a large Webbie. Your minimum contribution in each book will be as follows: Fill 6 pages on one side. (Leaving the other side blank) Start something on 1 page to be completed by the next person, finish something on 1 page that the previous person started = 8 pages per person (6+1+1) x 12 = 96. You MAY fill 12 sheets (6 pages both sides) if you desire.

• Participants agree to scan/snap/snag/upload/tag images to a group Tumblr blog documenting their process which could include: content, you & your Rhodia, your creative process.

• You own all the rights to your original content in the books and on the web. By submitting images to the group blog, you grant us permission to share them (with attribution) to the Rhodia Drive Blog and also our Facebook page. We encourage you to share your content via your own blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc.

If you are reading this via e-mail or in certain feed readers, you may need to visit http://rhodiadrive.com/ to see the form.

Perhaps you remember my friend Alex. He’s the one that’s been stashing Rhodia in various geocaches around central Pennsylvania. Same Alex whose cajon I painted. He’s been making and selling a ton of these paracord bracelets and when I saw him start to add these various colored “ribbons” in the center, I asked if he could make an orange with two black ones which would make it look like the Rhodia logo. Viola!

Interested? He’s charging $8 + shipping. Message me at stephanie@rhodiadrive.com with “Paracord Bracelet” in the subject line and I will forward to Alex.

I am currently participating in two different sketchbook exchange projects and it got me to thinking about starting a similar “journal swap” project. 12 people, each provided a large dotWebbie, would fill a specified amount of pages in the journal then mail it to the next person on the list. A theme would be chosen for the project and the participants could fill their pages however they choose – random thoughts, poems, art, collage… Along the way, the participants will scan/snap/upload project photos to a group Tumblr blog for all to see. After each book has cycled through the hands of all the participants, the book you started is returned to you – now filled with all kind of interesting stuff!

Is this something you might be interested in participating in?

I will post the specifics for participation after the new year.

I met artist Don Colley at NAMTA’s 2011 Art Materials World conference and trade show.  He was demoing at the Faber-Castell booth and happened to walk by ours during a break.  His work with colored pencils was so life-like it could practically walk off the page.

Don had used some of our larger datebooks for sketches because they lay flat.  I promised to send him a Webnotebook to sample, and asked him to let me know if he liked it.

I got this email from Don the other day: “Hi Karen, I recently finished drawing in the sweet little orange leatherette covered Rhodia web notebook you sent me. I took it on tour with me this Fall and got some fun pages.  Thanks again for the little book, it was well suited to cross country travel in planes and on buses. Happy Holidays.”

Please visit Don’s website – Buttnekkiddoodles-Drawing from Life in Chicago and Beyond.

Thanks, Don! Hope to see you at NAMTA 2012 in Orlando!

After making the decision to leave my “day job” 3 years ago to lead a creative life, I worked at home amongst many distractions. My snoring husband, hollering bird, the lady across the street that (screams) sings Donna Summer’s greatest hits over & over…

I helped to write a book sitting at a computer in my kitchen (we eat in the living room) and then later graduated to working in the bird’s (tiny) room on a desk that belonged to my husband when he was in grade school. Many of the thousands of mandala doodles that I would make were created with a sketchbook “in hand” as there wasn’t really any table space for me to work on. When I started painting I’d spread a drop cloth over a 5×5″ space and sit on the kitchen floor and paint. I created my mandala workshop sitting on my bed, back against the headboard and books spread all around me. Working on my blogs became easier with a laptop, though there still isn’t a comfortable surface at a comfortable height.

No more.

As of Black Friday, I obtained 236 square ft. of work space all to myself when I was chosen to become a resident artist at a visual arts and education center called The Banana Factory in Bethlehem PA. Located in an old re-purposed warehouse and a stone’s throw from the old iconic Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces, The Banana Factory is a non-profit organization benefiting local youth and which houses 2 art galleries, a hot glass studio, mosaic studio, photo editing studio and is also home to 28 artists in residence – some quite well known such as Doug Wiltraut, (watercolor) Olaf Starorypinski, (photography) Rigo Peralta (surrealist painter) and Virginia Abbott (sculptor.)

*Some of the artists work on their sites may not be safe for work.

I’ve got 24/7 access to my studio but will likely work during the day with my door open to visitors. I still can’t get over how much stuff I moved out of this little house and into that studio. It might appear to some that I had been hoarding art supplies. :o)

Now that the house isn’t filled with stacks of sketchbooks and notebooks and stuff everywhere, all that’s left is for me to make the decision whether or not to use the studio to write as well. Part of me likes not having a computer there, but I know that I’m not art creative all the time – I go in spurts and when I’m not making art, I’m writing blog posts, adding art to my Etsy shop, researching new material for my workshops and planning new ones. I’ll figure it out.

I’m just so freaking happy!

This is a short video from my move-in day.

You can see lots of pictures of my studio & of my friends at the Banana Factory here.

From Anne’s Etsy listing: “A bright green gecko slithers down this great little notepad cover. It’s designed to fit a Bloc Rhodia Pad No. 12 and also has a pocket in the back for loose little papers. When the notepad included is full (or empty, depending on how you use it), simply slip it out and replace it with a new one — the durable cover will keep on going!”

Anne B. designs and makes pocket protectors, book covers, wallets, trays, and more using vinyl fabrics, especially oilcloth and sparkle vinyl. Sturdy construction, meticulously stitched appliques, and awesome extra details make her stuff unique, durable, and very vinylicious.

The Rhodia No. 12 is a long-standing favorite of Anne’s. She’s been toting one around for over four years now, but only recently thought about making a swanky cover for it. While she totally digs the look of the classic naked orange Rhodia Pad, she thinks having a unique reusable cover is even more fun.

Check out all of Anne’s cool vinyl products in her Etsy Shop: annebvinyl

One of my favorite blogs is Art Journaling – a photo blog on Tumblr. I can scroll through the images forever & ever… so much inspiration, so much feeling of connectedness through all the different peoples art expressions. When I started to journal, I’d occasionally draw in my books but now I do it a lot more- to the point of dedicating whole journals to the cause. I especially have fun painting and coloring the backgrounds in which to return at a later date when the creative bug bites.

Have you ever tried art journaling? If no, take a look at some of the images on this site and let me know if they leave you feeling inspired….

Want to learn more about art journaling? Check out these sites:

Daisy Yellow

Teesha Moore

Art Journaling as a Creative Process

Sandra Strait, author of the popular Zentangle inspired blog Life Imitates Doodles recently reviewed our new Rhodia WebPlanner.

(The WebPlanner) “has Rhodia’s signature silky smooth paper, and the overall look aims at elegance rather than flash.  You’d think elegance would be difficult when some of the print is orange.  However, combined with gray print, it has a surprising sophistication.”

Sandra – we just love your tangle designs in our Rhodia products! Please visit her blog for the full review – maybe even stick around and peruse her amazing tangle designs which are all accompanied with step by step patterns on how to create them.

I save old magazines and now and again, I cut them apart. Pictures go in one box, words in another. Then one day I pull them out and start gluing them into one of my journals. What I end up with, is often more than I imagined possible. Beautiful, inspirational… Messages to help ground me when I’m feeling down.

This project was inspired by my friend Kim who teaches a Found Poetry workshop. You can see another piece I created here.

It’s kind of an odd story on how I came to meet Sterling Witt. I’d heard of him because he had been nominated for a local music award, but he isn’t local to the Lehigh Valley or even Pennsylvania. Apparently there is a rule that allows any artist that has performed more than six times in our area to be eligible for a nomination for the Lehigh Valley Music Awards though I’m not even sure how Sterling, a singer/songwriter/visual artist from a small town near Kansas City, MO even found his way to the Valley in the first place.

I must have first seen something about him on Facebook then clicked a link to see what he was all about. His music is playful & catchy, his voice deep and soothing, but his art, his ART!!! AHHHH! I loved it immediately! Though he works in a completely different style than I am familiar with, his vast body of work in various media, combined with a somewhat seemingly relentless nature towards artistic self-expression, reminded me of… me!

So I just had to meet him.

He was back in our area at the beginning of this past summer and after exchanging a few pleasantries at a local benefit performance, Sterling, (who I discovered plays an upside-down acoustic guitar, a right handed guitar strung for a lefty) agreed to meet with me a few days later to discuss art, life, the universe, and everything.

Dressed in his usual black T-shirt & jeans, black hat perched atop his head, he shows up at my house and we spend a few hours talking – at first as total strangers, about the creative process, how to overcome self-doubt as an artist, risk taking, and the glorious life of a creative soul.

As the conversation continued, I was mesmerized by this person but I’m not even sure by which part – I think mostly for the fact that I had the opportunity to share space with someone new that I would come to recognize as both as a peer and also as a role model. The opportunity to trade notes about our borderline obsessive need to be continuously creating, (art, music, words…) and to find we shared such beliefs as “Like Attracts Like” made me feel as though we were never really strangers at all…

Sterling comes across as incredibly authentic and as living his truth. Sweet, humble and completely accessible, this man is completely fearless with his art and overall personal expression – he is always keeping an eye on his long-term goals and it definitely motivated me to have an encounter with someone more goal-orientated than I am.

I presented Sterling with a pile of paper and various art supplies at the end of our chat which made him quite happy. Once back home, he sent me a note about how some of the drawings in the video below were created on the paper I gave him. (You just know there was Rhodia, Clairefontaine & J. Herbn in that mix….)

You can find Sterling on the web – be sure to check out both his art & music – as each are simply amazing.

The video below was the first I’d learned of Sterling. I loved this music & these women so much I bought three posters of them to hang in my house. (Chloe, Zooey & Odeya) It was such a joy to show Sterling how Chloe hangs over my desk and continues to offer inspiration…

Our friend Gail Young recently sent me an e-mail about these Koh-i-noor woodless pencils which I have yet to try. Her thoughts?

• Soft but not smudgy.
• Blend beautifully.
• Colors are coordinated; often inexpensive ($9 for 12) sets don’t do this.
• Packaging: terrible. Plastic holder that’s a waste with a cardboard slide cover. Pencils are impossible to remove without nine-inch-nails. Cover difficult to slide back on.
• But to me, they’re an A-, since they’re beautiful.

Additional reviews of these pencils can be found at:

Pens’N'Paper

DebraLois.com

CraftCritique

Shoplet

You can purchase these online from Artist and Craftsman Supply or check with your local art/craft store.