Journals Update

I have finally finished a journal I started way back in, I think, 2009. I took a class at Art & Soul in Portland from D. J. Pettitt, in which we created journals or books that were painted and sewn with both paper and fabric. Now, in the best of times I am not what you would call a fabric person and I had never sewn paper to fabric before, but it was fun and the project just swept me along.

Most of the participants seemed to work in a soft, pastel sort of pallet, must as D.J. herself. That is not, obviously, my pallet.

As I was working on my covers and pages, it occurred to me that the colors and textures I was using were very reminiscent of Aboriginal art.

I realized that I had created a journal to hold all the photos I have been clipping for years of Aboriginal art. I, alas, have been very remiss in keeping the artists' names with their work, so I will not show a complete page with some one's art because I can not give proper credit. Slovenly as my record keeping might be, the finished journal pleases me greatly and I feel that I have created a little book that compliments to wonderful artwork featured inside.

I also have completed my little travel journal for my Hawaii trip. I didn't do any watercolors or illustrations while I was there, sloth that I was. I just (barely) managed to record the daily events and to collect some ephemera to jazz up my pages.

I used my Pogo printer a lot on this trip and added many photos, more than usual, to my journal.

It amazes me how each of my travel journals is very like the others, but also very different, as each trip is different from the others.

I've put this journal aside on my desk with the others. I am beginning to get a nice collection of them!

My journal for my upcoming trip to China is ready and waiting....

Hawai'i--Day 8 & 9

Spotted near Pahoa....mer-matron (obviously not the skins of mermaids....) skins left to dry in the late afternoon sun.

A view of our "snorkel pond" just out front of the little hale (house) here. It's an unusual photo because there is no one in the water snorkeling. There is almost always at least one or two snorkels going by---with good reason!

We went to the Sunday market in the little village of Pahoa. The little place we've rented is close to Pahoa. It was a very nice market and was larger than we expected.

There were wonderul offerings of fruit and vegetables, mostly organic.

And, of course, the very inexpensive fantastically beautiful orchids for sale. You've no idea how much these cheap orchids annoy me. I would like to buy them all. I would take them all home with me---and promptly kill them. (Not on purpose.)

Pahoa has the look of an old Western town. I love the buildings and how the boardwalk goes up and down a few steps between each of the store fronts.

This is the Pahoa Cash and Carry. It's one of those wonderful little stores you find in tiny towns. It has EVERYTHING. We spent a happy half our cruising the aisles and enjoying all the varied items for purchase.

This is a breadfruit tree. Isn't it beautiful? I think it is the most wonderful green.

This morning we drove to the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. It was just a short drive from Pahoa, but about 3500 feet higher in elevation.

There is lots of steam to be seen around the crater of Kilauea. There is a road that circles the crater rim but part of it is closed due to elevated levels of sulfur gas. We only went as far as the steam vents in one direction and to the lava tube in the other.

I found the juxtaposition of the moon-like crater with the beautiful native vegetation surprising.

These leis were left in the tree as offerings. To Pele? Note the steam rising out of the crater in the background. You could hear ominous rumblings and rocks falling in the distance. The whole thing made me very nervous.

this is the crater floor of Kilauea Iki (Little Kilauea, I think).

On our way home we stopped at the Akatsuka Orchid Gardens. It was chuck-a-block with the most gorgeous orchids in a rainbow of colors. Everywhere I looked was a bloom more fantastic than the last.
When we got back to our little house we immediately headed for the ponds to go snorkeling. It was a good afternoon for seeing lots and lots of fish.

Honolulu---Day 4

Ah.....

It was another relaxed, pretty much non-productive day here in Honolulu. We did some walking, some shopping, some eating, swimming, lolling and just plain ol' relaxing. It was a fine day!

For lunch we stopped at the Moana Surfrider, a luxury hotel in a beautiful old Colonial style building. We had their high tea. very proper, very old-school and very good. I can highly recommend the jasmine pearl green tea and the egg and shrimp sandwiches. A little nibble of dessert or two might have been taken, but we were careful and did not over indulge. I really enjoyed the experience.

And we had bird sightings. I have no idea what kind of birds these might be.

And for our last night in Honolulu, fireworks! I don't have any idea what the fireworks were in celebration of, but it was a very beautiful and surprisingly long show...something to do with the Chinese New Year or a wedding perhaps? I guess I'll never know. But to whomever the sponsor was, thank you! We enjoyed the show.

Honolulu---Day 1

We arrived in Honolulu in early afternoon and were met by a car and driver-with orchid leis for each of us. That was lovely. I love orchids and the leis were very pretty. (They are now decorating the light fixtures in our hotel room.)

Our hotel, Hotel Renew, is only about a half block from Waikiki beach. It's a nice, small boutique hotel. It's modern and Zen and crisp. I like it a lot. The location is fantastic. We are, I gather, at the Diamond Head end of the beach.

We had lunch at the Tiki Grill. The food was good but the pisco sour was divine! Nonie and I fell in love with pisco sours when we were in Peru and it is not often we find them on a drinks menu.

Auntie Bella's Lei Shop....one way to know you've arrived in Hawaii!

And just in case the lei shop wasn't a big enough clue, the surf board lock up along the Waikiki beach would be a dead give away. I've seen ski lockups before, but never one for surf boards.

This is going to be a great trip!

Prepping a New Travel Journal

I am a very lucky woman. My sister-in-law has given me a trip to Hawaii for Christmas! Not many people are given a whole state for a gift....we are leaving on February 7th. We will first stay in Honolulu for a few days and then head over to the Big Island (Hawaii for those of us who are Hawaii challenged). I always keep a journal when I travel and I will for on this trip too.
Since our departure is creeping up on us more quickly than I can believe, I decided that this was the weekend for getting the journal covers completed.

There is a very creative woman who creates blank watercolor journals and sells them on Etsy. I love the size of these little books (about 6 inches square) because they slip into my pocket or my purse, the covers are a nice quality of paper that takes paint well and the watercolor paper that she uses for the signatures is heavy and wonderful for sketches, water media and just for journaling. This will be my fifth travel journal I have made using L's little creations.

For this journal I decided to use Hawaiian quilt block designs for the front and back covers. I love the graphic quality of Hawaiian quilts and I thought they would translate well to a journal cover. I had a copy of Hawaiian quilting by Elizabeth Root in my stash and I liked many of the quilt block designs featured in the book. I opted for a hibiscus for the front cover and the anthurium design for the back.

I photocopied my chosen designs and resized the images to more closely fit the covers of my journal. Then I scribbled with a plain old pencil all over the back of the designs to create a sort of carbon paper to transfer the design to the covers. (Placing the design face up, with the pencil scribblings on the cover and then tracing over the design with pencil.)

Once I had the designs transferred to the journal covers I went over the pencil design with a ultra fine point Sharpie and then I used my Copic pens to add color.

When I was happy with the covers, I then gave them several coats of matte gel medium, applied with a small roller, to protect the covers and make them waterproof. I like having the covers to my journals waterproofed so I don't have to worry so much about slopping water (or tea or lattes!) around when I am journaling. I am, I'm sad to say, very messy.

I used a very thin wood veneer "paper" that I found at a scrapbook store for the inside of the covers. I cut the veneer to fit with my paper cutter and then used a permanent glue to affix them to the inside of the covers. I weighted them down while they dried as wood veneer has a tendency to curl and I wanted them, of course, to be flat.

Not the most elegant covers for a journal, but I am hardly the most elegant of journalers. I am pleased with the end result. Now for the fun part---taking the trip and creating the journal while I'm away. I'll add ticket stubs and ephemera that I collect on the trip and I will also probably add small photos that I will print with my Pogo printer. I love that printer and the fact that I can print out 2" by 3" sticker-backed photos while I'm traveling. By being able to add photos to my journal pages while I am still on the trip I have a completed journal when I return home....ready to bore my friends and family with my adventures!