Birthday Card

I love this card that I have just made - at last, I can make birthday cards!

EveryDay Book

This year-long project has passed its half-way mark now and the books are beginning to look rather exciting.

Here is my spread for Alis' book - the colours are "spice" and the theme "exotic".

Art trouvé

Most of us use found objects in our art and yesterday I found lots of lovely bits and pieces that I know with a bit of a clean up would be perfect for ABs etc.

You cannot beat free art supplies!

Kari x

Fabric ATCs

I have just finished 2 non-paper ATCs on the theme of Africa. Not using paper was quite a challenge as I have many resources for paper images and it was hard not to use them.

Fortunately, I have much fabric and decided to use the colours of African Textiles, reds, browns, yellows and a touch of green. I hope they represent the earth, trees and small touches of green.

New Work Area

Since finishing university I have lost my studio space and am struggling to do any work on my already overloaded kitchen table. I live in a very small flat, so finding space is not easy. A few of us students are looking for studio space together, but we haven't found anything suitable yet.

So, in the meantime, I decided I needed some art supplies nearer to hand and a work table that wasn't my landlord's and I could spill anything I like on it! A week of moving things around has resulted in this little corner underneath my spiral staircase (to the hayloft where I sleep). I have got the basic requirements right at hand which will save me a lot of frustration and time-wasting. Cost of all this expensive looking furniture = £5! The drawing table I bought for the £5 from a car boot sale a couple of years ago and the book cases (one on top of the other) have been gifted to me. I am delighted with the outcome. It may be small, but it is efficient!

Now all I need to do is get on with some work.

Drawing Altered Book

I am still struggling with post-uni tiredness, but I have managed to reorganise a little round here so I have a decent work space. I have begun a sketchbook for my "whose land is it anyway?" theme, which I have decided to do in mixed media and acrylics/watercolours, rather than oils. I don't want to risk making myself ill with solvent fumes as in my studio flat there is no escape.


Anyway, I finished two pages in Sandra's Drawing AB, both in coloured pencil. The first one is of a tree that I have used in an etching in the past and the second is meant to be an imaginary Pictish stone, but is rather sneakily looking like one at Aberlemno. I blame Linda for this last one, as she inspired me with her stone circles which she knows I love. I have a special fondness for the Pictish stones, they are fascinating to me and I have managed to visit most of them in situ or in museums up here in Scotland and have had some lovely adventures finding them.

Kari x

Getting Fruity

I have had this fruit deco in my "To Do" box for a while now, I have nearly finished it several times, but kept on eating my entry.

You see, this deco takes the form of a strawberry basket and I knew I wanted to do something 3D to go in it.

Fortunately, I was saved recently by finding a lovely lemon candle which I have decorated. And, that meant I got to use my recently acquired quilting tool for adhering wax to wax at last.

There was no way I was going to eat this lemon, so, hooray, a homer is on its way to Elizabeth!

Kari x

Fairy Trauma

Well, fairies aren't usually my cup o'tea (unless squished in pages, LOL), but I am in a round robin and have no choice on the subject of this book I am currently working in.

Elizabeth reminded me of the way I used to work, so I have resurrected the writing/outline method of a year or so ago. The writing is from a book about Scottish fairies. I love those old Scottish and Irish tales.

I am gradually clearing the backlog of projects I am involved in and this completes another one.

Kari x

Video Stills

I have finally figured out how to capture stills from my degree show video and here are a few to give you an idea of how the video looked.

The first one plays throughout and is an image of me, reading a burning book. It fades in and out as the other elements come and go.



These are the other events that happen to books which culminate in the final cut where the book is shot three times and finally falls to the ground leaving the branches of the tree waving in the breeze






The sound of fire can be heard in the background, with the occasional voice-over of whispering (the words that appear on the wall piece).

The entire body of work and especially the video is about books being a strong symbol of civilisation and how they themselves praise our advanced society.

To challenge this assertion by using such books as a metaphor for humans, I have captured a series of events which give an alternative view in order to highlight the often unspoken issues of borders crossed. Borders being physical borders and moral borders.

Catching Up

Well, after the last couple of months I have finally begun to catch up on all my outstanding projects. I have altered books and everyday books to work in and send out.

These images are for the two Everyday books which will be in the post to Laura tomorrow. This first one is in the colourway blue/white and theme of dreams. I use my dreams as inspiration for my art, so I have illustrated the way my subconscious imagination works for me.

This second image is in the colour way purple/gold and the theme is angels. An adorable insect stamp (thanks to Maz!) has found its way in and the gold has been added after scanning in the form of a small touch in the bottom left hand corner.

Can anyone detect a Nick Bantock type of influence? I borrowed the book "Urgent 2nd Class" from the university library recently and absolutely loved it.

Kari x