In Which I Make My Report on Art Journals and Little Free Libraries

Last Saturday I attended two events at local stores featuring local folks. Here, as promised, is my report.

Art Journal demo with April Martin

This was a 90-minute, free demonstration on keeping an art journal. April's journal is more a layering of bits and bobs on the page than it is keeping a diary with drawings. She has hacked a Moleskin notebook and filled its pages with color and quotes and cutouts. Very creative and fun to look at. 

She said she almost always starts with a quote or a printed image and then lets her feelings guide her as she adds color with inks and paint and chalk. She uses stencils and crumpled papers and stick-on letters to add texture. She lets her muse - and her feelings - be her guide.

There was no drawing or sketching involved as I thought there would be. It was all glue and gesso and quite messy but messy in a good way. April showed us how to add pages of different papers to the basic notebook. How to distress the pages for a vintage look. How to add texture and layers and just to have fun with it. 

Her message: You can't do it wrong. And if you make what you think is a mistake, there is always a way to change a mistake into a happy accident. 

She was a lively presenter. This was her first demo and it was quite well attended - there were maybe 25 of us. 

Below are some shots of the process:

Here April is adding pages to her basic Moleskin journal.

She began with the image of the couple and went from there.

This is closer to the finish. You can see that she has done some stenciling and distressing on the pages. She also added a quote which she stretched across the gutter.

Below are random photos from her art journal. She kindly gave me permission to use them.

Although there was no book connected with this event, here are a couple of titles I found that seem to fit the type of visual journal that April demonstrated:

The Art Journal Workshop by Traci Bunkers

Stash and Smash: Art Journal Ideas by Design Originals

Little Free Libraries

This small event was held at the local, independent bookstore. Three people presented. The first to speak was a woman who was instrumental in getting 30 or so little free libraries installed in a poorer neighborhood in Louisville. She reported that they were kept well-stocked with donations and well-used both by children and adults.

Another woman had gotten one of these little structures for her birthday and it was installed in front of her house. She is a publisher's representative and so has quite an inventory to draw on to keep her free library filled.

The fellow who rounded out the panel was a carpenter/woodworker who had made one of the libraries for a client using recycled and leftover materials. He said that once the library had been installed, the client had an ice cream social and invited his neighbors to introduce them to the new 'kid' on the block. I thought this was a grand idea.

Copies of The Little Free Library Book by Margret Aldrich were on hand. It contains a history of these structures, offers a list of construction materials and plans, and offers up lots and lots of photos.

What I learned from this presentation, though, was that while I really like the idea of the Little Free Library I don't want one in my yard. 

On Art Journals and Little Free Libraries

I feel like such a slacker. I am not reading anything new. I don't read book reviews. My To Be Read list is languishing. My shelves of Books to be Read stand forlorn and untouched. 

Instead of reading, I find myself working crossword puzzles. At least that activity has to do with words.

But, there are two events on tap this weekend that I plan to attend that will perhaps get me out of this slump. One has to do with art and the other with little libraries.

First up is an Art Journaling demo. I am excited about this one because an art journal combines words and images. It is a diary with drawings. I am sure I will get new ideas. I have read quite a few books on this way of recording one's life, but seeing someone actually work on a art journal is a better way to learn.

This is a free event sponsored by a local, independent art supply store. The store regularly holds these free demonstrations and I recently took one on using watercolor pencils. The store also hosts all sorts of art classes and I have taken quite a few over the past couple of years. I do have a weakness for art supplies (which probably doesn't surprise anyone).

The second event is being held the same day at our local, independent bookstore and concerns Little Free Libraries. In case you are not familiar with these, they are little neighborhood libraries on the street.  Some are quite elaborate (like the one above) and some are just a box filled with books to be shared with neighbors and passersby. There will be a woodworker in attendance who has built a couple of these Little Libraries and a report from a woman who received a Little Free Library as a birthday present.

"Take a book, return a book" is the motto. I see on the website that there are already two of these libraries in my neighborhood. Here is the website: Little Free Library


I will take copious notes and be back next time to regale you with stories about keeping an art journal and setting up a Little Free Library. Many of my neighbors are quite bookish and I am sure we would all be glad to have a library of our own to use as a book exchange.