Dear Everyone ~
Bookful of Wordless Stories, my 13th (our Binders Dozenth) Bookful collaboration with Cat Bennett, begins Saturday, May 18—amid mid-spring and early summer, a fine time for fine walks.
The structure students will make to illustrate their wordless stories is a single-signature booklet with decorative stitching and a trio of fab details: a window on the front cover, a triangular pocket inside the back cover, and a companion hand-folded envelope for presenting & protecting your booklet. Speaking of trios, the kit for this workshop includes materials to make three booklets, with three different covers and three complementary envelopes. Students will make one ensemble (booklet + hand-folded envelope) in the first week’s workshop, and the second & third ensembles thereafter with the recording for reference (and company!).
This past week at the BZS palette palace, Ruby & I were in a flurry of measuring, trimming, counting, thread winding, exquisite scrap assembling, and collating the colourful sets of Canson Mi-Teints papers for each kit. Several students have ordered both palettes, Delaunay and Bloomsbury. This means twelve different colours for mixing, matching & musing. It’s chromatically dramatic.
By the end of this week, all the kits will be dispatched to their destinations from coast to coast to beyond, and for in-shop pick up. You can read more about the kits in colourful detail in the shop listing here!
Cat loves to walk in the dawniest hours of the morning. She rarely takes a sketchbook with her, but takes mental notes in her mind’s eye of the scenery, flora, and people. Once back in her studio she puts pen (or brush) to paper. I asked her to reflect a bit about this creative habit of hers and she shared …
“ In creating a wordless story, we can capture our impressions of a moment in time in visual images which we can play with in fanciful ways. With the arrival of spring, I’m walking outside so much more and noticing the arrival of birds, blossoms and people too. Everything appears so vivid in spring and our books are records of what we see and feel. ”
“ Everything can spark ideas for images and, with three books, we can focus on three themes. After I’m out and about, I often make pen drawings in my sketchbook. I do these from memory and sometimes add color with markers or colored pencils. After I find some good ideas, I’m ready to work on my book. In our books we can also explore various ways of making images which bring our stories vividly to life. ”
If you would like to join us for Bookful, spring into action. There is still time to ship your kit(s). Cat & I like to emphasize, especially if you are a Bookful newcomer, that absolutely no drawing, painting, collaging, or bookbinding experience is necessary. The workshop pace is calm, and your walking pace can be a saunter (You can be a jaunter.) or a meander or a wander full of wonder. (And you will have complete videos to watch and rewatch—all 12 hours-ful!)
Bookful of Wordless Stories
Springing along, Bari