New Year's Book

The weather has definitely started to act more like winter in Nebraska. I have heard about various methods of keeping water-based paints in liquid form when out painting snow scenes, but I guess I am not that dedicated. Maybe sketching from the comfort of a warm car is still an option. Or I need to find the fingerless gloves I bought in the Smoky Mountains years ago on a very cold camping and painting trip. Anyhow, in the meantime, I suppose it's time to dust off those indoor art projects I came up with in the fall.

 One project was a New Year's resolution book. Do you make New Year's resolutions? Do you look back on them and see if you have accomplished any at the end of the year? One pleasant surprise I had last week was in rereading my 2015 resolutions, and discovering that I had actually accomplished some. I didn't think I had accomplished much at all, so it was a great surprise. Of course, not everything was done, so some have been bumped to 2016's list. That's ok. I aim high, and readjust if necessary. Some of the goals couldn't be reached in a year, and I didn't realize that. We need to be kind to ourselves with these resolutions, and sometimes things really are not within our control. But it is good to take the time to reevaluate our lives and our hopes and dreams.

In any case, I found a book form in Alisa Golden's Making Handmade Books called an accordion book with flower fold pages. I thought it would make a nice book for my 2016 resolutions, so I modified it. I had gouache from a calligraphy project sitting out on the worktable, so that was thrown in, too, though it didn't give the effect on the branches that I get with sumi ink or watercolor. The red for the berries, however, was as bright as I'd hoped.

The resolutions are written inside of the flower fold pages, which are glued inside of the accordion.

I am praying for a beautiful and inspiring year for my family, and for everyone who reads this. May 2016 be a year of peace and joy for you and yours!