Month of Love - Secrets

It's that time of year for another Month of Love. This first challenge for this week is Secrets.

This book is all about the build up: unlacing the cover, opening up the layers, for a big reveal…

I also tried to make a brief animation of this book before I bound it, you can see it on my Tumblr.

Month of Fear - Darkness

It's the final challenge for Month of Fear!  And for Halloween day we did the challege, Darkness.

This is a new type of book for me, a Jacob's ladder book. I painted each panel with a bad luck image. This is one of my smallest yet, measuring 1.5 inches square. It's really best seeing it in motion, so here's another video.
 

A video posted by Alice Stanne (@stannedbyme) on Oct 31, 2016 at 1:02pm PDT

Month of Fear - Metamorphosis

It's the fourth, and final complete week of Month of Fear (though we will do a challenge on Halloween) and the challenge is Metamorphosis.

I took my inspiration from various mythologies about shape shifting creatures including the Celtic selkie, Japanese kitsune, Hindu naga, and Greek story of Actaeon. I doubled down on the metamorphosis by it possible to flip the characters so you place different heads on difference bodies on different legs. This is another tiny book, measuring 2 x 4 inches.

A video posted by Alice Stanne (@stannedbyme) on Oct 26, 2016 at 4:20pm PDT

Books & Boxes Workshop

In October I will be teaching a two weekend workshop for the Continuing Education department at MassArt. This intensive, suitable for students of all levels, will begin the first weekend by creating a variety of book structures. The second week will follow up with building a box for one of the books.

I taught a similar workshop in the spring and am excited to add an additional weekend for box making!

You can find more information or register online with the MassArt Continuing Education Online Catalogue.

Graduation Book

Last weekend my little sister Margaret graduated from Mt. Holyoke. Congratulations!

As I graduation gift I asked our family and life long friends to contribute any words of wisdom, advice, or meaningful quotes. I took all the input (40 pages worth), designed it up real pretty in InDesign, threw in a few illustrations, printed and bound it into a pocket-sized encyclopedia.

Here are the results, and if I do so humbly say so myself, it's one of my best books to date.

And a great big shout out to Margaret for taking these pictures herself, what a pro!

Month of Love - Seasons

For Month of Love we decided to a surprise challenge for Leap Day: Seasons.

 I made a quick (overnight) little color wheel book of all the things I love from each season.

This has been one of my favorite years, both for my own work and that of others. The variety and quality is truly breathtaking. Don't forget to check out the Month of Love website for our final week.

Month of Love - Lost in Translation

This week's challenge for Month of Love was Lost in Translation.

Looking for love in the all the wrong inanimate objects...

I like the sketchbook page I did for this a lot:

Month of Love - Heroes

Another Month of Love is here! This week's challenge was Heroes.

When I was a kid my dad used to sing us the song “Come Take a Trip in My Airship;” a song about a pilot who takes away a young lady away from all this in his airship. But whenever my dad sang it me as a kid he replaced all the ‘hes’ with ‘shes.’ Suddenly there was a woman flying through the universe having adventures and when she decided to settle down she asked the man to marry her. I loved this strong, empowered sky captain and wanted to capture the chorus of the song in a book. This was my first star book (the name comes from the star shape it creates when viewed from above while open).

Don't forget to check it out on Month of Love and see all the other incredible art that's being made!

Some sketches for the airship:

Beyond the Book - Artists' Talk

Tonight I will be at the Faneuil Branch of the Boston Public Library to participate in a group Artists' Talk about my books that are in the Beyond the Book IX show. The talk will be from 6:30 - 7:30.

The show will up until the 23rd, with another Artists' Talk on the 21st at the Brighton Branch. If you're local, stop by and take a look!

Beyond the Book IX

Several of my books were accepted into the annual Beyond the Book show hosted at the Fanueil Branch of the Boston Public Library in Brighton. The opening will be this Saturday from 11:00 - 1:00 and the show will remain up through the end of January.

My pieces Love Thy Neighbor, The Narrow House, and Mirror, Mirror will all be on display.

Month of Fear - What Lies Beneath?

This week's Month of Fear challenge was What Lies Beneath? I made a box that opened with multiple panels to reveal different pieces of anatomy. There's a brain made of cork with thoughts pinned to it; a ribcage made of paper covered a heart painted on a stone; a stomach embroidered full of knots. The lid of the box is indented with a silhouette.

Month of Fear - Mirrors

Month of Fear is back in excellent form! This week's challenge is Mirrors, which led me into learning about the various death beliefs of the Victorians. Text reads:

Immensely obsessed with death, the Victorians believed that mirrors in the homes of the deceased needed to be covered to prevent the departed soul from being trapped behind the glass, unable to pass over.
The Victorians also believed that if a mirror in your home fell and broke of it’s own accord, it was a portent that someone in the home was going to die.

Cut paper on mirrors mounted in a handmade board book, measures 4.5 x 4.5 inches.

Slipcase Week - Day 4: The Narrow House

Making the slipcase for the Narrow House book was a bit more complex than some of the others and took a bit paper engineering to make the shape of the case match slope of the roof. But it was well worth the effort to create this uniquely shaped case.

Slipcase Week - Day 3: The Little Books of Fear

Today features a set of books each made for the Month of Fear blog. Since both are about my fears, I decided to made them into their own little series, drawing inspiration from the set of Golden Books I had growing up.

Slipcase Week - Day 2: Tudor Safari

Today's slipcase was made for the Tudor Safari board book I did a while back. It features a watercolor and gold acrylic painted crown with paper cut outs.

Slipcase Week - Day 1: The Homeowners Guide to Household Demons

This week I'm going to be showcasing some of the slipcases I've made for my books and on Friday I will post a tutorial on how to make them yourself. Slipcases are fantastic because they are easy to make, fun to decorate, and they help protect your books from every day wear and tear.

This slipcase I made for my Month of Fear book: Homeowners Guide to Household Demons. It's made from a stiff screen printed paper with a simple paper cut out and hand lettering.

Month of Love - Love Thy Neighbor

It's time for another Month of Love! The first week's challenge is Love Thy Neighbor. As per usual, I decided to move forward with a tiny book.

I decided make a book focusing on homes around the world. They’re all different, as every culture and region builds a home that suits a certain purpose. But we’re all neighbors on this one earth we’ve got.

We've moved over to a new website and platform so update your links and check out all the fabulous art at monthofloveart.com

Month of Fear - Demons Within

Last week challenge for Month of Fear was Demons Within. I decided to go with demons within the home and made this small pop-up book featuring some household demons I created:

This short compendium includes Pedulefur, who steals individual socks from the drier; Tenentium, who takes up all the valuable space in the closet; and Mucilagosa, who is responsible for the pink scum ring around the tub.

Month of Fear - What Are You Afraid Of?

Have you noticed a change in the air? Crisper leaves? More ads for pumpkin flavored things at the coffee shop? Well, ladies and gents, it's October and that means it's time for another Month of Fear! It's the same story as before, a piece a week, inspired by different challenges. This week was "What Are You Afraid Of?"

Though I guess I'm technically an "adult" I still find myself afraid of the dark. It makes me jumpy, anxious, and I find myself walking a little more quickly than usual towards the nearest light.

I decided to double down on this challenge month, and have challenged myself to make not just an illustration a week, but a book a week (albeit probably pretty tiny books). The panels on this one measure in at just 2.25 x 2.25 inches.

Be sure to check out Month of Fear and see the incredible work coming in from so many artists:

http://monthoffear.blogspot.com/

Grand Manan Rock Books

Every summer my family and a few friends make our pilgrimage up to the island of Grand Manan off the coast of New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy. A fairly small and quiet island, Grand Manan is unbelievably scenic with panoramic ocean views, sheer cliffs, and long rock beaches. We rent out several cabins right on the edge of a marsh overlooking the ocean and, totally devoid a wireless connection, we spend our week reading, playing cards, hiking, picnicking and of course, drawing and painting. But one of our favorite past time is collecting rocks. It may sound pretty lame, but the rocks found around the Grand Manan archipelago are unlike any other. Just look at what I mean:

In honor of our overwhelmingly large rock collection (my mother actually has started returning some to the island), I decided to make a few little sketchbooks for my traveling companions.

Each book is decorated with some rocks drawn in pencil, sealed in wheat paste and bound up with some nice linen thread in durable book cloth. My great friend (and shameless plug: excellent writer) Celeste started hers right away with a few watercolors.