I’m sooo excited to announce a new page on my website for my Flying Adventures project. I’ve been working hard all winter to fit what feels like a million puzzle pieces together.
First off, last year the Greater Columbus Arts Council awarded me a grant which helped fund the purchase of my new printer --- yes!! I now have a lot of paper samples to test out both for the new edition of the book and also the framed exhibit. I was worried that there’d be a huge learning curve, but for the most part it's gone pretty smoothly. Thank you, GCAC & the Epson p800!
Flying Adventures has grown into what feels like an octopus of a project that now exists in several formats. It’s been difficult sometimes trying to prioritize what next step I need to take to move it forward. In the fall I was able to get my illustrated reading & art talk together, and while I thought that working on a new edition of the book would be next on my studio list, what I really needed to do was start thinking about how I wanted to print and frame the exhibit so that I can start sending out proposals. It was also time to put together a proper page for Flying Adventures on my website. So, off to work!
I thought at first that printing would be easy. What I didn’t realize was that while the printing itself wasn’t difficult, it had been six years since I first edited images for the book, and now I was seeing them in a different way. I wanted less contrast, more shadow detail. A warmer tone. Then I thought, will I see this imagery differently every time I print a new edition? Maybe so.
I was also wondering if I’d need to use a different pen to write the text. I looove my Pilot V-Ball extra fine (I use it for everything!) but with the exhibition prints being a little bit larger than the original book, I wasn’t sure if I needed a thicker line. Thankfully I didn’t!
Everyone always asks how I manage not to stress out about hand lettering the text without any using any guide lines. I’ve been writing in journals since I was 12… I think I'm just used to it. There’s a little bit of planning involved in that I pencil the text on scrap paper just to see where things might generally line up. But then I just go for it.
To recreate the feeling of a three-dimensional, "open book," I create a signature of sorts by scoring, folding, and then sewing two blank pages to the finished print. I then hand tear the paper edges and bend the pages just a little bit so that the paper doesn’t lie completely flat. After that I sew the whole signature to the mounting board.
I found THE perfect frames - a 14x20 size, inch-deep shadowbox frames that aren’t too expensive. What is it about seeing finished work IN a frame? I got goosebumps when I held it up... it really does look like an open book!
This is what they’ll look like on the wall...
What’s next? Finding places to exhibit, give readings and artist talks, and teach workshops. If you know of a venue that might be a good fit, let me know! Whether it's an aviation-related organization, an art center, school, or community program, I would love to bring Flying Adventures and its related programming to your neighborhood. Visit the new Flying Adventures project page to find out more.
