November Meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective

November Swap Meet at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective, November 17, 2014

The Art Supply Swap Meet for the MCBA Visual Journal Collective is this month's meeting. Join us on November 17, 2014 from 7 to 9 p.m. to swap and silently auction all manner of art materials and art related items.

It’s time to clean your studio, craft cupboard, or art journal bin to hunt down the items you no longer use, hate now that you own, or just don’t want the mental pressure of having sit around and not being used any more so they can be swapped out for an fresh new item that is exciting and fresh.

Plan to arrive a little before 7 p.m. if you have stuff you want to swap or auction. Member Jean Shannon will run the meeting. She will explain the procedure to everyone when the meeting gets under way at 7, but basically there will be tables for you to put your "free" stuff (things you want people to take off your hands) and tables for you to set up stuff you want to silent auction. (There will be sign up bidding sheets for the latter.)

What to Bring:

Art supplies and tools you no longer use but which may still be useful to someone else—so partially full paint tubes and jars of medium, lightly used brushes, pencils sets you've outgrown, partially used rolls of unprimed (or primed) canvas…

Art magazines and books that you want to swap or auction.

Paper scraps, partially used paper pads that you know don't suit your working method but might be fine for someone else…

Photos and dimensions (height, width, depth, and weight) of larger items like easels, desks, light boxes, lamps, etc. that you might want to auction, but don't want to haul in and home again case someone doesn't bid on them (owners will arrange delivery/pick up with the winning bidder).  If you do have larger items and want to generate “buzz” feel free to post a picture to Facebook with a description.

Cash or checks so that you can bid on items—the shop will not be open so all transactions (and change) will have to be made between participants. (I suppose if you have one of those "squares" for your smart phone you could bring that, but you get the idea.)

What Not to Bring:

Actual junk that is not art or journal related. Artworks and crafts that you have made and want to sell or auction—this isn't a sale of your artwork, this isn't what we'll be doing at this meeting.

About the Collective:

The MCBA Visual Journal Collective is an adult visual journaling group (we also have some members who are writers or just journal curious) that meets on the third Monday of each month. The meetings are usually free (sometimes there is a small materials fee if we are making something); they are open to adult journal keepers of all skill levels. Please come and share your ideas and journals with us.

Depending on the amount of stuff brought to the swap and the time it takes to redistribute it we'll have some journal sharing at the end of the meeting so be sure to bring your current journal to show us what you've been working on. We hope to see you on November 17.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective March Meeting

Join us at MCBA, MARCH 17, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

For Journal as Escape ~ Let's Draw Some Green

This winter has been long and intense even by normal Minnesota standards.  We have had far too much of this . . .

And it's time for some spring!

As a collective we will discuss use of journaling and art as a means of mental escape, exploring some online options and art activities designed as get aways or are merely mental flights of fancy on paper. 

We will also have on hand a wide selection of living green and colorful plant materials that we will sketch and paint together.  We may not have them outside yet, but drawing them inside will be tons of fun I promise. It will be an evening of sharing ideas and art making.

Bring your favorite color producing art materials and a journal to work in and share!

MCBA Visual Journal Collective - Sixth Annual Portrait Party Reminder

PITT pen size S, Strathmore Mixed Media Sketchbook

Don't forget that Monday, January 20, 2013 is the Sixth Annual Portrait Party of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective. We'll meet at MCBA from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

We'll sketch a partner, and print an editioned photocopier book of all the portraits—and bind the books.  All that fun in 2.5 hours. We've done it before, five times, and we'll do it again, January 20, 2013. It's great fun and I encourage everyone to come out and draw us
with us.

All adult sketchers of any skill level are welcome. Normally our meetings are free, but for this meeting we have a $5.00 fee (exact cash or check; we don't have a way to make change or run VISAs because the shop is closed during our meeting) to offset copying and supplies.

We need to start right on time at 7 p.m. to be sure we have enough time to fit it all in, so be sure to come early as parking can be a problem.

Bring your favorite black ink pen as pencils never copy that well. See you there.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective December Meeting

Join us at MCBA, DECEMBER 16, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

To view the completed Not-So-Blank Page Group Project

Whether or not you participated (and whether or not you are done) in the nine-month long collaborative project to fill our custom Smash journals "The Not-So-Blank-Page-Project"— you are cordially invited to meet with us tonight for a fun simultaneous viewing party of all the pages. 

We'll see what a page was like originally (my background empty below on the left) and then we'll see what each member of the project did to that page (my completed journal page below on the right). 

It will be a fun evening filled with journaling surprises! 

End the year by being inspired by creative responses to the not so blank page. You'll be all set to jump into your 2014 journal and maybe just a little relieved that this journal is complete.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective November 18, 2013 Meeting Reminder

Monday, November 18, 2013, 7 to 9 p.m. 

STAMP CARVING NIGHT at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective, at MCBA. 

We're going to be watching a how-to stamp carving demonstration by me, Suzanne Hughes. Participants will then be given a small block (2x3 inches) of their own to carve into their very own mini-block print.  We will then create super easy multi-color prints by using watercolors. 

Come to the meeting prepared to create your own stamp!  

You will need an image or two to create a stamp from;  any small (2x3 inch) image will do.  It can be from a photo that you are going to draw from or from a journal image that you would like to replicate, for that matter it can be more of a pattern than an image and be used for backgrounds.  I will talk about multiple ways of moving the image you bring from its starting place onto your stamp block for carving.  

Bring a small set of watercolors and a brush - waterbrush or regular.

Bring a small cash donation ($2 max) for MCBA to thank them for supplying our paper.

After we all carve our image we will make a stack of stamped images (think edition) to trade with everyone on hand!

It's pretty cool when you get to both make and trade art on the same evening!

If you're interested in stamp techniques because you want to incorporate them in your journal you'll come away inspired and armed with your very own stamp. If you have always seen stamped images and been curious about the process come and give it a try.  Stamp carving really is very addictive and you only need a few very basic tools at home to repeat our activity any time the fancy strikes.

There may be some time to share current journal work after all the stamping and trading, so bring what you are currently working on.

If you're an adult visual journal keeper come and join in. It's free, usually, although a small $2 donation to MCBA will be collected on Monday as they are supplying our paper for the stamped image trades. We'd love to meet you, or see you again. And of course peek into your journal!

MCBA Visual Journal Collective October Meeting Reminder

Our regular monthly meeting of the Visual Journal Collective is coming up on  
Monday, October 21st from 7-9 pm. at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

As our special guest speaker we will have local Twin Cities artist and creativity coach Briana Goetzen on hand to show us the magic of the Gelli Arts gel printing plate.  Briana's artwork is vibrant and joyful and she is a mirror of that work.  Our meeting is sure to be exciting as Briana will talk with us about using the gel plate in her personal work and demonstrate some techniques for using the plate to create mono-prints and backgrounds (you can watch a brief video that Briana created about using the plate here).
Meeting attendees will then have the opportunity to try the plate for themselves, with some available paints and paper.  It is sure to be a blast!
As usual, we will also have time at the end of the meeting for sharing our current journals.
I hope to see you there!