Pen Love: JetPens Order Review

JetPens has started up their program again where they send select artists a $25 gift certificate. I always have a hard time narrowing down the pens that I wanted to try but here's what I bought this time:

Deleter Manga Ink - 30 ml Bottle - White 2 (Aqueous White-out & Waterproof) (shown in the above photo.) 

I like how thick and opaque the white ink is. I applied it with a brush. It does have a smell to it so those of you who are sensitive to smelly art supplies, fyi! It dried fast (always a bonus in my book) on the magazine paper that I used. I'm looking forward to playing with the ink some more. 

Copic Multiliner Pen - 0.3 mm - 4 Color Set

I'm always a sucker for an extra fine pen in colors that I don't have. I'm not a huge fan of the Copic markers in general but I do like these (especially the colors.) Note how well they work on official washi tape (MT brand) vs. the fake washi (Scotch brand.) Once dry, they're not going anywhere. I rarely use my Copics but I can see me using these more often in an effort to push myself out of my comfort zone and try some new color combinations.

J. Herbin Cleaning Solution for Fountain Pens - 15 ml

I haven't had a moment to try this cleaning solution out yet. As soon as I do, I will report back. Cleaning pens is always at the bottom of my To Do List and I have a pile that need to be cleaned out. I'll let you know what I think of this stuff asap!

 

 

You may also be interested in:

My Extensive List of Favorite Pens and Markers

My Absolute Bare Bones List of Favorite Pens and Markers (I'm going to update and revise this list very soon.)

My Favorite White Pens and Markers  

Empty Montana Markers Full of Candy Colored Goodness  

Pen and Marker Tips

Other Favorite Supplies (there is a button for these on the right side of my blog)

Journal Bundles

If you're interested in revisiting the Journal Bundles, you can see them all here. I loved making them. I'm teaching the class for a second time this Sunday at Book Arts LA. My Northern Californian students raved about the class when I taught it up there. More info on this weekend's classes can be found here.

 

 

New Book Love

Ah, Lynda and Maira. Maira and Lynda. Two of my favorite artist authors. If anyone needs me today, I'm curling up with these.

16 August 2014 Journal Page

Busy week ahead. I'll be trekking out early this morning as I'm teaching a private class in Temecula (yes, I teach outside of stores for those of you who are wondering.) 

This weekend, I'll be at The Making Place in Escondido and on Sunday at Book Arts L.A. This is my last class in the San Diego area for a bit. I don't have anything planned for December or early 2014 there at the moment.

Next weekend, I'm scheduled to teach at Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale, AZ. If you're interested in the classes, please sign up this week and as soon as possible. I'm not sure when I will be back in Arizona, so catch them while you can.

Blog Love:
Juliana Coles' first self published endeavor is hot off the presses. You can check it out here. I ordered mine as soon as I heard that it was available. If you're in L.A., she's going to be at Comikaze this weekend at booth #1726.
Starbucks Orders from your Favorite Authors (a Tumblr page) 
100 Year Old Notebook from the Ross Sea Recovered in Antarctica  
Sarah Jarrett Into the Dreaming
Maira Kalman's My Favorite Things
Lynda Barry and the Future of Education

Just Announced: December 28th Classes in Holliston, MA!

 

I'm very happy to announce that I will be teaching two classes at the ArtStudio 360 Meetup Group in Holliston, MA! The samples are below. If you have any questions, please email me. To sign up, please follow instructions below.

 

Sunday, December 28th:

Pieces of Me: Self Expression with Collage

10-12

followed by: 

Discovering My Truths: Lessons in Bravery 

1-5 

My workshops are always process-based learning while creating a unique product. I am well known for not traveling light and bring a large variety of supplies including (but not limited to) collage material, rubber stamps, stencils, pens, markers, tape and more. You will explore unique techniques involving composition, design, color theory, self expression and much, much, more in each of my classes. You'll also have a whole lot of fun doing so!

Interested in signing up? Questions? Please email Kelly for more info! EGorey99@sbcglobal.net

Please note that the classes are held on the second floor and that the building is not handicapped accessible.

Payments for the Holliston, MA workshop must be made in advance. Due to the fact that the teacher is traveling from Los Angeles and must prep for the workshops in advance, there are no cancellations allowed. No refunds.

You may send someone else in your place if you are unable to attend the workshop, or you will receive a kit for the class. You can either pay via paypal (see button below) or send a check or money order. Once you've signed up for the workshop, you will be sent the address and directions to the workshop location. If you have ANY questions you can email me. I will also give you my cell phone number so you contact me.

Holliston, MA Classes with Kelly Kilmer

Pieces of Me Sun Dec 28th 10-12 $55.00 USD    Discovering my Truths Sun Dec 28 1-5 $80.00 USD    Both Sun Dec 28th classes $135.00 USD

Pieces of Me: Self Expression with Collage

Two Hours $55

  What do you get when you combine paper, pens, stencils, stickers, and stamps with new techniques in composition, design, color and means of self expression together on the page? You get truly unique and personal pages of art. Learn techniques that are applicable to ANY art form. Yes, we'll be "painting with paper" (collage) but learning art techniques that can be used and adapted to whatever art you want to work on. You will learn several new techniques in using collage as a means of self expression.

Supply list: Journal (or I will provide paper for you to work on), scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels OR an old rag, permanent black inkpad,  1" brush to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks, an old catalog or magazine to glue on (if you don't want to use all of your waxed paper for this.)

followed:

Discovering My Truths: Lessons in Bravery

4 hours $80

There's always something delightful about holding a book in your hands and turning the pages. Imagine if that book was created entirely by your own hands. Prepare to make magic! You will explore luscious layers of paper, pen, expressions of the self and much, much more in this four hour workshop.

Supply list: scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels OR an old rag, permanent black inkpad,  1" brush to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks, an old catalog or magazine to glue on (if you don't want to use all of your waxed paper for this.)

  I hope to see you there! 

Secret Stairs' Laurel & Hardy Music Box Loop

By the time you are reading this, I'll be heading home from an all night Dusk-To-Dawn Horrorthon at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. It's no secret that my family loves film (David's blog and Tristan's Youtube channel.) We have always said that we're very lucky to live in Hollyweird and that we try to take full advantage of it as much as possible.

For my birthday, David surprised me with a trip to Laurel & Hardy's famous Music Box Stairs in Silverlake. We started our trip at the Tropical Cafe (I can't wait to go back. It was finger licking delicious. Just so you don't make the same mistake that I did, the ketchup colored bottles are filled with hot sauce and not ketchup.)

Bellies full, we then started our walk to find the stairs. Here we are at the bottom about to head up (without the piano.) David is holding our guide, The Secret Stairs book. 

 

Along our walk, we stopped to take little breaks to take photos of cool sights like these:

 I'll censor what I said when I saw these:

 

When we hit what we thought was the top of this staircase only to discover that it continued across the street.

 

We ended our 2.5 mile, 705 step walk where we started by going down the Music Box Steps again and back into the Tropical Cafe for some dessert to take home.

 

 

We plan on doing more of the Secret Stairs walks in the near future. 

Laurel & Hardy's The Music Box

Secret Stairs-Music Box Loop

15 August 2014 Journal Page

Invitation

by Mary Oliver

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude—
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

     — from Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver
     published by Beacon Press

40 Revolutions Around the Sun

I'm writing this at the age of 39. By the time you read it, I'll be 40. Funny how time works. One minute you're a little kid swinging and bopping from one thing to another. The next you're an adult who still feels like that little kid but with a lot more responsibilities and long To Do Lists that usually don't include things like swinging on a swing set.

 “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.”-Joan Didion

Thinking of birthdays makes me think of things that I enjoy. Here's a little goofy list of people, places and things that make my heart go all a flutter.

 

My Boys (they both know how to put a smile on my face)

Books (in piles, on shelves, in my hands, they're all good...)

 

Trees (Muir Woods, I miss you...)

Monkeys

Film (Wings of Desire, I love you so. "When the child was a child, it was the time of these questions. Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here, and why not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Isn't life under the sun just a dream? Isn't what I see, hear, and smell just the mirage of a world before the world? Does evil actually exist, and are there people who are really evil? How can it be that I, who am I, wasn't before I was, and that sometime I, the one I am, no longer will be the one I am?") 

 

Random weird shit that makes me laugh when I see it. (if you know me, you know that I love to quote random lines from film, tv, books, old time radio and more...)

Snow, rain. I miss the change in the seasons

 

Art Supplies (give me my most basic supplies and my journal and I am the happiest person on the planet. Contrary to popular belief I really don't need much and I will buy books over art supplies.)

 

Unsweetened, black iced tea (every damn day.)

 

Artwork that makes me run to it (even in high heel boots when I could hardly walk anymore, Marcel Duchamp's Box in a Valise made me run to it when I realized what it was from across the room.)

Old Time Radio (Richard Diamond, Private Detective and Gunsmoke are two of my favorites. I'll have a list of my favorite OTR shows up soon. I've been working on it.) When I work, you'll find me with ear buds in usually listening to OTR.

Classes at Kept Creations in Whitman, MA Saturday, December 27th!

 

I'm SUPER excited to announce that I will be returning to Kept Creations in Whitman, MA Saturday, December 27th to teach two NEW classes! The samples are below and will be in the store by early November. If you have any questions, please email me. To sign up, you can contact the store. I hope to see YOU there!

 

Saturday, December 27th:

10 to Noon 

Painting with Paper: Advanced Collage for Everyone 

followed by:

1-5

Cultivating You: A Journal Process

My workshops are always process-based learning while creating a unique product. I am well known for not traveling light and bring a large variety of supplies including (but not limited to) collage material, rubber stamps, stencils, pens, markers, tape and more. You will explore unique techniques involving composition, design, color theory, self expression and much, much, more in each of my classes. You'll also have a whole lot of fun doing so!

Painting with Paper: Advanced Collage for Everyone

This is a class that I have been wanting to teach for some time now. I've developed a class that's fit for beginner to advanced students who are eager to push the envelope with their collage work.

 

You will spend the class time focusing on creating an expressive series of collaged pages that are full of rich layers. Learn how to step back and push your pages to a deeper level. There is something for everyone in this class.

 

We will be learning new collage techniques while focusing on painting with paper, layering with pens/markers, tape, stencils, rubber stamps, text and much, much more. Learn new and unique tips, tricks and techniques for collage work that can be applied to a wide variety of art forms.

 

Supply list: Journal to work on (or I will have paper for you to use), scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of paper towels OR an old rag, permanent black inkpad,  1" brush to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes) OR a few of your favorite glue sticks, an old catalog or magazine to glue on (if you don't want to use all of your waxed paper for this.)

followed by:

Cultivating You: A Journal Process

Get ready to dive into this class by creating a truly unique book form using a variety of handmade and decorative papers selected by you (and provided by me.) A variety of new techniques will be demonstrated, discussed and built upon during the workshop. Walk out with several pages started and full of new ideas that will keep you working on this journal days later!  

Supply list: Scissors, small selection of favorite collage ephemera, bone folder, cork back metal ruler, roll of waxed paper, roll of paper towels OR an old rag, permanent black inkpad,  1" brush to glue (I like chip or bristle brushes), a few of your favorite glue sticks, an old catalog or magazine to glue on (if you don't want to use all of your waxed paper for this.)

 I hope to see you there!