Bookmaking

Yosemite In Winter

One of my favorite winter outings is to spend a few days at Yosemite Valley. I would rather go to the Eastern Sierra mountains, but the mountain passes are mostly closed during winter months, which makes for a much longer drive than usual. For a quick winter outdoor fix, the valley is a great place to visit during the weekend. That year, I noticed there was snow forecast right on my birthday which happened to fall on a weekend as well. The closed-in valley is awe-inspiring as is; the snow enhances those jagged rock formations all the more, making the whole area breathtakingly beautiful. So, there I was, spending my birthday playing in the snow with my camera and my sketchbook.

As we left after work, we got there late at night. I usually try to avoid driving during storms as chances of rockfall go up significantly on those mountain roads. Thankfully, by the time we got there at night, the storm had passed, leaving behind a beautiful blanket of snow glittering in the moonlight. This pristine powdered snow would last only for a couple of hours in the morning. I am a night owl, but luring me out at dawn with snow is an easy task. My husband I were out and about shortly after the sun came up behind the surrounding mountains.

El Capitan Meadow is my favorite meadow in the valley. The black oaks there look so beautiful against the golden rock face of El Capitan. I always spend a lot of time there.

Right across, there is another grove of black oaks. That day they looked gorgeous wearing fresh white snow, side-lit by the sun.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

We walked around the rest of the valley floor with not a care in the world. As the low winter sun melted the snow, the surrounding trees started pelting us with snowballs. I always find that to be a lot of fun and I giggle every time that happens. A snowball fight where the trees always win.

It was a clear, bright day with occasional low clouds here and there. El Capitan is a master of capturing those low clouds.

As day rolled into late afternoon, the usual mist appeared on the meadows. I love to spend that time split up between taking photos and working in the sketchbook while sipping on something hot as it is usually very cold outside.

This is where I drew this scene sitting in the car. Instead of going for the more iconic features, I drew what was in front of me with pencil. I wanted to leave it as-is, but my husband loves inked drawings. So, later on at home, I used an ink pen for all the lines and a white gel pen for the snow.

Here you can really see the lines that I had to remove to make a clean copy for printing. I wasn’t sure at the time, but after quite a bit of work I did manage to remove all the page lines from the drawing and make it into a book.

While playing with different book cover ideas, I fell in love with the French Fold. The cover board wraps over the edge into the inside of the book making it look stylish and elegant. This also makes the binding more stable.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

Shop Notebooks

I hand made all these books in hardcover with French Fold. As the paper I use in these books are great for writing and drawing, I have been using them for my Japanese studies, as well as travel notebooks and art study sketchbooks.

Even without ever mentioning it here, the Yosemite In Winter books have been the bestseller in my shop. That’s the magic of Yosemite, I think. You can purchase the notebooks from my shop.

Season and weather change often, and Yosemite changes with them. During the winter months, a sudden snowstorm decks the trees and the granite faces with powdered snow and turns the narrow valley into an enchanting place. Then the sun peeks out behind the cloud, making for such drama as only mother nature can write. All I need to do is tap into that energy. This one is also the start of my National Park sketchbook series. I am looking forward to drawing the unassuming features of these beautiful parks.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.

The Little Things In Life

Hello Everyone! My favorite time in the atelier is when I get to play with new ideas. I keep the working pieces small and apply the learnings to larger pieces. Truth be told, I love making little things. They can be a little fiddly sometimes, but I love that. Those tiny little things really uplift my spirit and keep me going more often than I care to count. This book is a perfect example of that. I also have another set of black and white photos of my everyday life, paint making and a few other small paintings to share with you today.

Simple 365 – Set 13

Here is another set of everyday Simple365 photos. A few years ago, I took one b&w photo of simple little things around me every day for a year. I have been sharing those photos here every now and then. It seems I was particularly hands-on with different things during that time.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

I created a page with all the previously shared photos from Simple365. I continue to add photos to that page as I share them here. That way I can relive my journey through the year via black and white photos, like in an old photo album.

I started making ink from plant materials that year, and then moved on to making pigments from them. Pigments need to be mixed with binding agents to make paints. I am making watercolors with these. Even though ready-made watercolor binder can be purchased, I started experimenting with making my own.

I had a pretty good idea of what qualities I was looking for in the binder. After a few tries and playing with the ratio of the materials, I was very satisfied with the paint I made. This one is from the coreopsis flower. I painted two 1″ x 4″ bookmarks to ensure the quality of the paint.

I really love this golden yellow and orange paint I got from coreopsis flowers. All those months of simmering petals on the stove, measuring, filtering, and making notes paid off in the end.

Once I was happy with the paint after refining it while painting those two trees, I painted this tiny painting for a friend. It is a 1″ x 3″ piece inspired by the glacial lakes at the High Sierra mountains.

Little paintings are always quick and fun to paint. They are perfect when playing with new paint, or even an idea. Monochromatic paintings are also wonderful for that.

The painting accompanied this tiny little 1″ x 3″ book and a pan of my coreopsis watercolor to their new home to a dear artist friend. She loves flowers and the color blue. So I made hers with blue cloth and added a little yellow flower on the cover.

Before I made the blue book for her, I made a book of the same dimensions for myself first. Because of their size, these little books can be a little fiddly to make, and I didn’t want any surprises while making hers. I sat with a stack of paper and folded them before sewing the book together. I used drawing paper for this one.

It looks like a lot of tools for a 1″ x 3″ book cover, but I really did use all of them. No matter the size of the book, sometimes I end up using the same set of tools.

I cut a little piece of washi tape to size, and added that in the inset that I had created in the above picture.

Here is the first painting in the book. It was supposed to be a drawing, but the pen I used was too thick. Not at all what I was expecting. So I thought, even though this paper is not meant for water/wet media, why not try using watercolor with very little water by using a small brush. Since wet paper can damage or tear easily, I was careful to let the paper dry before working on the next layer. Much to my surprise, the paper held up. It is not the painting I set out to paint, but it decided its own path along the way. I am happy with that.

Currently I am working on an idea for a gift for another friend. Tomorrow I will make a little sample piece for that. I hope this inspires you to try out something new. Keep it small. Little things are less daunting and are packed with joy.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.