new Oregon Coast sketches

A Creative Life, artist book, psychogeography, sketchbook, travel art and writing, visual story, words and pictures

Once upon a time, not too long ago, some friends came from Oklahoma to visit us in the Pacific Northwest. Oklahoma does not have ocean access. The Pacific Northwest does. Our friends wanted to see the sea. However there was a catch; John has a mobility issue….

I drew pictures in ink and watercolor on paper as we worked together to get John as close to the sea as possible along the Oregon Coast.  My pictures were made on location as the action happened. Yes, there was a lot of carefully balancing my paper on my knee, sand in my watercolors and sea spray dampening my paper for me.  Still I got all of the pages done while we were on the coast, we spread them out in the car trunk to dry and when I got back to my studio I sorted the pages and bound them using a Japanese stab binding.

Here is a link to a video of the book: https://youtu.be/lTHsRbKrMiM

Here’s a still photo or two

the art of Oregon coast sketching

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, art techniques, artist book, illustration, sketchbook, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, Uncategorized, words and pictures

In addition to getting ready for a new one woman art exhibit scheduled for October 2016 via Caplan Art Designs I’ve been working on a new Oregon Coast article. The August 2016 issue of Oregon Coast Magazine currently has an article of mine – and it was such fun to do that I’ve started immediately on a new article!

Which means that when “fine art stuff” and “pattern design stuff” needed to dry recently my wife and I took off for a day along the Oregon Coast.  On the coast I used my on-location sketching kit pictured below and sketched what I saw and experienced as it happened.

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Sue Clancy’s portable sketching-on-the-go gear

In my kit: mechanical pencil, eraser, ink pens, paper, a small watercolor set and a clip to keep my pages from blowing in the wind. It all fits in a small bag and can be held in my hand or balanced on my knee at my sketching location.  When something catches my eye during my travels I do quick sketches with my pencil. Then I ink in what lines I want to keep. After that I’ll do some watercolor washes. Generally speaking it takes me about 20 minutes to do a page start to finish – I often work on more than one page at a time. On this sketching trip I did 15 pages total – as well as wrote notes, in longhand, in my sketchbook.

Then once I’m back at the studio sometimes I make an adjustment or two to the pages, and neaten them up (aka, erase pencil lines). My on-the-go kit doesn’t have a lot of greens and blues. So at my studio, for example, I’ll add a few more blue or green colors, if necessary, from my larger studio watercolor set.  Here below is a photo of a few of my new Oregon Coast article pages being touched up.  I do this immediately upon getting home from a trip while everything I experienced is still fresh in my mind.

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Sue Clancy’s latest Oregon Coast sketchbook pages being touched up with the larger watercolor set at Sue’s studio.

Next comes the paperwork for my submission to the Oregon Coast magazine editors: photographing my sketchbook pages, creating the digital files, sorting out which pages work best as illustrations, sorting the pages so they tell the best story, writing a cover letter… etc.

And yes, I am likely to create a new artist book from these sketches! I’m also likely to make some new pattern designs based on what I saw on this trip. Which means there will also be some new fine art….

Basically I’m going to be a very busy camper! What fun!

If you’re curious about the current article I have in the August 2016 issue of Oregon Coast Magazine here is a link to a blog post about that: https://sueclancy.com/2016/08/04/sketching-the-oregon-coast/

sketching the Oregon Coast

A Creative Life, illustration, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, words and pictures

In the current August 2016 issue of Oregon Coast Magazine I have an article titled “Sketching The Coast”! Right there, in print, on page 42 it says “illustrations by Sue Clancy” (Wow!) !! On the title page of the magazine next to a big 42 it reads “An illustrator records her travel experiences to Newport in whimsical cartoons”. How fun is that for a teaser?!  But just think, my messy sketchbook, in print, in a slick glossy magazine, Oregon Coast Magazine, a gadzillion copies of which are actually available on newsstands right this minute! Blows my mind to contemplate that. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.oregoncoastmagazine.com/index.html – so you can order a copy mailed to you if you live someplace like Ohio, Pennsylvania or Timbuktu – but you’ll only see my article up close if you get an actual physical printed copy! Yep, you guessed it, I’m loving the whole “my art in print” thing!

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Sue Clancy’s illustrated article in the August 2016 issue of Oregon Coast Magazine

coffee delivered

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, handmade books, handmade papers, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, visual story, words and pictures

I took my artist book “Coffee Please” to the 23 Sandy Gallery today. Had an enlightening visit with the gallery owner Laura Russell talking about the role of the artist’s book in the world… Of course I’m aware of the role of the artist book in my personal life – but to talk about the artist book as it fits into a larger picture was inspiring!  I also got to see other book-artist’s artist book work. Wow!  All of this reminded me that I needed to define “artist book” as I see it here on this blog:  It is a work of fine art that has the form and feel of a traditional book.  It is fine art often in a sequential form that tells or demonstrates a narrative or concept. Sometimes an artist book can feel almost “sculptural”, showing ideas in dimensions over page-leaf spans of time.

Do you remember Pop-Up books from when you were a kid? Yeah, artist books are fun like that but are conceptually created for grown ups.

Here’s a link to pictures of my book “Coffee Please” which is about coffee and travel: https://sueclancy.com/2016/02/29/artist-book-coffee-please/

Information about the upcoming exhibit at the 23 Sandy Gallery is here: http://www.23sandy.com/Upcoming.html

And yes, Virginia, there will be an exhibit catalog available!

coffee accepted

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, books, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, words and pictures

Just found out that my artist book “Coffee Please?” was accepted for the upcoming Wanderlust exhibit at the 23 Sandy Gallery!! http://www.23sandy.com/  I’m excited! More info about, and pictures of, “Coffee Please?” here: https://sueclancy.com/category/artist-book/  Going to go do my happy dance now!!

side A of "Coffee Please?" by Sue Clancy - a unique handmade artist book

side A of “Coffee Please?” by Sue Clancy – a unique handmade artist book

artist book Coffee Please?

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, books, handmade books, sketchbook, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, visual story, words and pictures

In this previous post I was in the process of creating a one-of-a-kind artist book for the 23 Sandy Gallery. I’ve finished it now and it’s titled “Coffee Please?”  Here are pictures:

handmade box front cover for "Coffee Please?" by Sue Clancy

handmade box front cover for “Coffee Please?” by Sue Clancy

handmade box back cover for "Coffee Please?" by Sue Clancy

handmade box back cover for “Coffee Please?” by Sue Clancy

side B of "Coffee Please?" by Sue Clancy

side B of “Coffee Please?” by Sue Clancy

side A of "Coffee Please?" by Sue Clancy

side A of “Coffee Please?” by Sue Clancy

 

artist book about coffee

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, books, handmade books, sketchbook, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, visual story, words and pictures

Been busy creating a new one-of-a-kind artist book for the 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland Or. http://www.23sandy.com/

This book is titled “Coffee Please? A dialect guide for the United States”.  To create this book I’ve gone through all of my travel sketchbooks, kept as I traveled across the United States, noting, phonetically, the answers I got to my “Can I get some coffee please?” question.

Here is a picture of the “raw pages” in stages of production before “binding” as a book…

Pages from an artist book being created by Sue Clancy titled "Coffee Please? A dialect guide for the United States"

Pages from an artist book being created by Sue Clancy titled “Coffee Please? A dialect guide for the United States”

 

 

 

sketchbook publishing

A Creative Life, ebook, illustration, sketchbook, travel art and writing, travelog, travelogue, visual story, words and pictures

Tomorrow I’ll be installing my “Verrry Big Project” so while I’m getting ready to deliver the art I’m thinking about my next sketchbook publishing action.  I want to publish my Oregon Coast Sketchbook (some sample pages are in this post and elsewhere on my blog) – but shall I do it as a printed book? an ebook? or both?

I’ve heard that some people have enjoyed my sketchbook that I published as an ebook titled “Coffee Table Book” (link here: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/coffee-table-book) but that had recipes and fine art along with my sketchbook pages – so perhaps that made it interesting to folks?

My Oregon Coast Sketchbook is a travelogue, memoir and culture-study done in (duh!) a sketchbook form. Would you want to look at my Oregon Coast Sketchbook as a printed book or an ebook?  If it was printed only in black-and white ’cause that’s what I can afford – what would you think of that?

Obviously I’m going to be busy the next few days with the “Verry Big Project” – but I  will look forward to seeing your thoughts when I get back. And thanks in advance!

Here are some random non-sequential pages from my Oregon Coast Sketchbook:

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on sketching the Oregon Coast

A Creative Life, illustration, published art, sketchbook, travel art and writing, travelog, visual story, words and pictures, writing

OregonCoastMag200972

Back in 2009 I had the honor of writing and illustrating an article titled “Sketching the Coast” for Oregon Coast Magazine. (The 2009 article is pictured above) Well, I just heard from an editor that they’d like me to do a new article for them!!  I am excited to be working with editors who appreciate my unorthodox way of doing travel articles! Yipppeee, I get to do more sketchbook pages about the Oregon Coast! Yes, stuff like you’ve been seeing on this blog. More visual stories! Wahoo!  Going to go do my happy dance!

Here’s a few links to the Oregon Coast Magazine:

http://www.oregoncoastmagazine.com/

https://www.facebook.com/OregonCoastMagazine