Back to Basics -- Books, Bread, Birds 6WS

Totally out of bread I finally heaved a sigh and set to work to start a giant loaf.  Ready here to start rising, covered in this cloth, in a warm place on top of the oven.  When it doubles in size I can start thinking about baking it.

And here's the very frequent visitor, this year the first of this species for me, a red bellied woodpecker.  Mrs. W. also comes some days.  

He's here three times a day, getting all his squares in, I guess. I'm hoping for nesting, since he always flies back to the same tree opposite the house.  He is so hyper alert that I can't, despite many tries, get a pic, so Peterson's Guide has to show you what I mean, and how exciting he is to see.  His fleeting visits are very much like making art, long waits, then great brief excitement!

Meanwhile, thinking continues about next week's AIR 2017 presentation, which will be about accordion books.  This is a  very simple mechanism, but it can get as complicated as the artist wants, and I anticipate people learning quickly how to assemble one, then spending time on decorating and generally enjoying making it their own.

It involves covering the entire table in ideas and going from there. Much thought goes into making these presentations flow nicely and be accessible to beginners, great when it works!

Here's a souvenir type book:  postcards from my granddaughter, this being part of a string of Chinese postcard images from her trips there, and her messages are all preserved on the back. 

No postcard is injured in the course of this creation.  The fun of this is in selection, and deciding on which will be the cover, which the back.

Then I assembled another while I was at it, not accordion, a signature book with a few note pages in the middle. Tied with a hand dyed crochet thread, in a double lark's head knot with added knots to keep it secure.

This is a collection of handmade items sent to me from friends, and a great way to preserve and enjoy them instead of having them stacked somewhere.  Judy, Asha, Catie Ann, Heather, you're all in there!

And I'm collecting items for a later week, when I will present found object books, where you incorporate unlikely ideas in your book. I will be collecting some of them out of doors, probably.  In fact I'll start as soon as I finish in here!

Art has taken many forms today.