Addie Boswell
  • Art
    • Public Art
    • Fine Art
    • Illustration
  • Books
    • Five on the Bed
    • The Snow Dancer
    • Go, Boats, Go!
    • Go, Bikes, Go!
    • The Rain Stomper
    • Freebies
  • About
  • News

Bullet Journals!

8/6/2018

 
Picture
I have been trying to streamline my planner, journal, and to-do lists for years. Because surely, if I could only get organized enough, life would roll so smoothly. I had seen friends "doing" bullet journals before, but didn't understand the theory until I read Ryder Carrol's Bullet Journal Method. An adaptive way to organize your planner -- and combine/organize all your lists and notes, the biggest change for me is writing in months and weeks as I go, which means my pages adapt to the week's schedule. For example, here is what my planner looked like before (notice all the white space.)

And here is what it looks like after. I am trying to sketch and write in daily reflections, which is also part of the theory -- that events and thoughts have the same priority as to-do notes.
Plus if I go on vacation, I can scrap the planner structure altogether and just have fun:

Picture
Other additions that are helpful are an index and future log at front and a series of 'icons' that send your to-do lists in different directions. You needn't be an artist to use the system (Ryder Carrol isn't), but the artists have certainly taken to the journals in droves. Just check out pinterest for ideas and tracking systems. And, since I'm always looking for the "perfect" pen, here are my current favorite supplies.

From the Scraps...

7/24/2018

 
When I moved to Portland fifteen years ago, I owned only a trunk-full of essentials, and the next few years were one of the most creative and expansive times of my life. Now I have a house, a career, a family, and a stability that still surprises me. (Am I now part of the establishment?)

I also have a growing collection of stuff, and am having to learn a different lesson. In short: Don't take it because its free and might have a use someday. (I found these two books pretty motivating in that direction.) So I've been purging my broken furniture and unfinished projects. And I cut down my scrap wood pile to make this headboard (with integrated side tables) and this coffee table inspired by Pinterest. Here's hoping I can pass up the next free box...
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Getting Back on a Bike

7/9/2018

 
Picture
This is the cover for my newest board book (to be released to the public in Spring 2019!) Illustrated by Alexander Mostov, published by Little Bigfoot, Go, Bikes, Go! celebrates the variety of bikes and bikers I have seen in my rides around Portland --where an estimated 3.5% of our citizens commute by bike.  (Which seems low, until you compare it to the national average of .4%.) But don't mistake me for a hard-core, lifelong biker. I grew up on a gravel road miles from pavement. No, I didn't really ride a bike until I was twenty-five. Here's the story.

When I moved across the country -- from Washington, DC to Portland, OR, at age twenty-four -- my one and only aim was to "be an artist." Thus starts my fifteen years of teaching jobs and art shows, public projects, rejections, and picture books, the building of my current life. On that fated journey West, I made the very bad decision to buy a new car -- a silver Honda Civic whose interior I can still almost smell. In my second year of "being an artist" and all the part-time, low-paying jobs it entails, I couldn't pay my debts. My student loans got deferred, my credit cards got cut up, and my cute little car got... repossessed. (A relief, by that point.) A friend gave me a bike. 

I remember my first ride, guided by my friend Beth through Portland's streets. I remember her saying, "don't weave in and out of cars, stay straight and in the view of drivers." I remember wavering when I turned corners, sweating profusely, and generally hating it. That was before the rainy season. I don't remember if it took weeks or months to really enjoy biking. But I spent the next three years commuting solely by bike (and bus and borrowed friend.) Those rides are some of my great moments in Portland. Once I found a free drawing table that I balanced all the way home. Once I felt like I was riding straight into the moon (the basis for the painting below) and it was magic. Many times I felt connected to my fellow riders, strong in my own skin, and just happier to be alive. (Something I've never felt in a car.)

I am on my third bike now, and the first one I actually paid for  -- $150 on Craigslist. These days, I share a car with my husband and turn out to be naturally lazy. I bike less than I should and gripe about how busy Portland has gotten. But sometimes still, I feel the magic. Go, Bikes, Go!
Picture

Mice and More Mice

4/10/2018

 
You'd think a mouse would be simple. But when I start on a new character, I'm always overwhelmed by possibility. How realistic or human-like should he be? What medium should I use? Full color or limited palette? How does he move? Here are some various iterations for Bailey Mouse, a book-loving pinyon mouse created for The Children's Book Bank. The popcorn scene is a fun assignment around the word "Blustery." 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Studio Projects

9/18/2017

 
Its taken five years to create a completely functional studio. Starting with the blank box of an attached garage, I enclosed the narrow ends with floor-to-ceiling storage. Then came the fun stuff, like these efficient design projects.

Easiest to Make: These picture ledges hold canvases and work in progress, and were made with 1x3s and 1x4s.   
Picture
​Most Trial-and-Error:  This large magnet board. Metal sheets were too small to hold much, and magnetic paint was too weak. But lots of recycled jar caps glued to a piece of free shower vinyl --and spray-painted white -- is both strong and cheap. Plus I'm really impressed with myself every time I look at it.
Picture
Most useful:  
My massive worktable holds paper files on both sides, with drawers built into the top. Key to the design are large wheels that make it movable, and the 36" height, useful for standing work or a bar stool. 
Picture
And here's a Before Picture of the same view. ​​​
Picture

The Art of Motherhood

4/3/2017

 
This month, my kid-inspired art was featured on the Community Gallery of Family Heirloom Arts.
I had many fears when I got pregnant, but the biggest and scariest was this: I thought a baby would usurp my creativity. Not in the practical sense of taking up my time and energy — more that the process of birth would shift something inside, and I would trade some essential part of my artist soul for motherhood. I didn’t tell anybody about this fear, but I carried it around with me those eight months. Read the Post here.
Picture
"Scribble Painting" drawn by my daughter, age 2

Oregon Reads Aloud

2/13/2017

 
Picture
A celebration of SMART's (Start Making a Reader Today) 25th anniversary, this new anthology features 25 read-aloud stories by Oregon authors and illustrators, about Oregon places, people and events. Like Sasquatch, and swifts, and rodeos and evergreens and volcanoes. And my contribution Go, Bikes Go! Did you know that Portland is considered the bike capital of the country? During the three years I commuted solely by bike, I happened across all of the strange and useful bicycles featured in my story. Can you find some of these in the drawing below?

Big bikes
​Small bikes 
Extra tall bikes

Old bikes
New bikes
Built-for-two bikes

Bikes with three wheels
Bikes with four
Doesn't that bike need one more?
Picture

Toddler Art

1/9/2017

 
What age does drawing start? I have always admired the art of young children, and consider age 5 the creative peak of life. This is when kids start drawing people with big alien eyes and stick arms coming out of their cheeks. But while watching my daughter grow up, I've found that creativity starts even earlier than I imagined. Since she tried painting at 18 months or started scribbling around age two, I have watched quietly as she learns and invents --without censor or fear. Her "loose" style of drawing gets harder to create the older and more experienced I get -- though Picasso and Seuss retained the ability. For myself, I am stealing lines from my daughter and turning her scribbles into large full-color paintings, which remind me of a child's reality-- abstracted, joyful, unbounded.
Picture
Picture
Picture

Student Art Show: April 26

4/19/2016

 
Picture
Please join us at this public art show! My adult students have been channeling modern artists like Picasso, Matisse, Kahlo, and Rothko to make their own renditions of portraits and still-lives. Enjoy art, activities, and snacks with fellow art lovers!

100 Years of Beverly Cleary

2/18/2016

 
Picture
"HOORAY!" says Ramona. Beverly Cleary was born and raised in Oregon, and we are especially excited to celebrate her 100th birthday with lots of book-loving fun at the library. My art classes (listed at right) are inspired by Ramona, one of my favorite literary characters and a true creative. Since Ramona always made art and adventures from things she found around her house, we will make tin-can stilts, tambourines and shakers, ring-toss toys and more from completely recycled materials.There are many more free events at all the Multnomah County Libraries this spring, including a big party at Central Library on April 9th. Don't miss it!

<<Previous
Forward>>

    Categories

    All
    Books & Illustrations
    Business Side Of Art
    Classes + Events
    DIY Projects
    Fine Art
    Public Art

    Sign Up Now
    To receive quarterly e-newsletters on all my creative adventures.