Short Video of My Bookbinding Project

The process is exacting. The covers have to be cut to the right length as well as the spine. It must be placed in the right place on the cover for glueing. I've used almost 30 ounces of glue to make eight books, a good portion of a roll of waxed dental floss for binding/sewing the pages together and a couple yards of material for the covers. You have to be careful not to glue everything in sight. Waxed paper helps. I still have to put a title on the front and perhaps the spine for the editions. Almost done.

In the Process of Binding My book(s) of My Family History

This will be my last update and final version of my family history. It's all done except for putting the block of text into a handbound cover. Actually, there are two volumes to the history. I've tried to include everything pertinent including complete ancestral lines to over a dozen families in our ancestral background, famous ancestors, photos, various documents, letters and notes from relatives and as much anecdotal history as I could find (as opposed to just dates).

The process for assembling a hardbound book goes something like this (keeping in mind that the print is only on one side of a couple hundred pages of 11x8.5" paper:
1. Put together the block of pages.
2. Glue the spine side of them.
3. Drill holes close to the spine and sew the pages together. I used waxed dental floss for its strength.
4. Attach end pages and glue again.
5. Glue a saddle (also called a mull) to the spine of the block.
6. Glue the 1/8" cardboard covers and spine to a cloth cover.
7. Setting the block properly within the cover, glue each end page to the covers while also glueing the saddle to end page and the cover.

Some photos are shown to the right of the book blocks, with saddle, cardboard sheets from which I cut the covers. It's not all finished yet, but close.

This Season's Work So Far...see Column of images on the right

I've posted five images of the paintings I've finished so far this winter season. I took the pictures on a rainy, dark day inside, so the images do not do the work justice (in my opinion). Three of these will enter the member's exhibit at the Attleboro Arts Museum in the next few days.

Auction Results

I am so pleased. Both of my paintings sold. "Village Shoppes at Night" sold for $308 and was the highest selling painting in the silent auction. The other, 'Chariot Tracks in Ancient Pompeii' sold for $108. The paintings are visible in my earlier post of October 12.

It is interesting to note that both have been shown in Art Shows in Taunton and Attleboro. 'Chariot' won a first place in Taunton. 'Village' didn't win a thing either place, but certainly had more appeal to the public.

Silent Auction

I'd like to know how 'they' chose which items went into the live auction and which were placed into the silent auction. It turns out both of my donations were part of the silent auction. The silent auction went on after a couple weeks of online bidding and continued all night through the live auction. There were three sections of items in the silent auction, i.e. A, B, and C. Mine was the first item in Section A and got a great placement with maximum visibility. Some of the others were tucked around a corner. There were three to four very active bidders which served to generate quickly higher prices. It was fun to check the bidding sheet from time to time and receive one pleasant surprise after another.

That's it for now.

Attleboro Arts Museum Charity Auction (cont'd)

As I have never been to one of these before, I was duly impressed. The event was well-organized and professionally executed. A buffet of hors d-oeuvres downstairs. An open bar. All was covered by the $35 entry fee. My entry was free since I was a donator. The auctioneer was quite good and moved things along.

Although we left before the event concluded, I would not be surprised if the lady shown in my picture to the right was the eventual winner of my painting. Several bidders returned to up their bid, but she always seemed to be there to outbid them, returning perhaps 8-10 times to up her bid.

We did not see any of the silent auction items get anywhere the number of bids as my "Village Shoppes at Night'. It was exciting, amusing and satisfying to actually witness the interest first-hand.

I'll report back, probably early this week, with the final results.

Auction

The auction was very well attended, especially considering the blowing, rainy, raw weather outside.

Attleboro Arts Museum Charity Auction

We just got back from the auction held tonight. We left a little early. I donated two paintings which ended up in the silent auction. They both sold. One of them had the most activity of any other works (that we saw). Silent bidders went through three bidding sheets by the time we left. The opening bid of $98 had risen to $248 by the time we left (with probably 45 minutes to an hour left). I was quite pleased to see how much interest there was. Must have been a dozen or more bidders with several placing many individual ones, coming back every 10 minutes to be the highest. I'll find out soon if the bids went higher.

More tomorrow.

Go Take a Look at the Online Auction for the Attleboro Arts Museum

Here's the URL...
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hqLM2gsYsx82sdOO6VB2PaEAYfY29yyUz7Of55jm3Zp2CLjl6Aq9c1H6Q5kA3dQxKa6W9rJsf9IjB987TTGlbMm7D1PSExowkLGXZvJ4PHswqInDZqUHIg_6eF89XMtzO7nUkDGTDvCOTK0pIZLHkhl3qoL6rN-sqF2AHuziRUaIylMAeKurwoVnNVjHlQGcTJ2bzBEVgJE_1fj3pbLGhQ==&c=AVS3eqB06H3BecEMGubzMkB2xT-DTjy1kpUGK6MIRTJnteIq5h-h9w==&ch=FuwGXrER8Di2j5haSqhOkteDJAr0yRYntbVfukJ-9y0NYhOEAvKpPQ==

I've donated two of my paintings for the cause.

Taunton Art Association 2014 Fall Art Show

The final day of the Art Show was today. A lot of excellent entries. My 'Gulliver Street in the Fall' took 3rd place in the Acrylic category. I show it below. I always agree with most of the judging, but never agree with it all. The judges certainly were qualified. Three were used with some diversity in backgrounds and expertise, e.g. watercolor, photography in particular. I always wonder how they reach a consensus. Must be interesting. Anyway, my third place was my best entry. Other times I've won with a piece that I entered as a 'oh, well...this is different...maybe someone will like it.'

There is some good work and good artists that never seem to win (not talking about me) but place 2nd or 3rd. The excellence of art work is in the eye of the beholder and the whole process of judging is subjective. 

The Painting Season Has Begun

For many of you, there is no painting season. Which could mean one of two things. It doesn't have seasons, it's all year long...or...well, or not. For me, I look forward to the fall and winter to get back into painting. It's a great diversion in the colder weather. It's an inside sport. Outside is golf which, for me, diminishes as the weather gets colder.

Anyway, it's also the season for showing, i.e. art shows. These have become one way I can measure my development as an artist. Sales and/or awards mean at least someone other than myself has taken note of what I have done.

I have my own feelings about how much I improve from year to year. Each year I try to develop a little more expertise, trying something new, whether it's different subjects, techniques or whatever.

I can tell I am improving, although it's never fast enough. I use strictly acrylic paint, mostly since oils and the their cleanup are slightly more toxic, in my view. I tried watercolors long ago with little success. Acrylics have some advantages.They dry much quicker. But they also have disadvantages, one major one being the difficulty in blending colors or softening an effect. Just watch Bob Ross with his use of Liquid Clear to see what I mean.

This year one of my goals to to create realistic ocean waves, especially coming into a beach.

In the next few entries, I'll share some early work started this month.

How to Win a Juried Art Competition

Here's what I see when I go to a juried art show (competition).

I see three kinds of art pieces:

1. The kind of work that most show attendees will recognize as having some kind worth, albeit widely varying worth.
2. The kind of work that is really different. I may not appreciate it fully, but I take notice.
3. The kind of work that I look at and look at and look at...and finally say I really don't get it.

Now, what category do the winners fall into? Maybe you'd think #1 or maybe #2. Nope. It could be any of the above and very often is #3.

But almost all of them are larger than average in size and priced quite high. So that's what I have learned in my semi-successful five years of entering juried art shows. Enter big, but not ridiculouly big canvases and give your work a pricetag that would give the potential art buyer pause. It doesnt hurt to name the piece something a little odd, like 'Muse of Light, Reflection#5'.

Books Priced Back to $2.99

I didn't find much effect in sales, so I re-priced all of them back to $2.99.

Great News for those eBook Readers who use IPads and iPhones!

Yesterday Apple unveiled iOS 8, the new Apple operating system upgrade that will come out this fall.

This entry below was copied from an email I received from Smashwords, my ebook distributor. Great news for ebook readers who have iPhones, IPads. 

Buried in a slide during the live demo event referenced as "iOS 8 features we didn’t have time to talk about" was an ebook retailing bombshell:  iBooks will come pre-installed on iOS 8.

The iBooks app is Apple's ebook store.  Inside that app is over 250,000 books from Smashwords authors.

This is a game-changer for ebook retailing.

iBooks will come pre-loaded on every device with iOS 8.
Image modified from original sourced from BGR.com

According to the latest public information, there are over 800 million devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) running prior versions of Apple's iOS.

The new iOS will be available as a free upgrade to users of the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display. 

Prior to iOS 8, readers who wanted to shop iBooks were forced to click to the Apple App store, search for the iBooks app, sign in with their email address and password, and then install it.

Reducing All Books to $1.99 from $2.99

I am reducing the prices of all my books to $1.99 from $2.99 indefinitely. I want to see how sales are affected by the reduction. It may take a while to see the effect since the changes will not take place immediately, but rather over the next two weeks.