karly alexandra smith
words + writing
bookishness
upcoming events
words + writing
Having grown up in a household of encouraging, imaginative artists, I've been writing stories and poems since I could form letters. Writing for me isn't just about creating beauty, but about experiencing God's beauty and goodness and truth and letting it change me as I express those things.
You are very welcome to come and visit the little blue room, an imaginary place for us to meet and ponder rhythms of beauty--poetry, walking in nature, grieving, and reflection. It is a quiet place, but there is a chair, a fireplace, a cup of tea, bookshelves aplenty, and a nice window.
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Much of my other writing work is in the secret places of process, where I am cultivating and shaping works of fiction. ​I also love to help people who feel intimidated by writing to enter into it, slowly, quietly, and yet with a boldness they don't realize they are capable of. Sometimes I teach writing classes which you can find here!
a bit of bookishness
I've been making little books every once in a while for a long time. It started with making little stories and illustrating them for the children of our friends. Now I ​I make a variety of little books. From notebook covers, to little books for one poem (little books of tears), to little blank notebooks, I like to make bookish things.
One of the things I incorporate into my little books is cyanotype, an old process used to develop inexpensive copies of photographs, and is also the reason blueprints are blue. By treating paper with a solution, then placing objects (or negatives for photos, or drawings for blueprints) on top and leaving in the sun, a print will develop. There are also ways to make the prints not blue by soaking them in anything that has tannins (results in the black/sepia looking prints).
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My work with cyanotype is about both the expected and unexpected shapes and depths of thigs--I find different objects more translucent than expected, or less.