P is for Plants

The complete book and an image of each page can be found on my website

The Marin MoCA's annual Altered Book Exhibition and fundraiser opens tomorrow and this year I have a book featured. I'll be one of 150 artists with a piece up for auction with the proceeds going to support the museum. It's the first time I've exhibited book art with content since college and I couldn't be more excited. 

As you know, I'm quite fond of upcycling, or taking something old, used or worn and turning it into something new. With this in mind, I jumped at the challenge of creating a piece for the exhibition. It all began with an orphaned volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica that I found at a SFPL book sale a few years back. I had been using it sporadically for collaging and wrapping paper but wanted to do a larger scale project with it. 

The volume I had was PLANTS to RAYM and, given my obsession with plants, it naturally seemed that that should be the subject for this book. 

I started out by making a list of plants I wanted to include. I won't lie, I chose ones that I liked, but also tried to have a mix of flowers, green plants, and fruit bearing plants. Then, with a decent amount of Internet searching for models, I sketched each page out in my notebook before moving on to the actual pages. 

I really love the botanical field journals of the 18th and 19th centuries so while researching, I took short notes about each plant I was drawing so that I could add notes, making the final book have a bit of a field journal air to it.

It was quite laborious given that I'm not known for my penmanship, drawing isn't my strong suit, and neither is coloring, but I wanted to push myself so each page was sketched, inked with Micron pens, and colored with colored pencils. I'm rather pleased with the results.

The final structure is an accordion, hinged with Lokta paper, with hard covers that have a mock half binding appearance. The backside of the book is lamented with un-altered encyclopedia pages. The book is unique and not editioned. More images, and artist statement, and the complete book layout can be found on my website. 

Walking in the Woods

Lately I've been wanting to make artists' books instead of just blank books but, after so much technique practice, I'm finding myself rather stuck. The usual 'intimidating blank page' complex.

I'd like to make a book that makes the viewer reminisce about a hike or walk in the woods. To help get the creative juices flowing for this project, I went on my favorite hike in Mt. Tampalais-- the Steep Ravine to Dipsea to Old Mine trail loop. I think these photos just might be the start of something.  

Seed Book

After making curtains the other week, I had some leftover fabric. It has such a great pattern that I couldn't let it go to waste. So, I did what I do with scraps...I made a book!

I made the accordion pages out of Kraft paper. I measured them to be taller than I needed so that I could fold up the bottoms so each page had a pocket.

I coated each side of the fabric with methyl cellulose (this is not the 'correct' way to make book cloth, but it worked for my purposes), and then glued it to book board to make the covers.

Then I filled each pocket with seed packets and wrote a few quick notes about how well each seed grew.

Once the seed packets were inside the book, it didn't close very well (which is why the springy-ness of the accordion structure works so well), so I added ribbons while I was gluing on the covers so that the book could be tied closed.

Book Artist Blues

I've been away from my blog for a little while, work is busy and it was my partner's (and then my) birthday. Anyway, here's the first little book review I have of SF ZineFest finds.

It's called Book Artist Blues and it's made by Nikki Thompson of Deconstructed Artichoke Press. It's a charming little guy made out of a single sheet of paper, containing a few anecdotes about peoples' difficulty understanding book art and its value. I know I related to it because I am a book artist, but I think any artist or maker would be able to find something they can identify with in here.

More Illustrations

Some more illustrations from the workshop handouts that I'm working on. Text will be added to the images for the final version.