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Last week I talked about looking, seeing and inspiration. I offered you a video on the art of Anne Bachelier. If you watched the video, you’ll hear her talk about her interest in illuminated manuscripts and she shows us a book that she has ‘illuminated’.
I find all her art fascinating. Her facility with oil paint is astonishing, but the part that inspired me most were the grittier works in the book she made.
I don’t know what sort of book Anne used. But my instinct was take an old book from my book shelves. My husband’s Grandfather used to buy boxes of stuff at farm auctions that held all the things the auctioneer expected no one wanted. Often these boxes held books and the books were passed on to us. We both have a hard time throwing out books.
Lord Johnnie by Leslie T. White was published in 1949. The paper is pulp and fairly thin. I have no idea what the story is about. The cover has an embossed sword on it. Here’s a bit from its pages:
“I fear, sir, there is some mistake,” she said fridgidly. “I recall no cousin who–“
Abruptly her yes widened. She opened her mouth to scream, then stifled the outburst with her fan.
“Control yourself, madame! warned Johnnie. “A scene will be fatal!”
I’ve since found that painting in already published books is not my own invention. It’s a thing. If you Google Altered Books you’ll find images and how tos.
I learned some excellent things in creating art in someone else’s book.
- Because the paper isn’t pristine, it’s easier to make your first marks and be less precious about the drawing.
- Because text covers much of the page, you end up using the whole page for your composition.
- Though I haven’t read any more of the story in than what you see above, I found my images seemed to imply a narrative.
I suppose, if I had planned better, I could have chosen a theme and made the narrative clearer. I’m glad I didn’t, because as you can see from the work on this blog I liked to change things up.
The mediums I used were Golden Heavy Body Gel (as my glue), Golden Acrylic Gesso, various inks, pencil crayon, tissue paper and other collage elements, and gel pens. The figure with the wings was drawn digitally, printed and painted with coloured pencil and watercolour.
I needed a poem about ravens, and couldn’t find one that felt right, so I wrote my own.
Fledge
Above,
hunched in our tattered funeral array, we watch.
Soon,
the itch in her wings will lift her up.
Below,
scuttles her prey.
Eve Barbeau 