Here are some images of the altered books I have been working on. I am practicing up for teaching a workshop in February/March for Teens and Adults.
I began with a book I treasure, Anne Morrow Lindbergh's GIFT FROM THE SEA. I had a portion of this book read (by my gifted public speaker sister, Lisa Frazeur) at my 1991 wedding to hubby, Don Fick.
Here you see the altered cover - I have bleached and sanded a sepia toned photograph I took of our daughter, Lauren, when she was 3 - she is wearing an antique family heirloom of a muslin slip/petticoat and a floppy white sun hat . . . I caught her in a moment of discovery as she let sand sprinkle through her open fingers at Crystal Beach, FL.
Here is an opening page from the altered book - I have added my husband's and my initials from antique oak-tag and doodled on and around them, then inserted our wedding date.
One of the main goals in altered books is to collaborate with what is already there - by eliminating words, you enhance the ones that are left . . . by altering and joining any illustrations with your own theme/artwork - you make them become your own, without stepping on any 'copyright' issues.
Here I have altered an image of a shell. By adding a glint to the eye (using watercolor pencils) and creating an eye (using gray tone prismacolor markers) I transformed the literal image into a surreal visual.
Other aspects of altered books include: use of old photographs, collage from illustrations, distressing with inks and paints, aging with an emery board or sandpaper, gluing, tearing, sewing . . .
These following images are from a drawing book "Abstract Art" by Bernard Gollwitzer from the 50's - his illustrations are on the right hand side, on the left page I painted out the printed images with gesso, then cut out a female dress template from card stock, painted with acrylic then wiped off with a paper towel, using an embroidery needle/thread I stitched around the pattern, glued on a button with YES glue and voila, a finished page!
Altering books for me has become a very meditative event - I get to reminisce, create, journal, paste and glue, sew, a little bit of all all favorite things - and I get to use text and visual imagery together - I can be as sentimental as I want to be.
Hope you can pick up a discarded book and transform it with some of these techniques - even if you only are a few pages at a time . . . you will enjoy the process as much as the resulting artwork!
Read MoreTo Resolution, or Not To resolution?
"The Call" by Remedios Varo
To me the real question about whether or not to make New Year's Resolutions is simple: No. I don't do that.
What I do is review the prior year and project what I wish to accomplish in the coming year.
Many divergent areas of my life are considered. Have I been the Mother I need to be in 2008 and what can I do better in 2009? Not just say "I will be a better Mother" - but, specifically, what are the actions I can do to make that occur. I can turn off the music in the car and actually have a conversation with the children while we are enduring the endless pick-up/drop-off phase of our lives. I can instigate conversations and ask what their opinions are and why. I can NOT turn every conversation into a lecture. I can listen. I can color more with my 6 year old.
In my marriage I could make dinner a few more times a week and I can turn off my computer and sit and hold his hand while he watches TV. I can play some Wii golf WITH him instead of reading on the couch. I could go work in the yard with him instead of holing up in the studio on the weekend. We could start doing some of the things we both love to do: hiking, nature photography, playing cards, and Scrabble.
As a sister I could call my siblings more frequently. As a daughter I could take some time to mail my mom cards and hand-written notes as she does not do e-mail. I can collect things I know she will love and always have a gift bag ready for any time I see her.
If 2009 is this cabinet - I get to fill it with all the dreams I have and hope to accomplish:
1. Better actions as a mother and wife
2. More completed artworks/applying for grants/fellowships and to VISIT real art again - a major trip for art viewing
3. More shows to share my artwork
4. I could finish posting my Etsy shop so people don't have to beg me to sell things.
5. Start my series about my Italian experiences
6. Get more active on my own blog ;) - pursue my writing with a more defined goal, write some of those memoir stories for myself and then decide if I want to share with others
7. Nurture and maintain my new and old friendships
8. Take time to reflect on my own life and the balance of my selfs: physical, spiritual, creative, and dreaming
9. Become more fully who I am intended to be
10. Make sure I am following MY CALLING
Read More