So many books, so much to do

Well, this has been a really strange week. I had oral surgery, OUCH! and have been home a few days - so my mind is racing, but the rest of me is dragging. You know how that is. Earth Day was this week and I planned on going to the Lodi Mixed Media group meeting and taking a big old Atlas to collage in as a collaborative project, plus two cereal boxes that I gessoed. But, I wasn't feeling up to going and so the book is here, and once I opened it I was flooded with ideas. I've been planning for years to do a book with quotes by John Muir, and since he traveled the world, and used the signature "John Muir, Earth, Planet, Universe" as his address in an early journal - I thought this wonderful old Atlas would be a grand book to alter. The John Muir Conference has been taking place since Thursday at University of the Pacific - and I should be there, but the pain and resulting fatigue are keeping me in. My spirit is with them though and so that is what is generating this new altered book.

Also this week, I received a "deck" of thirty four 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch Steampunk collages from an online swap. I could not think of a good way to bind them, so I decided to put them into a book which will then be altered. I am using an old copy of "Man and Power", a children's book from Library used book store. It has great illustrations and will be fun to alter. But, first I put the collages in with a list of the artists that participated. I'm asking their permissions to post some pictures here.

I'm also working on the "Phobia" book. But, I need to set these things aside to finish a book for my grandson Trevor who is graduating from high school very soon - from the same school his dad graduated from many years ago. It's very exciting for me to see this happen, and I'm fortunate to live "attached" to the kids so I can watch them grow up and participate in their activities. The book I'm altering for Trevor is "Life 101". I'm also using part of the text from that famous graduation speech (which is really an urban legend, purported to have been given by Bill Gates). It's a fun book with a message. This one has to take priority as it's creeping up to the big day.

So where do the ideas come from? My little muse, Lollie, who doesn't care if my jaw hurts! She wants to alter books. She just keeps nudging me until I take action.