Book Murals

Saw this on the web and had to share. http://www.creativeboom.com/art/hundreds-of-vintage-books-transformed-into-giant-mural-illustrations/

More altered books - on Ted Talks

http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_dettmer_old_books_reborn_as_intricate_art?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2015-02-06

Altered books, an exhibit

I have been following a blog, and one of the places she has taken us recently is to an exhibit of altered books.   Here is the link to her blog.    There are four different posts, so grab a cuppa something and sit back and admire them.   Some are totally awesome. http://jennifercoynequdeen.blogspot.com/2015/02/odd-volumes-part-4-lastmaybe.html

This and that

Here is a quick peek at the new owl books I made for the gallery.    I'm particularly fond of the green one.     

This is one of the Paris signs I painted  that hangs in my friend Cat's house.     It's the perfect spot and changed the whole atmosphere in her private bathroom.    this the one I sprayed on the back with the Krylon mirror spray paint which gives it a kind of mercury glass look. First of course I sprayed the stencils with black paint.    I was glad to see the mirror spray did not affect the black paint.   whew!  I was worried about that.     If you spray with the mirror paint, do it outside - the fumes are horrible.

Holliday is over, let's get back to art.

My decorations are all tucked away  and artwork is spread around now.     I am entering three pieces in the Exhibit that will take place at the Mexican Heritage Center .  The theme is Art Against Violence.      I met one of the directors at a meeting a couple weeks ago and asked whether she thought drunk driving was an applicable subject.   She gave me a wholehearted YES, so I decided to enter the White Crosses book.   

After later discussion it didn't seem to work out that the actual book be exhibited due to the size and fragility.     It just would not work.   This just presented another challenge.    How can it be entered?   Hmmm.....

  I went through a lengthy thought process and checked in with a few friends and brother for input.   I had first thought it would be good as a video or even a slide project, but that would mean someone would need to be there for the equipment and to start and stop and troubleshoot.      Not practical.      So, I decided to break the book content down into the two parts.  The first being the section where I used the found words technique to paint out all the words except those that contained the narrative I selected.      I scanned it, and am having it printed on heavy paper to construct a separate book that can be handled.      Here are the pages. 

the highway

claimed another victim

you noticed that single cross.    Who ---or what ---marked the spot

open road
driving that hill and that curve
highway
dangerous
drunk
dead

tears

the accident site

he looked back

he didn't see the tree
fatality









Each page is cut along the highway so the next pages show partially.    I'll do this with the new version as well.







The next section of the book contained my poem "Shrines by the Side of the Road" which I wrote in 2009.     Instead of using it in the book form, I decided to use an old canvas, draw on a road and then print the poem, cut out the words and glue them along the roadway.    This measures 24 x 48 inches and hangs horizontally.   Right now it is still in progress.  Here is how it looks at the moment with the words just scattered along in two different fonts.   It's still very much in the making decisions mode.    Masking tape is roughly where the road will be.

In order to make it fit, I had to edit the poem down, leaving out a number of stanzas and lines.     Here is how it reads now.   

The Shrine at the Side of the Road

Driving along a country road
on a sunny afternoon
without a care in the world.

I know this road,

I've passed this way before.

I am startled to see

by the side of the road
a white cross nailed to a tree.
A shrine for a youth
whose path ended here.

In his old pickup truck
with a six pack of beer
he lost control rounding the bend.

The impact! the crash!
the truck is now trash.
Broken glass, broken head,
 pronounced DEAD!

How many lives were shattered that night?
How many people mourn?
How many tears were shed
for the brother, the friend, the son?

Nothing can be said,
nothing can be done.
That's the hardest part.
Nothing is slower to heal
than the hole in his mother's heart.

I say a little prayer
for the soul of the one who died
and the lives

that were wrenched by the tragedy
as I zip past the sad little shrine

that could have been mine.

I've passed this way before
I'll pass this way again.

owl books

Now that the holiday season is upon us, I was thinking of making some angel books as I did last year, but this time put some in the gallery for sale.    That was the intent, but then I remembered I had made an owl book last year, and that what what was speaking to me today.  The pages were already folded, I just needed to select some angelic faces.  I have some nice old lace to use, and other embellishments.  But the owls won out.  One look in  my owl database, and their faces let me to changing my plan.   Here are the first two of a series.     Either I'll run out of books. or I'll lose interest.    Hard to tell which will come first.     We'll see if anyone is interested in owl books other than me!    

I have stopped using so many things in the studio, I was happy to find I still can locate things like eyelets, and the setter, and the hole punch, hammer, and pad.    Wire is something I always keep handy so it was only the eyelets that was a worry.    It all went well though and now I know exactly where they are and are ready for the next owls.    

June

The gallery in Lodi is ready to open, so I took in some art to show this month.   Here  is the latest news on the gallery opening. http://lodiartcenter.blogspot.com/          I am showing one of the art ournals which I'm now calling a scrap journal that I made in January.   

Also the altered book "Illusions"
and two collage/paint mixed media wall art pieces.  

   I may take the Alice meets the internet piece in as well, as it will have a new audience in this location.    I'd like to see where they place it and how well it shows there.  

  If you are anywhere near Lodi, make it a point to check out the new gallery.    We'll be open for business on Friday.   

Altering an old atlas

What to do with an old atlas.   The world has changed so much since this one was published, it's no longer good for finding countries.  Borders and names have changed in some parts of the world.   But the atlas was lovely and I could not send it off to the library book sale, as it just refused to  leave home. 

  Then one day at our critique meeting, Roberta showed me the atlas she was using to paint faces.     AHA!    I can do that!    But I can also do a bit of collage and also use it to store some faces in print that I collected and love.   

Roberta is working in acrylics.   I chose to "paint" with oil pastels because the colors are so rich and I just needed a good excuse to get them out and see what they could do.     I did a couple in acrylics too, but will show them later.   

 You will often see the Modgliani influence with the faces I draw.  I love long necks and faces.   Even the girl with thte pearl earring has taken on his style.  LOL

Art jourals

 what is an art journal?    hmmm.... a book type structure that holds clippings, sketches, ideas related to art?   Perhaps this piece is more of an altered journal.     It was going to be an art journal but went another direction.  This one started with a catalog that came in the mail.  Well, two catalogs arrived the same day, and both of them had Tshirts with cute sayings.    I wanted to remember them, so decided to cut them out and put them somewhere.     This little journal was purchased at Michaels in the dollar bin years ago and I had never touched it.    I covered it with fabric and then started collaging in the tshirts and other images and sayings from the catalog and from my stash.    Here are some pics.   This is going to be a gift for a friend.    These are just a few of the 62 pages covered with art... if you want to call it art.  My friend will get some good giggles from this little friendship gift.

Phears and Phobias

This is the latest altered book I did. I'll post pics on my picturetrail gallery, so you can see more there. Here are a few pics.

Gallery

I changed some things in my gallery at PictureTrail. I added some newer things and got rid of some other images that were stored there. In case you want to peek, here is the link. www.picturetrail.com/artsngardens

I finally finished the Steampunk altered book, entitled Man and Power. There are some new views there of it. Here are a couple of them.

Lodi Mixed Media Group and Steampunk altered book

We met at the gallery on Thursday and had a very lively full group of 13 funny, talented, ladies. Between the laughing and talking, time flew by. Our show and tell time was great. Phyllis brought a box with a little story in it that she made for her granddaughter. Francis (the fearless) brought in a painting with a box attached. I did't get pics. The painting shows a couple seated in a booth with mirrors on each side, so there are reflections in both from different angles. Then on one side she had attached a box with two mirrors, one on the back and on inside right side. The left side was open and the front, so we could see the two carved people she put there, replicating the ones in her painting. Awesome, and totally unique. These are just a few of what was shared that day. Patti taught the group to make folded boxes.

I don't do folding things so I took my Steampunk altered book to work in. Little by little is getting filled up. Now it's a long read kind of book, not one you can just flip through quickly. I meant to get away from making such lengthy books, but I keep finding amazing photos to use, so it just keeps going. All science, hardware, etc are in this book. I just found a really good photo of Einstein that will go in soon, and I"m always finding pics of people with goggles, or dogs and cats with goggles. LOL So, in they go too. And if they don't have goggles, I can stamp them on, or glue on something I found in a parking lot or on the street. LOL

altered book - Steampunk

Here are a few pics of the new Altered Book. It was started as a place to tip in cards from a Steampunk swap put on by Red Dog Scott. You can see some of them here. Either the name of the artist is on it, or I penciled the name next to it.

Altering a book

I'm working on the Steampunk altered book again, since the rain isn't about to stop and I"m stuck inside I have time to really dig in. Among the things I consider iconic for Steampunk are goggles. When we were kids, my brother had an aviator cap and I loved that hat. I think he must have had goggles too. Now in my altered book I'm putting goggles on everything. I carved a couple rubber stamps to make them and they add a bit of humor to the book. I"l be taking pics soon and posting. In the meantime no more postcards will be leaving here for awhile. This is consuming all my art time.

Bay Area Book Arts Jam and mail art

I decided not to show my work at the Bay Area Book Arts Jam this year in October. It is THE best place to show them, and the most exciting. But, that's what tires me out too much. I can't run on adrenalin and high spirits any more. What I'll miss the most is the meeting one on one with book art enthusiasts.

Soon I"ll be back to posting more here and showing my newest things and talking about techniques again. I'll be showing more work locally as well. Recently I've been working a lot on mail art. Maybe it's the Nick Bantock show coming up that has kicked off my interest again. I am finding post card size gives an artist a large enough canvas to work on and there are so many things one can do one them. I've been altering vintage post cards and creating other mail art. I have been enjoying this book from Amazon.

Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art

If you'd like to be on my snail mail list, please email me with your address and you might just go to your mail box one day and find a piece of art from me. Janene

Time in a Frame - again

Here are two very different pages. On one I use the new rubber stamp I cut of the eye. I liked the chapter heading so made the page to play off that starting point. The old man portrait is very slightly altered. He looked like and eagle to me - I just needed to add the nose/beak. isn't he a handsome fellow?

Time in a Frame - even more

This picture of the girl inspired me to get out my sewing machine and threads. Also a little purple tulle. The photo of the hanging of Lincoln's assassins is one I did awhile back. By painting out a lot of the background, the central images stand out all the better. I used thread for the nooses and added the ravens. The portrait of the man is only slightly altered with white gesso and black paint. Here is the link to earlier pages.