Making books - different approaches

Yesterday I went to the State Library in Adelaide to view the catalogue of an exhibition by local book artist Diane Longley.  Unfortunately I couldn't see the actual books but the catalogue was quite descriptive and although my own work tends to the raggy edge look, I did admire the skill she showed, and the write-ups inspired me to think about my own approach to making books.  My approach is experimental - having arrived at book making later in life, every book is a new experience.  In my approach, I try to incorporate what Keith Smith calls “the whole-book experience”, giving content and form equally serious consideration.  So I might interpret the same concept with different formats until I find the one best suited.

I don’t start a book until I have an overall concept.  I don’t like making a book that doesn’t have a purpose behind it, a starting point.  Often I symbolise the concept rather than realistically represent it, for example, using gentle colours and soft shapes o show peacefulness rather than draw or stitch a sleeping cat.  Such as this:  (scroll down to the second book shown on my web page).

My meditation book - dyed papers, stitching

Inspiration – it always comes back to Nature.  Nature fulfils me, satisfies my soul.

Time to waste online

Now that I have finished at college, I am enjoying having Mondays at home, where I can spend time doing what I want.  In practice, what I want usually turns out to be spending time surfing the net, before looking at my weekly plan (yes, I do one most weeks) and picking out the task I want to do most - usually artwork of some kind.  Other tasks don't always get done or not for some time.  This week I'm making another book, in which I retell fairy stories with my own twist - I don't always agree with the endings of the traditional fairy tales, so when I tell them to children I make the endings fair.  That's what I'm doing in this book.  All the characters in the book are played by my own chooky sketches - I'm getting better at drawing them in different situations so I thought I'd extend that into a book.  This is a paper book but I recently put my chookys into a scroll made of tea-dyed leftover calico; after some reverse applique (recycled blouse fabric)  and colouring with crayons, topped by cretan stitch embroidery, and using dowel found along Linear Park, I decided it was interesting enough to post on my website.  You can see it, with details, here at this link.

Chooky Scroll, detail of the beginning

Being a chook fan, you can imagine how pleased I was in my net-surfing to find this watercolour (scroll through the images at the bottom to find the chicken) of a chicken on the website of Heather Holland, a local artist I met recently through Port Community Art Centre.