the possibilities the book lends to be revised
and the ingenious ideas the creators present to their new readers.
I recently was asked to add to one such beautiful book,
being transformed by A,
a daughter of my book loving friend.
It has a definition of 'belief' on the front cover.
Beginning as a GCSE project, its wonderful changes continue....
Four textured white pages were offered - ripe for re-fashioning.
Ideas flowed freely before I had even read the beginning of the book, I made sketches and notes, one in CAPITALS - READ A's PAGES!
After being entranced by her personal, detailed and diverse work I realised how many of my original ideas would be right at home alongside, in terms of features and form.
Also, as our styles and talents are different, there would be some novel ideas.
As usual it took a while to cogitate and feel comfortable about starting,
and there was a small amount of gathering and preparation...
but a fabulous February afternoon was spent in a metamorphosing whirl of colourful creativity....once started it was difficult to stop!
The first page:
A print of two photographs overlapped and merged prior to printing,
the lower from wet felt made in response to the sunsets outside our front window,
the upper - one such sunset...complete with urban street furniture!
The wording is a title of a book by one of my long time favourite authors,
Patrick Gale.
A's mum and I are both huge fans and were mesmerised when we met him during a local book event.
Originally this page was intended to be much busier, with more words...
but on reflection less is more in this case!
Page Two:
Four of my original thoughts were felt, holes, colour and crochet.
This page combines all four!
The larger holes were cut with a craft knife, variegated sock wool crocheted into pre-pricked smaller holes, and there is a re-used off-cut wet-felted corner.
This page, in contrast to Page One, needed something extra - whilst tidying up I came across the tiny pile of cut holes, carefully saved, sparkling in the sun.
Turned upside down / over / backwards,
they transformed the page and brought it to life, reminding me again of
Brian Wildsmith's illustrations.
Page Three
A potato printed background with acrylic and sparkly paint, the other side of the holes and crochet, and a photograph of the
listed fish.
As the holes would impact on each page my original idea was to have a
fish on one...little did I know how significant this particular fish would be.
I visited it a few days before making the pages, and rejected a felt fish in its favour.
Having handed the book back I had an excited response from my friend who had actually played on 'her favourite park fish sculpture' as a child and shares my excited fascination for its form and function!
Page Four
Photo montage from 6.9.14 City of Colours Festival
Images of works by Jimmy C and Jay Sharples.
Spray painted discarded masking tape from Jay Sharples street art.
It should come as no surprise that these images would be included...
vibrant colour and circles....
The textured background of the painted white page reminded me of the white brick walls colourfully sprayed that weekend...
The holes give glimpses to other gems!
The whole process was an honour and privilege, I was so thrilled to be asked to share A's book diversity-fying and I had such a great time celebrating colour and our beautiful city!
I may have a go at my own sometime...
