itching to get going on some explorative work on the yukon, namely the riverboats, water, and wood i finally made the large sketchbook i began a while back
not having any suitable paper for the cover i had in my mind i would paint one but i am not a painter, though i do like to mess around with paint and what have you
in my usual fashion i let the idea of doing that and the accompanying angst over whether or not i actually could do it get in the way of making my sketchbook
this week i realized i could turn my silliness into an advantage... too often i'm reluctant to use a sketchbook because i'm afraid of messing it up so if i made a scruffy, not so good painting for the cover i likely wouldn't be at all concerned over using the book
the thinking made sense so i got a large piece of heavy weight drawing paper, some ink, a lump of indigo pigment, a charcoal pencil and had a try
i never start with a plan, nor any kind of foundational sketch - just some water sprayed onto the paper and a few swipes of something and it all goes from there
as i worked a few mountains appeared, a bit of sky and then a grassy meadow - it reminded me of a somewhat boggy meadow not far from where we lived at fox lake all those years ago, the trees often slanted as their rooting was tenuous at best
the sombre colours gave it the look of fall so the trees i put in were done with the charcoal, black, no green
the effect was scruffy but i liked that... quirky lines for the mountains, the suggestion of ravens wheeling through the sky... low cloud, patches of snow
the paper was large, 18" x 24", and as i was fairly happy with all of what i had done i grabbed the covers and figured out how i could make both from it
not a lot of room to spare but it worked!
the front, with a close-up below
yesterday, as it lay on my worktable i noticed the inside back cover edge was an almost perfect extension of the front cover
i didn't plan that but realized right away it occurred because of the way i used the paper - now that i see it i'll definitely be doing the same thing for future books... an unexpected but beautiful detail i think
a view of the back
because i want to mount things on some of the pages i added narrow spacers to each signature in the hope the book won't expand too much at the fore-edge
coptic binding again
binding a sketchbook of this size is not easy (it's 8 1/4" x 11 1/4"), especially in a landscape format; the long pages flopped so much that even paper clips didn't help much but i'm glad I persevered
every time i make a book i fall in love with the process all over again
there are more of these in my future; i think from now on i'll be making all of my sketchbooks but i'd like to also make them to sell
the wheels are turning...
4 comments:
Well, Jillayne, you failed at the first point... your attempt to make a 'not so good painting' didn't work for me. Quite the opposite actually. This is the kind of painting I aspire to.. expressive, spontaneous, moody, earthy and fills me with emotion to look at it. Any painting that arouses such feeling from the viewer has done its job and has entered the realms of great painting in my opinion. I love what you have created in this stunning book and when you pick it up to use it, that painting cannot fail to inspire you. Now, go forth and dive into its interior and spread your love of the Yukon throughout its pages. If you follow your heart as you have for the cover, you cannot fail to create a beautiful sketchbook full of raw emotion.
scruffy???? scruffy? It's fine art...at its finest. Honestly Jillayne you are way underestimating the talent on show here. It's stunning and yes, keep doing this, make more, fill them with your magical work x
Adding my voice to others - that turned out fabulously well!
Not a painter? Ummmm - I beg to differ with that statement! And scruffy? Not on your life!!! I can certainly see an art store wanting to carry your one-of-a-kind sketchbooks.
I can identify with your reluctance to use a sketchbook for fear of messing it up. My inability to use them stems from my mother telling me that books were precious and thus not to be marked in. And heaven help me if I dog-eared a page! Funny how those things end up sticking with you.
Having said all that, I must say how much I love this piece of art you've created - and yes, it IS art and don't let anyone tell you anything different!!
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