18/52 'counting letters' .....

Some books are all about the content and some are really all about the photographs.  This book falls into the latter category - I had such fun playing with the photos and think many of the images are more satisfactory than the actual book.

This book was begun about four years ago when I was taking part in Fiona Dempster's project 'A Letter a Week' - which meant that participating artists produced two alphabet books each year.  I think I made three and this, the fourth, sat half finished until now.  It gave me great joy to complete this book which was actually the first book or artwork in which I used my father's old letraset.  No one knew this of course as the book had been sitting on my desk alongside many other unfinished bits and pieces.  

There is not much to say about the book other than it was designed to have a slow reveal of the letters.  When the cover is opened you can only see three of the letters - 'a', 'g' and 'z'.  I have always enjoyed making books with this slow reveal.

The dimensions of the book are 420mm x 220mm which makes it the largest of the eighteen books I have made thus far in 2018.  Can't believe eighteen weeks have slipped by already.

17/52 'fallen poppies' - lest we forget .....

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning

We shall remember them.

LEST WE FORGET.

Today is ANZAC day here in Australia - a day when we come out in force to remember and be thankful for those men and women from Australia and New Zealand who 'served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations'.  Originally Anzac Day was a day to honour the soldiers who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during WW1.  The attack lasted eight months and over 56,000 Allies died.

This book is rather soft and poignant - quite a contrast to my book last week.  Once again I have used and re worked a page from my 'Pieces for Peace 14-18' book which was exhibited in Brussels.  These covers were made from poppies I cut out from another print and they are encased in transparent film to protect the 'fallen poppies'.

16/52 'war package' .....

This little book is made from one of the pages I made for the 'Pieces for Peace' exhibition in Brussels in 2014 though it is completely reworked into a small folded format.  I  made a little box for the book and realised that although it housed a rather dramatic little book, the cover itself looked quite 'pretty'. This led me to start thinking about how war is often packaged in different ways, presented to us in different guises, concealed, ignored even tolerated.  Expected.

I rarely visit this arena in my artwork as it makes me so irate and then I become artistically crippled.  I do so admire people who can tackle weighty issues in their artwork, and in their writing .... my comfort is back in the landscape where I find nature heals all wounds and restores us.

Anzac Day is next week and at this time of year I find myself thinking about all our men and women who have lost lives through war.  Then I begin to think about all those who have lost lives in their own homes as part of domestic violence.  How can we hope for peace in the world when there is so much violence close to home.  Dismal thoughts ..... and this is why I usually avoid making this sort of book.

The imagery really speaks for itself.  Death and crosses.  Row upon row.  More on this next week!

15/52 'deep connections' .....

When thinking about the making of this book about connections I was thinking about threads and the Chinese thought that those who are destined to meet are connected by a red thread.  For me though, I feel like deep connections are more like bundles - concepts with more substance and weight.  

I think those bundles are filled with stories or our lives, those things that are most important to us or impact on us, a bundle full of emotions that are revealed over time, often just fragments of tales rather than the whole.  A complex weighty mix that connects two people.

I am sure I could work with greater depth on this subject but once again, time has been short this week and so though a book is made  an idea is created for exploration at a later date.  Maybe.

This book reads in both directions - I drew it in one way, and then when I stuck the ends down into the fold back covers from the accordion below, I embossed my mark on the end page before realising that I had the work upside down.  I actually like it both ways so have embossed my mark on both ends.  Simple solution.

Some books are just fun to play with and to photograph.  This is one of those where shadows and light play powerfully with the negative space.  I decided against sewing the two concertina layers together which means when the book is upright, you can 'read' the back of the page as well.  The background is an engraving print which I often use in this manner - as a layer upon which to build.  The artwork as such was done with French Conte crayon which is deliciously creamy and can be worked from rich darks to translucent.

The soft creamy yellow is from the lighting and not part of my work but it reminds me very much of Rosemary Gascoyne's pallet and is inspiring me to intentionally introduce some of this soft yellow to my work.

14/52 'elanda point' .....

'the peephole'

'most of the pages - always so hard to photograph the whole'

This book was made in response to the few days we were camping at Elanda Point recently - the fringe of swamp gum and root twist on the water's edge.

I actually started with more realistic drawings around the insets but it didn't work and so I resorted to my 'mark making' which gives more a sense of things than the reality of what was in view.  I do love to draw but my years of using mark making in my printmaking work has definitely had an impact on the way I like to work.

This book is made with Fabriano Tiepolo - a firm favourite of mine.  The cover is greyboard with a cutout to reveal part of the front page.  Five pages in all.  The book was sewn before I stuck down the folios so the stitching is hidden inside the folds.   A simple coptic binding completed the book.

Although I am pleased with the pages as a whole, I really love some of the printed details contrasted with the hand drawn marks.  And the over printing in white ink is something I have not explored very much though will certainly try some more.  It brings a wonderful subtlety to the work.

I do realise that my preferred palette must seem repetitive and boring but I can't seem to move away from this 'love' zone whether I work with dark shades or the lights.

Where I am trying to head with my work is starting to take shape with this return to the studio which the book a week project has precipitated.  There is rarely time to give each book much thought or time but now and then I have glimpses of return points ..... points for further investigation.  These details show me that I would would love to take such a snippet and make it much larger without getting too detailed and overworking.  

As I am needing to reinvent myself in the studio and work with less toxic medium,  I am thinking more and more of drawings and maybe combinations of the realistic with the mark making.  All quite exciting I think but I have not arrived there yet ..... and I do keep wondering if I will ever be able to let go of printmaking.  Certainly it is something I would only be able to do here outside and not inside the studio.  Still it is possible when the weather is gracious.  Glad I didn't dispose of all my printmaking material.