Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.: Day 79

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Day 79

Hi everyone,

Today is the photo post I promised!  So, between all the ice and stormy weather we've had I've been working away.  First up a quick glance at the view of the latest ice storm from my studio window.

The biggest project that I've been working on in the past week is creating an art book.  The idea for it was sparked by a video series call The Art Assignment, which is put together by John Green (yes the author and YouTube guy) and PBS.  Episode 3 is what mine is based on (you can check it out Here on YouTube), and it's called Intimate, Indispensable GIF.  The premise, in short, is to focus on something that is at the core of who you are and indispensable to you.  For myself I decided that was essentially memories.  So I'm looking at my own experiences, connections, and relationships in a handmade book.  I took step by step photos of the process:
The folded piece is a simple cardstock sheet that makes the interior pages of the book.  Because it folds out rather than having turning pages the images expand beyond the space of their containment the more you open it.  From there I measured the folded up page size and cut thicker matte board slightly larger (1/8 in on each side) to create the framework of the cover.  The the outer covering is cut 3/4 in larger on each side with 1/8 in between the spine and front/back cover boards.  I got the instructions for creating this from Bookworks by Sue Doggett.
Next I made some wheat flour paste by mixing 1 cup water and 1 rounded tablespoon wheat flour, and heating it (you can make it in the microwave using 30 second increments, stirring inbetween each).  I then cut darts in the corners of the cover paper and pasted it down.  Then I measured the inside dimensions and cut an inner lining paper 1/8 in smaller than the cover as shown and used the paste to add it to the inside cover.  As I was working on each section of this I was also working on the various pages of the book.
Here are a couple on in progress shots.  Note the empty top corner of the lefthand set of pages, for reference of which page will be pasted to the book.
 Here are the completed components right before I assembled them with the paste.  Once I had them pasted together the entire book was placed closed under some heave books as shown below.  (One of the great uses for textbooks after college!)

Tomorrow I'll be taking photos of the finished book to create the GIF from.  The process of opening and showing each page of the book should make a great little animation.

Now for a couple other pieces I've mentioned being in process, but haven't shown:
This is the piece I've been working on for Healing Ceilings, a group that encourages making art on ceiling tiles so cancer patients here in Raleigh have something other than blank ceilings during treatments.  I have a second tile, but there's no paint on it yet so it doesn't photograph very well.  This piece still has a Celtic knotwork border to be added along with the roots and background sections.
This canvas is a household project I started to cover a particularly ugly fusebox adorning our hallway.  It's essentially an under painting that I'll be applying collage elements and other details to.

Beyond all that there's the Bianca piece, a half dozen tiny collages, the seashell still life, and some other solid colored under paintings I've prepped for collages.  All the ones that are worthwhile have been shown.  I anticipate having a couple finished pieces to share next week.

So, lots of things coming along and tons to look forward to over the next few weeks.  Thanks for reading!

Love, Lydia


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