Dishfunctional Designs: book page art

Showing posts with label book page art. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Book Page Cat Art & Waiting For Spring

Is it spring yet?

I think most of us (on the east coast at least) are ready for some warmer weather. I'm working on a new Upcycled Garden blog post - the first of the season is always fun to do - and looking forward to cleaning up my own yard to rake away the last of winter's mess.

Will you be planting this year? If yes, what?

Have a great week!

Laura

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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

where I create, I am absolute

When I was a little girl, I remember my dad spent much of his time at home in his office, which we all called his den. My father was creative, and he had many artistic and creative pursuits. He liked to write, he wrote some short stories, he had a love for languages and I remember him teaching himself French. He loved all types of music, playing guitar, singing in the Ukrainian Millennium Choir, and he liked to draw and watercolor paint and of course build things in his workshop.

In his den were bookshelves filled with books about art and writing, ancient Egypt and the one book that would always catch my eye because it had a bright red dust jacket - his old dictionary. I used to hang out with my dad in his den all the time. I don't think a day went by from kindergarten to college that I didn't visit my dad's den, plopping myself down in the big cushy chair next to his desk, or in the small sofa behind where he sat, just hanging out and talking about this and that. But it never was small talk.

He would always be working on some type of project, and our conversations would often start with him telling me some random but interesting fact about something in history, or something about a famous artist, or how a certain hue of a certain color got its name. There was so much inside of those four small walls, it was like he was so many lives in one. That's how I think of people who do a lot, people who have great varied interests and a great quest for learning things. Those kinds of people are truly living their lives, and it's almost as if they are fitting the interests of many different lives into their one single span of time here on earth.

I don't know how some people could not have any interests. That's what makes life, well, interesting. But maybe it was just the way I was brought up. Dad's life style of learning, and his love for the humanities sure rubbed off on me. I think tomorrow will be 16 years that he is gone. Time sure flies. After my father died, my mom cleaned out some of the things in dad's den and had some stacks of books set aside for me to look through to see if I wanted any. She had picked out his art books for me and asked if I wanted anything else. I took the dictionary with the red dust jacket. I remember how he used to say to me, "Laura reach over and hand me my red dictionary," and now looking back, it seems like we pulled it out of that bookcase 100 times to look up this or that. I treasure it.

But what use is a dictionary now? In this age of the Internet we literally have everything at our fingertips, and checking the spelling of a word is only a few keystrokes away. So when the day came that I wanted to try out creating some book page art, I knew that inside the pages of my father's dictionary would be the perfect place to create and keep my art. I can sketch and draw on the pages and then one day, I can pass it down to my own daughters. Maybe one day they will add their own mark to it too, and then pass it down to their own son or daughter.

There is a certain magic in my red dictionary. Filled with words about everything that fills our world, it lived for years surrounded with books about all the things I love, and all the things that stir my passion to create.

And swirled within the space of those four walls, where stories were written, music played, and languages discovered, it now offers itself to me as a canvas - but not a blank one, bare and untouched, but a lush and joyful, spirited palette that with it's smooth pages offer me the memories of each lesson taught and story told by my father. And when I smooth down a page with my hand and touch my pen to the page's surface, through me flows the confidence and joy to create, and within that, I am absolute.

I hope you have a great week!

Love, Laura

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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Easy Book Page Art DIY Tutorial

Hi friends! Today I'm going to share with you an easy book page art DIY tutorial. Hopefully this short tutorial will pique your interest in this fun and easy form of mixed media art. All you need to get started is an old book that is ready to be discarded. Old, out of date dictionaries and encyclopedias are great choices for this craft. As we work I will explain what art supplies I used for my project, but you can use whatever art supplies that you happen to have on hand.

The book that I use for all of my book art drawings, sketches, and paintings is an old dictionary that once belonged to my father. I remember him using it when I was a little girl, and it brings back lots of great memories. Because of that, it has lots of sentimental value to me, but nowadays we don't actually use dictionaries anymore due to the Internet, so instead, I create art on the pages and then one day I will pass it down to my own daughters. One of the best places to find an old dictionary is at a used book sale. I like the old style dictionaries due to their thin, smooth pages. Okay, lets get started!

The first step we are going to do is to sketch a design onto a page with a pen. You can use a regular ball point pen or you can go to an art supply store and get one that is specifically for use in artwork. If you are going to use watercolor paints in your artwork as I did, you are going to want to use a waterproof pen. Unsure if your pen will not smear or run in water? Then the best thing to do is to test it out on a separate sheet of paper with some watercolor paints before beginning your book art. I used a Micron pen to sketch my artwork.

Once you have your pen, sketch your drawing onto your page. You don't have to go into great detail. You can use as little or as much detail as you would like. You can always add more detail down the road if you think it needs a little extra something later on.

For my sketch I drew some long wavy lines to form vines. Next I added a few leaves to the vines. After that I drew a few spiral shaped designs connected to the leaves and vines. Finally to add some visual texture I added some small circles or berries here and there along my leaves and vines. The last thing I added were some large circles for blooms at the ends of the vines. Once again, it's up to you how much or how little detail you want to add to your sketch. The style is completely up to you! For my sketch, I drew quickly and didn't fuss with many details.

Once you are pleased with your sketch, it's time to add some color to your artwork. For my project I used Windsor-Newton watercolor paints but you can use whatever you have on hand.

For my painting, I did not saturate my book page with water, as that could ruin the paper. Instead, I used a wet brush and was careful not to use too much water and blotted any excess water and paint off with a tissue. Once you are pleased with you painting, set your project aside until it is completely dry.

Once your project is completely dry you can add some more details in pen or marker if you desire. For my project I used a black medium felt tip pen to trace over most of the lines in my sketch, giving the edges of my drawing a bolder line and helping the black to pop out from my drawing.