A few new opened books

Villa Fiorita, pastel on book pages, 29 x 20cm

When I first started making opened books I remember someone saying that it would scare them to begin drawing on the prepared supports. they worried that if it were them they would 'ruin' the page.

Getting the page ready for my image does take time… First I have to find the book; then I need to find the pages that might speak to something I look at.  Next I have to prepare the books.  These days I like to take pages out of the books so I can have additional pages to work on, so I scan the pages as I go through the book, looking for words and ideas, cut pages out, and then glue them all together.  Once that's done, I press the opened book between books to flatten and dry, I use clear gesso on the top pages then mask and coat the pages with some pastel ground mixed with a colour. It's a couple of hours just to the point to beginning a drawing. 

Luckily a simple eraser removes my marks if I don't like what I do, so 'ruining' a page isn't a problem.

The Blue Hills, pastel on book pages, 30 x 21cm

One of my collectors wants a few more of these books so I am seeing what I can come up with. I have been going through my sketchbooks, trawling through my summer photos and looking at the prepared pages for inspiration.

Islanders Sea-breeze, pastel on book pages, 25 x 18 cm