Category: Collage

Art, Artist Books, Bookarts, Collage, Doodles, Paintings

Little Boats

Shelly

Little Boats 1

Little Boats 2

Little Boats 3

Little Boats 4

Little Boats
collage, gel pen, and acrylic on 140lb Cartiera Magnani hot press watercolor paper
3 x 7 1/2 inches

I wanted a change from bottles and vases and plain old doodling, so I thought I’d work on something else for awhile. I bound this miniature book, using left over scraps of paper and book board I’d pre-painted with acrylics, about a year ago, as a demo for a book binding tutorial I wrote. Because of the sea foam greens used on many of the pages, my intention was to eventually do something water-themed with it.

Little Boats (open)

Little Boats (spine)

Little Boats (top view)
Little Boats
3 3/8 x 3 15/16 inches, 11 signatures of 2 pages each (22 pages total)
140lb Cartiera Magnani hot press watercolor pages, pre-painted with acrylics, bound with waxed linen thread

Collage, Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Lazy Sunday Morning

Shelly

100_3000

I think Harriet may have the right idea. We were waked up at the ass-crack of dawn by Mr. Upstairs plonking away on his keyboard. Electronic harpsichord at 6am is really beyond the pale, I think. I have a feeling there will be napping later today.

I adore the duvet cover in the picture. It came from my mom. Both sides are shades teal (I love teal), but the “right” side has some thin red and yellow stripes I’m not too keen on. It occurred to me that I could flip it over, though. Et voila, problem solved. It’s a heavy, crispy cotton, too, which feels nice. I filled it with a fat, ugly comforter, so it’s wonderfully squishy and crunchy, all at the same time.

The bed side table in the upper left in the picture is the one below. It was really ugly, but sturdy and a nice size and shape. I decided it would be much improved if it were sporting a decoupaged the shit out of it.

Collaged End Table

Art, Artist Books, Collage, Poetry

One Desert Crossed

Shelly

Hemp Bound Journal: One Desert Crossed
One Desert Crossed
collage (altered Polaroid photo, sandpaper, newsprint, magazine clipping, filmstrip, leaf, fragment of old lace curtain) and oil pastel
8 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches

The title comes from an Emily Dickinson poem, I did not reach thee.

I did not reach thee,
But my feet slip nearer every day;
Three Rivers and a Hill to cross,
One Desert and a Sea—
I shall not count the journey one
When I am telling thee.

Two deserts—but the year is cold
So that will help the sand—
One desert crossed, the second one
Will feel as cool as land.
Sahara is too little price
To pay for thy Right hand!

The sea comes last. Step merry, feet!
So short have we to go
To play together we are prone,
But we must labor now,
The last shall be the lightest load
That we have had to draw.

The Sun goes crooked—that is night—
Before he makes the bend
We must have passed the middle sea,
Almost we wish the end
Were further off—too great it seems
So near the Whole to stand.

We step like plush, we stand like snow—
The waters murmur now,
Three rivers and the hill are passed,
Two deserts and the sea!
Now Death usurps my premium
And gets the look at Thee.