Designing paper

So me and the muse have been having fun together. I've made about a dozen small books with a learning curve in mind. And there is really nothing like getting one's hands 'dirty' so to speak, to learn what to do and what not to do. The muse has been vocal~~giving me ideas and feedback. I started with a simple black book and soon I was making red suede with matching 'belt' closure, etc.; bright mustard yellow creamy smooth leather that feels like butter and itching for something yummy inside of the book, etc. One thing led to the other and I have four or five different styles of closures and am making inside pages with a bit of collage to break up the monotony of plain pages. Well of course some will be journals (art journals in particular) and so clean blank pages are welcome. But I have in mind junk journals, deconstructed journals, art journals as I mentioned, smash journals, wreck this journals and I did a tiny bit of research into what these different journals mean and now I forgot what I read. Sheesh. Well I could not hold back tonight, so planned a collage sheet (page of 65 lb. dry media art paper which will be the insides of a book or two or dozen) that will be sliced into small sections to represent a 'sheet' in a sewn signature. I saw some visuals on line that particularly inspired me so started out applying ripped pages from old books which then got a coat of gesso overlaid and then dried so I could go to town with sandpaper. I had in mind beiges, pale browns, light greys, palest of greens...fall going into winter colours. But the muse stepped in and my collage turned into strong purples mostly, with touches of dark green and black. The whole topped off with silver to represent the coming cool frosty weather which is sure to come soon.

The colours were inspired by my walks lately where I have been very aware of the dark dark dark faded but strong saturated browny purples and blues of old basically dead hydrangea blossoms. I have pressed a few and so this piece took on a completely different look than what I'd imagined. There's hints of pine cones in here as well, as they are falling fast now. Yellow daisies are in fresh bloom as well. We've had lots of sun this fall and the flowers love it. In any event, I've been busy but wanted to show you what I've been playing on tonight. Playing with or playing on? Nice to see you, Norma, x