Category Archives: altered books

Pool noodle doodles

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I guess if I paid my models more they might stay still…

This toddler (holding Mum's hand) stayed still, staring intently into my face for long enough to imprint her eyes upon me. The rest is just modified memory :-)

This toddler (holding Mum’s hand) stayed still, staring intently into my face for long enough to imprint her eyes upon me. The rest is just modified memory :-)

This was a dad with three youngsters. He stayed still just about as long as you might expect of a dad looking after three youngsters. (all boys.)

This was a dad with three youngsters. He stayed still just about as long as you might expect of a dad looking after three youngsters. (all boys.)

Buy ‘The Swimmer’ on Etsy here.

sold

This little fellow stayed still in the way of a goldfish in a very small bowl... moving, but not too far.

This little fellow stayed still like a goldfish in a very small bowl… moving, but not getting very far. By the way, I notice he has two left feet…

Buy ‘The Pool Noodler ‘ on Etsy here.

This little girl was playing ball with her friends

This little girl was playing ball with her friends

This little girl was also in on the ball game. She was moving rather like an octopus at an underwater disco.

This little girl was also in on the ball game. She was moving rather like an octopus at an underwater disco. I think I was drawing a bit like another octopus mixing cocktails at the same underwater disco.

'Alice's Ecstasy'

Alice is the dog. She loves train trips. She loves train trips almost as much as swimming in circles in the dam with a stick in her mouth. And she really, really loves that!

The well dressed lady is inspired by a photo of Ada Rehan. Ada lived from 1859 to 1916. Does this make her Edwardian? She was an actress and she fed her retriever too many chocolates.

The picture is possibly for Camperdown’s upcoming Animalia exhibition… only how to get it there? If I frame it, the glass will get broken in the post won’t it? If I don’t frame it, how can it be displayed? I was going to send the artwork still in the book, so that it could be displayed open on a table. That didn’t work with this one, as I ended up collaging three pieces of paper together and they are no longer in the book!

I’ll have to make up my mind by tomorrow or I won’t get anything there in time.

Well! I made up my mind. I sent the Cornish Soliloquy instead. And Alice’s Ecstasy can be purchased in my Etsy shop here. Hooray!

Sporting Man’s Club

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Saturday night after the horse races, in the upstairs restaurant with a view of the bay. A soft warm breeze. Potted palm fronds gently moving. The mood of the crowd was jubilant. Voices and glasses were raised. High heels tottered.

I did two sketches as I waited for my meal. The first, a woman in an eye-catching hat; the second a woman having a quiet meal with a friend. She kept (more or less) still for longer than anyone I have drawn in ages!!

'Milly After the Races'

‘Milly After the Races’

Table 26

Table 26

Scratchings

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Yesterday afternoon I locked the girls up to keep them nearby so that I could draw them. After they got over the idea that the paints, palette, brushes and water bowl might be edible, they carried on with their scratching, leaving me to do my own scratchings. Hilda, kept coming back to check though, in case I had just forgotten about the treat I was going to give them.

This altered book thing is a little like op-shopping… you go in hoping to find a little gem, and often, you do find it! In each case here, I drew the chicken first, and then found a few words in the text to compliment the picture. It seems to nearly always be there. Mysterious, happy chance.

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‘Charming’ felt tip, watercolour and gouache on vintage book page.
This is Vita, who is a Light Sussex Bantam, and thoroughly charming.

For sale on Etsy here.

'I have quite lost my appetite' felt tip, gouache and watercolour on vintage book page. This is Vita again. Vita is ALWAYS hungry.

‘I have quite lost my appetite’ felt tip, gouache and watercolour on vintage book page.
This is Vita again. Vita is ALWAYS hungry.

For sale on Etsy here.  (sold)

'Phoebe leaned forward' felt tip, watercolour and gouache on vintage book page. This is Hilda really. Phoebe is her stage name :-) Here she is demonstrating the Pekin 'forward tilt' which is a sign of good breeding and general loveliness on the show bench. Hilda rocks the 'forward tilt'.

‘Phoebe leaned forward’ felt tip, watercolour and gouache on vintage book page.
This is Hilda really. Phoebe is her stage name :-) Here she is demonstrating the Pekin ‘forward tilt’ which is a sign of good breeding and general loveliness on the show bench. Hilda rocks the ‘forward tilt’. She is a black birchen Pekin.

For Sale on Etsy here. (sold)

I did another of Storm, but it needs a little further tidying up… or saving… so I’ll leave it off for now.

The book, by the way, is Georgette Heyer’s ‘SYLVESTER or THE WICKED UNCLE’ 1957. The mind boggles.

The Geebung Polo Club

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I picked up this book of ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s verse in the op shop the other day. It is past its prime as a book, in that the pages are all coming adrift, perhaps expressing their wish to break away and start a new life on their own. In this I intend to help them.

Having lived around the corner from the pub of this name many years ago, I started by reading this drily catastrophic verse about an epic Polo battle. It is really very playful, and much shorter than I had imagined. After one reading, the pages came out of the book in my hands.

I took the hint and obliged…

Part A. They were long and wiry natives from the rugged mountain side, and the horse was never saddled that the Geebungs couldn't ride;

Part A.
They were long and wiry natives from the rugged mountain side,
And the horse was never saddled that the Geebungs couldn’t ride;

(sold)

Part B: Now my readers can imagine how the contest ebbed and flowed, When the Geebung boys got going it was time to clear the road; And the game was so terrific that ere half the time was gone A spectator's leg was broken - just from merely looking on.

Part B:
Now my readers can imagine how the contest ebbed and flowed,
When the Geebung boys got going it was time to clear the road;
And the game was so terrific that ere half the time was gone
A spectator’s leg was broken – just from merely looking on.

Admittedly, both parts of the poem were originally to appear on the same page. But due to a serendipitous error, wherein I found I had glued the first half of the poem on the right hand side of the page instead of the left… well, we now have two works of art. He he.

I’ve just begun to list artworks on Etsy. You can find my shop here. (Although there’s not much in it yet!)

Dance of the Ostrich

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Here’s a new conundrum for me. Perhaps you can help. I worked this up as one piece, but in truth I was ambivalent from the start about where the boundaries of the artwork lay. so I meandered and let it happen as it seemed right.

I think it works okay as one piece, using the two pages. But perhaps it works better as two separate pieces. I’m probably going to mount some of these altered book pieces for sale, so I’ll have to decide whether to mount this as one piece or separate the two.

What do you think?

The Mating Dance of the Ostrich - spread

The Mating Dance of the Ostrich – spread

Left hand page

Left hand page

right hand page

right hand page

Feedback appreciated :-)

Drybrush

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Oh the irony. I am sitting 1.5 metres from the bombing zone at the pool doing drybrush :-)

With quite a bit of wet.

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There’s a drybrush guy from a James Bond film doing laps. I’m not showing him my drawing in case he feeds me to some sharks.

There are a couple of drybrush mums and a few drybrush kids.

Poolside Poodle doodles

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Live from poolside, more inky sketches, more doggy doodles.

Ran out of Noodlers ink (now I’m not even trying to rhyme) at the pool and switched to Chinese ink (thanks Bella) which is interacting in an interesting way with a wet background.

Featured beasts include Candice and Bronson from Rowville and an assortment of holidaying children from Mordialloc.

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Twisted Whiskers… or the Spoodle Doodle

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Okay, so hopefully your café waiter is enriching your life with insightful children’s book recommendations by now. (See my earlier post here)

But is your vet into book illustration? If not, change to this one. My vet sends me photos of endearing beasts from her surgery. All illustrators need this service.

Here is a Spoodle with very talented whiskers. His name is Charlie and he looks a little glum because he is sleepy after his pre-med. I have heard that he likes to lick feet (and sometimes dig up veggie patches after they have been covered in Blood & Bone;-)

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If you can’t see how talented his whiskers are in that photo, try this one.

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If you still can’t see, then you must use your imagination. I did.

Stage One... the whiskered wolf

Stage One… the whiskered wolf

But it  wasn’t enough. I mean, really… was it?

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Stage 2… some further growth

In for a penny, in for a pound. Might as well have a bit more fun…

I like the irish terrier. If only she were a standard poodle instead, she would make a fine, proud mother for a doodled spoodle.

I like the irish terrier. If only she were a standard poodle instead, she would make a fine, proud mother for a doodled spoodle.

It has been interesting to spend time making meaning progressively more tenebrous rather than aiming for clarity as would be more usual in my paid work! It’s rather like creating a very elaborate and wandering daydream on paper.

I wonder whether this imbroglio represents the state of my mind lately :-)