Board Book Results

I'm having great fun playing with my little board book. (See "Something Different", April 2009.) My plan is to use it as a canvas for quick compositions and experiments.

As my first creation, I made this little paper collage of a strawberry. It was fast and fun! On the facing page, I taped off squares into which I'm spreading various acrylic mediums, to create a sample board. That's fun, too - and useful. I've also done quite a bit of documenting on that page, recording the products and techniques used on both pages.

FYI: As a collage glue, I used diluted gel medium (gloss.) Just like I do with my glued fabric collages, only with a higher water ratio.

Interesting link: I was inspired to do this little collage after seeing the work of Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson. She does fantastic work!

Something Different

Lately, I've seen some really interesting art books. These are usually books that have been altered with a variety of mixed media techniques. They look like they'd be a lot of fun to create, so I've decided to give it a try.

I started with a board book, purchased at my local childrens' consignment shop. I painted the pages with gesso, and propped it up to dry. Because some of the pages briefly touched, the gesso got "messed up" into a frost-like pattern. No problem: I took detail shots of the cool pattern and then smoothed on another coat.

Now that my book is dry, it's on to the fun part!

P.S. If you're not familiar with gesso, it's the stuff that covers prepared artists' canvasses. It provides a good base for just about any medium.