The Sketchbook Project

Front cover

I finally finished it! After several weeks of diligent work, drawing, painting, fussing, planning, spraying (there might've been some praying from time to time), I painted the cover yesterday, scanned it all, and rebound the pages this afternoon...(I keep looking at it!) It's a sweet little sketchbook and lots of lucky people will get to look at it on the 2012 tour.
 

It's just a bitty thing, but it's chock full of good stuff!

side view of pages...will it ever lay flat? I'll need to put some weight on it before it goes...

Here...let's look inside...

I made extra sheets of tinted rice paper to slip in here and there, I painted both sides and then would later saturate one side with another color to let it bleed through to the other side...

This is one part of the sheet inside the book.

First drawing on first page

 I was intimidated at first, but once I got going, I didn't stop...so this is why I've been so quiet for so long...well, some part of it...it's been a long preoccupation that I've been grateful for and needed!

This is one of the text pages, I mounted rice paper to the verso of the drawings using archival ATG tape and then printing the text on semi-transparent vellum and tipping in with photo corners.

Another page of tinted rice paper, I slipped it in so front and back, right and left will be seen in different parts of the book

Another drawing...this one is so dang pretty! I love making these little pieces.

This is it inside the book with glassine covering it.

One of my worries was the verso sides of the pages with drawings and paintings on them and how to deal with them. This is a verso page which had a painting on the recto, so it was a lumpy, I colored the whole page with a 9B pencil, sprayed it with a coat of Crystal Clear spray to hold it, and then tipped in a text...

The blue square window theme is ongoing...

This was the last drawing I made, finished it on New Year's Eve morning. (I really love this one!)

On the left edge, there is a piece of glassine that I have hinged with archival ATG tape to protect the drawing surface, it was tedious work putting that stuff on each drawing, but it's worth it to preserve the drawing. I'll probably spray everything one more time before it leaves just because...

Another text page

This is the "Center Fold" painting...

 My painting pages were done with acrylic washes and applied rice paper (using matte medium) so the pages are pretty thick and not so bendy...they should stand up to handling all right.

Another sheet of tinted rice paper...a piece of summer sky...

This little painting has multiple layers of colors, I was starting to get frustrated with its monochromatic-ness, then suddenly it just happened, like paintings tend to do...(there are lots of colors in there...really, lots of them.)

This is another one of my favorite drawings...I really put some of my best into this little sketchbook!

The back cover...I love that blue.

 It was a nice way to end the year and to start the new one...I had a good time making the little book and will probably make others on my own and I will participate in the Sketchbook Project again next year!

Happy New Year!