Saturday, March 21, 2009

EDM 215 - Draw your thumb


The concept was good, the execution... not so much. I had drawn the outline of my thumb holding the book. I then added white gouache to block out the print beneath my thumb. I let it dry overnight, thinking that it would become permanent and I could paint over it the way you can glaze with watercolors by letting them dry thoroughly. I wanted to mix the skin color on the page by adding Naples Yellow and Permanent Rose and letting them blend. But they were too wet, I guess, and the white gouache began to dissolve and mix in. Then the paper began to buckle and soften. After letting it dry, I switched to watercolor pencils. They were probably the better medium for this idea, but they don't blend smoothly enough to create a skin tone. I guess I'll resign myself to the fact that this piece probably won't hang in the National Gallery 8>)
But this was a good entrance to my next project which is to collage or draw on found books. I have a whole collection of books that have been given to me that I probably won't read and are of no value to second hand dealers. For a hardened library worker like myself, it has been extraordinarily hard to deliberately deface a book. This was a baby step on the road to literary destruction!

6 comments:

seesue said...

Great end result and a wonderful learning experience. Thanks for sharing your discoveries with us. I love libraries and reading but I also love repurposing old books. Can't wait to see new developements.

Anonymous said...

I like it. I can't wait to see your old book collages.

Kim Zoph said...

Clever, Lynn. I like your blog description of the process you used to get to this. Congratulations on not giving up!

Stephanie Dammer said...

What a great post! I love reading about the process behind a piece and I think it turned out great. Can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Beth Baxter said...

Love this idea. Don't think of it as destroying literature, the words will continue to exist, think of it as enhancing something that nobody else wants.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lynn, thanks for stopping by my blog - I love your idea of the thumb on the page - what a great experiment - it generates a whole bunch of ideas for books in my mind too - thanks for the inspiration
A fellow Canadian