When painting papers for my book one of them turned out like this. No good for my project but I love it and now need ideas for it. I wondered about attaching iron-on vilene and sewing some texture into it.
Now for my book. I have been wanting an opportunity to work on Bradford Dale (near Bakewell) for some time, it's a favourite place to visit. As I have most photos from visits in May, I decided that would be the title and that i would concentrate on the mile between Youlgreave and Middleton. The colour of the waterplants shining through the clear water is wonderful so that had to be included so I added brown and then the yellow of the kingcups and pink of the campion. Maybe not all typical spring colours but ones I like. The first photo shows some of my inspiration. Shame the colours throughout the blog are so pale, they are so much brighter.
Weaving for the cover - lots of lines! and texture. The tassels are made from paper string I found when I really wanted tracing paper.
I initially tried making the stamp for the campion from string but it just untwisted so I used felt and was very pleased with the results.
A simple first page, enlarging the ordnance survey map and tracing some of the lines to make a pattern. Initially I was going to use a transparency but then a bunch of flowers arrived wrapped in just the ideal paper, flowery cellophane (and grotty green lutrador) The page immediately became more interesting.
Next to this I sewed a photo of the water with a pattern of the ripples the little coot chicks made in the water. The lines all seem to carry on. (I spent ages watching the chicks and took lots of photos of them swimming in the water, trying to capture their enormous feet on tiny bodies but none of them really worked)
Torn paper and string with acrylic motifs. These pages took a long time but I'm happy with the result. Perspective is all forgotten but I don't think that matters. The dale seemed an ideal topic for lines, the line of the river, the footpath, the walls and bridges, the steps leading up to the cottage where we stay.
Writing is lines so I've added some of the poems found along the path leading up to Middleton. Some are about the sheep found everywhere and the (now ruined) sheep wash. Of course the dale is surrounded by hills. (The green used for the hills is actually the same all over, the light darkened the flap.) The dipper just had to be included, they are such dear little birds but are hard to see except when they fly.
A watercolour of the dale, a bit of perspective this time. Not sure about the pink bridges as they look more like bricks than the lovely grey, lichen covered walls but I wanted to stick to my colour scheme. Lichen must be a topic for another time. I joined the next page with a gusset, grading the colour from one page to the next, again the light doesn't show this. I was hoping to create negative spaces between the trees, it's not as clearly defined as I'd hoped but Istill quite like the trees.
There are lots of trout in the river, (pike too) again, hard to spot.
My last page is a pattern of man made water controls. They always make fantastic reflections and patterns.
Lots of photos to go through but I wanted to show how the pages interact. Not that the interaction is as clever as I hoped but that would require a lot more time and practise. A lovely module and a challenging end chapter. Thank you Viv.
