Books, Paper, Paint, and Glue

PART I

I have been bereft of words lately. One possible reason they are escaping me is that my mind has been working in pictures.

Back in May, I started making collages in altered books. Most have been repurposed children’s board books. One was made from a notebook.

Rather than fight with my neurons to come up with an essay this week, I thought I would just show you what I’ve been up to. Let me begin by saying that, although I paint and draw a little, I am a complete amateur. I love art but I’m not an artist.

I am a dabbler having fun.

When I started, I thought this new hobby would comfort me through my inability to garden as I wished and that it would spark my writing creativity. That last goal may have backfired.

My son, the photographer, will cringe if ever he comes across this post. I don’t know how to take good images of my silly little books but I’ve tried to get them clear enough for you to get the idea.

I learned much from my first book and I continue to learn with each spread. I have wrinkles and bad cutting. I have rough edges and paint gone wild. It’s an adventure!

Here are five spreads from book #1.

I picked up a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare at the library’s used book sale for $1. For the top part, I tore out a page from Much Ado About Nothing, then came up with a combo collage to reflect that title. The city scene was from a New York Times Magazine my friend Ruth donated to the cause. The kangaroo and gorilla came from National Geographic.

Not everyone gets my sense of humor. Or maybe I’m not that funny. But I sure am amusing myself.

I also procured two books of quotations from the used book sale. You see how they came in handy here. A pic of hubby from the butterfly house on Mackinaw Island last summer, a house with a red door from a magazine, a lion and and a cheetah from a mammal guide I got at Ollie’s for $3.

Was a cheetah the right choice? It was the one that fit well creeping from behind the pot!

This one started with the quote. I’d been pondering it, giving it its due. I don’t agree that old age is life’s parody but thought it worth considering.

Why did I cut the old lady off the porch upon which she sat in a lovely painting and stick her on a cliff in the sea? Just felt right.

An ancient primate’s skeletal hand pairs nicely with the Book of Revelations, don’t you think? The top and bottom are supposed to go together in a theme, but I missed the mark. Even I don’t get it.

Oh my word, the hours that went into this collage. I wanted to merge the 1918 flu and the COVID-19 epidemics in a meaningful way.

I continue to laugh at my obsessive attention to details, especially when you can’t make out many of the elements.

A chart of COVID hospital-admissions-data peaks out in the upper right. Overlapping it, the letter with the government seal was sent from the feds to local health departments in 1918 recommending precautions like limiting public gatherings and wearing masks.

The two other old fashioned pictures aren’t pandemic specific, but I liked the gravitas they offered.

Wasn’t I just oh so clever having the woman comfort Anthony Fauci? They are glued over a telegram which informs a family of a soldier’s death due to the flu. It is not the letter my family received when Uncle Richmond, seated, died. His chair rests upon the actual army record of his death from secondary pneumonia while he was in bootcamp just beefore the war ended.

When my niece shared the picture of my grandniece, Kenz, walking down away down a road in North Carolina, inspiration hit.

My highlighted bible verse wasn’t used to make a religious statement, though I can see why one might think that. The selection was my way of celebrating that Kenz’s parents were teaching her the value of travel, something Mother gave to me.

So, I put Mother in the picture. That’s her Kenz is walking towards. Mother at four-years-old. I couldn’t get the hymn, I’ll Fly Away, out of my head while working on this, so I stuck it in there. Maybe because Mother has flown away? (She died in 1986.)

Now I wonder if Tegan and Sara’s Walking With a Ghost may have been a better choice. Or. James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind? Hmmm.

So many collages beckon unto me. Next week, I’ll share my second book. Oh, I bet you just can’t wait! Leave me a comment below or email me at anniesjourney77@gmail.com to let me know.

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PHOTO CREDITS:

• Me and my phone

• Thank you photo from the Library of Congress.