I keep looking at this and feel it needs something more, but at the same time the right side of the book is filled with many objects and feels too busy. I’ll probably leave it alone in the end. The most interesting object in this composition is the jaw bones which are the remains of the young deer we consumed at Christmas last year. (More on that..) I found the bones while walking on Bowen with Anne over the Labour Day weekend and a mere month later have turned them into art. The little red feather is from a Scarlet Ibis at the Vancouver Aquarium that I picked up on a visit there more than a year ago. (Apparently I’ve been collecting random bits with a purpose!)

While I worked on this over the thanksgiving weekend I was reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson which is an excellent book filled with layer upon layer of stories. I originally thought I would title this with a line from the book, but in the end my thoughts about it went elsewhere. Though maybe not so much since the past plays an important role in the plot of the book.

The materials used in this altered book: the jaw bones from a deer, small stones, beach glass, a brass button, half a mussel shell with barnacles, an ibis feather, dried berries, red thread, sewing pattern paper, a key, a ginko leaf, and a Japanese maple leaf.