Crows in Silhouette

September 15, 2011

I’m often pleasantly surprised at the images I can capture with the iPhone camera. It’s not exactly speedy but somehow this week I managed to time my picture taking well enough to catch crows in flight.

The above two shots of a juvenile crow were taken one after the other, and they are beautifully crisp images. I snuck up on this little guy because I know crows get antsy about having their photo taken. I was pretending not to notice it as I got the camera app opened up (which sometimes happens so slowly) and then I turned and took a few photos before it flew away. I am pleased I caught it as it jumped from the wire and opened it’s wings.

The photo below was taken yesterday morning on my way to work, again in the same area of Main Street in Chinatown. A large group of crows was flying back and forth over Pender Street between two trees, and I stopped to take a few photos.

I’m so glad to have a camera with me at all times, thanks to the iPhone.

All three photos were taken with the native iPhone camera app and processed using Instagram.

Altered Books: Awaiting the Golden Egg

September 9, 2011

If you haven’t guessed by now the theme for the series I’m working on for the Culture Crawl is “Birds”. The work I shared yesterday is one “style” of altered book I’ll be making, and this book is representative of a second group of books I have planned.

I actually started this series back in March 2010 when I created two niche cut books using imagery of trees and bird-related items. All are made from books that are blank inside and out, because they were publisher mockups for the hardcover version of Harry Potter novels. My friend Siobhan saved them from the bin and gifted them to me for altering.

I’m going to continue to create these using similar elements: a doorway cut into a tree with items related to birds on the inside, and a design printed along the edges of the closed pages. While I really like the use of small twigs incorporated into the previous two books in this series, having them makes it difficult to store/ship the work because they stick out and are delicate.

Materials used: blank book, ink jet print of photo, transparent egg, gesso, book page scraps, wine cork, rubber stamp & ink, and gel medium.

Altered Books: The Owl House & Home

September 8, 20114 Comments

I’m about to let you in on a little secret…I don’t love all the altered books I make. True story. There are some I feel pretty meh about, while others I absolutely adore and will probably have a hard time parting with. This owl book falls into this second group of favoured pieces that I’m not sure I can give up. (But I will).

I’m continuing to use the birds cut from the same encyclopedia as the ones I’ve used in the recycled collages I shared previously. There is a section on owls I’ve been saving and now at least some of these are going to show up in altered books.

As always I’m experimenting with how I work with the books. With this one I’ve folded the pages inward towards the spine but done the middle section at a different level. I wanted to play with varying how I fold the pages rather than keeping things the same throughout the book.

This is the first of two altered books I’ve completed this week. I’ll share the other tomorrow.

Materials used: book, card stock, paper owl, hand-cut leaves, wine cork (which you can’t see), and white glue.

Scenes From Summer on Pender Island

September 6, 20112 Comments

And it looks like summer is just going to keep on going…

Private View at Bird on a Wire Creations

August 30, 2011

For the month of September I am one of the featured artists at Bird on a Wire Creations. On Thursday September 1st there will be an evening opening at the shop to kick things off – with music, food, and the artists in attendance. I invite you to attend and visit this lovely little Main Street shop full of wonderful handmade things.

This is the launch of a Private View series of events scheduled to run on the first Thursday of every month at Bird on a Wire. These informal evenings will feature live music and showcase works by select visual artists. You are welcome to drop by, or stay for the whole evening. Everyone is welcome, and wine and snacks will be provided. This is a great opportunity to view and purchase affordable art, and meet local artists.

Also featured in September is the work of printer and illustrator, Lori Dean-Dyment. Musical entertainment on opening evening will be provided by singer / song writer, Jody Doidge.

Date: Thursday September 1, 2011
Time: 7 pm to 9:30 pm
Location: 2535 Main Street, between Broadway and 10th
Phone: 604 874 7415

There is a facebook event page available if you would like to RSVP» (but also not necessary).

I look forward to seeing you there.

Pleated Paper Folding

August 24, 2011

On the weekend I met up with origami artist, Joseph Wu, to hang out and learn how to fold paper into pleats. Joseph had offered to share his vast knowledge of paper folding techniques when he saw my latest altered book experiments on Instagram.

It took me forever to fold the first sheet of paper, and I’ve gotten faster over the last few I’ve done. Folding pleats is both simple and harder than it looks, and you can’t be afraid to push the paper the way you want it to go.

I’m not yet sure what I’m going to do with this new technique, but there are interesting installation ideas developing.

Altered Books: Experiments with Page Folding

August 23, 2011

Experiments with new directions in book altering continues, this time with all the pages still attached to the covers. These explorations are part of the planning stages of a commissioned piece for a client, and I wanted to try something different.

Normally I follow the same pattern of folding the pages through out a book but with these two the folds are irregular and create a ripple effect through the book. It’s an interesting technique, but it doesn’t entirely work for me. I need to experiment further to figure out how to do this better.

I may end up removing the covers from these books to use in a collage, and then turn these into a wall piece. I like the idea of the shaped pages rippling from one book to the other.

Check out the work of Issac Salazar for advanced book page folding.

Altered Books: Experimenting with Book Bursts

August 18, 2011

I recently picked up a copy of The Repurposed Library by Lisa Occhipinti at Oscar’s Art Books, and last week I began exploring some of the projects from its pages.

I was drawn to the elegant simplicity of these book bursts, which are made from cutting a book into sections and then folding the pages. I chose a fairly thick book so it took quite a long time to do all that folding.

Each one is done in a slightly different way, and it’s interesting to see the patterns and texture that emerge in each. I’m going to experiment a bit more with something different again with the remaining section of the book.

It feels really good to be exploring books in a different way than usual and I’m curious to see where this will lead.

Upcycled Collage: Hummingbirds

August 16, 2011

I’m still a week behind on sharing new work, but my excuse this time is vacation. Boris and I were on Pender Island with friends for five nights and it was a glorious getaway for all those involved. I debating doing a big of blogging while I was there, but I preferred having a laptop-free break.

The base for this collage is the cover of a wooden cake box originally from a Hotel in Germany. I picked it up at Value Village and am saving the rest of the box for a future mixed media piece.

With the hummingbirds I decided to make yet further explorations into creating what I wanted by cutting the shapes from paper. This time the usual clouds, but also leaves, branches, and a nest for Mrs. Hummingbird. The wood was first layered with strips of sewing pattern paper to tone down, but not hide the existing text.

I left the original metal hardware on the box lid, as you can see at the corners and part of the latch on the bottom edge. I like trying to incorporate as much of the original details of these found materials as I can. I hope I can source more wooden boxes from Value Village before I run out of what I have.

Materials used: wooden box lid, security envelopes, book page scraps, sewing pattern paper, and paper birds.

Upcycled Collage: Crane & Book Cover

August 8, 2011

This is the second upcycled collage I completed last week. It was very satisfying to sit down for the day and come away with two completed collages. You should’ve seen the HUGE mess in the studio when I was finished.

Normally with the books I use in my altered book work the cover of the books ends up hidden away. This one was much too nice to not feature in a composition and so it’s ended up as the background for this collage.

I chose the crane for this because it was the first thing I came across when I opened the bird encyclopedia to select a bird. It seemed like the perfect one to go with the colours and flower motif. I decided to continue with the paper waves because the crane is also a wading bird.

I sorted through the pile of saved envelopes looking for something that would go well with the patterns on the cover but wasn’t the usual blues of security envelopes. I found one with this grey pattern that feels very Japanese, and it ended up being the perfect thing.

Materials used: book cover, thread, paper bird, book page scraps, security envelopes, and gel medium.

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life

Author: Rachael Ashe