Altered Books: Owl of the Arctic

October 18, 2011

The Snowy Owl marks the end of the owl series of altered books I’ve been working on (at least until I can find more to use). This is the largest owl of the five, and probably the most intimidating with that glare of hers.

The composition for this one is pretty spare, and I’m struggling with whether to leave it as is or add a little “something”. From what I can tell these types of owls don’t perch in trees, and their environment isn’t very colourful. I decided to share it even though it feels unfinished.

I divided the book into four sections and folded these in alternating directions. I refolded some of the page ends to suggest a rocky (icy?) environment for the owl, and added silver and blue paper as the end pages.

My next step is to frame this one along with the other four. All of these will be on display and available for sale during the Eastside Culture Crawl in November.

Materials used: used book, decorative paper, paper owl, cardboard, white glue, and gel medium.

Scenes From a Visit to Yellow Point Lodge

October 12, 2011

Boris and I took a few days of vacation to enjoy a four day stay at Yellow Point Lodge. It’s a small rustic resort on Vancouver Island, just outside of Ladysmith. It is a beautiful scenic area of BC.

Boris enjoys the view.

A different type of deer than what we see on Bowen Island.

Tall trees along the forest trail.

Anne left us a stash of chocolates when she visited Yellow Point the week before, and we had to find it.

Spectacular sunrise.

Spectacular sunrise turns into a beautiful day.

The pool by the ocean.

Honeycomb formations in sandstone.

A murder of crows flies overhead.

These last three photos were taken using a pinhole camera app, while some of the others were processed using Instagram. These photos make me nostalgic of the ocean, they make me want to get on the best paddle board for beginners and get back on the “horse”.

It was a relaxing vacation, and I’m glad I finally got the chance to visit Yellow Point Lodge. It’s not an easy place to get a booking.

Ten Good Things

October 11, 2011

I haven’t written one of these lists in ages, which is a shame because there are many things that have happened this year I consider good. Here’s a list of the ten most recent good things in my life:

1. Taking a very short but much needed getaway to Yellow Point Lodge with Boris. I still need to upload the photos to Flickr, but it was a beautiful place to stay.
2. Walking around the city on Sunday, enjoying adventures and sunshine.
3. Enjoying a decadent Thanksgiving meal with friends. I am lucky because everyone I know is an excellent chef.
4. Making paper flower decorations in preparation for Monique’s wedding.
5. Walking along a very quiet Commercial Drive at night in the rain.
6. New art books to inspire me – thanks to a gift certificate from my sister.
7. Keeping up with healthy habits, like 6am yoga and tracking calories with an app.
8. Slowly moving closer to having our apartment organized and decorated.
9. Finding a good balance between a part-time job, and having time for art.
10. Lucking out and finding a beautiful dress in a store I’ve never shopped in before, to wear to an upcoming wedding.

Altered Books: The Less He Spoke The More He Heard

October 5, 2011

When I first began creating altered books I would go to great lengths to come up with these wordy titles. I haven’t really been doing that lately but for this one I decided to go back to my former way of coming up with a title, which is asking google. In this case I looked up “quotes with owls”.

This is a Long-Eared Owl, and though its ear tufts aren’t actually ears I like the idea that it’s a good listener.

The book was very fun to fold and I love the way the bottom and top sections swirl around one another. With all of these owl books I’ve been folding pages a second or third time after the initial sectioning and folding. It can be a tedious process to crease a three hundred page book and this is how I keep things interesting. It also has resulted in more sculptural work.

For the Long-Eared Owl I returned to making leaves using a paper punch and printed paper to create the suggestion of a tree. I also selected very dramatic Asian-inspired black paper with a gold pattern as the end pages.

There is one more owl altered book to unveil, so stay tuned.

Materials used: book, fancy paper, paper punch, paper owl, cardboard, and white glue.

Altered Books: An Uncommon Owl

October 4, 2011

We now return to your irregularly scheduled update about altered books with owls.

I completed this one two weeks ago, at the same time as a book with a Long-Eared Owl which I will share later this week. This is a Barn Owl and she is the most elegant of all the owls I worked with in this series. It’s wonderful how different each bird has been from one another, and it’s ensured they are each pretty unique altered books.

I kept things very simple with the composition of this one. I added fancy end-pages with a leaf design in gold which works well with the elegant figure of the Barn Owl. I stayed away from leaves and trees for this book and decided to add a tangle of red thread around the bird’s feet. I was originally trying to create a thread nest but then realized this type of owl doesn’t make them. Nest or not, the thread stayed because it anchors the bird in the book.

I did yet another new way of folding with this one, a mix of two different kinds. It was intended as a horizontal piece but then I decided it worked better as a vertical, and also to mix things up with these.

The owl series is complete and I will be debuting them all in person at the Eastside Culture Crawl in November.

Materials used: book, fancy paper, red thread, paper owl, cardboard, and white glue.

Drawing with Yarn: The Completed Tree at Foodtree

September 29, 20115 Comments

I completed the yarn tree at the Foodtree office early last week with the addition of fabric leaves tucked into its branches. It is so very lovely with the red leaves, and it brightens up the office.

I am very pleased with my work on this because I had no idea how it would go when I first started putting pins into the wall, and I was winging it all the while. I love it when an experiment in a new process/medium comes together.

My plan is to create one of these on a wall of our apartment and have it as a permanent installation. I’m aiming to have it completed in time for the Eastside Culture Crawl so it can be yet another thing for people to see when they come by.

Materials used: 1.75 balls of sock yarn, 407 pushpins, and artificial leaves (I didn’t count them).

Altered Books: The Dovecote

September 23, 2011

I really loved this one as I worked on it and then when I finished I didn’t like it anymore. Now that I’ve had a few days to step away and look at it again with fresh eyes, I like it again. I think I was struggling with the lack of colour.

With this one completed now there are four of these books with trees/birds/doorways. I keep thinking about these as the “Birdhouse series” because the trees with doorways are homes for birds.

The small white birds are a set of wood buttons I picked up at Button Button last year. I’d forgotten about them until last week when I was looking for something to work with. I have a few more of these that are in flight, and then four black crow buttons as well.

I realized after finishing this one I don’t enjoy working on this series of books as much as I do the owls. The process isn’t as creative because I’m using a lot of the same elements and ways of making them. I think this may be why I stopped working on this series when I first started it last year.

I’m sure I can find a way to make the process more interesting…

Materials used: book, bird buttons, inkjet print of my photo, resistors, rubber stamp and ink, white glue, and gel medium.

Artist in the Window at Bird on a Wire Creations

September 22, 2011

This Saturday I’ll be folding the pages of books into new configurations as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. I’ll be in there working away from 11am to 4pm, so if you haven’t yet had the chance to visit this lovely little shop, now’s your chance.

As with last time, chocolate is always appreciated. 😉

Artist Window
11am to 4pm, September 24th, 2011
Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC

Altered Books: The Great Wise One

September 20, 2011

Owls are enjoyable subjects to work with because they have more expressive faces than the average bird. The previous owl looked cute and sweet while this Great Horned owl looks slightly bored but also intimidating.

With this book I began with an exploration of a different way of folding the pages rather than deciding on the composition I would work towards. It was challenging to work with three different directions of folds but the end result is a fascinating pattern and shape to the book.

I left Mr. Horned Owl (the Great) attached to his branch and decided he needed to be sitting majestically in a tree. I rolled a few pages to give him something to rest on and suggest the shape of a tree. The leaves were the final touch that I really wasn’t sure was going to turn out as well as it has. These are made with a leaf-shaped paper punch and I’ve used them to add colour but keep the focus on the owl.

I’m going to keep exploring the subject of owls for a few more books, at least until I run out of the birds. To keep things interesting I’ve set myself the challenge of playing with new ways of folding the books as I do them.

Materials used: book, patterned paper, leaf-shaped paper punch, white glue, and gel medium.

A Tree Made of String

September 15, 20112 Comments

Along with the two different series of altered books I’m working on for the Eastside Culture Crawl, last week I began working on an installation in the Foodtree offices. I work there part time and as we’ve just moved into our own office space in Chinatown I’ve been planning ways to make it a visually interesting environment in which to work.

The Foodtree office is nicknamed “the treehouse” so of course I wanted to make a tree. I’d been thinking about making more trees from cardboard, but then came across this tutorial about how to make a tree wall mural from yarn and pushpins.

I bought my supplies of sock yarn from Dressew and pushpins from Yoko Yaya and dove right into making the tree. I’m doing it without having first drawing an outline. It feels like I’m drawing it with the yarn as I go along. It’s been amazing and fascinating to see the tree slowly take shape in the corner of the room.

Once the tree is completed I’m hoping to attach red leaves to the string branches, and then voilà(!) the Treehouse will have a tree.

I’ll share more photos once the tree is complete. I’m considering making one of these at home in our livingroom…

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life