By My Hand

Reading Journal: "The Outside Boy"

2011-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Young Christopher Hurley is a Traveller, an Irish Pavee gypsy who roams with his father, Grandda, Granny, Uncle Finty, Auntie Brigid, and his cousins Martin, John Paul, and baby Maureen. They roam from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons.
Christy is haunted by the story of his mother living only 7 minutes after he was born. But when his grandfather dies, the discovery of an old newspaper photograph and a long-buried secret from his mother's past change his life forever.
I love good stories that are told in a child's voice. This was a lovely one, almost comparable to "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle".
I was sorry for it to end. Perhaps the author will write a sequel so we can see how the things Christy uncovered about his identity influenced and impacted the rest of his life.

Although I rarely do it, I painted the background specially for this review, using "Morning Blue", "Powder Green", "Celery Green", and "French Vanilla". For the title, I used a Pilot Parallel Pen which has a broad-edge calligraphy nib. It was filled with a green ink cartridge that wrote beautiful, very crisp letters. I was thrilled, because it can be problematic writing over acrylic paint. Unfortunately, as the ink dried, it bled terribly. I tried to salvage it a bit by adding thin black lettering over the top, but it still looks pretty sad.

Reading Journal: "The Third Angel"

2011-03-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

For this review, I decided to do something similar to the one I did for "Hadrian's Wall" way back in 2004, where I focused on the characters. The ones in this story were very interwoven, although it was not immediately apparent because the plot skipped around in different time periods. The story was definitely not written in chronological order.

I used a variety of media. The title was written with a Prismacolor pencil; the author with a ballpoint pen. The names of the characters were written with a white Sharpie Poster-Paint pen. The woman on the right side was cut from a magazine and the shine reduced with matte medium. The angel was printed off the internet. The woman on the left was also a magazine photo which I painted over with acrylic paints and enhanced her face and clothing wrinkles with Prismacolor pencils. She is glued over a circle of sheet music that was colored with soft pastels.

Reading Journal: The Lady Elizabeth

2009-05-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

I really liked this fictionalized biography of Elizabeth I. It was an unabridged edition on 16 CDs--20 1/2 hours long.
The reader was very good, and I think hearing the story in her beautiful British accent added much to my enjoyment.
The story begins with Elizabeth a mere toddler, although a very precocious one, and continues through her childhood and her precarious teens. It ends soon after she ascends to the throne.
Even though I knew that she didn't end her days in the Tower of London or on the executioner's block as so many before her, the author still managed to convey a great sense of peril and suspense.
This is one of the very few times where I have purposely painted a background for a specific book. As longtime readers of this blog may remember, I generally paint backgrounds way ahead and then match a book to them. But in this case, none of the prepainted pages seemed to work for the images I wanted to use. I decided her portrait would look best on a dark, rich background, so I made a mixture of Americana's "Black Green" and Anita's "Wine." While this was still damp, I overbrushed it with Golden's fluid acrylic "Quinacridone Magenta" for added depth.
I wanted to use an image of King Henry, but not have him be an equal focal point with her; so I made him smaller, had him bleed off the page, and brushed him with watered-down gesso so he looks kind of ghostly.
Since the picture I had of Elizabeth was cut off just below the knees, I had to figure out how to keep that from looking unfinished. I decided to write the title and author on a kind of banner that would extend from the bottom of the dress. I had a small rubber stamp of a banner which wasn't nearly big enough for what I needed. So I scanned and enlarged it that way. I aged it by applying Tim Holtz's Distress Ink "Old Paper" with a holey sponge. To darken the folds, I picked up some of the ink with a waterbrush filled with blender fluid.
Continuing the theme of richness, I wrote the text out with Dr. Martin's Spectralite Gold and a pointed nib.

Reading Journal: Bloodstream

2009-05-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Marty Hopkins is a sheriff's deputy in a small Indiana town. She also has a 10-year-old daughter and a troubled marriage.
As this book opens, she is investigating the disappearance of a local 14-yr-old boy. He had been hanging around a group of teenagers from Arizona who were spending the summer in a church camp excavating a utopian religious community from pioneer days.
Before long, his mutilated body is found in the flood-swollen river, and then the same thing happens to a second boy.
There are reports of a mysterious naked man who dances by the river at night while garbed in a bull's mask, a hairy shoulder mantle and a set of horns. Marty finds this hard to believe until she comes face to face with him in a labyrinth of vines.
I liked that the author created characters who were multilayered instead of stereotypes. Although the story has a sensational revelation at the end, she shows people doing their best to deal with temptations, biases, and severe traumas. Even the perpetrator, though deeply flawed, was a sympathetic character.
For the base colors, I used Lime and Morning Blue, and then created texture by sponging through drywall tape. The title & author was written with a Marvy calligraphy marker, and the text with a .05 Prismacolor pen.

Reading Journal: Dreamers of the Day

2009-05-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely disappointed with the writing that I did on the title for this spread. I was trying to come up with something that looked faintly Arabic, but this is truly horrible looking. However, I did enjoy this book by Mary Doria Russell and wanted to preserve my memories of it. Here's what I said about it, beginning with a quote from the main character:
"My little story has become your history. You won't really understand your times until you understand mine."
Thus this warning from Agnes Shanklin, a 40-year-old spinster schoolteacher who narrates from the afterlife, sets the stage for her adventures during the Cairo Peace Conference in 1921.
After her entire family perished from influenza in the aftermath of WWI, Agnes received an inheritance which allowed her to indulge in the trip of a lifetime. Soon after arriving in Egypt, she meets Lawrence of Arabia who had known her sister, and through him she becomes acquainted with Winston Churchill, Lady Gertrude Bell, and a host of other characters both real and fictitious.
She is courted by German-Jewish Karl Weilbacher, who encourages her friendships with the British in hopes of learning more of their plans. Agnes, both plain-faced and plain-spoken, has no illusions about his designs, but welcomes his attentions as her only hope for romance. He squires her around while world-altering events swirl about them.
This was an intriguing story that relieved some of my ignorance about the forces and permutations that made the Middle East what it is today. We do indeed reap what we sow.

Reading Journal: Friend of the Devil

2009-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

This book triangulates with two other novels by Peter Robinson..."Aftermath" and "Caedmon's Song." The former one also featured Inspector Banks, but the latter did not. I recalled "Aftermath" very quickly, but "Caedmon's Song" only came back gradually and in pieces. It's strange that the first reference to it that I found familiar was the name of a minor character--an Australian named Keith McLaren.
This book features two separate crimes that take place a few hours and a few miles apart. Banks is investigating the rape/strangulation of a girl in Eastvale, while Annie Cabbot tries to determine the identity of the mysterious woman in black who slit the throat of a completely paralyzed and mute woman. At some point, it is discovered that this quadriplegic had been deeply involved with the crimes that occurred in "Aftermath." Toward the end, it is revealed that her murderer was the victim, as well as a revenge killer, in Caedmon's Song."
When a policeman on Bank's team ends up getting his throat slit too, the separate investigations become inextricably intertwined.
Peter Robinson's books never disappoint me.
I decided to write the titles as I did to illustrate how each one references back to the others. They were written with a white Prismacolor pencil and I wrote the authors name with a pencil. It's surprising how well it shows up on the flat black paint. I'll try to remember that since it's hard to find tools that work easily and well on dark paint.

Reading Journal: Death of a Butterfly

2009-05-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

After reading all the Deborah Knott mysteries by Margaret Maron, I started in on the Sigrid Harald series. She actually developed the Sigrid character before Deborah, and this is the second book featuring her. I'm not reading them in order...just taking them as I can find them.
Julie Redmond has her head bashed in one day while sitting in her kitchen. As Sigrid tries to find out who killed her, she discovers that the beautiful young woman had been cold, self-centered, and demanding. There are several who might have had motives...the elderly neighbors across the hall who adore her little boy and cringe at her cruelty to him; or the ex-husband who has been shut out of his son's life; maybe Julie's ex-con brother with whom she frequently fought; or perhaps the former boss that she blackmailed.
This book is the one that introduces Dr. Jill Gill, an entomologist who give Sigrid the caterpillars that ultimately give her the clue to the murderer's identity.
Background painted with "Crocus" and "Morning Blue." Title written with a Pitt brush pen.

Reading Journal: The Street of a Thousand Blossoms"

2009-05-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

This book is written in spare prose, much like Japanese poetry, conveying deep emotions with few words.
Gail Tsukiyama begins her story in 1939, showing the gentle, honorable side of ordinary Japanese people. Hiroshi and Kenji are two brothers being raised by loving grandparents. I was drawn into this intimate world by her quiet description of how they climbed a watchtower each evening to listen to a neighbor girl practice her cello. As war news raged around them, the grandfather buffered it by cautioning them..."Everyday of your lives, you must always be sure what you're fighting for."
The brothers are extremely different in personality, physique and interests. Hiroshi is consumed with the desire to become a sumo champion, while Kenji is fascinated with creating masks for Noh actors. This advice always lingers in the backs of their minds and helps them correct their courses as they struggle to find their way in a world trying to reconcile tradition and change. It is also the heartbreaking story of the women who love them.
Background paint was "Melted Butter" and "Lavender." Used a Pitt F pen and a Pitt brush pen for the title.

Reading Journal "Playing With Fire"

2009-03-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

The pages had been initially painted with gray and a touch of purple, without any idea of what they would eventually be used for. Then when I was going through my Reading Journal looking for a background to use as the basis for this book review, I realized that it resembled ashes. So I overpainted with “Christmas Red” and “Tangerine” (Anita’s brand paints from Hobby Lobby), being sure to let some of the grayish background show through. When it was good and dry, I wrote the title with a black Pitt brush pen, extending the descenders on the Y & G, as well as pulling the crossbar of the T, and adding one to the final E. I was trying to create the feel of leaping flames, and to enhance that even more, I added extra strokes around the letters with orange and crimson Prismacolor pencils.

This book is a mystery, and I wanted to reveal “whodunit” for myself to remember later, but not to spoil the ending for anyone looking at the journal. So I covered up where I had written the ending by tipping in some “flames”. I made these by painting a piece of manila cardstock with the orange and red paint, and cutting the top in jagged points. Then I applied a strip of transfer tape to the left side and pressed it into the gutter. The flames can be lifted back to read what is underneath.

Reading Journal: "Bootlegger's Daughter"

2008-10-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

With this book, I discovered a new-to-me author who writes the kind of mysteries I like best. It's where they create an on-going character in a series whose real life is developed and revealed bit by bit along with each mystery that is solved. My favorite authors who write like this are Elizabeth George, John Harvey, Peter Robinson, and Nevada Barr. I've read every book they've ever written, so I was delighted when I happened upon Margaret Maron.

This first title that features Deborah Knott was published in 1992 and she has written 13 more since then, so this series should last me awhile.

The setting is North Carolina in an area that is transitioning from tobacco farms to suburbs. Deborah is a lawyer who's running for judge. She comes from a huge family where she's the youngest, and the only daughter after 11 boys.

As a teenager, she was a babysitter for the Whiteheads. 18 years ago, Janie was found dead in an old mill with her screaming 3-month-old beside her. Now Gayle is about to graduate, and she begs Deborah to try to find out why her mother was killed. Even after two separate investigations, the murder remains unsolved and continues to haunt Gayle. She's even suspicious of her own father.

Deborah is reluctant to take on this task, but feels that it can't hurt to ask a few questions to maybe pacify Gayle. She quickly realizes that the murderer is feeling threatened when the potter who lived next to the mill is shot dead.

The background for this spread looks much better in person than in the photo. I painted with Periwinkle and Wedgewood Green, and when dry, gave it a light wash with Melted Butter. The title was written with a Pitt brush pen and shadowed with a black micron pen.

Reading Journal: "With No One as Witness"

2008-10-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

When one of my best friends died, I couldn't talk to acquaintances about it. I felt as though I would somehow trivialize it by discussing it with people who hadn't known her. I knew they would express sympathy, but not really feel the anguish I was feeling.

Not that it's anywhere near the same, but I've also felt blocked in trying to review this book. Elizabeth George is one of my all-time favorite authors. Although she's written a couple of books that didn't live up to what I'd come to expect from her ("I, Richard" and "A Place of Hiding"), overall I love her plots and her characterizations. More than anything, the interplay between the half dozen main characters is what keeps me coming back.

So when she killed one of them off, it was hard to take. I wonder at the direction the series will go now. This will have to have a major impact!

In a nutshell, the plot centered on trying to find a serial killer of young teenage boys. The first three victims had been black or mixed race, and neither the police nor the press expressed much interest until a white youth was murdered and left draped across a tomb. Amid accusations of institutional racism, the case is handed to Lynley, Havers, and Winston Nkata.

The illustration is a stencil that I cut from a magazine photo and filled in with a dark green soft pastel. I wrote the title with a 3.5mm calligraphy marker and a Pitt brush pen.

Reading Journal: "The Water and the Blood"

2008-10-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

I loved Nancy E. Turner's first two books, so I was eagerly looking forward to this one, especially since it was largely set in East Texas where I grew up, and takes place during World War II.

I found quite a few things that bothered me. Her style was very different this time. It just didn't hang together--didn't flow well. She jumped around from Frosty's being in high school to episodes that happened to her as a child. I don't mean flashbacks, or that she was recalling an incident. Instead the narratives were just jumpy and disorienting.

And there were other irregularities. I guess it's picky, but it always irks me when a character used the word "y'all" when speaking to an individual. I've lived my entire life in Texas, and never once have I heard a real Texan use it that way. It's a contraction of "you all" and thus we only use it when speaking to more than one person.

As Frosty traveled, the author got some Texas towns out of sequence. In California, she said that she and Garnelle split the $25 monthly rent and each had nearly $100 left for food and savings; yet at one point she talked about being between paychecks and resenting having to share her meager lunch with Gordon, who was a Native-American soldier.

Inconsistencies like this may be a result of poor editing, but they took away from my reading enjoyment.

Reading Journal: "Black and Blue"

2008-10-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

The New York Times described this book by Anna Quindlen as a low-key thriller about domestic violence and a woman's need for self-esteem. I have to agree with that assessment...NOT the blurb that called it a heart-stopping, spellbinding story.

I do give her points for not portraying Fran (Beth) as a helpless victim, and when she remarries (a gentle caring man this time) it's shown realistically and not as her soulmate riding to the rescue.

Even though they have a baby girl together, the ending is bittersweet, because her son Robert was taken by his father and it's been 4 years since she's seen him. She clings to the hope that when he's old enough to be independent that he'll contact her.

I made the background for this spread many months ago while just playing with various techniques. The blue was sponged with red and yellow, and when I decided to use it for this review, I added some very blackish-green in a nod to bruises.

Reading Journal: "Jury of One"

2008-10-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

This courtroom drama by David Ellis kept me guessing right to the end. It used a writing technique that I don't ever remember seeing before. The prologue and one of the last chapters were virtually identical-word for word- except that in the latter the characters now had names and 1 1/2 extra pages revealed what I had been waiting the whole book to find out.

Shelly's client is a 17-year-old accused of killing a policeman, and she suspects that he may have been involved in an undercover operation to entrap dirty cops. In flashbacks, we learn that Shelly had been raped when she was 16, and in a shocking revelation, she learns that Alex is her son. Shelly has no experience in criminal court, but he refuses to have any other lawyer.

As she delves deeper into the case, she begins to fear that he is lying to her to protect his best friend, but he is adamant that Ronnie had nothing to do with what happened. In open court, and under oath, Ronnie makes an accusation that literally causes Shelly to faint.

Even after this bombshell which caught me completely by surprise, that latter chapter was necessary to clear up all the questions. This was a well-crafted, thoroughly satisfying novel, where I cared about the characters and found myself silently pleading with the author to make it turn out well.

"Winter Study"

2008-08-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

I was getting very worried that something had happened to Nevada Barr since she had published a book featuring Anna Pigeon every year from 1993 through 2005. Then nothing in 2006 or 2007. It turned out that Hurricane Katrina was the problem. She lives in New Orleans and had 30" of flood water in her home.

I was so tickled when I found out about this book and immediately requested it from the library. At first, I didn't think that it was going to live up to my expectations, but it got more exciting as it went along, although it isn't my favorite. (Those would be "Firestorm" and "Hard Truth".

It is set on Isle Royale as was "A Superior Death", but this time it's January with sub-zero temps. Anna has gone there to learn about managing wolves in a national park, as a part of the famous 50-year-old wolf/moose study. When giant wolfprints are found and scat with DNA alien to the island's packs, the team fears that a hybrid animal has been brought in. Before long, a young woman researcher is found dead...apparently the victim of a wolf attack. Anna, knowing wild wolves are generally timid around humans, fears that there is a murderer on the team. Of course, that proves to be the case, and Anna has several near-death encounters before the truth comes out.

Those of you who've read my blog's archives may remember that I always paint my pages ahead, and just look for a spread that matches the mood of the story when I get ready to journal about a book. This time I couldn't find any pages that suited me just as they were, so I toned down the "Periwinkle Blue" and "Wedgewood Green" that I had previously painted by brushing with a thin whitewash. Then I lightly sponged on full-strength white paint to create the effect of snow, concentrating it more heavily at the bottom. The words were written with a blue Uniball Vision Elite pen, with the title done in the Art Deco style.

Keith's Birthday Card

2008-05-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

I used another one of my little watercolor collages to make my brother's birthday card. The three kids sitting on a washtub eating watermelon are me, Keith, and our sister Carolyn (who died of breast cancer in 2001.)

Keith is looking forward to the birth of his first grandson in June. He already has two little granddaughters that he's crazy about. He even volunteered to stay home from some car race to babysit Claire.

Skylark

2008-05-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of the little watercolor collages that I made in a class with Sherri Kiesel when she came to Houston the first weekend in March. I absolutely loved this class. I would take from her again in a minute.

"Trail of Secrets" by Eileen Goudge

2008-05-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

The background for this spread was red and blue acrylic paints washed with Vintage White. The title was written with a dark gray Pitt brush pen and the text with a Pilot P-700. The magazine illustration was adhered with a xyron.

This book kept me up until the wee hours, as I couldn't turn out the light until I saw how it ended. If one is willing to suspend belief in coincidences, it's a romantic, satisfying love story.

Ellie was a teenage unwed mother whose baby was stolen from her. 22 years later, she's a successful psychologist, but her heart had been broken when she lost Bethanne, and never having been able to have another child, she is desperate to adopt. Two girls have promised her their babies, but changed their minds at the last minute.

Enter Skyler, a young equestrienne whose adoptive parents dote on her, but are unhappy with her decision to give up her baby. The pregnancy was the result of an "afternoon delight" with Tony, a NYC mounted policeman. They are drawn to each other like metal to a magnet, but coming from completely different backgrounds, believe that marriage is out of the question.

It's no mystery to the reader that Skyler is the missing Bethanne. The book revealed that fact in the first chapter. However, neither Ellie nor Skyler is aware of this, and so papers are signed when the baby is born and Ellie blissfully takes her home.

What kept me turning the pages was wanting to know how and when the book's characters would be let in on the secret, what would be their reactions, and how would they resolve the issue of custody after Skyler predictably and inevitably wants her infant back.

Reading Journal: "North River"

2007-10-29T11:56:00.001-07:00

I loved this book. Pete Hamill is a master of his craft. His stories evoke such a realistic feeling of bygone eras that you feel like you're there, but he always slips in a bit of magic, too, in letting you into the minds of his characters.

This book is set in the New York of 1934 in the depths of the Depression. Dr. Delaney tends his patients as best he can while wondering whether his vanished wife is alive or dead. He is shocked one day to find his 3-year-old grandson Carlito on his doorstep. He hires Rose, a tough young Sicilian immigrant to cook and tend the child. Slowly, as these three lonely people form a household, the numbness around Delaney's heart starts to melt.

As in"Snow in August," the decent people have to cope with criminal elements that are a constant menace. But, thankfully, this story had a happy ending. One of the most beautiful scenes was in the next to last chapter when they go dancing.

"The lights were muted. The band was playing 'You Made Me Love You.' He put his right hand on her waist and took her right hand in his left, and they began to move. A fox trot. He could feel her tension, her fear of clumsiness. Then as she relaxed, she pressed against him. Here for a few hours, they could believe that they would be together forever. And so they danced and danced."

The paints I used for the background were Apple Barrel's "Wild Berry" & "Denim Blue" and Anita's "Sand." I wrote the title & author with a Hunt 22 nib and Best Bottle ink. The ink did not work as well on the acrylic painted background as gouache. It tended to blob, as you can see in the dot over the "i" and in the loops of the "b" and "l". The text was written with a Pilot P-700.

I brushed the magazine photo with matte medium to reduce the shine, adhered it with double-stick tape, and dabbed the torn edges with Colorbox ink.

"Woman in Red"

2007-10-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is another one of those rather "ugly" backgrounds that I've learned to trust will be just what I need for a particular book. See how the text page resembles sand and water. I could not have purposely created that. I would have tried too hard.

I frequently use matte medium as a glue. I like that it doesn't show if any oozes out. And I often use it on top of a picture when I want to reduce the glossiness. It works great when the picture is not too big, but I've had problems with wrinkles and air bubbles when it covers a whole page. So I tried a new technique this time and liked the results. I laid the picture on some wax paper and brushed the top with matte medium to counteract the shine. After it was dry, I applied double-sided tape on the back, just along the edge that would be next to the gutter. Then I put tape on 3 edges of the journal page and carefully rolled the picture down onto the page. I had purposely not cut the picture to size because I can never completely match it to the edges of the journal page. It's just easier to trim after it's stuck in place.

"Songs of the Humpback Whale"

2007-10-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Jodi Picoult is a wonderful writer, but this was not my favorite of the five of hers I've read so far.

The background paint was Anita's brand, 'Emerald' thinly brushed with 'Nubby Linen'. The title strip was art paper with botanical inclusions which I wrote on with Schmincke burnt sienna gouache with a #6 Mitchell nib. The author's name was written with a brown Micron .005 pen. I cut the strip with some wavy scissors and brushed the edges with a Colorbox "Bisque" fluidchalk inkpad.

"The Sonnet Lover"

2007-10-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

For this illustration, I used a paper napkin. Directions for doing this can be seen in the August 2005 archives "Consider the Lilies."

I got a bit too heavy-handed and tore it, but it really doesn't matter. That's one of the blessings that I've received from working in these composition journals. All my life I've been both blessed and cursed with perfectionism. It made me a hard worker and a valued employee, but it often stymied my creative efforts. In the last few years, I've learned to loosen up a bit and just embrace whatever happens. Life is messy and it's okay.

"Hardscrabble Road"

2007-10-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

An interesting book, particularly the things she has her characters say. Very balanced views.

"True Evil"

2007-10-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

The cover of this book showed a snake coiled in the middle of a bed. Very apropos to the story, but since I'm deathly afraid of snakes and don't even like to look at pictures of them, I sure didn't intend to put one in my journal! Besides, I try to come up with my own idea to illustrate a book. Thus, the scientist manipulating a virus and the poor little lab monkey.

"We Shall Not Sleep"

2007-10-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

I never specifically paint pages for a book I've read. Instead, I flip through my reading journal until I find a prepainted set of pages that seems to go with the story. This book had mentioned over and over the miserable conditions that WWI soldiers had to endure due to vast amounts of mud and filthy water contaminated by decomposing bodies. The colors of this background seemed to reflect that, and also paired well with the photo. This is the second time I've used a family member to illustrate a book I've read (see "The Lost Mother" - April 2005 archives.)

Since this story featured a young pregnant woman, it was the perfect opportunity to use the picture of my grandmother Josie, especially since she was expecting my father who was born in 1918, which is the year in which the novel is set.

Sometimes, when I get ready to paint pages, I will reach into the drawers where the paints are stored and grab two or three without looking, just to see what the result will be. I expect that's what happened here. Not especially pretty, but then neither is war.

Reading Journal: The Judas Field

2007-07-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

This spread is not very successful at all, but I'm posting it anyway because I want all of you to know about this book. It probably contains the most poetic prose I've ever read, as well as some of the most horrific descriptions of maimed and dying men. As off-putting as that was, and with a thin plot besides, I was compelled to keep reading because of the incredibly elegant writing. Here is a description of the onset of a battle:

"Quick the scarecrow rebel infantry came, running in the killing heat with muskets at the shoulder, eager to possess this land between ridges--every grain of sand, every gully, every wind-shook pine and rag of struggling grass--as if no other land in all the earth could be worth their dying. The lifted their voices, so that over the guns rose a quavering eerie cry like harpies descending, which drowned the manly hurrahs of the yankees and shivered the soul of every man."

And here is a quote of the battle's aftermath:

"Here lies a man who found beauty in all things; in birds, in the uncurling of a fern, in the shadows made by candlelight on a tent wall, and he would say to them, 'Is that not beautiful?' trying to teach them how to see. They had learned from him, and because of him the world would never seem without grace in the smallest things. Now he has no eyes at all."

It's been twenty years since Mississippian Cass Wakefield returned from the war, but he is still haunted by battlefield memories. Now he accompanies a dying woman in a trip to Tennessee to recover the bodies of her father and brother and there his memories reemerge with overwhelming vividness.

Reading Journal: Roma

2007-07-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

I have always enjoyed accounts of life in ancient Rome. One of my all-time favorite books is I, Claudius, so I was excited when I heard about this one, expecially since I had liked Saylor's A Twist at the End (featuring O.Henry that is set in Austin.) But, I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed. I think he tried to cover too long a time period. 1000 years in 500 pages ends up reading like a textbook in places. His characters are undeveloped and just seem a device to "explain" historical events to the reader. The first few chapters were okay, but I had to force myself to finish the book.

The picture I took of this spread is poor. It actually looks much better in person. No matter how many shots I tried, I couldn't get rid of the sheen on the lower half, and the yellow sky shows up quite a bit duller than it really is. Oh, well.

Reading Journal: The Fourth Sacrifice

2007-07-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

Margaret Campbell, an American forensic pathologist and Chinese detective Li Yan had been lovers who were forced apart by circumstances, but have now been ordered to work together to solve the serial murders of four men who were drugged and beheaded with a ceremonial bronze sword. All were Chinese, but the fourth one had moved to the USA as a teenager and became an American citizen.

In the course of the investigation, Margaret is drawn to Michael Zimmerman, an archaeologist making a documentary about the discovery of the life-size terracotta warriors found buried at Xi'an.

The thing that intrigued me the most about this story was the glimpse it gave into modern-day China, as well as a look back at the horrors of the Cultural Revolution in the 60s when Red Guards persecuted thousands of intellectuals.

I used a Pitt brush pen to write the title in a style that looks somewhat Asian.

Reading Journal: Between, Georgia

2007-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Between, Georgia is a tiny town where a long simmering feud holds sway over the life of Nonny Frett. The first chapter immediately grabs you with her dramatic birth and then fast forwards thirty years.

Biologically, she's a Crabtree...but emotionally, she belongs to Stacia Frett, the congenitally deaf and now also blind woman who claimed her the instant she slipped out of her unwed teenage mother.

Stacia is a world-renowned dollmaker with two very eccentric sisters; one who dresses the dolls and the other who runs the business end of things and raises butterflies.

Suddenly, a dog attack escalates the feud as Nonny desperately tries to be the peacemaker while dealing with her feelings for her soon-to-be-ex-husband and unexpected advances from her longtime best friend.

The crazy painted page where the review is written was done with fluid acrylics and glazes. I had glazed both pages of the spread and the glazes kept sticking to each other, so I cut out the facing page leaving a tab. It isn't obvious from the picture, but the butterflies are decal-type stickers which are stuck to a transparency that was attached to the resulting tab. This allows the butterflies to be seen from both sides, and made it seem like there was a real reason for the page stub. As I learned from Bob Phillips, when you make a mistake, feature it!

Reading Journal: Vanishing Acts

2007-07-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Delia Hopkins is an expert at finding missing persons. She and her bloodhound are well known for their search & rescue missions in rural New Hampshire. Suddenly, old photographs and dreams begin triggering flashbacks about people and events that seem vaguely familiar yet disassociated from the life she thinks she knows.

Just as she starts to question her father about her confusing recollections, he is arrested and remanded to Arizona--charged with kidnapping Delia when she was only 4 years old. Andrew confesses to taking her away from his wife Elise, and disappearing into a new life. And with his admission, Delia's entire history is turned upside down. How and why could her adored father have done this? Is her mother really dead, as she was told all these years?

Due to the trial, Delia, Eric her fiance (who is Andrew's attorney) & their daughter Sophie move to Phoenix. Fitz, their best friend from childhood, tags along for support. As the investigation & trial proceed Delia's life story is gradually revealed.

I've read several books by Jodi Picoult and liked every one of them. She always give you so much to think about in stories where a difficult situation has no right answer.

I had been saving this picture just because the little girl was so adorable, but it turned out to work very well with this storyline because she has such a mystified look on her face.

Reading Journal: Piece of My Heart

2007-07-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Mysteries are probably the genre that I read most often, and Peter Robinson has become one of my favorite writers. This book gradually reveals clues about two murders that happened more than 35 years apart, but which seem to be very much linked. The first one was in September 1969 and centered around a music festival similar to, but on a smaller scale than Woodstock.

Fast forward to the present day, and we find Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks investigating the death of a music journalist. Over time, he realizes that this man's death must have had something to do with facts that he had uncovered while doing research for a magazine article about the 40th anniversary of a rock band.

Hippies very much figure in this story, so I was glad to find this photo to illustrate my review. I cut down the glossiness by brushing it with matte medium.

Reading Journal: "Snow in August"

2006-11-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

This is quite a different layout for me. As I've said more than once, I prepaint my pages...and honestly, some of them are so strange that I don't see how I'll ever use them for a book review. This is certainly one of the most unusual. I had painted the centers of the pages bright yellow and topped that with those six red swashes. When it was dry, I squirted a bit of cream paint around the edges and as it began to run out, dry-brushed it over the top of the yellow and red. Serendipitously, the hot colors turned out to be reminiscent of the sweltering summer at book's end, and the overlay of cream could be taken for snow.

The illustrations on this spread are another departure from what I normally do. My drawing skills are rudimentary, to say the least. I can't sketch anything without assistance. In this case, I found some photos on the web. Printed them off and laid a piece of tracing vellum on top. Using a waterproof Pitt pen, I traced the outlines of each. Then I laid on color with Derwent "Inktense" pencils and washed them with a Niji waterbrush. Once they were good and dry, I cut around the figures and ran them through the Xyron before applying them to the corners of the pages. Because the vellum is translucent, the colors of the background show through and the drawings appear to have been done directly on the pages.

Reading Journal: "The Bookwoman's Last Fling"

2006-11-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

As in almost all of my reading journal spreads, this background had been painted without any book in mind. I found this photo on the cover of an investment newsletter and thought it was a good illustration for the story and the colors meshed well with these particular pages. I had made the pinkish strokes outward from the center just because I happened to have some of that color left on the brush after painting a totally different page. And as is often the case, it helped to tie the photo to the rest of the page since it's a tint of the rusty pink color at the top of the sky.

I was just playing around when I wrote out the title and author. All those curliques were a take-off on the word "Fling."

Reading Journal: The Romanov Prophecy

2006-10-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

The background for this spread was one that I had painted ages ago, and just kept skipping over because it really didn't look right for any of the books that I wanted to review. Actually, I thought it was pretty drab until now. It never ceases to amaze me how just the right picture can improve a background. The onion domes of Red Square were from the travel section of the Sunday paper and I had saved them for years, not knowing what I would do with them. I just knew they were too pretty to throw away. What really made them work on this page was cutting away the background of the photo, so that my painted pages became the sky. It was a little tedious cutting around those tiny crosses but Fiskars micro-tip scissors were a huge help. I used matte medium to adhere the image, brushing it on a bit at the time. I've found that it's a mistake to apply any adhesive all over the back of a cut-out if it's from thin paper. The little parts will curl like mad and drive you insane. I position the image exactly where I want it on the spread, and while holding it in place with my left hand, I use a flat brush to apply the medium in one spot, smooth it down and continue adding medium until the whole thing is stuck in place. The beauty of matte medium is that it doesn't show like regular glue when any oozes out. And it brushes on more easily than glue.

I wrote the title in Gothicized Italic, using Schmincke black gouache and a Mitchell #1 nib. The author was written with a .8 Copic MultiLiner and the summary was done with a Uniball Vision micro pen.

Reading Journal: The Lighthouse

2006-10-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

The background for this spread was painted with Anita's "Silver" mixed with a small amount of "Metallic Sapphire". I was afraid that it might be difficult to write on, but I had no trouble writing out the summary with a Uniball Vision Micro pen. Despite what shows in the picture, the writing is very black and crisp. The title/author was written with a medium size Pilot Permaball. This was a new pen that I was given by Sandy Odom when I went last month to Austin to teach a class on making backgrounds. It writes permanently on all surfaces, and is acid-free, waterproof, fadeproof and smear-proof. When I heard that, I figured it was the thing to try on this shiny metallic surface. It wrote easily and dried quickly. Nothing came up when I cautiously wiped my finger over it. If it only came in a smaller point, I would be in love!

You can barely see it here, but the crossbars of the "H"s and the "A" are colored in with various colors of RoseArt gel pens for a bit of pizazz.

Sex Wars Revisited

2006-10-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

The spread for this book had never seemed quite complete, so I finally decided to do a little more work on it. The differences are subtle, but I do think they make it look better. I'm posting both the "before" and "after" together so you can more easily compare them. The blah background had always bothered me the most, so I added a little color to it by pulling a blue chalk inkpad across it in places and blending on to the women's pictures. Then I used the darker end of a "Platinum" Brushables marker to shadow the letters in the title, and finished by lightly defining the space between each letter and shadow with a black Pilot P-500 pen.

Reading Journal: Nevada Barr

2006-08-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

About 6 months ago, I had the distinct pleasure of discovering Nevada Barr's wonderful novels that are set all over the U.S. in a variety of national parks. Having been a park ranger herself, she has a real feel for nature and is able to convey the wonder and majesty of some of our most awe inspiring lands while also unreeling some rollicking good mysteries. Once I had read my first book by her (which just happened to be the last one she'd written,) I couldn't stop until I'd read all 13.

Since I'm so far behind in doing spreads for the books I've read, I decided to make just one spread for all her books. I used pages that I'd previously painted with Fawn, Eggshell, and Forest Moss because I thought the colors were nice and earthy looking. I made columns for title, setting, copyright date, and a 2-line summary of each story.

Reading Journal "Sex Wars"

2006-08-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

This historical novel by Marge Piercy is set in the decades that followed the Civil War. It is a fascinating account of the women who passionately fought for the right to vote, the right to own property and to manage their own money, and to have control over and understanding of their own bodies. The one that I found most intriguing was Victoria Woodhull. Wow! What a life she led.

I used part of a piece of scrapbooking paper for the background, which I glued onto a neutral acrylic background, and overlayed with portraits of the women who figured most prominently in this book. I wrote their names with a Pitt brush pen, and the book's title was stamped with letters from a "Words&Crafts" kit. Each of the letters has its own little handle and you can see the outline of each one, so it's easy to place it just exactly where you want it.

Reading Journal: Whiteout

2006-02-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

This was a fairly predictable tale of bioterrorism. A deadly virus is stolen from a lab in the wee hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The whole story takes place in those few hours, with the characters rotating between the lab and Stanley Oxenford's home. His children and grandchildren are visiting for the holidays, and we soon learn that reprobate son Kit is out to ruin his father, while saving himself from a huge gambling debt. Toni Gallo, as the lab's security chief, is the heroine.

My introduction to Ken Follett was his book "Eye of the Needle", which I read in 1979. I remember that I was absolutely mesmerized. I suppose my tastes have changed over the years, or his writing has gotten a bit more bland. At any rate, I read the first chapter or so of this one, and lost patience with it. After returning it to the library, I saw an audio copy and decided to give that a go. When I'm stuck in the car, I love to listen to books on CDs, and I don't mind ones that I wouldn't waste time reading. When I read a book, I want to love the language...to appreciate the author's way with words...to take my time savoring the mind pictures...to copy passages and look up definitions of unfamiliar words. However, about the only things I require from an audio book are an interesting storyline and an able reader. This CD passed muster where the bound version did not. The story wasn't one of Follett's best as I remember them, but the howling wind at the beginning and end of each disk set the mood, as did the reader's varied Scottish accents.

For the background of these pages I used Apple Barrel's "Blue Stoneware" acrylic paint, overbrushed with Americana "Titanium White." The title was written with a Zig embossing brush, covered with white embossing powder and heated til it melted. To focus the eye and tie the magazine photo to the previous page, I stamped and heat-embossed a few snowflakes.

Reading Journal: The Kite Runner

2006-02-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

As I was reading the first few chapters of this book, I was thinking that I didn't see what all the hoop-la was about. Linda and Jan had both raved about it. I agreed that it was well-written, but I thought the story was less than mesmerizing. That all changed by page 62! I was up until 2:00 a.m., because I couldn't turn out the light until I came to the final page. The author didn't wrap everything up with a happily ever-after ending, but he hinted that there was hope. This is a quote about that:
"If someone were to ask me today whether the story of Hassan, Sohrab, and me ends with happiness, I wouldn't know what to say. Does anybody's? After all, life is not a Hindi movie. 'Zendagi migzara', Afghans like to say: 'Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end, kamyab, nah-kam, crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis."

The author writes in the first person so persuasively that I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction and not an autobiography. It is a beautifully told story of loyalty and betrayal, of guilt and redemption; that age-old truth that one person's momentary action (as well as inaction) can have consequences that not only affect him, but even future generations.

Two Afghan boys were raised together. Amir was the privileged son of a wealthy, larger-than-life man; while Hassan was a servant and a member of the shunned Hazara ethnic minority. Their story covers the past 30 years of Afghanistan's history, from the final days of the monarchy, through the Russian occupation, and on through the iniquities and brutality of the Taliban.

The illustrations include a map I got off the Internet, a picture of a little Hazara boy from a geography book, and a real piece of Afghan money.

Reading Journal: "Body Double" by Tess Gerrittsen

2006-02-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

I always wonder how the author &/or publisher comes up with the title. I do know that often an author isn't allowed to make the final decision. Sometimes titles don't make the least bit of sense. It's as though they're just pulled out of a hat, and have no relation to the story at all. An example of this is "The Rottweiler" by Rendell. Other times, they're vaguely relevant, but in a boring sort of way--such as Dennis McFarland's "Prince Edward."

And sometimes they're inspired, like this one. It was obvious after the first few pages that this title referred to identical twins. But it delighted my word sense later on to realize that the double bodies had a 'double' meaning, and also applied to pregnant women and their babies.

My online friend Linda Cameron gave me the idea of hiding details that give away the plot. I glued a little folder to the bottom right-hand corner and held it closed with a dot of velcro. The reason behind this is so that I can look back to remind myself "who-dun-it" without spoiling the story for anyone looking at my journal.

P.5

2006-01-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

I had the most fun doing this page, although I wish it showed up better in the scan. I found this ogre in a British lit textbook that I had bought for $1 in a library used book sale. He needed a crown to be true to the story, so I made him one, coloring it with a gold StarLightz pen and making "jewels" with other gel pen colors. This gold is the best looking I've found in a gel pen...much shinier than any others I've ever used...and I've tried a bunch! I just glued the picture along the left side, so it can be lifted to read the words underneath. The story says that the ogre was sitting under a canopy made of rose-colored spiderwebs which had tiny green flies embedded in it. To depict this, I pulled apart a used drier sheet that I had dyed with very diluted Golden's Fluid Acrylic in quinacridone magenta. I adhered it along the top of the page with a little thick tacky glue and made the flies with dots of glue covered with green micro-glitter.

P.4

2006-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

The border for this page was cut from decorative computer paper. The swan was an image I scanned and printed from a Dover book, colored with Prismacolor pencils and added a bit of white micro-glitter on the wings.

P.3

2006-01-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

This page told of the burial of the main character's father, so I illustrated that by constructing a cross out of woodgrain paper. The flowers were cut from a gardening magazine and the birds are from a rubberstamp. I used a gray .05 Copic MultiLiner pen to write on the cross. I thought black ink would have been too harsh looking.

Fairy Tale AB - p.2

2006-01-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

This is the title page of another story in the book, colored just as before.

Altered Book: Andersen Fairy Tales

2006-01-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

In my Imagine8 art group we have been working on an altered book round robin for the last couple of years. It has taken a long time for the books to make it to everyone because we only meet 4 times a year. These are a few of the pages that I did in Linda's book. I found it to be more of a challenge than I had expected, because I didn't want to cover up the text of the stories. So using acrylic paint as I most often do, was out. Instead, I used sponges to apply rubberstamping inks and found that gave color to the pages without obscuring the words. On this page, I colored the printed illustration at the top with decorator chalks picked up and applied with a Niji waterbrush filled with blending fluid. Then I stamped the rose and colored it the same way, adding a bit of gold Pearl Ex powder for glitz.

Reading Journal Entry: A Mind to Murder

2005-12-28T16:33:00.000-08:00

This is another one of my beloved Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. I'm very fearful that P.D. James may not be writing many more, since she is already 85 years old. Elizabeth George and Deborah Crombie are also authors who have created detectives that seem very human, and I revel in how their sleuths' and extra characters' lives are revealed, bit by bit, as each story unfolds. Unfortunately, I've already read everything they've written, too.

This story takes place in a psychiatric clinic. Dalgliesh is called in when the female administrative head is found with a chisel in her heart. As he questions the staff and patients, he realizes that more than one of them don't mind that she is dead. But of course, he sorts it all out, even turning over what seem like rock-solid alibis.

P.D. James is hailed for writing literary mysteries with intricate plots, complex characters, and an impressive vocabulary. It's no wonder other authors take it as the highest compliment when their work is compared favorably to hers.

Butterfly Magnet

2005-11-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

The theme for our Imagine8 special projects this quarter was butterflies. This is one of my very favorite quotes, so I decided to use it to make refrigerator magnets. I wrote it out in the copperplate hand, then reduced it to 50% and photocopied onto cardstock. Each of these was cut out, edged with a Krylon Gold Leafing pen, and adhered to magnetic business cards.

I stamped the butterflies; colored them with Radiant Pearls; and attached the gold threads with Aleene's Thick Designer Tacky Glue. The antennae are made with black embroidery thread stiffened with Elmer's glue.

Chorus Revisited

2005-11-06T21:49:00.000-08:00

This is the final rendition of the chorus. Again, I wrote on scrapbooking paper, but instead of coloring in the versals with Gelly Rolls, I filled them in with a Zig Embossing Brush Pen and sprinkled with purple moire embossing powder.

Fifth Verse

2005-11-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

Here again, I began by painting the pages with metallic acrylic paint. I needed a lighter blue than came straight out of the bottle, so I mixed it with some silver. The insects were stamped and embossed on the sky paper, and the leaping froggy was a punch-out that I used as a stencil with sponge dauber and pigment ink.

Fourth Verse

2005-11-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

I guess it's not very good form to make excuses for one's work, but this really does look better in real life. I almost hate to even show this picture, because it is such a poor rendition of the original. The background here looks like a dull gray, while it is actually the deep, deep black that you can only get from Golden's black gesso. I wrote the verse with white gouache, and added some dry brush swooshes in metallic colors.

Third Verse

2005-11-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

Both pages were painted with metallic purple paint. The cross was a print-out that I chose because it had a nice purple aura in the background and the golden yellow is the beautiful complement of purple.

Second Verse

2005-11-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

For the second verse of the song, I painted the book's pages with metallic copper paint. The verse was written on a piece of scrapbooking paper that seemed to go well with the photo of the nighttime fishermen.

Chorus

2005-11-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

I wrote the chorus on a piece of vellum with Dr. Martin's gold. I hand-stitched it across the top with iridescent thread in purple, aqua, and gold, and then attached it to the page.

1st Verse

2005-11-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

This spread is for the first verse of "Lord of the Dance." I wrote it out in an italic variation, using Dr. Martin's Iridescent Copperplate Gold. I just happened to have this piece of scrapbooking paper in my stash, and I was amazed at how well it went with the photograph on the right side.

Lord of the Dance - Title Page

2005-11-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

My Imagine8 art group met today. One of our ongoing projects has been an altered book round robin. For this session, I had Peggy's book. Her theme was dance. I decided to do my pages on the verses in the song "Lord of the Dance." This picture shows the title, which I wrote on a piece of lavender scrapbooking paper. The letters in the word "Lord" are versals (which are drawn letters, as opposed to written letters.) They got this name, because they were traditionally enlarged and used to begin verses in illuminated manuscripts. They were usually colored and/or decorated. In this rendition, I used a purple and an aqua Gelly Roll Stardust pen. The book's pages were painted with metallic acrylic paints.

Reading Journal Entry: The Secret Life of Bees

2005-11-05T15:03:00.000-08:00

Some of my favorite books are ones written in a child's voice; not books for children, but lives seen from their perspectives. This is such a book. Lily is 14, and for ten years she has lived with the knowledge that she accidentally killed her own mother. She longs for any sign of love from her embittered father. The only affection she has in the whole world comes from Rosaleen, their housekeeper.

When these two find themselves in more trouble than they can handle due to racial bigotry, they run away to Tiburon, S.C.--a place that apparently had special significance for Lily's mother. They are taken in by three black women--sisters named May, June and August--who are beekeepers. Through calm wisdom and deep spirituality, August empowers Lily to come to terms with the hard truths of her past.

Short passages at the beginning of each chapter are quotes from books on beekeeping. These always relate in some way to what is going on with the human characters, although I often found it necessary to go back and reread the quote after finishing the chapter in order to see it.

Most of the book is written as an adolescent would talk, but there are lyrical moments such as this:
"I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don't even know it."

I had a picture of some bees on a honeycomb that I wanted to use. I planned to partially cut around the bees' bodies, so I painted my pages with FolkArt "Vintage White" to match the wax color. I wrote my review with a Pitt F pen. The title was written with black gouache, using a Tape 1 1/2 mm nib, while the author was written with a Nikko nib. I then sprayed with Krylon Workable Fixatif. I've found that on slick surfaces, it helps to hold the gouache in place. To tie the two pages together, I cut a stencil of honeycomb, and made a border with sponge daubers and Fresco "Golden Parchment" and "Tuscan Earth" inks.

I'm sorry my scanner made a checkerboard pattern on the picture. I've noticed that it tends to do that on browns, especially.

Inside 4-Needle Book

2005-11-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

This shows an inside page in the book with one of the cover pieces extending to the left.
The calligraphic marks are some examples of form themes, ala Hans Joachim Burgert. I made them using a blue Pitt brush pen.

Front Cover of 4-Needle Book

2005-11-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

4-Needle Book

2005-11-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is the cover of a book that I made in a class this past weekend. Sharon Zeugin was the instructor, and she showed us this technique which she learned from Thomas Ingmire, who had learned it from a Japanese man.
Here's how:
1. Fold 3 signatures in half. I used 3 sheets of Arches Text Wove per signature, each 10"x13".
2. Take 2 cover sheets that are the same size as your unfolded pages. Fold each of these about 1" from one of the shorter sides. I used pieces of paste paper from Arches Text Wove that I had made in a class taught by Rosie Kelly.
3. Place the last signature inside the fold of the back cover. Lay the middle signature on top of the cover's flap. Place the first signature inside the fold of the front cover, and lay the flap side down on top of the middle signature.
4. Jog the spine to align all the signatures and clip everything together.
5. Come down about 1" from the top and lay two fingers across the spine. Mark with a pencil on either side of your fingers. Repeat at the bottom of the spine.
6. Use an X-acto knife to score the pencil marks across all layers.
7. Remove the clips and slice individual sections at score marks about 1/8" deep with the knife. Check to be sure it cuts through to the center page. Take care to keep the signatures in order.
8. Measure 2 pieces of waxed linen thread, each 2 1/2 times the length of the spine. (Heavily-waxed thread will help hold the needles in place when they're dangling as you work.)
9. Place a tapestry needle on each end of each thread, for a total of 4 needles.
10. Push needles from one thread through the 2 holes at the top of the first signature, coming from inside the fold. Repeat at the bottom holes with the other thread & needles. Try to keep the ends of the threads equidistant.
11. Attach the middle signature by sewing from outside of fold to inside. Then cross each pair of needles over and out their partner's hole to come back to the outside. Be sure your stitches are taut.
12. Attach the last signature & back cover by pushing needles from the outside to the inside. Tie the top 2 threads together with a square knot (rt. over lt & lt. over rt.), placing the knot over the hole that is nearer to the middle. Repeat with the bottom threads. Pull the threads perpendicular to the spine as you tighten them.
13. Take the bottom needles and lace under the top stitch, bringing each one underneath from opposite directions. Tighten and tie off in a square knot. Trim ends about 1/4" from knot. Repeat with other needles.
14. Score the cover extensions about 1/8" beyond the pages and fold toward the spine. You can glue the cover extensions at the top and bottom edges to form pockets, or leave them free to serve as book markers. By scoring the back one a bit further away, you can wrap it around and over the front cover, where it can be secured with a ribbon, a paper belt, a button/string closure, etc.

This makes a very sturdy book, and is fast and easy to do. You can add more signatures, attaching them as in Step 11. Try using 2 different colors of thread. Make different sizes. Vary the color of your pages. Mix the types of paper (try adding some mulberry or lace paper.) Attach ephemera to the inside flaps with glue, brads, grommets, or thread (a good place to dangle some beads!)

Consider the Lilies

2005-08-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

This spread was done in a friend's art journal. The pages were handmade paper so they were a bit of a challenge to write on with a pointed nib. The illustrative element was part of a paper napkin that was adhered over a layer of wet matte medium. Can be tricky. Here's how:
1. Decide what part of napkin you want to use. If you want clean lines, cut the shape before separating the layers. If you want a torn effect, that will be more easily done by working with just the top ply from the beginning.
2. Carefully separate the layers of the napkin.
3. Place the napkin where you want it on the spread.
4. Holding it in position, lift one edge and paint matte medium on the page with a wide flat brush. Try not to get any on the napkin itself as it will immediately curl and be very hard to control.
5. Carefully roll the napkin back into place and gently pat it down with the brush. Be very careful as the napkin is easily torn while damp. You will probably get some wrinkles. Don't fret. These just add to the charm!
6. If working with a large piece, you should apply only a small area of medium, press down one part of design, then apply a little more medium, etc.
7. If the design is to go across the gutter, use something stiff and very thin (less than 1mm thick) to press it down between the pages. Be gentle. Get it in securely but don't press too hard as you could damage the binding, as well as tear the napkin.
8. With the stiff strip holding the napkin in the gutter, carefully lift one side of the napkin and with the brush begin applying medium from the gutter out toward the edge of the page. Work quickly as the medium dries fast.
9. Repeat the process for the opposite page, although you won't need the stiffener anymore.
10. After a few minutes when it feels dry, you can remove the wax paper that was protecting the rest of the pages in the book. If you brushed the matte medium all the way to the edge of the book pages, there may be dried fragments that you will need to trim off with sharp scissors.
11. Leave the book open to dry, ideally overnight. It will feel dry in just a few minutes, but if you must close it before the next day, be sure to insert a clean piece of wax paper between the napkined pages.

2005-07-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

"Ya-Yas in Bloom" by Rebecca Wells

Reading Journal Entry: Ya-Yas in Bloom

2005-07-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

This book bounces back and forth between the 1930s (when Teensie, Vivi, Caro & Necie first met as 4-year-olds and the Ya-Yas were born) to the 1960s when they were young mothers dealing with their numerous offspring, to the present day when they rally in their intrepid manner to foil the kidnapping of a grandchild. These sassy Louisiana belles are charming, outrageous and full of life--as much a hoot as they were in Rebecca Wells two previous offerings.

For the illustration background, I found this beautiful picture of irises and other flowers in a gardening magazine. The adorable little girls were located in various clothing ads. For the two at the top of the page, I partially cut around some of the flowers and tucked the girls behind before gluing the page down. The background of the left page was done by brushing on several shades of purple acrylics and leaving unpainted white areas. The text was done with a white GellyRoll pen.

2005-06-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

"Shroud for a Nightingale" by P.D. James

Reading Journal Entry: Shroud for a Nightingale

2005-06-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

The young women of Nightingale House are there to learn to nurse and comfort the suffering. But when one of the students takes her turn as the patient in a demonstration of nursing skills, she is horribly killed when a cleaning fluid is poured down the tube inserted in her throat. Soon another student dies and Adam Dalgliesh has his work cut out for him.

P.D. James is so quotable. Here's a good one from this book: "If you are proposing to commit a sin it is as well to commit it with intelligence. Otherwise you are insulting God as well as defying him."

This book was full of words I needed to look up:
tessellated (hall) (floor) - checkered or mottled
minatory (voice) - threatening or menacing
theurgy - miracle worker
invidious - envious or injurious
lugubrious - mournful
etiolated (neck) - lacking in strength; pale
pavane (verbal) - stately court dance
plaice - large European flounder

I found this picture of a nurse in a magazine ad. I think the bottle she is holding is STP and she is "doctoring" a car. I wanted to tone down the glossiness and make it look like she was from the 1950s, so after painting over the label on the bottle and setting her against a somber backdrop, I covered her with beige tissue paper and matte medium. I used Schmincke "Madder Red" gouache for the title, using my poor rendition of Mike Kecseg's pointed pen Blackletter alphabet.

2005-06-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

"Prince Edward" by Dennis McFarland

Reading Journal Entry: Prince Edward

2005-06-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

This book is the reminiscence of the now adult Ben Rome who is recalling the events of the summer of 1959 in Prince Edward county, Virginia. The segregationist whites in power were scrambling to set up a system of private education in response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision. As a 10-year-old, he is bewildered by these machinations, but also fascinated by the conflicting emotions that are evident in the adults around him. His sister Lainie is depressed about giving up college for marriage and an unwanted pregnancy. His parents are constantly at odds, and his twenty-something brother seems to be headed for serious trouble. As Ben and his black playmate gather eggs each day on his father's chicken farm, he worries about what will happen to Burghardt when the "separate but equal" schools are closed. In trying to understand what is going on, Ben eavesdrops and snoops, and learns more than he bargained for. Hovering over everyone like a malevolent spider is his powerful grandfather who takes perverse pleasure in humiliating Ben and anyone who can't stand up to him. This escalates beyond mere "teasing," and when it does, there is a violent consequence.

I was just about a year younger than Lainie in 1959, and I vaguely recall my classmates disputing the "rightness" of integration, but it was a few more years before it came to Nacogdoches. When it did, I had already moved away, and the whites must have become resigned to it by then, because I don't recall hearing about any violence--which is surprising considering how racist we all were back then.

My muse came through for me again. I had painted the pages of this spread with Americana brand "Graphite" acrylic to try and match the background of the eggs photo. I wrote the text with a white Gelly Roll pen since I knew it would show up well on the dark paint, although I used a white Prismacolor pencil for the title and author. Only after the fact, did I realize how perfectly it went with the theme of the book...looks just like writing on a blackboard.

2005-06-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

"The Good Neighbor" by William Kowalski

Reading Journal Entry: The Good Neighbor

2005-06-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Although this author has a beautiful way with words, I did not find the plot itself particularly compelling, but it was just a necessary vehicle for the characters anyway. Every one of them was a bit strange in a Garp-like way. The Baltimore Sun recommended it "for readers who enjoy the eccentric and rambling family narratives of John Irving." That was in a review of Eddie's Bastard which I haven't read, but it certainly applies to this book, too.

A young NYC couple happen upon a 150 year-old house in Pennsylvania and buy it for two very different reasons. Colt wants it as a status symbol of his huge success in the stock market, while Francie sees it as a way to gain the peace and solitude she feels she needs as a blocked poet. Scattered throughout the narrative are glimpses of the Musgrove family that built the house and lived in it for several generations. When Francie discovers an old cemetery and a hidden journal, she is entranced by the previous inhabitants, but Colt is repelled by the idea of dead people on his property and has the bodies exhumed. This leads to some unexpected consequences from their neighbor and to a marital showdown as well.

I wrote the review on a piece of vellum. It was printed with rosebuds that you can barely see. I used a green Copic Multi-Liner pen 0.1, which worked just great on the vellum. I had previously painted the background green, so when I decided to use these pages for this spread, I added darker green strokes to simulate grass. I found the tombstones on the cover of a book about doing genealogical research. After cutting around them, I adhered them at the bottom with double-stick tape, but used some foam tape at the top to make them stand away from the page just a bit.

2005-06-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

"Islands" by Anne Rivers Siddons

Reading Journal Entry: Islands

2005-06-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

This story took place in and around Charleston. Much of it centered on a big old beach house that was shared by several longtime friends, so it was natural to feature it as the illustrative element of this spread. I thought the warm colors that I chose for the background contrasted nicely with the dark blue of the sky, so I decided to use blue gouache to write the headings. I had seen the technique of extending an existing picture by continuing the scene past the actual boundaries, so I decided to give it a try here. Since my drawing skills are limited, this looked like something I could handle...just the sky, a road, and some grass. It's not very well done, but it was interesting to try.

2005-06-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

"Hard Revolution" by George Pelecanos

Reading Journal Entry: Hard Revolution

2005-06-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

This story is set in Washington, D.C., mostly just before and during the 1968 riots sparked by the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. The first few chapters take place in 1959, introducing characters whose paths will entwine later. There's Derek Strange, a young black boy caught shop-lifting, but given a break that sets his life on a law-abiding path; his older brother Dennis; and their hardworking parents. By 1968, Derek is a young cop and Dennis is a pot-smoking slacker. The narrative unfolds two scenarios: a plan by Dennis and two street thugs to rob a store, and a plot by three white hoodlums to rob a bank--but only after they drunkenly kill a young black man for sport. The action is fueled by race relations and is a study of a society tearing itself apart as tensions escalate. This tale is a prequel to several other novels that feature middle-aged P.I. Derek Strange. The author, George Pelecanos, will be added to my "Want to Read" list.

2005-06-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

"Haunted Ground" by Erin Hart

Reading Journal Entry: Haunted Ground

2005-06-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

When a farmer who is cutting peat discovers the head of a red-haired woman in his bog, it sets in motion an investigation that involves an archaeologist and a visiting American pathologist. They are consulted because peat bogs preserve bodies so thoroughly that it's difficult to know how long one has been dead. When the investigators find a 16th-century ring in her mouth, the initials engraved on it, along with local folklore, lead them to suspect that the head is that of a woman who was executed for killing her infant. But where is her body? The police aren't too interested in solving a 500-year-old mystery, as they are occupied with the disappearance of the wife and young son of a local entrepreneur, Hugh Osborne. Gossips whisper that he did away with them, and accuse him of fathering the little daughter of Una McGann. There are, of course, other suspects including Una's dour brother, Hugh's cousin Lucy, and her teenage son Jeremy. As the story progresses, it becomes obvious that someone is trying to scare the scientists away. The who and why make for an entertaining tale.

I was pleased to find this illustration in a book about Ireland, because it shows a building with a tower like the one in the story. I spent hours working on this spread, even after using Mark Van Stone's "easy" instructions for drawing the Celtic knotwork border. Actually, he does simplify the process, but I'm so spatially challenged that it took me forever, and is far from perfect. But I like it anyway. I'm also happy with the way the lighter greens in the background that I painted before doing the knotwork, give it a dappled look, as though sunlight is reflecting on it. This is something that I could have never planned for. This is why I love slopping acrylic paints down on a page. Sometimes I get such a wonderful surprise like this after completing a spread. I truly, truly believe in my artistic muse. She only came into my life 3 years ago when I learned to just let go and trust the process. For too many years I had been a perfectionist, and wouldn't even try something until I had planned out the whole thing. I was transformed while taking Judy Melvin's class that she calls "Don't Think, Just Get It Down." And I will be privileged to take it again in September when she comes to Houston.

2005-06-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

"Nights of Rain and Stars" by Maeve Binchy

Reading Journal Entry: Nights of Rain and Stars

2005-06-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

This was not one of Maeve Binchy's better books. She had too many characters and subplots going on, so that none of them felt fully developed. I guess all best-selling authors are pressured to churn out books, but it shows when their hearts aren't in it. In this book, a group of tourists interact with each other and with the locals in a small Greek village, while we learn bits and pieces of their lives--but not enough of the details to really cause us to care about them. They're all troubled characters whose problems get miraculously solved by book's end, but I felt like yawning. I have loved most of Binchy's books, so this one was a real disappointment for me.

I had pre-painted these two pages with nothing in mind at the time. I used several different shades of blue, just randomly brushing them on. I certainly wasn't consciously trying to create the look of water, but I guess my muse was. When I had first brushed on the dark paint, it rippled the page near the gutter, so when I brushed on the lighter color it only hit the tops of the ripples. But now the page is perfectly flat after being pressed under a weight.

The picture is from a travel book about Greece, and the postcards are a rubberstamp from Aspects of Design. I stamped it twice on manilla CS, and cut them apart, then reassembled for a dimensional look. I glued a real fiber right on top of the stamped string.

2005-06-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

"Slaves of Obsession" by Ann Perry

Reading Journal Entry: Slaves of Obsession

2005-06-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Because this novel takes place partly in America during the Battle of Bull Run, I decided to write the review in Spencerian Script which was a business style handwriting developed in the United States that was widespread in 19th century America. It is similar to Copperplate, but has simpler lowercase letters but very ornate capitals. It was the script used by Abraham Lincoln. By that time period, steel nibs had been invented, and by applying and releasing pressure the writer would alternately create thick and thin strokes.

Since my background color was quite dark, I wrote with white gouache. The inkwell and nib were cut from a wonderful piece of paper printed with all kinds of old-time writing tools. I found the photograph in a children's book about the Civil War, and it shows a number of injured men like the ones tended by Hester Monk.

2005-06-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

"The Intelligencer" by Leslie Silbert

Reading Journal Entry: The Intelligencer

2005-06-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

This book featured Christopher Marlowe who was stabbed to death. In addition to being a poet and playwright, it has been long suspected that he was a secret agent in the service of Queen Elizabeth I. The idea for the eye peeking through came from the cover. I went to the author's website and found the page of Elizabethan code. I was able to get a very controlled burn to "age" the edges and create the hole by using an incense stick. The first time I tried this, I just used a match, and even though I had made a damp line beyond where I wanted the burn to stop, it burned more than I intended. The incense stick worked great, although it took time and patience.

I first painted the left page with Apple Barrel "Sandstone" paint. After it was very dry, I laid down masking tape about 3/4" from the edge and painted the border and the entire right page with Delta Ceramcoat "Black Cherry." I had not burnished the edges of the tape because I wanted the paint to creep under just a bit and give a ragged look. After writing the review, I painted my hand with the red paint to make a "bloody" handprint, and flicked on a few drops of "blood." I love this spread, although one of my friends upon seeing it said, "You're weird!"

2005-06-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

"Cover Her Face" by P.D. James

Reading Journal Entry: Cover Her Face

2005-06-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

This book was P.D. James' debut novel in which she introduced her erudite Scotland Yard detective Adam Dalgliesh. I had read several of her later novels featuring this character, so I was looking forward to seeing how she began with him, and I wasn't disappointed.

Sally Jupp is a beautiful, headstrong young woman. She has been living in a home for unwed mothers, and when her baby is a few months old, she is placed as a housemaid and nurse's assistant in a household where the invalid patriarch is dying. The night she abruptly announces her engagement to the family's heir is the night she is rudely put in her place--strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Dalgliesh brilliantly finds her killer among a whole houseful of suspects, almost all of whom had reason to wish her dead.

The picture was an advertisement in an interior design magazine, and I doubt that her room was as nice as this one, but since it had the requisite entry window and cup of cocoa, it just begged to be the scene of her demise. I scuffed it a bit with very fine sandpaper to age it. The title is written on a small piece of Canson Vidalon vellum. I used Scotch Vellum tape to attach it, and it really doesn't show through. The picture was cut at the edge of the crown molding, so the ceiling is actually the acrylic painted page. It is difficult to see, but if you click on it for an enlarged view, you will be able to just make out that I went over the chain of the birdcage with a gold gel pen, extending it to a hook in the "ceiling."

2005-06-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

"11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour" by Joseph Persico

Reading Journal Entry: 11th Month, 11th Day, ...

2005-06-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

For this book, which was about the First World War, I used khaki colored paint for the background. The numbers that make up the title were stamped with a numeral from a really old set of rubber stamps that I found in an antique store in Nacogdoches a few years ago. They are housed in a wooden box that's about 10" x 21" x 1.5" deep and appear to have been used by a teacher. The wood mounts have grooves cut that allow you to line them up on strips to spell out words in a straight line. It tickles my fancy to think that perhaps these might be from the WWI era. I used Nick Bantock's "Sapmoss Green" ink. I like how it dried with a textured look.

I found the newspaper page in a book that contained significant front pages of the New York Times, and the photo was from another book about WWI. I used some photo corners on it to make it look as though it might have come from someone's album.

2005-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

"New Mercies" by Sandra Dallas

Reading Journal Entry: New Mercies

2005-06-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

The background for these pages was made by first brushing them with a quinacridone magenta glaze. When that was dry, I brushed on Anita's acrylic paint in "Running River" green. Before it was completely dry, a damp piece of boat sponge was pulled across to lift off parts of the paint, letting the magenta glaze show through.

The left page features a photocopy of a Natchez antebellum home, covered with a piece of printed vellum (that's the flowers and butterflies.) I used Dr. Martin's Iridescent Calligraphy Color in "Copperplate Gold" to write the title and author.

2005-06-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

"The Shifting Tide" by Anne Perry

Reading Journal Entry: The Shifting Tide

2005-06-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've read several books by Anne Perry recently, and this is my favorite in the Monk series. I am quite pleased with the illustration that I found to accompany the review. I think it is evocative of the sinister mood of this story. I found it in a book about clipper ships. Using a black Pitt pen, I extended the lines of the sails and ropes to lead the viewer's eye completely off the page. Angling the picture seemed to be in keeping with how off-balance the main characters felt as they were manipulated by the antagonist. I tried to emulate an alphabet from an exemplar that I got from Alan Blackman many years ago. I believe it can be found in the book "Sixty Alphabets" published by Thames & Hudson. I wrote it with black gouache, using a #4 Mitchell nib.

2005-06-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

"My Jim" by Nancy Rawles

Reading Journal Entry: My Jim

2005-06-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun making the illustration for this book. After glazing the pages with a mixture of Golden's Yellow Oxide fluid acrylic and Soft Gel Matte Medium, I added a touch of soft red by pulling a sponge across the pages in a few places. I wrote the title with a #1 Mitchell nib and walnut ink. It doesn't show up very well in the scan, but I drew in some tiny lines on the letters with a dark brown Pitt artist pen (size S) to simulate the look of ones carved into wood. Since a small knife plays a recurring role in the story, this seemed apropos.

We learn about Sadie's life as she relates it to her granddaughter while they keep their hands busy making a quilt. This gave me the inspiration for making a paper quilt on the right-hand page. I actually used my sewing machine to stitch around the woman's picture, although the other "stitches" are drawn with a micro pen. The triangles were cut from bits of scrapbooking paper and attached to a piece of sticker paper.

2005-06-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

"In A Dry Season" by Peter Robinson

Reading Journal Entry: In A Dry Season

2005-06-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

This was the first book I had ever read by Peter Robinson. I love a good mystery, and I particularly have a thing for those that are set in England, so I was delighted to discover this author who will take his place alongside P.D. James, Elizabeth George, Ruth Rendell, Deborah Crombie, and Stephen Booth (to name a few of my favorites.)

The background for these pages was Anita's brand acrylic paint in "Turquoise" and "Moccasin Brown". The white writing was done with a Gelly Roll pen in the Art Nouveau alphabet.

2005-04-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

"The Lost Mother" by Mary McGarry Morris

Reading Journal Entry: The Lost Mother

2005-04-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

For the illustration of this book review, I decided to use a photo of my mother who was a child during the Depression. It was serendipitous that the only photo I have of her during that era shows her holding a cat, since one poignant episode in the book is what happens to Margaret's cat and Thomas's part in that. A significant, recurring theme in this story is Thomas's ambivalent feelings toward Margaret. It is obvious that he loves her and feels responsible for her well-being, but she also aggravates and exasperates him. Sometimes this leads him to do mean things to her, which he regrets even as a 70-year-old.

I wrote the title in casual Roman caps that I learned from Sherri Kiesel. These were done with a black .8 Copic Multiliner pen, with the horizontal lines drawn by a Scarlet Red Prismacolor pencil. The background is acrylic paint in three shades of green (Celedon, Sage, English Ivy) with touches of Sandstone. The text was written with a .05 Copic pen.

2005-04-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

"Missing Persons" by Stephen White

Reading Journal Entry: "Missing Persons"

2005-04-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

This book takes place in Boulder in December and January. It doesn't show particularly well in the scan, but the silhouettes of the people are speckled with white in imitation of snow. This was acrylic paint applied with a sponge over a stencil cut from an actual photograph of four people. I didn't want their features to show, as a way to indicate the theme of people who are missing. I am not at all happy with the way I wrote the title. I used walnut ink, and seemed to have no control over how it came out of the pen. Gouache works so much better on these acrylic-painted pages.

2005-04-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

"A Christmas Visitor" by Anne Perry

Reading Journal Entry: "A Christmas Visitor"

2005-04-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

I made the illustration for this book review by first painting the pages with purple acrylic paints. The estate that is at the heart of the story was represented by tearing around a picture of a home that I found in a British tourism magazine. To soften the torn edges and blend them into the background, I used rubberstamping pigment inks on a fingertip dauber. The title was written with gold gouache, while the author's name was gold gouache with a bit of indigo added to it.

2005-04-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

"The Confessor" by Daniel Silva