Altered Silver

« pages 152 & 153 »
Hurray for new art toys, which both of these pages enjoyed. After the initial base of gesso and watercolor, page 152 became a place to play with new gel pens in many colors. Some of them even glitter a little (not visible in the scan). When inking 152, one of my early pages, I was so intent on drawing the "frame" that I drew right through (twice!) one of my selected words: size. After searching through the book, I made a photocopy of a different page on where I also found the word "size," then I snipped out the word and pasted it over the one I'd inked through. That seemed like a reasonable solution. Later however, when I sanded after the gesso was dry, brzzt! the photocopied text sanded right off before I realized it. Ermph. At that point, I left it alone.

Page 153 has been mentioned several times in this tale already, because it was the very first page of this book to actually have words discovered and connected together.

At first, I actually tried to start at the beginning of the novel, but I stared at the first page for almost an hour and couldn't think of a thing to do with it! So I flipped randomly through the book, one of the pages caught my eye, and suddenly I saw disparate words on the page "come together." That's when I began marking them with pencil. That initial page was at the end of Chapter 12.
(From the post here.)

At long last, page 153 has received color, which turned out to be new Derwent watercolor pencils (used dry). Talk about intense...these colors fairly leap off the page. And I must say, I was pretty happy to have this particular page turn out to be so vibrant. 


Text:
Well, I'll see hefty years, very arduous.
(size, size)
It's a lot of study.
(heavy)
Get somebody else.
I'm going to cut down, seriously...
["Shhh," he whispered.]
...but that isn't what I did.

I was moving.
I knew exactly where.
I was there in time.
I was waiting there at the edge.
I was there because sooner or later,
I'd gleam.

I saw light sparkle, luminous like a song.
Laughing
Untroubled, I squinted into the sun, but only for a moment.
God smiled.
Life kissed me.

Some more pages from the ongoing Odyssey altered text project.

« page 145 and page 155»
Each of these pages is the first to a chapter, and I composited them together for ease of display. Basic technique on both: gesso base, then watercolor followed by colored pencils.

Text for 145:
Examine
Listen
Look
Understand
(preconception preconception assumption assume assume assume)

Text for 155:
I saw mountains only...
...some really mattered.
...some - too many - ghosts.
...some - too many - vague, hazy ghosts, more.
...some - too many - clouded, more.
I respond to seduction, casual, tangled.
I respond to seduction, private, tangled.

« pages 64 & 65 »
While page 64 followed the usual route, page 65 deviated greatly. It offered very little to start with, a short paragraph of 4-5 lines at the end of a chapter. Happily, I found a statement that fit with the story, but then the challenge was how to treat this tiny page in an appropriate manner. It remained, marked and waiting, for a long time before I settled on this solution, an overall application of a holographic paper. I carefully cut out the area for the selected text to show through and used acrylic medium as glue. Used more than the paper could easily handle, so it didn't lie flatly. But the ripples turned out to be a plus-factor because they really emphasize the holographic nature of the paper.

Text:
"How long for this proud duty?" I asked him.
("Just the last thing, the last thing left.")
I have included nothing but the question.

A lot of people want magic.

Recently, I have been doing more drawing than coloring in my Angels & Aliens project, so I have many b/w spreads waiting for color. But here are a few more that have been finished.

In the A&A project, I draw these original angel aliens (or alien angels) directly into the book with a Bic Smoothie ballpoint. Many passes are made with the pen to define and thicken the lines. Then they are colored with wax crayon and colored pencil.

More from Odyssey, as this altered text tale continues to unfold.

« pages 126 & 127 »
The media for these pages were watercolor and colored pencil on a gesso base with Pitt marker for the black lines. It was fun having a clear metaphor to illustrate on page 127. Most of the time, the page designs are simply decorative play with color or technique. Not that I'm complaining.

Text:
I lied.
I know the alternative:
I'd have to tell
tell
tell

safeguard
barricade
defensive
I petulantly said only a few words to him:
no no no no no no no

« pages 146 & 147 »
Again a gesso base, followed by watercolor and colored pencil.

One of the perks inherent in altered text is the creative nature of saying something more poetically than it would be stated in regular prose. On page 146, working from the phrase "sure about this," it was easy to connect "I'm sure about this" or even "I'm very sure about this." But searching around further for additional or alternate words to express the same thought can often contribute a fuller rhythm and prove more satisfying.

Then again, p. 147 shows that it can also be satisfying to keep it short and simple.

Text:
I'd looked closely.
I was blunt naked sure about this.
Very sure.
I want.

I nodded.
God was smiling.
I was in a very good mood.

« pages 50 & 51 »
When I prepared to paint these pages, I glanced at some colors in the studio and got excited at what I saw. Ooh, I want to use this orange with that blue and a touch of this purple and that yellow... -- and I hopped right to putting the ideas into action. I was about halfway through the page when I suddenly realized those pretty colors were acrylic paints, not gouache! What a surprise that was. Since this happened to be the "craft" type of paint, it's much more chalky than regular acrylic and therefore less likely to stick to anything on the facing page. To be certain, I made sure to use only watercolors and colored pencil on p. 51, left the book open several hours for this spread to dry thoroughly and also inserted blotter cards behind and between the pages for a few days after the book was closed. I don't think the situation really required those extra measures, but doing them didn't interfere with anything either. Mostly, the error struck me as funny, that I was so taken with the colors that I failed to note what the medium was.

Text:
They frown.
They stop the dangerous new.
They shoo the new.
They imagined all the years better,
remote, old
They imagined all the years so alluring.
How old, past?

How long?
-classic-
-classic-
Old, everything's gotta be old.
old
How long?

Another spread from Odyssey. The detail for these pages got a bit lengthy, so I'm giving it its own posting.

« pages 160 & 161 »
Speaking of appearances like velvet, that would also describe page 160. Well, half of it. There's something about those densely dark colors that brings out the velveteen look. I'm pretty sure this page is also gouache (although it might be watercolor), with gel pen texturing on the lighter side, and decorative bordering on the darker side made with a white Uni-Ball Signo, one of the most useful and reliable pens ever made. This was the first time I used only a vertical half of a page, but loving the look, I've used it again later.

Oh, the joys of experimentation! I decided to use splattering for page 161, just to be different. Oh, it was different, alright. First came gesso and watercolor, then I used MasquePen to protect my selected text. For the lower portion of the page, I simply taped a paper mask over it, neglecting to note that the mask should have only covered the "caution tape" area and the bottom corner really should have been receiving the same treatment as the upper section. Then I prepared some watercolors and a bit of china white gouache, loaded up my brush and splattered...and did it some more, and some more, and some more.

Important to know: one cannot really control the splatters, even when one thinks oh sure he can. And you don't really want to hear how I finally learned that; just understand that I'm still leaning into or cleaning off dots of paint pretty much everywhere in the studio...and being so glad it was only watercolor.

And then, when all was dry and it was time to remove the masking fluid, portions of the print removed also. For future occurances of using masking fluid in the book, I did some testing on a back page and found it worked pretty well to lay down a coat of acrylic medium over the page first. The masking fluid lifts right off the layer of medium without harming the text beneath it. Of course, both results could vary between books, depending on the paper and text ink of the particular book.

I used the thinnest pen I had handy to redraw missing letters so broken words would be legible. It's not great, but passable. Then I applied colored pencils to give more depth to the coloration and to enable smoother gradations in the tones. Also to apply the yellow for the "caution tape," and to fill in the neglected lower right corner.

If everything always went as expected, there'd be no surprises and we'd never learn anything. I love this page, warts and all.

Text:
One had perfect control - yet both were waiting for the call.
Recollection was sketchy but passionate.
I was with soul.

Both had one deep dark secret
but...
I knew I'd see - remember - his name
his name, his true name...
I stopped rushing suddenly.
It was the sentinel there:
DO NOT CROSS.