Altered Silver

Here are a couple more spreads from my ongoing altered text project, Odyssey. The project continues to move right along; I have about 70 pages completed at this point.

« pages 164 & 165 »
The media for p. 164 is watercolor and colored pencil; for p. 165 they are gouache and Sharpie. Each page also had a gesso base layer.

The design of p. 165 was inspired by an old, syndicated episode of Frasier in which a painting could just be seen on a far wall of the main apartment. I only caught a quick glance of it, but it suggested a somewhat-cubist flower vase that seemed like a cool idea to include on a page.

Text:
thought...ask...spoken...
messages...tell...statement...
told...asked...messages...
question...statement...type...
working working

I was working and just splitting persistently in need.
It was obvious that I was going to be
I was going to be
!psycho!
He infuriated me.
I want a good thing now!


« pages 84 & 85 »
The media for these pages include watercolor, colored pencils, gel pen and Sharpie (alcohol ink pen).

Text:
He was a little absent-minded.
"You have been spoiled probably."
Increasingly I suspected he was splattered crazy.

Sorry.
No way.
Manic outrage didn't ruffle the truth.

 

 

. 

Here are a couple yellow/orange/brown spreads of altered text from my long-term Odyssey project.

« pages 128 & 129 »
The media for these pages include watercolor, gel pens and Pitt markers, on the customary base of gesso.

Text:
fervent hope
I would hope
would hope
I would hope

I agreed to see him.
To my surprise, I discovered two.
They glowed.
They wait.

He would be giving his part.
His part: extraordinary, personal regard, completely convincing.
He loved.
We shared.




« pages 156 & 157 »
The decoration of page 156 was inspired by a banner advertisement I saw somewhere on the internet. (Nice to know those ads are good for something.) Over the gesso base, I used wax crayon and colored pencils.

Page 157 required more effort than it appears. After the gesso base, I used Masquepen to lay down liquid frisket over the selected text areas. Aside from a quick test on a far back page, this would be the first use of frisket in this book. I also masked off the page margins with low-tack tape. With the page thus prepared, I sponged on a variety of watercolors, adding a few splatters as well. When the paint was dry, I lifted the tape, removed the frisket and added the brown marker outlines. I'd thought I was going to do a bit more, but the sponging turned out so well that I decided the page was finished.

Text:
I told myself I was likely to fade
(knowing he was magic)
I said I was telling myself I was circling.
I couldn't see.
I waited, then said...
Some questions, my questions, answer the questions!
I said, I said, I needed to know, I needed!

Now?
— Bientôt.




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Squeezing in a slice of time to post another spread from my ongoing altered text project Odyssey.

« Pages 140 & 141 »
Page 140 illustrates an intense colloquy, and the page design is intended to depict the contrasting emotions of the speakers. I love it when I find such useful paragraphs as this one containing four instances of the word "notice;" great providence! This page is gouache and colored pencil on a gesso base.

Page 141 continues the story after the conversation falls silent. Gesso base followed by watercolor and topped off with Sharpie extra-fine markers.

Text:
he:
can't you

No, I can't.
I'm okay with--
But I don't like--
I don't think--
now I feel--
I think--

he:
notice
notice
notice
notice

I--
I'm--
what the--

He knows no problem.
As I paused, I looked for one
Then I examined, studied the problem.

watching him watching
He said nothing to me.





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Here are a couple more spreads from "Odyssey," my long-term altered text project.

« Pages 136 & 137 »
For such a very brief page (only 4-5 short paragraphs) as 136, there was quite a gathering of the word "do" (also present in "does" and "don't") which was impossible to pass over. Fortuitously, the page is also in an ideal location of the story for indicating a wholehearted agreement. Media: gesso, ballpoint, colored pencil.

The design of page 137 was executed by half-following a watercolor tutorial for painting raindrops. The technique was necessarily modified for application on the book's page, over gesso, and it was finalized with assistance from colored pencils.

Text:
I do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do!

I had a long report.
I have a report to agree to wager Camelot.
I was going to ask, absolutely sure.
I love.

Process On.


« Pages 158 & 159 »
Page 158 had been inked about a year before it finally received color with (Staedtler Karat Aquarell) watercolor pencils which I hadn't had the year before. The page turned out pleasantly jewel-like, so I believe the wait was definitely worth it. Media for this page include gesso, watercolor, watercolor pencils (used dry), black marker and Zig Opaque Writer (for the white dots).

Page 159 received its treatment very early on, in the autumn of 2005, decorated with violet and light blue ballpoint pens. Some time later, I added a light watercolor overlay to a few small sections.

Text:
I asked.
And somewhere in my mind deeply, I discovered unmistakable recognition.
I unmistakably know.

(lover)
All of it was God.
All of it was me.
(lovers)
(lovers)
(lovers)
All of it was one one I.




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More pages from "Odyssey," my ongoing altered text book project.

« Pages 80 & 81 »
The media for this spread were watercolors and colored pencil on a gesso base.

I was attempting to use the colored pencil to emulate a particular appearance that I'd seen in an abstract oil painting. About halfway along, I forgot about the oil painting look and just continued playing with what the pencils were doing. In the end, portions of it do resemble oils and other portions resemble watercolor, and whatever it all adds up to, I like it.

Text:
My investigations
(so twisted)
bad news - good news
I impatiently need time for God and angels.

To me, the best thing was doing some good.
That interest didn't impress him.


« Pages 82 & 83 »
For these pages, the media include watercolor, gouache and colored pencil on a gesso base.

I had big plans for that wonderfully large expanse of page 82; I wanted to really show off a melding of watercolor and gouache where one flows smoothly into the other. Let's just say there are some plans (of any size) that don't exactly get off the ground as anticipated. Ultimately I like what emerged on this page, even though it's quite different from the "big plan."

Page 83 is also different from the original intent, but again, I'm not having any problem living with how the page finished up.

Text:
[a big open space]

Your point, I said, was a joke.
(tease)
(joke)
You admitted that you may be a jokester.
But why?



Technorati Tags: altered books, art journals, palimpsest, altered text, mixed media

« Pages 60 & 61 »

Media for these pages include gesso, marker, ballpoint, watercolors, colored pencils and opalescent smiley-face stickers.

Yes, really. Opalescent smiley-face stickers. They don't look exactly as the scan shows (because of the opalescent factor being difficult to scan) but it's close enough to give a pretty good idea. Which came first, the stickers or the page? The stickers came first and presented the challenge to work them into my altered text book without disrupting the "storyline" of it. Happily Page 61 offered some perfect text that also worked well for the story. (Members of the AlteredText Yahoogroup will notice Tom's "cracked plaster" look used here, too.)

Text:
Why? Why? Why?

Most of me knew
Most of me adored
Most of me laughs
Most of me was surprised.

I saw smiling.
I saw smiling.


« Page 67 »

Media for this page were gesso, marker, watercolors and colored pencils.

This recto chapter opening faces a blank page for which my current plans are to leave blank. One of the early pages to be worked, I fiddled with a comic-style mock shadow to make one section of text visually indent into the paper, and the other section to be raised above it. If I'd been planning ahead instead of just fiddling around, the final effect could've been much cooler.

Text:
Everyone sticking out
or everyone ignored.
Who 
changed
changed
changed
the suggested need?



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A year after beginning my altered text project, it is still happily in progress and slowly but surely coming along. Here's some more from it.

« Pages 70 & 71 »
The media for this spread include watercolor and colored pencils on a gesso base.

After having completed the initial inking and while in the middle of applying the gesso, I noticed there was a much better word choice for "description" on page 71. The word "supposition" was right there on a nearby line and would have expressed the thought more clearly. Oops, the opportune time was already well past so I continued onward, but it sure was interesting at that late time to discover the (previously overlooked) better word. Once spotted, it was blatant and hard to believe I'd missed it.

Text:
I was frustrated, ill-equipped...
I was seriously, defiantly seriously,
thinking about leaving, retiring strenuously.

...couldn't believe, couldn't believe...
Now you know, I said in defense,
supporting a description that he was defeated.

Somebody should have told me.




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At long last, a chance to post some more pages from my altered text project. I'm nurturing a new routine at this time, in which I ink a new page and gesso a previously-inked spread each day. I'm still scrambling to fit in coloring/painting time, but it's good to have progress of some degree being made on a more regular basis for this project.


« Pages 78 & 79 »
Media for page 78: gouache and watercolor on a gesso base, with gel pen spiral doodles.
Media for page 79: watercolor and colored pencils on a gesso base. This is the page that taught me (the hard way) that even permanent Pitt pen can be water soluable when the pen is used over gesso. :o

Text:
Step back.
Quietly he managed to hold off from (I assumed) a fever so high.
I was distressed, abrupt, pontifical.
...but of course...no doubt...
I tried to talk.
The silence was scary...long...long...


« Pages 68 & 69 »
Media for this spread: watercolor, colored pencils and a fluorescent highlight marker on a gesso base. This spread was colored before I was regularly sanding the gesso, so it shows a lot of texture, and I used a white eraser on the margins (and text balloons) after the scan was made, so the pages look a little cleaner than this shows.

Text:
Running chances to make the goal.
Risky.
Suddenly puzzle, danger, risks.
Russian roulette.
Dangerous risk.
Was love toast? toast?
Suddenly...freaked-out...have to...stop.
Don't.
No.
--interrupt--


« Pages 58 & 59 »
Media for page 58: ballpoint pen and wax crayon. I positioned the eight squares first, then sought the text within those squares. It forms a rather staccato delivery, but I find it works out here. The hatched lines were done with blue and green ballpoint, cross-hatched within the squares. Lighter shades of blue and green crayon were colored over the hatching in the center and border areas. This is the first use of crayon in the book, but probably not the last.
Media for page 59: watercolor over a gesso base, followed by streaks of gel pen in the outer sections.

Text:
struggle...don't start...
don't start...vivid...
sorry...to sneak under order...
head off...and couldn't know...
I never would have the answer.
I'd seen! I'd seen! through a sudden high fever...
But receiving absolutely nothing admitted.



« Pages 3 & 4 »
Media for these pages: watercolor, gouache and colored pencil on a gesso base. Despite how it looks here, these two pages do not face each other as a spread but are back-to-back and together form the very short Prologue. Page 3 is the first text page of the book, the one I initially stared at for over an hour before flipping through the book for an easier place to begin. Six months later, the page (and its verso) fell together with surprising and satisfying ease. Sometimes it pays to wait.

Text:
I lived.
Peaceful, curling dark mists.
Camelot.
I never expected I could open.
Luminous, beautiful, bright, he sang out love, a magic message of matters of life and death, extravagantly to change my life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If you've made an altered text book, are working on an altered text project or are ready to begin one, consider joining the AlteredText Yahoogroup for daily inspiration, tips, sharing pages and discussion of all things altered text.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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More completed pages from my altered text project, Odyssey.

« Pages 72 & 73 »
Page 72 involved an experiment with gouache that took a bad turn. I ended up covering most of the color with gesso and starting over, falling back on watercolor and colored pencil for the hues. Then I wasn't happy with the overall sameness of the colored area, so I added a few impressions of a rubber stamp design. I thought I'd be adding more stamping, but when I reached this point, it seemed sufficient.

The unwanted text of page 73 was diffused with a multiplicity of drawn spirals. Color was added only with colored pencils.

Text:
I doubted, guffawed!
I meant it!
(damn rattled display)
He was blamed.
I flashed indignant.
That. That. That.
In a huff,
refused to believe his pearly gates.
Your heaven absolutely the most asinine, insane, and idiotic thing...
(You have no idea.)
...ever described.
That's right. I was right, you know.



« Pages 74 & 75 »
Gesso, watercolor, colored pencils. (Some diffusion on page 75 was accomplished by drawing designs instead of applying gesso.) I must admit I'm delighted at how this spread worked out. The hues progress (left to right) from avocado to cobalt, connected by the yellow/chartruese swirl, yet each page also stands independantly.

Text:
Disposed to believe he had patience.
(Lord knows.)
That kind of quiet obviously telling me to shut up, but I ignored
and said something else at him, spoke troubled, distractedly, unsettling, not well.

...something said...
He might have objected but five million blows obliged.

Tired, worried, slipping into the curving living like the window of this sudden high fever,
probably, maybe through/into a dream.


« Pages 76 & 77 »
Page 76 needed more than the solid blue I gave it initially, so I used a darker blue gel pen to draw double-spirals through the colored space.

The challenge of page 77 was in trying to cover the white of the gesso while retaining the subdued nature of the hues.

Text:
I stopped - irritably, abruptly - distressed at the intensity.

Subdued...
gray...
it felt forever to me...



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More pages from "Odyssey," my long-term (440 pages) altered text project.

« Pages 164 & 165 »
These pages became (if I recall the order correctly) the first spread that was treated as a spread when it came time for the color. The odd amoeba-thing is intended to represent a blast of light penetrating the violet darkness. The emerging story of this book is so abstract, I hesitate to be too literal in the artwork.

Text:
He: Just receive.
To talk to each other...
He gave genuine focus.
He gave a gift.
He explained that time was in time,
schedule nothing about me.

He gestured at life.
He said, love is for you.
He looked beautiful.
I knew he loved.
I asked indeed.


« Pages 168 & 169 »
Another pair of pages to be treated as a full spread for the color, to show a graded transition from Chapter 13 into the new chapter.

Thus far, all of the colored pages tend to gradiate through the spectrum (yellow is followed by green, green is followed by blue, etc.) I don't know if this aspect will continue throughout the entire book, but it has made for some interesting color selections along the way.

Text:
I was/wasn't hidden.
I accepted the long time.
He smiled.
You know a good future in front of me.
I'm determined to go there.

I'd leapt with the wonderful angel.
...angel...



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