Altered Silver

Before the demise of the Altered Text Yahoogroup in July 2008, I managed to squeak out 6 more (dual) pages in the project using Catching the Light by Susan Pope. As I had done so from the start with this book, each page was first treated digitally. The later physical treatment was then structured after the digital as closely as possible, within the limitations of materials. It was really a fascinating approach; although I kept the possibilities of physical materials in mind as I worked each page, the ease of digital tech still inspired appearances I might not otherwise have conceptualized.

In each picture, the digital version is on the left, and the physical page is to the right.

Page 68: "In a whisper, he whispers. He pushes. He wants. He begs. He staggers. Too, too anxious."
Physical media: gesso, colored pencils, marker

Page 69: "The window opens to his important (but nervous) rest. Maybe it has love."
Physical media: gesso, gouache, colored pencils, marker

Page 70: "I need the voice of truth. Love flushes clean. Wait for wisdom and feel a flash of memory in the voice."
Physical media: gesso, watercolors, gouache, marker, gel ink

Page 71: "Relax now. No more crying."
Physical media: gel pen

Page 220: "Love, love, love...the wind...the water, the water...the waves."
(Note the third "love" was only found later, therefore absent from the digital version.)
Physical media: gel pen, colored pencils, gesso

Page 221: "Look, I believe you know yes, of course."
Physical media: a crazy amount of gel and ballpoint inks

I don't expect to be actively working again on this project for some while, if ever, but one must never say never. It's just difficult to predict if this project will go any further. Still, I'm rather fond of the author's generosity, its history in relation to the defunct AT group, the feel of the book and what I've already done in it to this point, so who knows what might lie in the future.

So many projects, so little time.

In early summer, I managed to get four new pages completed in my secondary altered text project, and those four became eight. This project is being worked on with the AlteredText Yahoogroup, and is based on Catching the Light by Susan Pope. As with the first page completed in this project, I tackled these four pages with digital media first, then reproduced the digital versions with natural media. The process thereby provides a double-challenge. It's fun to try to stay faithful to the spirit of the digital original while juggling the necessary limitations of physical media.

These images show both versions displayed together. In each image, the digital page is on the left, and the physical page is on the right.

Page 160: "Look at the patterns." 
Physical media: marker, wax crayon, colored pencil

Page 161: "In a spot of fun, of mischief, I have drawn the drawing of the single braid." 
Physical media: acrylic medium, ballpoint, marker, gesso, watercolors

Page 184: "a five-letter word, a five-letter word" (with many 5-letter words highlighted)
Physical media: acrylic medium, watercolor, Pitt pens, colored pencils

Page 185: "Overall doodles in ink - blue, black, purple."
Physical media: ballpoint pens

This book is shaping up to be a little experimental, a little serious, a little silly and a lot of fun. Unlike my primary altered text project, this one has no ongoing story. Each page stands on its own which means almost anything can happen.
I like that. ;)

While "Odyssey" is still underway, I've made a start on a second altered text project which I'll be working on in conjunction with the AlteredText Yahoogroup. Each month, we'll be focusing on altering four pages from Catching The Light by Susan Pope. I don't know if I'll be able to work on all four pages each month, but we'll see how it goes.

Having some time away from the studio and working from a scan, here's how my first page 168 emerged digitally after only about 90 minutes (one of the plus aspects of working digitally is not needing to wait for paint to dry). I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came together.

I immediately fell in love with this page and decided to reproduce it into the physical book. The first thing I did was put down a layer of acrylic medium and let it dry. Liquid frisket (which unfortunately you can't see in the photo) was applied to the selected balloons and rivers and allowed to dry. I used strips of low-tack tape around the edges of the paragraphs where I wanted straight lines and didn't want any paint to go. After that, I could paint onto the page pretty carelessly without concern (although I should have also protected the facing page). This is the only photo I took of the process.

When the paint was dry to the touch, I stamped the words across the area. I started with the Beatles lyric, "love is all you need," but for the stamp size I was using, the phrase was ungainly and I was concerned about the acrylic paint drying on the rubber while I was working with it. So I cleaned off the many letters and reduced them to simply "love." That was stamped in a couple different colors, then the page was left to dry.

I removed the low-tack tape, and drew the borders with a Pilot gold paint marker. The frisket was carefully removed from the selected text with a crepe pickup, and I used the paint marker to add the upper and lower designs. The metallic gold looked so attractive on the page that I chose to go over the text outlines with it as well. I snapped this shot to try to show the metallic shine off the gold, but what it really shows is how messy the opposite page became, oops!

Here is the finished page, and I'm rather pleased with it. If I were going to do it over again, I'd try using watercolors instead of acrylic for the base colors to get a background effect more similar to the digital version. But frankly, I enjoy both of the versions, digital and physical, each for their own special characteristics.

And in both, I really like the excavated poem:

Love, love, love repeats, repeats.
The words return to know.
The words return to see.
The words return to...to power
in one small mot at a time.



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