Sunday, December 5, 2010

Altered book pages

I love working on old book pages. This practice goes back to 1998. Dear John was comprised of a total of 152 pages from a book called Stories by Elizabeth Bowen, published in 1959. Each page was painted in watercolor, leaving selected words and sentences visible. As its title suggests, this work reflected my emotions and feelings at that time in my life, and I treated it almost like my personal diary. This practice is something that I keep going back time to time.

In 2008 when I was between jobs, I picked up a book called A White Hand: A Story of Noblesse Oblige by Ella Farman (1875), and this time, unlike the other work, Dear John, I just had fun. I sold many of them, and I didn't document nearly a half from this book. I don't even know how many pages I actually completed. These are just several pages that I was able to scan.


She patiently waits


I am the sinner


Thanks for this great care


His protracted absence


And still he cannot understand

Small hands clinging so tightly

Altered book page series from A White Hand: A Story of Noblesse Oblige by Ella Farman
Mineral pigment on book page
4 ½”x 7”.  2008