Chapter 10: Altering my book, Part Two

Page 7-8
“He imagines the disheartened person who threw the gun into the corn field	and deplores him with all his heart.”
Rubbings of feathers with charcoal on tissue paper were glued into the book. The red splashes are a happy accident.	This image reminds me of heaps of feathers I sometimes see on a walk, where an unlucky bird has perhaps been caught by a bird of prey or a fox.

Page 9-10
“Meanwhile, his hand winds	poppies and wheat ears”
The left page was first covered with a thick layer of gouache, the wheat ears were printed in with a rubber printing block. To give more definition I outlined them with inktense pencils.	Then I glued red lantern paper on the right side, and on this poppies cut out from a piece of paper with oil colours from wiping the brushes. (I am quite satisfied to have made such a lot of these cut-outs, they come in very handy. The red poppy shape on the left is reversed and enlarged, cut also from lantern paper.

Page 11-12
“and corn flowers”
	I had made a very large corn flower head, but it was just too large for this book, so I made a downsized version. For the background I tore a coloured and printed paper to stripes and glued them on the pages, machine-stitched them and added washes of Neocolor II and gouache in golden ochre tones. Cornflower heads were printed with gouache, then the big flower head folded and glued in. I found that you cannot fold a pop-up element too exactly! Below left: a detail shot of the center of the flower Right: detail of a printed flower and text

Page 13-14
“around the barrel	the handle and the cock,”
	I love the shapes and shadows of this little trial from chapter 6, and thought they might evoke the mood of lengthening shadows and evening coming.  I used a tracing of this photograph on a background  coloured with soft pastels. Shoes, wheat ear and flowers are painted with watercolours, cut out and glued in. The shadows are done with watercolours.

Page 15-16
“and he leans the gun he has thus garlanded	against the stone at the crossroads,”
The stone was made with a rubbing, B4 pencil on tissue paper. I dotted frisket on the paper and washed it with grey watercolour, leaving white marks to make the texture of the stone more lively. The tissue paper is glued to 160 gsm universal paper, the outlines are machine-stitched. I wanted very much to use the paper on the left, from my soft pastel/oil pastel transfer experiment with the wheat ears in chapter 8. The oil pastels I used are of a dry variety and do not smudge. I think it works quite well here.	The “gun thus garlanded” was cut from my line drawing and painted on both sides with  inktense pencils. I made the frame by glueing and stitching two papers. It is attached to stone and sky with a few stitches, and painted with inktense pencils and gold ink. After much thought and unsuccessful trials (which could have been avoided with more advance planning) I thought the frame would give a good support for the gun. It creates both a contrast and a connection to the next page.
	The model for the stone at the crossroads is a memorial stone near my home, the rather grim memento of a murder committed in the 18th century. Below: two pages from my sketchbook exploring letters on the stone (left) and ideas for the surface (right)

Page 17-18
“tenderly hoping, that the disheartened one,	coming this way again, might see it, and …”
As evening is coming, the sky darkens. There is still a little light on the horizon. The back side of the stone is also a rubbing on tissue paper, this time of a wall.	I coloured the field and path with gouache and inktense pencils and wrote the line of the poem with light bistre and a broad cola pen to break up the texture. The sky was painted with gouache and Neocolor II, the little figure is done with a Rotring art pen.

Page 19-20	“look at the moon, large in the east”
For help with the pop-up moon I turned again to Robert Sabuda’s wonderful homepage http://wp.robertsabuda.com. I painted the moon with watercolours on watercolour paper. It rises beautifully! The idea came from a detail of Veit Stoß’  wooden sculpture “Englischer Gruss” (1518 in the church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg). I have had the postcard below for at least sixteen years.
	The sky is painted with gouache and gold ink, ground and boots with Neocolor II and watercolour.
	Left: Practice painting and construction detail in my sketchbook. The design of the fastening piece ensures that the moon rises slightly from the side, which looks very well.

Overleaf backsame procedure as the front, with Palmström’s last bits of singing

3. Evaluation:
Does the work fulfil my own expectations?
Yes, I am quite satisfied with the result, and surprised at what emerged. Once I had started on the book I realized with amazement how much material I had gathered during the module, and it was a wonderful experience to draw from this fund and let myself be pushed along by ideas emerging from it. There have been many more drawings and paintings and ideas clamouring to get in. As it is, I think the book is rather packed already (too full perhaps).
Did I develop my ideas fully?
I find it difficult to say that, as there always seems to be a step more ahead, and when do you stop? Still I think that I went farther than I had expected, and new ideas and solutions turned up.
Have I used materials and methods which enable me to produce something exciting?
I am happy that I could include stitching both by hand and by machine, and I feel that this adds interest to the book. It is all in all a very textured item, starting with the woven and stitched pages, gesso or not, a variety of papers and colours, which have all their own properties, from smooth watercolour to pastel and gouache flaking from a smooth paper, and not least the shoelaces. The pop-up parts were a lot of fun, once I had found out how to do them, and I think they fit very well into the book, especially the moon.
If I had to do it again, what changes would I make?
With the experience gathered in this process, I think I would try to develop the drawing process further towards a freer approach, as I started to do with the overleaf pages, my very last step. I would also chose a book with more pages, just to have more space between the covers. The finished pages tend to become thicker and thicker.
Having taken so long I have learned LOTS about ways to sabotage my creative process, beginning with putting work off because I felt too tired or washed out to blocking my thoughts by listening to audiobooks (an addiction) instead of classical music, which keeps my mind free. I have also learned LOTS about the value of experiment and exploration. And: I feel I can draw poppies, cornflowers, wheat ears and boots in my sleep!
A last point is that I do not think I have used my sketchbook in the best possible way. I still tend to draw, paint or write chronologically. It would have been much more helpful if I had collected material relating to one idea in one section for further reference. I will keep that in mind for future work.

Authentication
This is me looking startled, and painting flowers on the gun shape for page 16/17.

The photograph was taken by my friend Karin Alfter.	I will give contact details in my email.

Time taken: 45 hours
Cost: approx. 20 € (price for book, a bottle of glue, cartridges for the printer, use of papers and colours from my stock)
Storage:

	I set aside this A3 sized box for storing source material.
	Material was collected in transparent document pouches.
	Separate folder for drawings and art work I considered finished.

Health and safety:
Apart from taking care with the cutting knife there were no special health and safety issues.
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This concludes my work for chapter 10, and Module 4 of “Creative Sketchbooks”. 
Thank you so much, Lizzy, for your cheerful support and advice! Thank you, Andrea and Alfred, for lending me shoes and gun!
I will be back for Module 5.