on one of my yard sale excursions, i found this sweet children's poem book, titled "in the middle of the trees". what is it about a children's book that brings a sweeping wave of nostalgia? i know some people can toss them aside immediately, but i always need a bit of time to sit and savor.
the entire book is illustrated with black and hunter green ink. i really, really, really want to cut this book up and draw flowers and vines weaving around the words. i am thinking with colored pencils in very soft pastels. something that compliments the current illustration, not competes with it. but...
my very law abiding self feels like i am creating a crime. i know, i know, not a true send me to jail crime, but i think i will feel really guilty if i do, do it. i have drilled into the munckins heads that books need to be respected and should not to be thrown around or stepped on. so how can i turn around and cut up and draw on a book. i need to keep telling myself that it will be a sweet collaboration and to get over it, right???
i used to work in book publishing so i have issues with things like this too, but it may be a good lesson for all (should your kids want to know or ask) that books open our minds, sometimes in a creative way and you found this one that someone no longer wanted and are using it in a personally creative way that will stay within your home because it inspired you. i don't know if that makes sense, but its my thought.
ReplyDeleteI ask myself the same things... I love books, so my heart hurts when they are destroyed... However, I'm trying to look at the bright side now. Some books are not very inspiring and would probably end in a recycling bin. I try to transform those into my inspirational journals, and they become very dear to me... Anyway, just wanted to stop by and say hello to my classmate from the Flying Lessons :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit the same.... I've often thought of using book pages as a basis for a drawing or collage, but I'd feel like a traitor if I destroyed a book!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, I LOVE the artwork of others I see done on book pages... perhaps because I've never seen the book as a whole... I'm more looking at it from the point of view that I love typography and anything letter based in art, and I'm just focusing on the print rather than the book as an entity that's been ruined.
As Creatissimo said though, some books can be downright boring, so if I ever do that sort of drawing, perhaps I'll get a really old dictionary or something to take apart and use. That way it can be appreciated in a new way, rather than being thrown out or never looked at again (which is basically what sydney was saying too!).
I'd have trouble doing something with that book you found because I LOVE trees and any books about trees!
Linda. :)