CELEBRATING VALENTINES DAY AND ALL THAT JAZZ

LOVE

Valentines Day, February 14, the month of love.  It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other and offer gifts of flowers, sweets and cards.  Valentines Day was first established by Pope Gelasius 1 in 496 AD.  It was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages (1000 - 1300 AD), in Europe, when courtly love flourished. 

The image above was created for an exhibit at the PureMed Naturopathic Centre at 292 Montreal Road, 2nd floor.  Their open house, in recognition of Heart Health Month, is this Saturday, February 11 from 1:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m.  They will be demonstrating acupuncture and Bowen Therapy, offering special teas from the Orient and chocolate tastings.  All good things.  If you get a chance,  go and meet the people who practice naturopathic medicine, a great way to promote good health. 

NEW CREATIONS

Well these last couple of weeks have been busy in my creative world. 

STEAM PUNK - THE CRYSTAL TIME MACHINE

This is my first Steam Punk piece.  It was a real adventure into a new way of presenting books.

The body of the Crystal Time Machine is part of a camera casing.  I used Micaceous Iron Oxide and copper acrylic paints on the body.  It is decorated with crystal beads, a large clock hand and other pieces salvaged from the camera.  



The accordion book at the front of the Crystal Time Machine has pictures of stained glass windows.  

Side View

 

A small book sits in the back of the casing and a green scroll at the bottom. 




Two small books sit in the base of the Crystal Time Machine.  The covers of the books are made from paste paper and contain 60 pages of Fabriano sketch paper. 

DANCE

This is a simple book created from two of my abstract drawings and an ink blot picture.  I used black pigment and Indian Ink pens.  For the ink blot picture, I used acrylic paint. For the cover, I used an orange and gold thread paper and blue satin ribbons for closure. 

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER

INK BLOT PICTURE 

The writing in the book reads: Arms outstretched, she let the music envelop her.  Spinning with abandonment, she felt her spirit soar.  

NEW LITTLE BOOKS

This little book is made from a beautiful textured brown leather with a mother of pearl decorating the suede side of the turned back edge. 

 A fuchsia pink thread was used to sew the text block to the leather cover and to join the two pieces of leather that make up the cover. 

The text block consists of Fabriano sketch paper and has 36 pages with a sea horse die cut on the edge of each page. 


A Little Bit of Orange

The journey of this little book is interesting.  It was a book called, The Kiss, and I recycled the content into story boxes.  That left the covers.  I re-covered them with this beautiful orange and gold thread paper and made a new text block for it.  I used satin ribbons to attach the text block to the cover.  The closure is made of leather with a hint of orange in it and a piece of bleached chicken wing bone that I painted with copper acrylic paint. 

The text block is made up of white 70 lb sketch paper and has 50 pages with a butterfly die cut at the edge of each page. 

THE KISS:  STORY BOX/BOOK

This is a most unique box.  It is made from one piece of paper, which involves a lot of measuring and folding.  I recycled the sayings from the little orange book: The Kiss, into this box.  I charred the edges of the pictures and sayings to give them an antique look. 

End View

When opened, you can see the whole interior of the box.  I created four abstract drawings for the corners and used the pictures and sayings for the other squares, the ends, the bottom and the top of the box. 

This is a great gift.  It provides an opportunity to present a story, quotes or pictures and when closed, one can put items into it, such as chocolates.  A really great idea for Valentines Day. 

 ART

In keeping with the Valentines Day theme, I created three abstract drawings.  The first one, Love, is at the beginning of this page. 

Heart Throb

There was an interesting piece of music playing on the radio when I drew this.  It had a beat that reminded me of a heartbeat.  It is made with black pigment and Indian inks on 100 lb. bristol paper. 

Heart of My Heart

This one has three stylized hearts within the flower.  It is made with black pigment and Indian inks on 100 lb. bristol paper.