Last Daze of Summer is the most recent artist book from the Alexander’s Library series. Today it’s turning cold, I still have zinnias blooming, and many figs to pick and dry. The longing for summer still lingers. Sometimes I remember to photograph the steps as the project progresses. Read on to learn about this one.
“Last Daze of Summer” book, pages, by Kathleen O’Brien
“Last Daze of Summer” book, Front & Back cover, by Kathleen O’Brien
The first stage involves making a painting on paper 22 x 30″, in this case my favorite, Arches Cover. It’s a printmaking paper that takes wet and dry media well, without buckling like watercolor paper. I spent a long time painting the flowers from imagination, with the idea to use every red paint and pencil because I associate red with the summer season. The violet shade is “Rose of Ultramarine” (don’t you love that name?) by Daniel Smith. Other names I love are Organic Vermillion, Alizarin Crimson, Rose Madder, not just “red”. As with much of my other work, I paint the streamers to represent celebrations. Leaves are just starting to fall.
“Last Daze of Summer” book, sheet before tearing, by Kathleen O’Brien
The work always begins with writing on one side of the sheet. The words are written in a continuous script without lifting the pen and without dotting “i”s or crossing “t”s. For this book I also wrote my invented language scripts. I used all my red fountain pen inks, knowing when wet, they would smear; let’s get more red! J. Herbin Anniversary 1670, Diamine Coral and Pelikan Vermillion. The layout takes some planning, as I have a general idea of where the sheet will be torn and folded.
“Last Daze of Summer” book, written sheet before tearing, more painting, drawing &
collageing the fig leaves, by Kathleen O’Brien
After I tear the sheet into eight parts, I begin to paint on each section. Then I collage the botanicals, in this case fig leaves and zinnia petals. The last step is to draw the shadows using graphite.
“Last Daze of Summer” book, pages before sewing, by Kathleen O’Brien
Then I decide the order of the pages and sew four signatures. Finally, I weave the binding to put it together as a book.
“Last Daze of Summer” book, pages, by Kathleen O’Brien
“Last Daze of Summer” book, pages, by Kathleen O’Brien
It’s important for me to make notes about the process as a reference in case I want to repeat a certain style. I’ve written several posts about this, like “Seeing From Both Sides”. I’m looking forward to talking more on this subject at the Open Studio in a couple of weeks.