Update from Aine... Beginning August 2013

Well the deadline is drawing ever closer and I don't know about you guys but I had better 'get my finger out' and get my book completed !!!
I have to go up to Dundee University on the 28th of this month to install our project at Impact 8.
I do now have all my pages completed so its now a case of collating them and making the cover etc.

I apologise for being somewhat 'out of the loop' for a while............various factors were at play including extreme heat and the completion of my edition of 20 X A3 size prints for the print workshop here in Dunfermline.................we are presenting a portfolio and an exhibition of the works.  Special 'rarely seen' and very welcome Icelandic  visitors also had to be entertained. 
Household pets going through ill health...............  the list goes on and on and on..........I suppose you might say 'life got in the way'........ sort of thing.


Given that the weather here is usually tending to the grey and cold side .............to be so hot that it was difficult to apply oneself to physically vigorous tasks.......was utterly, utterly bizarre!!.     Yet there it was.  On those days I could only just manage to work at the computer.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU,  WHOSE WORKS I HAVE  RECEIVED TO DATE:

1.  Denise Pelletier 

2.  Sue Corr

3.  Mary Taylor

4.  Anna Johnson

5.  Mary Hood

6.  Anna Woodford

7.  Marilee Salvator

8.  Madeleine Samson

9.  Mary Taylor

 ..................................bet it feels good to have it 'done and dusted' !!!!

Of course one of the other factors that has been bothering me in my own efforts to adhere and complete my own book has been the fact that I found it 'difficult' in an aesthetic and tactile sense,  to engage with the nature of the paper that the Blurb books are printed on .  

Even though I upgraded to the so called 'premium matte',  I might as well have stayed with the standard Blurb option, for all the difference it made.  

I'm afraid that like my usual self I got carried away with the idea of it all and the products, possibilities,  projects I was creating in my imagination............... way too much............. before I really thought it all through in a practical sense. 

I am sure that many of you will have found this a problem too.?

However given the great outcomes I have been receiving in the post this past month .............I can see that, none the less,  you have put so much effort and thought into the very unique art works that you have created.

Well done !!!!

I have to admit that I am  a bit worried,  as to those of you I / we have not heard that much from...........................I do hope that you will post your books through to me to reach me before the 27th August.

Please do email me again for my postal address - if you cant locate it.

aine@ainescannell.com

Speaking of not being able to locate data / information /  files............

Well I had an 'accident' with my computer which has left me without about half of the files I had on my computer.....amongst which was the folder which contained  all my work for this project.

So unfortunately this means that if you originally sent me high resolution files (jpgs)  images of your books then I would very much appreciate it - if you would re send them to me. I am really sorry to have to put you to the trouble of doing it again.

The People I hope to receive works from  are :

Teresa Gomez-Martorell

Eleanor Symms

Sylvia Taylor

Sandra Winkworth

Paul Musgrove

Kestutis Vasiliunas

Jonathan Stewart

Colleen Corradi Brannigan

.......that will make a total of 18 completed art works.

We did start out with 20 participants but one person here in the UK, Janet Allsebrook,  had to drop out because of family difficulties.  The other person was Sarah Clark who had moved to the channel islands about 2 years ago and had indicated her desire to participate.  However she seemed to drop off the radar - all emails kept coming back to my email box and occasional web searches yielded no further information.

I look forward to receiving the remaining pieces.................

Aine

aine@ainescannell.com

Images of Anna's book 'NOTHING'

Here are some photos of the finished book.

Shadow Boundaries
sue corr

Just trying to get some decent photos of my book now

Orto

Some pics from my altered book.
Orto is the name of the exact moment of sunrise. During 21 days, I took a picture at the same time. The light that comes from the dark. The longer day.
And the morning star.

Marilee's Final Book Photos

Hello! I am finished with my book and wanted to share some photos. I really enjoyed the project and found it very natural and hightly related to my working process in general even though I have only made one other book, ever. Perhaps I am a bookmaker at heart?

Some of the prints that I was using to collage into the POD book. I print things such as etching, relief etching, lithography and screen prints onto Asian papers (mainly Thai Kozo and very thin Mulberry), then I cut them out. Allowing me to play with transparency and layering in countless combinations.

On the lt is the print on demand that I made from Blurb. On the rt is the final book that was deconstructed, altered and reconstructed.

Final Front Cover

Back Cover

All images below are from the final altered book. If you are interested in seeing the original POD book, here is the link: http://www.blurb.com/b/4218751-untitled?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

Fast & Shiny -- a little book about America's love affair with the automobile.

Hello all,

Aine, I'm so glad you invited me to do this though your ears may have been burning when I was asking myself.....WHY am I doing this?  I can't wait to see what everyone has done and how you all feel about the project. Will any of you be doing editions of the book you have created?

On my blog there is a long article about the experience and included some of my process shots.   Ultimately I overprinted my pages using an inkjet printer and created new covers, relying on my extensive digital printmaking experience and limited book binding skills to rescue me. I had intended to create a very different book.  Earlier in June I fractured vertebrae in my back and it has made me terribly grumpy while limiting my ability to do many things, including focus.  I had to rethink this project many times, since I screwed up so many things along the way,  I'm sure you can relate.  I tell you all of this because for those of you who are not done,  keep at it, it will come together.  

You can see my book on my blog at -- pictured is my inside title page printed on velum with the first page below.   This is my favorite spread in the whole book.  Ann was talking about her interleaved pages and I'm sure they will make her book very compelling.  The 2nd photo shows the book block all sewed together ready for attaching the covers with the printed red marbled paper.

http://marytaylorart.com/blog/2013/07/01/fast-shiny-a-pod-altered-book-challenge/

 

Anna's update

Ok Everyone,

Time to do an update on how I'm getting on.
Well at first , I wasn't keen to do this, mainly because I didn't think I would have the time. I started up and run Green Door Printmaking Studio (now with the help of Pandora, my multi-talented daughter). Thats it..doesn't sound much does it? but take a look at our website, and you might have to change your mind. Theres's only the two of us doing everything. Pan designed and made the website too. www.greendoor-printmaking.co.uk.
Anyway, Aine persuaded me I must do this brief as well!  and now I'm enjoying it a lot. So thank you Aine.

I am now in process of putting my Blurb book back together, after taking it apart, and have decided to collaborate with my friend and associate , Fine artist and Bookbinder Matt Edwards on the project. The book is the result of roughly ten years of work on the subject of 'Nothing' and honing in on death as a major part of it. The prints reproduced in the book are just a few of the body of work done during this time, and hopefully form a readable  story in images. All of the prints are made using innovatory techniques formulated during the 'printmaking revolution' which took place after the advent of the computer age, and adopted by me in Green Door as a part of our more environmentally sound studio, even though I originally trained as a traditional printmaker.
After a lot of discussion with Matt, I have decided to screen print a new cover which will also have little wings. I am inserting very fine japanese paper interleaves with planned screenprints on each which will figure in front of each of the reproduced prints, a nod to old books of etchings which have tissues to protect them. I am also inserting an etching at the end of the book which will fold out when the book is stood on end to display. All the work is combined using natural colours, hand made Japanese papers which I love to use in my prints, and earth toned silk embroidery threads to sew the book together. The print at the end is giving me a headache, being not firm enough to origami, so I have to experiment with this....photos to follow.   Anna