Sunday, January 11, 2009

Earth Tones








I am so excited to be a part of this fascinating collaborative,  Inner Works.  
For me, winter time is a time of soul searching, day dreams and finding new meanings and inspiration from the everyday world.   This project comes at the perfect time. 
The theme I chose for my altered book is "Earth Tones."  
I am intrigued by the earth and all of it's colors and sounds, in the natural world but also in history and celebrations of people that are close to their world of nature.  Dancing and drums from different cultures call to me as well as poetry and songs.
My wish is for this project is for the other artists to "listen to the tones of the earth,"  to create their own pieces of art that represent the color, music or traditions of our world.

The first photograph above is the book I have chosen to alter.  It is an old keeper of record albums.  It is about 8 x 8 inches square and is a dark red.  I have already started on the cover. Surrounding it are images or objects I may use in the project.  When I first began searching for this book, I chose "The Last Days of Pompeii," because I loved the cover and the yellowed pages, but as I began trying to connect these old pages into groups they disintegrated with my every touch, thus a new book had to be found!

Next is the book opened to the two pages I am starting.  I divided the book into 6 sections not counting the first and last page.  I connected them with brads, but each artist is welcomed to do what they like with them.  As seen, there are circular openings and envelopes which could be used or not...

Lastly some writing I did about "Earth Tones"... a poem of sorts...

As this project begins I welcome working with these amazing five artists and am excited to start working!

    

6 comments:

  1. Wow. What a great start!

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  2. Roxanne,
    I read about your Earth Tones altered book theme on your blog but hadn't seen this whole detailed spread on why you chose it and the early stages in your thought process and ideas for how we could proceed. I like the size of your book. As this is my first altered book, my book might be a little contraining as my book's not that wide. But, everyone is welcome to have the book open as wide as needed and I will add some type of closure to keep the front and back together when the book is complete. This is just the beginning of all the wonderful lessons I will be learning. That's part of what I love so much about working in this collaborative project with everyone. "Earth tones" here we come! Jill

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  3. Oh Roxanne, this looks lovely already...I can't wait to get it in my hands!

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  4. Wow Roxanne -- I am drooling over the colours of your book, it is exudes 'earth tones' and I am so excited about the possibilities the circle within each section will provide for creative magic...I can't wait...I love your poem and your photos...thanks so much for sharing this...I will begin a mental journey as to what I may do for my section of your lovely book.Supria

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  5. Roxanne,
    i love your hand written note here...
    yes,

    the song of a bird
    IS the heartbeat in the gold of a field, is your thread, your light
    linking.

    It all turns out beautiful.

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  6. Earth tones really speak to me Roxanne. Such a great choice for a theme. And your book to be altered looks to be quite amazing and special. Having already collaborated with you, I know the quality of your work and the heart that you bring to your beautiful creations. Looking forward to working with you again! Seth

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