" An artist's book has to have some conviction, some soul, some reason to be and to be a book in order to suceed."

pen and quink on back of large envelope

marker and pencil on fabriano paper (all book is on fabriano)


The title to this post is a quote from a fantastic book I am reading at the moment titled The Century of Artists' Books by Johanna Drucker Granary Books New York City 2004.
I am making an artists book for a submission and her book is really like having a super clued in artist \teacher standing by you. Anyhow it is a struggle to be aware of the assumptions one can easily make when making a book. I am going with the advice of creating a vision not a product and I swear that William and Catherine Blake are coming over tommorow to swop tips with me , no lie.
For my starting point I have chosen an old friend namely a book I have previously used in my work for inspiration. The book is Fairyland Lane:a nature story , it was written by Margaret Cameron in 1930 and used as a junior school textbook.
Her writing is extremly visual if a little eccentric.It is packed with imagery and perfect for disecting, so well written that an isolated sentence stands on its own.
For the submission I am collaborating with a friend and we randomly picked eleven snatches of text ,sometimes a whole sentence, or maybe a half .
For example: on her side were some little boxes filled with yellow dust, while in the middle was a pretty little jar filled with green balls....
The lady carried her house on her back..
we are going to look after you..
I am making no plans until I have all the pages done and then I,ll see which direction the "book" points to. Its all a bit up in the air but I have included a few images of what I am making , it keeps changing , it would want to says I !!