A dinosaur with a book in his chest

This book is titled Instruction Manual for the End (of the World.) It sold to someone in L. A. and I haven’t seen him (the book) for ages. I know art is supposed to be about the process, but the objects I make are mostly very personal and I sometimes hate to see them go.

I decided to make another, similar book. This time I want paper pages in a copper cover. To start the new book, I found some great dinosaurs on ebay. The one I’m using is about 8 inches tall.




Here are two pages in progress.

Usually I have an idea for the inside of the book and complete one two-page spread, then work out from there, doing the cover last. This has been a problem at times. Sometimes I don’t make much progress and have different ideas and even a slightly different style over time.

This time I thought I would try to block in all the pages first, with a ground and sky. The ground is collaged and the sky is painted. Then I’ll go back and do the final collage and painting to finish them off. When the pages are finished I’ll have a clearer idea of what to do with the cover. I have a rough sketch of all the pages to work from.

Right now I’m putting the details on each page. They look a little too plain to me, so I think I’ll go back and paint a light wash over them and add some scratchiness.

I’m using sewing weights to hold down the pages. I wanted to glue the red and gold ray across both pages. To keep the pages from moving while I work on them I use sewing weights. They are about an inch high and just right for the scale of my work. They came six in a set from JoAnn’s, a fabric store. When the glue is dry I can cut through the center of the two pages with an exacto knife to separate them.