WIP Paperwork Book

And now for something completely different! I wanted a new challenge and an opportunity to work with some of my favorite hoarded hand-decorated papers. Most of them are from swaps with Melissa at Raw Art. They are mini artworks in themselves and I am very stingy with them. But I wanted to make a tribute to them, so I cut 45 pages approx. 5" x 6" and spiral bound them together. The next step was to create small collages on each page, using complementary handmade and hand-decorated papers. Once I was happy with the basic composition I moved on to embellishment with oil pastels, india ink, watercolors and hand-carved stamps. I have been inspired by the Raw Art group to use only my own hand decoration and it's been both liberating and terrifying. The final phase of this project will be stitching. I picked up the book Stitch Magic by Jan Beaney and it's so interesting to see the ways she uses stitch as a textural element. Since I am not a traditional embroiderer, I love to see alternative ways to use fibers and mixed media. I've just started these pages and have lots to go, but thought I'd share this work in progress.