I am celebrating a return to the very-long-term, on-going-project of the Round Book which Stephen gifted me, one birthday in Rome on a family trip. I had discovered to covet the week before in Florence its unique form of a bound crescent which, when opened, bloomed into a fully circular format.
I had decided not to buy it as being inappropriate for writing my journal, given the textures of its handmade rag paper, ribbed textures of laid-marks on half the sides of pages wildly assembled in its circularity to become a chaotically three-dimensional mandala of surfaces. What a gift!
I’ve written several posts about my process & its slow progress into the 100 pages caught between marbled-paper boards… bound with a delicately tooled leather spine.
DRAWING IN CIRCLES… | | GRB BELLS
CIRCLING WITH FAERIES… | | GRB BELLS
A shrine to the lessons of accepting a challenging invitation to make creative use of such real-estate. The heavy rag paper would not easily accept ink with any clarity so I began with pencil… one of my favorite media for its subtle & complex versatility… including learning to dance atop its textures.
The drawings, for various reasons, were happening so slowly, that I could see that the blank pages still began quite too close to the front cover, even after years of working in it. Simple observation made it clear I would never finish at that pace. I had occasionally toyed with the notion of exploring breaking into those layers of surface.
I have often become the sculptor of my drawings.
I’ve again become an active explorer of such possibilities… now inviting you to meander with me in what is uncharted territory…
Enjoy!
