Stretching

Little travel book

There is much to be said for traveling light. That is a skill that I, unfortunately, do not have. However, two days before my current trip, I suddenly had the urge to make a new book to work in while traveling. My time was limited, so I quickly took a full sheet of 140lb. watercolor paper and tore it in half again and again until I ended up with a nice little stack of papers to create my signatures. The book went together quickly and I liked the small, chunky feel of it in my hand. I stained all of the pages with walnut ink and added a long piece of sari ribbon to hold it closed.In addition to my new book, I put the following items into my traveling art kit: small stack of collage papers, small  bottle of clear gesso, a few Neocolor II crayons, a couple of Stabilo All water soluble pencils, a water brush, glue stick, scissors and a graphite pencil. This very simple supply kit would serve me well for my 2 1/2 week trip.Best laid plans..... As luck would have it, my trip has been extended by an additional month. I've used all of my collage papers so had to come up with an alternative. With my book being in dark values and having a bit of a "grunge" look, I decided to stain every bit of paper that I could collect with used tea bags and little packets of instant coffee readily available in my hotel room. Et voilà! A whole new stack of collage papers with very interesting results.I am so enjoying my exploration of this little book and the challenges of stretching my limited supplies. In the following days, I hope to show you some of the pages that I have completed.