Busy Doing Nothing
Since spring has arrived I’ve been incredibly busy doing what feels like nothing at all. How is that possible? All this wonderful fresh air and sunshine has given me a severe case of attention deficit disorder. I have several half done projects strewn about my studio right now. Switch tasking between them is not helping because it just ends up culminating into getting more of nothing done. Two nights ago I pushed all the half-done’s aside to start yet another new thing; a sketch this time. The rhyme to my reason was that since all my unfinished projects were tainted with lethargy dust, a fresh start would surely break the cycle and realign my headspace.
My plan only half worked – go figure. Miraculously I did finish the sketch and I’m pretty happy with it. The problem now is that it was done on crappy paper and I like it enough to want to redo it on good paper. Sigh. It’s back to the half-done pile I go. Avoidance is futile.
© Copyright 2012, Dana Aubrey, Helmet Head Sketch
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Between Page And Screen
In yesterday’s post I reveled in the simple beauty of hand painted paste paper art, an art form once commonly used in antique book binding. Today an augmented-reality book by author Amaranth Borsuk and developer Brad Bouse gave me a whole new kind of reading experience to look forward to. To those who swore print was dead, this is a love story that is sure to change your mind.
I have only seen a couple of augmented-reality projects. Both times I came away feeling pretty ambiguous towards the technology. It was probably because it was being used as a marketing tool to increase sales. Yawn. To be fair the product being sold didn’t appeal to me. When I saw Between Page And Screen I felt humble again (very, very humble).
In my excitement I inadvertently ordered two copies so I guess someone in my life is going to get a pretty cool gift in the near future. This book was originally printed as a limited edition letterpress book – be still my heart. I wonder if they used paste paper?
“Between Page and Screen is a hand-bound and letterpress-printed book of poems that engages both the digital poetry and artist’s book traditions to consider the place of books in an era of screen-based reading.
This sixteen-poem chapbook contains no text, only stark black-and-white geometric shapes and a web address leading to this site, where the reader follows instructions to display the book on his or her webcam. Our software detects the square markers in the book and displays corresponding word animations mapped to the surface of the page. Because the animations move with the book, they appear to inhabit “real” three-dimensional space—a kind of digital pop-up book
The poems—a series of cryptic letters between two lovers, P and S—do not exist on either page or screen, but in an augmented reality only accessible to the reader who has both the physical object and the device necessary to read it.”
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Paste Paper
Printed matter, including books, was cast as the sacrificial lamb in our digital revolution. Thankfully this revolution had a counter-revolution and the art form of printing and bookbinding is alive and well. Dating back to the eighteenth century, paste paper is an ancient art form used in bookbinding for the embellishment of book covers. Today paper patterns are printed by machine but originally they were hand painted, illustrating beautifully organic marbling effects. Just imagine then that each book was unique with no two in a series being exactly alike, it’s no wonder their owners considered their books a coveted treasure.
Most of us have experienced the technique of paste paper painting today in the form of finger painting. Revisiting the 400-year-old (and still counting) technique over the weekend was pure joy. The biggest challenge was holding back; it was so fun and easy to do that I had to restrain myself, otherwise I would have ended up with way more paste paper then I’ll ever know what to do with.
One part cornstarch + one part water + random kitchen tools + a pinch of paint = absolutely delicious results!
© 2012, Dana Aubrey, Paste Paper Paintings
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Charcoal Portrait
© 2012, Dana Aubrey, Charcoal Portrait
Oh la la. I was inspired by French photographer Cédric Buchet and his photograph(s) of actor Dakota Fanning over the weekend. This sketch is based on one of his photos. The photos in question were taken for U.K. based Wonderland magazine and are currently being featured in the April/May 2012 issue. Images from the photoshoot can be seen here.
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Eggmarks
Forget the Easter bunny, you’d have thunk Santa arrived when Uncle Peter and I drove up to Grandma’s house for Easter dinner. Anyone living within a five mile radius of Grandma and Papa’s house heard the news. Our eight-year-old nephew, thrilled beyond containment, threw open the front door and screamed “PEEEE-DER!” as soon as he spotted our car coming around the corner – inadvertently broadcasting our Peter’s arrival to the family gathering. Then he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared – to do a couple impromptu happy laps around the living room table I imagine. Two seconds later he reappeared, this time squealing in his adorable little-boy voice “HI PETERrrrrrrr!” before bouncing out of view again. Once we got through the front door (which must have felt like an eternity for the adrenaline pumped little man) Derek bellowed, “EVERYBODY, PETER IS HEEEEEER!!!” just in case anyone missed his previous bulletins. Not that I had any doubt but this pretty much sums up the pecking order in our relationship with our nephew: Uncle Peter is sugar and Aunt Dana is who? I haven’t even come close to earning a spot on his ‘cool’ radar. Thank heavens for little boys and their sweet emotional transparency.
© 2012, Dana Aubrey, Paper bookmark Easter gifts
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Bock, Bock, Begowwwk
© 2012, Dana Aubrey, Sketchbook
Musical Interlude: Ane Brun
Do You Remember
Ane Brun – Do You Remember (Official Video) from Ane Brun on Vimeo.
