The Glorious Melancholy of Urgency

 Time off today from reading anthology submissions to work on a personal artist book project.

Text:

The Glorious Melancholy of Urgency

.... now where were we my little one? ...

ah yes, the self proclaimed Radiant Sophont Dynasty. Yes they came to power shortly after the Third Singularity Return, when again humanity had had enough of the virtual and once more claimed organic form. This dynasty lasted a little over one millennium and was responsible for coalescing the will of the inner planets into a singular voice. Though they did not actively mine the previous eon's cache of intellectual wealth, they did…. 

here the voice paused....

Red as Blood and White as Bone

I've created this narrative book object for Theodora Goss (one of my current favorite writers) 

for her story - "Red as Blood and White as Bone" (click to read). I'll be presenting it to her hopefully at the Nebula Conference this weekend.

The box, measuring about 5.5" to a side, is constructed of pine and whitewashed. Within the box is a lining of faux black wolf fur and it contains an ikon made from brass, wolf teeth, bone and glass, a necklace of ruby colored glass and a small leather-bound book of the story with leather cord binding.

I hope she likes it. I tried to make it small enough for her to take home with her.

The Lady Astronaut of Mars

This is a new artist book based on the story 'The Lady Astronaut of Mars' by Mary Robinette Kowal (read it here - https://www.tor.com/2013/09/11/the-lady-astronaut-of-mars/).

I've done book versions of Mary's stories before. This one is a surprise for her and will be presented at the 2018 Nebula Awards.

The box is made of maple and cedar (I like how the cedar striping makes on think of the landscape of Mars). It measures 4" x 8.5" x 1.5". The NASA logo on top is metal (actually a lapel pin) as is the clasp and hinges. Inside are 27 antique IBM punchcards from the 1950s that had the text of the story printed on them. I used a 1950s period IBM font for the text and I like the ways the punchcard holes interact with it.

I hope Mary will be pleased with it. I do like her stories. They provide a vivid challenge to a handmade book artist.

click to embiggen

The Romance of the Telescope

My latest narrative object piece takes its title from a song
by Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark. 

The main object is a silverleafed stone which sits
balanced on a cherry pedestal under a glass dome.

tRofT is about the romance and wonder of the celestial sphere
and of the objects endlessly orbiting within space.

The piece also has something tangental to do with the OMD song lyrics

See these arms that were broken, how they held you so.

Never once did they fail you, they won't let you go.

We're just waiting looking skyward as the days come down.

Someone promised there'd be answers, if we stayed around.

Over decades, now this romance has sustained us all.

Never questioned, only giving what it made us for.



Documentation of one of the studies for the piece can be found here.

all my sorrows were conceived of in a single night

Entitled - "All My Sorrows Were Conceived of in a Single Night" - 

this is my newest narrative object to take a fairy tale as its generator.

The original fairy tale "The Myrtle Tree" by Giambattista Basile is markedly different from the usual Grimm's fairy tales one encounters. 

The piece measures 4" x 3.5" x 4" and is comprised of cherry, brass hardware, moss, myrtle leaves, 

a brass key, a brass bell, marble and copper leafing.

The Mouth of Celestia

I finally finished the two copy edition of this handmade book today titled:

"The Mouth of Celestia: The Measure of Loss" 

Part of my measurement series of art pieces.

Last year I had gathered weather aged leaves from the cemetery I like to walk in. I was fascinated by how the aging had broken down the cells of the leaves so that they almost appeared to be written on by an unknown hand. An encyclopdia of the universe unreadable/unrecitable.

I wrote the accompanying poem late last year and had the photos printed up yesterday.

7.5" x 11", canson paper, 24 pages with photo prints.

I may yet build boxes for the books to go in and with a small storage space for some of the actual leaves.

flight 1

I've had this piece in various stages now for several years (and to be honest it is still missing black washers where each of the glass vials joins the wooden sphere to hide the hole edges) but I've brought it to enough completion to show it as finished for now. 

Someone who has an opinion I value thinks it should be hung and it might be eventually. For now it is enough to title it Flight 1 and leave it open as to whether it will be a series of pieces eventually.

It is constructed from a poplar wood sphere, 50 glass vials filled with cuttings from parrot feathers, and wire for the legs and is about 16" in diameter.

Much thanks to Creative Reuse in Pittsburgh for getting in such interesting laboratory glass bits and bobs for me to work with. You can't quite see in the photos but there is a thin gold line painted one the neck of each vial.

the false grandmother

This piece, begun on World Book Day, was an attempt to coalesce a story into its essence, creating a object (and it seems maybe I am now doing a set of piece based on folk stories) but one in which there is still a serial narrative (much like a 3 panel comic strip).

In this case, the story is The False Grandmother, the antecedent to Little Red Riding Hood.

The piece is constructed from pine (painted and aged), moss, crab apples, pinecones, pine needles, a robin's egg, stones, fur and brass hardware. It measures 14.5" x 3.5" x 3.5"h

Quite proud of some of the details on this, especially the correspondence between the robin's egg and stones of similar size and how each vignette in its own nest. The pine needles smell so there is a scent component to it as well upon opening.

the knot on the front of the box was deliberately placed there as a symbol for the horror in the original tale, now sanitized and safe for the wee ones.

folklore - completed

Unlike my other narrative objects which often involve a lot of science and research which imbue the objects with an extra layer of information, this piece is purely for the joy of making a beautiful object.

Folklore - 9"wide x 9" deep by 18" high - contains moss, found objects, parrot and bluejay feathers, leaves and plant seed pods, copper leaf, acacia blackthorns, plywood shavings, oak and (I think) birch.

I named the piece Folklore because the forms and elements remind me of the darker corners of some fairy tales and folk stories told late at night to small children in their beds. The body of the creature is built out of blackthorn branches wired together, covered in moss and then the doll head and arm were attached. 

The small drawer is lined with copper leaf and contains two seed pods with yellow seeds which tie back to the color on the rings of yellow leaves on top. 

The parrot and bluejay feathers, with their gem-like greens, blues and reds were chosen for their bold color.

The piece really has no deep thinking behind it. It was built simply with reactions and experience of making art for many years. It is what it appears to be, it is up to the viewer to create their own meaning.

the measure of ritual - completed

After a year and a half the final lens was found and this narrative object - The Measure of Ritual - is now complete.

The piece grows out of watching the BBC series - Time Team - and the clearinghouse term Ritual which is used seeming when paleontologists/archaeologists can't figure out the utilitarian purpose for an object/monument/seemingly made by man thing. Ritual in the ancestor of what becomes organized religion from what I understand.

The two structures under the glass domes represent dolmens and a henge which are early worship structures. The figure is the 'everyman' the proto human who we, as the godlike observer, can view through the magnifying lenses.

The reindeer horn represents the bone objects often found which seem to be both tool and signifying object.

The viewer is the god being, the scientist, the observer who can study these objects in detail, though in an encapsulated form, removed by time from their once-understood meaning. We can look and speculate but may never fully understand.

For now this piece will reside in my library. Hopeful for an eventual gallery show of pieces in my 'measurement' series. Next up for me is finishing the next narrative object - The Measure of Love

the requisite funny story - the lenses used in this piece only come up on EBay every six months or so. I had been waiting and waiting for the final one because I wanted them to match. One day I was watching a Jimmy DiResta video on YouTube. He was visiting a favorite antique store of his and as the camera pans over the store while he is browsing, lo and behold, my missing lens. So I contacted the store and eventually got a hold of the right dealer and she sold me the lens. 

Handmade Wheel of Fortune

I've been sitting on photos of this project for a few weeks now until I was sure the recipient received her copy. I've wanted to get back to doing handmade books of favorite stories I do not have in printed form. I did the cover of this story for the Netherlands translated printing of it - The Wheel of Fortune by Steph Swainston - but do not have the anthology it appeared in in english.

Pine covers with concertina folded pages, nearly 15 feet long when unfolded. An edition of two - one for her and one for me.

next book to tackle is this one - http://www.tor.com/2014/08/20/seven-commentaries-on-an-imperfect-land-ruthanna-emrys/

well worth your time to read

Aftermath now available

I've recently published another book with the author Steph Swainston titled Aftermath. This picks up on the narrative in her new novel Fair Rebel and also has more behind the scenes background info on the Fourlands. She is a wonderful and compelling writer. The book is available unsigned as well as in a limited signed and numbered version.

Looking forward to doing more books with her.

Find a copy here - http://aanpress.com/aanorder.html

skies

I've been taking photos of skies during my walks for about 6 months now. No rhyme or reason to it. They just can't include any trees, people, buildings etc... in them. Pure sky

maybe one day I will do something with them.

6 years

6 years of hard work coming together at last

the measure of ritual - a work in progress

I've been working on this narrative object for almost a year now. It will be part of my "measurement" series of artworks on early measurement systems and ideas about measuring abstract concepts and aspects of the world.

The piece grows out of watching the BBC series - Time Team - and the clearinghouse term "Ritual" which is used seeming when palentologists can't figure out the utilitarian purpose for something. Ritual in the ancestor of organized religion from what I understand.

I still have one more brass magnifying glass arms to buy and position on the third set of objects (the thorns which will have some gold and red detailing applied to them) and then it will be a complete piece. The two structures under the glass domes represent dolmens and a henge which are early worship structures. The figure is the 'everyman' the proto human who we as the godlike observer can view through the magnifying lenses.

(click on the images to embiggen)

Wrought Gothic

I found the books of Steph Swainston about five years ago and avidly down tracked the four she had written to date. After a hiatus from writing, Steph is back with 3 new books planned. 

It has been my great fortune to get to know her over the past few months and I even have had the privilege of designing a cover for a small press book of hers that came out in The Netherlands as well as illustrating something that will appear in her forthcoming book this fall with Gollancz.

As an even greater gracious privilege she has allowed me to use some of her character sketches and background material from her Fourlands series and do a small book from my own Air and Nothingness Press (aanpress.com).

The books arrived today and if you are interested in her imaginative world I hope you will consider buying one. With this being my own publishing effort I can add a few extra design details into the mix. The cover to this 52 page book features french flaps which fold out to display some amazing woodcut illustrations by Paul Landacre which evoke very well the feel of the Fourlands (the b0ok also has a map of the Fourlands illustrated by me within its pages).

If you are an admirer of Steph's writing this would make a great addition to your collection.

artwork

i've spent the last month creating artwork for a new solo game. this is the first time i've done such a sustained run of my own illustrating. quite pleased with the result - a mix of vector and textured image layers

now the hard part starts. building the mechanics

the measure of ritual continued

now that the last few weeks of work are over i can devote some time again to finishing up some of my art pieces. today i cut out the circular platforms for this narrative object. sanding left to do and the attachment of the three discs together and to work out a solution for some sort of legs

the measure of ritual continued

working out the optimal relationships before i cut out the bases for the 3 pieces

work in progress - "The Measure of Ritual"

this is one half of the piece and i will need to build some sort of presentation platform for both parts. see if i can tackle doing that soon. the figure is a 'voronoi' man.

this piece, in large part, comes out of my watching the BBC series Time Team and being especially interested in the neolithic sites where dolmens and other Stonehenge type monuments were erected.