Tasteful Letterpress

"The sweetness of the melting ABC on your tongue" in 48 point chocolate FagoMo Bold font sounds rather appealing as I sit here with a sweet tooth. Typolade Text aus Schokolade is in Stuttgart. 

What sort of ink is compatible, I wonder. Chocolate sauce?

Lambeth Surprise

A good friend recently went to Wales and England for a visit. The Lambeth Palace Library was on her itinerary. This is the historic library and record office of the Archbishops of Canterbury and is the principal repository of Church of England historical documents. It's one of the earliest public libraries in England. It was founded in 1610.

They are currently having an exhibition of rare manuscripts and documents in celebration of the library's 400th anniversary. It sounded like a stroll in paradise for book lovers.

Today I got an unexpected box in the mail. Nestled inside among all sorts of wonderful books and ephemera from the UK was a shrink-wrapped copy of the lushly illustrated Lambeth Palace Library Exhibition catalogue. Oh my!

Thanks K!

This is a spread from Petrus Apianus's Cosmographia from 1529, which shows a movable volvelle that could be used to tell the time in any latitude.

Books as Comfort Food

I've been rereading one of my favorite art books, Drawing the Landscape by Chip Sullivan. Its intended audience, I believe, is aspiring landscape designers and architects who want to learn to draw, which wouldn't include me. But I love street views and maps, and this book is so quirky and full of good advice. It's hard not to like an art book—one meant to be used as a textbook, no less—that tells you that a proper art studio needs to include a comfortable place for reading and napping. "Perhaps a couch with a bookshelf nearby." He then goes on to describe napping and reading as essential parts of the creative process. I hadn't looked at it in a long while, and was surprised to realize it even included a few examples of book art at the end. He cites his earliest artistic influence as Mad Magazine.

I've been going through one of those physical periods of frustration where I haven't been able to do much. Rereading a favorite old book like this has been like comfort food.

From the section on the creative process:

"There is a certain degree of magic and mystery to creativity, but if you understand the process, it may come easier. First, you must be open and receptive to your imagination. Creativity is not one of those things that comes effortlessly; it is not instantaneous. It takes a lot of work, and artists strive for it constantly. Creativity is 90 percent hard work and intense preparation. Ideas implanted in your mind linger for a long time; they're nurtured, then explode into a burst of creative energy. . . The creative flow is very much intertwined with perseverance." (My artist friend Joan also blogged about this very thing a while back.)

A practical consideration is how does an artist persevere to create when lacking in physical stamina and fighting off other forms of physical limitation? But I keep trying to actively feed my head with ideas. Favorite books are good nourishment.

Pictured: The couch in my studio, which is actually a covered plastic love seat. The framed print above the road sign pillows is an example of Joan's artwork. The deer crossing sign next to them is papier maché.

Maps Cut in Paper

These all-white layered cut paper maps of rivers by Lauren Rosenthal are amazing (if you follow the link, click under projects to see more).

Detail from Upper Delaware River Watershed, 

2008 (c) Lauren Rosenthal, hand-cut watercolor paper.  

E-motives Laptop, Finished

The cover has a little more wobble than I'd like, and there turned out to be problems with the Tyvek cover—it was wearing on the corners. So I did some touch-up and coated it in matte medium, which seems to have worked. It's not the texture I would've preferred, but still, my little book about online depravity is done. 

(An earlier post about some of the inside pages is here.)