Altered Book Exchange

In March, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I journeyed to downtown Tucson, to what I've heard is the oldest building in the city. There I joined a small group of people who have committed to an altered book swap for the next year. We'll meet monthly for three hours in this incredibly pleasant space, share our art (this part makes me really nervous!), share new techniques, and feel artistic. Each month we switch books, taking someone else's treasure home with us to create two double-page spreads. I played with painting the pages with acrylics, covering everything with ModPodge, using a label maker, weaving directly into the page, sewing on paper, and cutting up junk mail. Those classy black and white stripes come from the subscription cards that fall out of magazines. I've begun quite a collection of them - I see a bigger black and white striped art project in my future....

So I thought it would be fun to post my first two pages. I'm hoping that my inspiration gets a lot stronger - somehow I have a great idea, but the finished project is never even close to the magnificent page I had in my head. Oh well. I have eleven months left to find a technique that will be mine.