DOG DAYS OF SUMMER


It was a hot day and the fellows were having a slow break on the construction site.  The Dog Days of summer have been relentless this year, spreading the heat over months rather than weeks.  One evening on my way home from the theatre I noticed how the heat permeated the air.  
The evening air was filled with the smell of a spent, hot summer day: the sweetness of doughnuts impregnated with dusty streets, sweating grass and limp leaves.  It made one move with a heated slowness, feet gently dragging on gummy, melting asphalt.  Even the birds were too tired to sing and the humidity hung heavy on the skin like the tendrils of an unrequited love.  There was not a whiff of a breeze and the sun relentlessly hung onto the cloudless sky, spreading its heat across the horizon.  Above, music wafting through an open window had a heaviness that dragged one’s spirit into the frothy gutter.  It reached in and pulled on the bones leaving a weariness in place of healthy energy.  The heat was tiresome.  

OLD WORK RENEWED 

I was looking at my book marks: the black and white ones, and decided they needed some colour.  They are so much prettier with colour.  Here are a few of the renewed book marks.  It was so much fun to revisit them and add the colour. 



A NEWLY CARVED ACRYLIC COVER 

I recently joined a group on Facebook called Belle Epoque.  This group shares fashion, art, jewellery and other information about the first 40 years of the 20th century.  It has influenced the carving of the cover of this journal which I covered with a protective cover: a soft piece of beautifully patterned leather.  


The closure of the protective cover is done with braided waxed cord 


 Front Cover 



Back Cover 


Coptic Binding 

NEW DRAWING 

Sitting around and melting in the heat one evening, I spied a piece of watercolour paper perched on my tool table.  I had been looking at a very old artist book: Astronomicum Caesareum (1540), made of hand coloured wood cut volvelles.  It was created by three German individuals: Michael Ostendorfer, Artist, 1490 - 1549, Petrus Apianus, 1495 - 1552, Author, and the printers were George and Petrus Apianus.  The book was a Renaissance instructive manual for calculating the altitude of stars https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/astronomicum-caesareum-1540-private-collection-artist-apian-news-photo  I found some of the images very inspiring.  So I took up paper and pen and went to work creating four moon faces: blood moon, full moon, silver moon and blue moon.  I used pigment pens, graphite and coloured them with water colour paint and ink.  It was great fun and I'm quite happy with the end result.  


ETSY SHOP

I opened an online Etsy shop last month: www.etsy.com/shop/BookArtiste.  I have a few books there now, but will be posting more in the future.  

IN THE FUTURE

That's a wrap.  I will be be participating in the Ottawa Maker Faire, at the end of September: 29th and 30th.  It will be back at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology, now that it has re-opened.  After that, it will be Christmas markets and fairs.  

If you have any questions about my work, feel free to contact me at: bbinder999@gmail.com.

To see my work prior to 2017, go to: www.bookartiste.blogspot.com.

Wishing you all happy dog days of summer.  Autumn is just around the corner.  

Mary 

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