Book 7 Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, 5 towns on the north west coast of Italy. They are perched on the cliffs of the coastline, and people have cultivated the land and lived there for 1000 years! so hard to imagine lugging building and farming material up the steep hills, and by steep I mean really steep!!

 My little concertina book is double sided, the front showing the hills and villages of Riomaggiorre, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, Monterossa. I have used the brochure that had photos of the towns, so I cut them out and used the rest of the brochure as the book base. I covered the brochure with torn nice paper in the shape of the hills, and on the back I painted gesso over the whole thing. The rest of the imagery is painted with watercolour over watercolour pastels.

 and the back of the book shows the train that runs between them- mostly through a tunnel, and the walking track that many people walk along. Actually there are many walking tracks that explore the hills/mountains behind the villages but there is a main track that runs along the coastline - steep and thin and magnificent. This side of the book has been gessoed then I used a fineliner pen to draw and the map of the area became the train!

 

Book 6 Venice

I have been a bit slow with the creation of the Italian books. Too much travelling and walking - I have been too tired to create much - collapse into bed at the end of a day.

I have finally done the Venice book. I have used a couple of business cards from  restaurant that had a map on the back for the covers- gesso over the business card bit. Then using a free postcard covered with gesso I have made 3 thin strip drawings that are unevenly concertina folded. 

 front cover

 back cover - typical window and shutters in Venice

detail

3 levels- rear is of buildings on a canal, middle is a series of different boats, front is buildings, canals and bridges 

Book 5 Morocco

Morocco, land of pattern, colour, contrasts, very old buildings and traditions. A place where the modern and the ancient work side by side. Craftsmanship is still valued but the tourist dollar is desperately sought.
My book this time is a concertina with a separate concertina going in a different direction. I used newspaper to join the pages and images from brochure to show the beautiful Berber jewelry and Berber carpet patterns. The rest is drawn and painted.
If you are interested in following the journey check out my offexploring blog.

Book 4 Barcelona

Barcelona is the home of Gaudi and his amazing architecture.
 His work is an inspiration to me as I love the way the natural world influences his designs creating very organic shapes and patterns. I also love his use of colour in everything from houses to park designs.
 Mosaics feature in almost all of his work and this allows colour and pattern to be a major aspect of the built environment.
What a thrill it has been to see his work in person, it is even better than in the photos I have poured over for years.
Of course I feel that anything I make pales into insignificance after that but still I will soldier on.
Book 4 tries to capture the busy narrow streets of Barcelona mixed with the formality of some of the street plantings.
I made much of it while travelling to Valencia on the train, I had gesso-ed the map of Barcelona before leaving and cut and drew on the train ( i did leave a little mess under my seat of small cut up bits of paper)

 art on the train

                                                       Finished little pamphlet stitch book