APRIL 2022

When we arrived in Barbados I wished that I had thought ahead and packed some of my handmade papers or some of my purchased Japanese papers. My husband has heard me say ‘I need paper’, ‘I wish I had some paper’… maybe a few times too many! Paper where I am living now is very expensive. There is nothing decorative. Postage to place an order is so expensive it is not an option for me. Yesterday my husband took the car in for an oil change. He returned later that morning, walked through the door and proudly announced, ‘I brought you a present’ and he took from behind his back a very large piece of paper… the paper that was put on the floor of the drivers’s seat to keep the floor clear and dry, placed there by the service department. It is a lovely thick piece of paper and the few sole prints on it add character.

I learned a lesson in all of this, that there are ‘papers’ everywhere to make books from…paper bags, gift wrap, deli papers, parchment paper, cardboard, magazines, newspaper, envelopes, maps…etc….

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MARCH 2022

We have been living in Barbados for the past 5 months. I love to create! It really doesn’t matter what it is, I sit down to my table with book arts supplies spread out before me or stand to paint at my easel. I tend to move from one  project to another. Painting, printmaking and now it is making books. Recently, I have been collecting pieces of metal that I find laying in the streets. Bridgetown is a great place to find it.

Today I am rusting paper and loving the patterns that have resulted. I bought turmeric in the market the other day and I want to experiment with dyeing watercolour paper…all for my next book. My husband recently purchased some light bulbs for outdoor lights in the community. I looked at the boxes they came in and decided I could do something with these boxes of very thin corrugated cardboard. I pulled the outer printed layer off. I can become excited over the simplest of things…I took all of the boxes.

This is what I am working at now….rusted paper and corrugated cardboard for the covers of my book covers. I pulled away some of the paper to reveal the under layer to give some texture to the covers. 

I am reminded of fire.

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HANDMADE BOOKS

and….

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Tiny sun flower paintings in acrylic for Ukraine

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‘French Link Stitch’

Cover of book cloth made from purchased fabric / Heat n Bond

6” X 4”

2 ply waxed linen thread

signatures of 75 lb sketch paper

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‘Paired Needle Coptic Binding with Window’

Cover of acrylic paint on copy paper

Binding of waxed linen thread, 

bobble from a long ago flea market

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Cover of acrylic paint on 185 lb watercolour paper

Signatures of 75 lb sketch paper

Binding of 4 ply embroidery cotton

Found and handmade beads

Handmade beads made 

from strips of magazine paper

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Lark’s Head binding

Cover of origami paper, 

Binding of 18/3 waxed Irish linen thread,

Signatures of 185 lb watercolour paper and

envelopes

With thanks to the tutorials of Ali Manning

and the Handmade Book Club

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Coconut Tree and Herbs

I love tending to my herb pots on my front porch and I love to cook with fresh herbs.

My husband Paul climbs this ladder to reach the coconuts. 

This year we had coconut meat that 

I was able to grate and freeze. Usually they are cut down for the coconut water.

I made a cherry coconut loaf and macaroons.

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My favourite rose

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A visitor to our front porch

Hibiscus, Oil on panel

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 October/November, 2021 

painting at the Gibson