Two collages on 1655 pages of Tableavx dv Temple des Mvses

I gave some of the loose pages from the 1655 Tableavx dv Temple des Mvses to Janet Kozachek. I've used some myself. Please note, we did not actually have the entire book. It was already "broken" when we got it for its incredibly detailed engravings. We've never destroyed an old, valuable book and don't think we will ever do so! We look for volumes that are in terrible shape, with missing pages and destroyed spines, and "ex libris" stamps all over the contents! This book was just this sort of thing. We did get the title page, however! The binding was a twentith century replacement. Several plates were gone already. We framed and sold nearly all the other engraving, even kept two for ourselves. Then, I removed well over half the pages and applied gesso to one side of these. I also thinnly applied gesso to the pages in what was left of the book. It became my "sketchbook" for the Pritchard's Island artist retreat four years ago.

I thought such ancient paper was a perfect substrata onto which to record the experience of a pristine barrier island, one unaccessible except by boat. The island is still similiar to how it was in the seventeenth century. Anyway, the reverse sides of these two pages is the side covered in gesso. I made sketches of nudes on them during the single session I went to "About Face", a drawing group that meets in our local museum weekly. They aren't very good, but they looked much better when I applied smears of paint. I'd upload them too, but Blogger is being difficult right now (again!) The results almost make me want to return to the drawing group. Maybe I will!