Against Book Breaking

After posting about it yesterday, I thought today might be a good time to talk about where I first saw Grandville's Laurel, and the artistic conundrum it always reminds me of.

When I was 16, I caught my first glimpse into Grandville's world. I was given his Laurel as a gift. It was a plate from an antique edition of Les Fleurs Animees, and I've always cherished it. I still see it every day, too, framed and on my mantelpiece at home.

It was only later on, in botany school, when I discovered that the Laurel was part of a larger collection of images, that my real love for Grandville's caricatures was awakened. My discovery had a dark side, too, because I also realized that my plate had once been in a book that was now, obviously, in pieces.

Just as the botanist is prone to plucking flowers from their natural habitat and flattening them into albums, we as artists have the same opportunity to rend the beautiful works of others and use the gleanings to our own ends.

Castle in the Air offers classes on altered book techniques, but when I've taken the classes I've always been the oddball using a newly purchased blank book. I've never been able to bring myself to break or modify an existing book with another artist's text and pictures.

By the same token, Castle in the Air sells our "Vintage Ephemera Packs" stuffed with trimmings from yesteryear's books and magazines. I have to say that for the record, none of the elements in the ephemera packs we've sold have been broken from their original source by us at the store. The pieces are brought in by collectors or found already disassembled at sales and flea markets.

For many people, old books are talismanic objects with their own inherent power. The act of dissecting the book and using authentic vintage pieces is thought to put some of that power into a new piece of art. It's a potent process even if you don't believe in magic, because what's happening is a real transformation. A more or less "original" source is destroyed, and what comes from it is a new statement from a contemporary artist. I won't stand in the way of anyone who wants to break books to get at that power, but I can't bring myself to do it.

My hope for all artists who work in collage and reinterpretations of vintage publications is that they take time to consider the effects of their actions, and consciously decide what is best. An antique book is a treasure unto itself, and even though Castle in the Air could make more money selling individual plates cut from a vintage art book, we would much rather keep the book intact to sell as is, or better yet, to add to our store collection, where choice images can be reproduced using modern methods. I've scanned the Grandville images I'm sharing with you using a computer. The same computer can allow me to recreate an almost perfect replica of the artistic plate from my copy of Les Fleurs Animees, one that I can cut and paste to my heart's content -- and probably on better paper to boot. To me, none of Grandville's magic is lost in this process. In fact, you could say that the magic is enhanced, because the image is now incorporated into something new that might turn on a new person to Grandville's work, and the original remains for those who want to experience the power that it has in itself.

As artists we live in and through our imaginations. Can you imagine a world where the beautiful original works that inspired us in the first place have all been destroyed?

One Hump or Five?

While we're on the subject of animal miniatures, I want to show you the surprise that my staff gave me for my birthday a few weeks back -- my own train of camels, each one decorated to remind me of a different Castle crew member!

If you think you know the people who work here well enough, try your hand at guessing who made which one!

Painting with Dad

For Christmas, I gave my dad a gift that he and I could enjoy for years to come -- my personal set of watercolors, some brushes, and a promise to teach him how to use them. I'd given him some leather-bound journals with Arches paper a while back, and once he had the paint set and some Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes he had all he needed to get started. We're beginning with some color gradients and other technique exercises.

It's really been a treat to revisit an old skill and take it from the beginning again. Teaching my dad watercolor gives me a chance to see the art not only through the eyes of the teacher, but also through the eyes of the new artist. Surprisingly, it's the latter perspective that helps me to see new possibilities in painting. In learning any kind of art, one of the challenges is retaining openness and vulnerability, remaining humble before our own aptitude and the nature of the medium we're working with. All of this is to say that even in the short time I've been painting with my dad, I see that somewhere over the past 25 years my skill surpassed that necessary humility. So I'm learning too, and as he and I bond over this holiday gift it's been a bit of a present to myself as well.

Yesterday we took the Castle in the Air spring class mailer to press, and if you're on the mailing list you can expect it in your mailbox within a few weeks. I'll be co-teaching some painting classes, and of course we'll have dozens of other courses in a variety of arts, all taught by the best instructors. I hope to see you in the studio!

How-To: Tie a Ribbon Around a Box

It's a problem that plagues so many gift-givers, but it doesn't have to -- how to tie a proper ribbon around a gift box. Many people start by holding the center of their length of ribbon over the top of the box, then wrapping it down the sides and giving it a quarter-twist so that the ribbon can go up the remaining sides and meet at the top to tie a bow. This method works, but the quarter-twist at the bottom results in a "bump" that can be problematic for small packages or other gifts which need to sit flat.

Here's a way to get over the "bump" method and tie a ribbon that looks so nice. Unspool enough ribbon from your roll to tie half of the bow (one loop and one tail). Pass this portion through your hand and pin the ribbon to the center of the top of the box with your thumb.

Continuing to unspool, wrap the ribbon all the way around the box -- down one side, across the bottom, and up the other side until you're back to your thumb. Then do the quarter-twist on the top of the box, such that the bump will end up where you will tie your bow. Keep unspooling and wrap the ribbon down an unribboned side, across the bottom and up the final side.

Once you're back to the top of the box, unspool enough ribbon to complete the bow (enough for the second loop and second tail). Tie the bow, and presto! You've tied a ribbon around your gift perfectly!

It's that easy!