I bought a book at church fair a few years ago. I rummaged through loads of books looking for some older books that would sit on the shelves of my 200 year old home in Dedham Square. One of the books fell apart when I pulled it out of the shopping bag when I got home. Pages spilled on the table and I picked one up and read the title on the page. "Emily's Trials." The crumbling of the book seemed an apt "next chapter" in her story - and perhaps it was Emily calling out and saying: "I'm still here." I saw this image appear on the page in my mind and grabbed a China marker to sketch directly on to the yellowed page. The water-damage on the lower left gives the piece some wonderful color. Read the text (by clicking the image which will enlarge it) -- it is a eerie little conversation by two children comparing their woes.
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7 comments:
That is a great image!
What a cool creative exercise....take a page from a book you've never heard of and illustrate it.
I'd love to see photos of your studio sometime Peter.
I'd like to know where you make these wonderful drawings!
Very cool. I'm so glad you opened The Stellar Cafe!
This is wonderful Peter. I just went to a little book in my town the sell old book and I purchased a few. Some of them had no covers and pages falling as well. I just used the pages to do my illustrations on. This however is something different that I will try to do. Thanks for aways being so inspiring!
Peter - this is such a lovely, haunting image. I want to read the whole book now!
Yes, isn't it wonderful, Paul? When I first saw it, I was awestruck! I agree - makes me want to read the whole book too (though, especially if Peter could illustrate the rest of it!)!
Peter,
This piece looks eerily like a kid's book from the Holocaust. To me, truly haunting...
It's an amazing composition!
THANKS!
Peter, I do believe in these magic ghosts you know? I don't think it's a coincidence, I don't think it was "just because". You are right. Sometimes things happen for a reason and if we believe, we know the universe can conspire in fabulous ways.
Last week, after I finished reading The Dot and Ish back to back for the fourth time, the school's secretary delivered the mail and there was your "Beantown" card. As I told Paul, at this point Third Graders probably think I have some magic powers. Maybe I do. Maybe we do. Anyway, magic exists, good ghosts that live in books also exist and I love all this!
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