A Book a Day? What's Up With That?


Hi, and welcome to this year-long project. So what's this all about and how did it happen, you might ask. In mid 2007, artist Noah Scalin decided to make a skull out of anything he could find, every day for a year. It stretched him in ways he never imagined, as an artist, a writer and a person. His experience turned into a blog that went viral, and then a book.

Others have picked up on the idea: 365 Hearts, 365 Masks, 365 Bears drawn on a cellphone, 365 paper napkin mustaches.
I wanted to play, too, and I chose books. I love books, I know a bit about making books (thanks to my talented book-maker sister, Marilyn Worrix), and they're broad enough in definition to give me a lot of creative leeway.

The whole point is not really the books. The idea is to stretch myself in many ways as an artist and a person, to set up a discipline, stick with it and see what that teaches me.

I hope you'll join with me and follow along on the journey chronicled here, and let me know what you think.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Book 201 - A Card Accordion Book to Honor Ella Fitzgerald

This card/accordion book is pretty much a direct copy of a book posted this week by Susan Gaylord Kapuscinzki on her bookmaking blog. Every week she does a "book arts Tuesday" post featuring a different book. This week she made this structure as an herbal with nature prints. I wanted to do something different with it.

Some of you probably realize by now that I love to use quotations in my books. In fact, I love quotations so much, I actually have a website full of them. You can see it at www.inspirational-quotes-cafe.com. For this book, I chose a quotation I love from Ella Fitzgerald, something she said when she was presented with an award. I think it captures what "Mama Jazz" was all about in one sentence:

"I guess what everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved. And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don't have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you'll understand."

The structure of this little book is quite simple. I think you can understand it all just from the photos. I used card stock and printed some lines from the sheet music for "God Bless the Child" on the accordion folds.







3 comments:

  1. I have been reading your blog for a while, but this is my first comment. All of your books have their various charms, but this one is so beautiful, I just had to tell you! I love the sepia tones with the purple and the way the pictures, quotes and music all go together.

    Thank you for sharing your creations and for all the inspiration from both your commitment to making books and the books themselves.

    :)

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  2. I met Ella Fitzgerald once, fairly late in her career. She was doing a pops orchestra concert & I was in music school at the time, so I was able to attend local orchestra rehearsals. She hugged me and the other three women in our group. She was sweet and friendly and generous with her time. A class act, and the actual concert was top notch.

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  3. @becca, what a nice memory.

    Donna, I am so glad that you are following Susan's blog and I loved that book. You have taken it to such a wonderful place.

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