A Book of Healing

I recently ruptured my Achilles tendon, and had to have surgery. Those of you that know me know that I am not really great at sitting still (unless there is a glass of red wine in my hand and I am surrounded by my best friends). To say this was a challenge for me would be a large understatement. Once I surrendered to the reality of my situation, however, I knew that I had only one choice....to make art again. The ridiculous hiatus I was on had to end. Why not now?? I was safely tucked away under the care of my mom and within the walls of her beautiful home in Colorado. I set up an art space in the guest room and got to work. I painted every day, both in my journals and on these pages. I did not know exactly what my plan was, but I was processing each day, using these pages as a container. I used Arches Text Wove paper, Dylusions Inks,  some old stencils I had laying around, a limited palette of Golden Fluid Acrylics, pens, pencils and anything else I could get my hands on! As the pages came to life, I realized a book was being born. I hadn't hand bound a book in ages, so it turned into a real project! I ended up making two of these in different hues. I will post the other one soon. It was a gratifying experience to channel all of my frustrations, musings, celebrations and healing in these books! In the end, this injury has been the greatest blessing in recent years. Here are a few spreads out of my book......