January Book Review - Painted Pages

My first book for Darcy's artful readers club is Painted Pages by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare.

My first mistake with this book was when I bought it. I didn't buy this book in person I got it on-line and bought it off the name and front cover alone. To me the name painted pages and the images on the cover denotes some sort of painting book. I was very wrong in this conclusion and really do not understand why it is called painted pages when it has nothing to do with painting. It is in fact a book about collage and sketchbooks which if you do read the synopsis at the back does imply.

The book as a whole after I had realized my mistake was not so bad. It has good beginning section on materials that a novice would learn a few things from, as an experienced mixed media fanatic I was already familiar with the information provided. It does however give good advice on collage material and what to collect. The book also has a good section on how to do a basic image transfer, if you have never done that before.

Their is one paragraph in this book that really made me laugh ''Begin a new art-making session with a nice clean desk'' That never happens in my room, no matter how hard I try!

I found one thing really annoying with this book, it gives you a paragraph on something and then tells you to go to another page near the back of the book to see the illustration, it was pretty pointless, it could have just been written with that illustration instead. The book also has several sections and photographs on guest writers, these make absolutely no sense at all. These guest writer articles seemed to appear at random and had nothing to do with the section they were placed in. They are not relevant to the book and I could see no reason for it being included in the book apart from to add a few more pages.

I have seen this artist published in Somerset magazines, this is what initially prompted me to buy this book as she had some really good articles and art work. Had I flicked through the book in person in a shop I would not have bought it because I do not like to do collage and I think it is aimed at the beginner market.

Sorry to say, I would have to recommend to pass on this one.

As part of the club challenge we are to do a piece of work inspired by what we have read. Here is mine. I asked friends to pick random numbers for the prompts at the back of the book to create my page. The prompts used in order are: Use book page as collage, sign your name on the piece, close your eyes and paint or draw, paint lines shapes or dots with a tiny brush, paint with your finger. To finish I added words and doodling.