Many people want to write and publish a book. Unfortunately for them publishers are extremely picky and most authors find their precious writing is rejected. This is because it takes a thousands of book sales to justify publishing a new book. For those who only want to publish a "proper" book for themselves, friends and family, there are new websites that are make this process very easy. One is blurb.com For my artist/illustrator father, his wish to publish a story based on his childhood has finally become possible. This is an example of an artist's book, written and illustrated by Peter Stephenson,scanned into free blurb software, and now for sale online in their store.

Bobby and the ...

Written and illust...

By Edited by Anna Casey

Book Preview

Women in art

Artists have captured some beautiful women's faces in portraiture over the years - and this would be my favourite morphing animation as a result

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gsZ_6JHZk
Digital art painted with Wacom tablet in Photoshop, then animated using fotomorph.

State Library of Queensland visual arts links

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/coll/visarts/psd

Margaret Olley interview on vimeo

http://vimeo.com/26936249
Take a look for some Margaret Olley reminescences about life in the art scene in Brisbane.

Book art and altered books

I will never grow tired of picturebook art.
In my opinion, illustrators of picturebooks create art that is every bit as good as that found in Art Galleries.

There are some wonderful picturebook art sites out there, such as http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/
http://www.booksillustrated.com.au/bi_illustrations.php
http://www.childrensillustrators.com/

The perfect union between being a librarian and an artist would be a maker of artists books or altered books.Alas, I am too hasty an artist for such intricate and painstaking pursuits. I haven't even tried scrapbooking.

However, I can admire the skill that takes a discarded book and re-creates it into a book of art. It seems to be quite a growing art craze....
http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/ (Brian Dettmer book autopsies)
http://www.slideshare.net/trinityblu/how-do-you-see-books
http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/portfolio-book-cut-sculpture

http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/alteredbook.html 
http://www.logolalia.com/alteredbooks/ 


A google image search for the term "altered books" or "book art" shows the amazing talent out there, while
flickr and youtube also list images and how to videos if you are keen to have a go.
Recently there was the mystery of who was leaving little artistic creations in libraries in England.Who Left A Tree, Then A Coffin In The Library? : NPR

And the many images of altered books and book sculptures that can be found on the internet.
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/tags/books/
http://www.bibliopath.org/
http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/artists/mind-blowing-book-sculptures-by-guy-laramee/
The artists books to be found at State Library of Queensland are worth a look,

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/find/virtualbooks/artists_books
 as is the exhibition from Mackay's Art space
http://www.wagga.nsw.gov.au/resources/documents/RL_Education_Kit.pdf


Then of course there is the growing ebook revolution that involves animated picturebooks on Ipad. 
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20002462-243.html and from Weston Woods.
http://satorismiles.com/resources/discovery-education-streaming/weston-woods-animated-childrens-picture-books/


and animations that feature books such as The Joy of Books


Which brings me to the enchanting interactive ebook and animation, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

All I can say is look, look again and admire the patience and skill of these artists.

Winifred Stephenson artist

There are 3 generations of artists in my family. I am relying on oral history from family members and the newspaper searches available in the National Library Trove database.

I am currently researching the life of Winifred B Stephenson, born at Petersham in 1890, to Arthur A and Annie Stephenson. Arthur came to Australia from Yorkshire, and Annie  was born at Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent. 

Winifred was an art teacher at New England Girls School Armidale, worked in leatherwork and woodwork, was a commercial artist in Brisbane,and a member of the Royal Queensland Arts Society during the 1920s and 1930s, alongside Vida Lahey and Daphne Mayo, and C H Lancaster who was related to her by marriage.

Winifred became a member of the Qld Authors and Artists Association in 1924

Apart from stories handed down by relatives, I have one photo, a copy of one pastel portrait.

A Trove search of newspapers has yielded some information. The Stanthorpe Border Post of 16th May 1913 says Miss Winnie Stephenson won major prizes for paintings entered in the Roma Show.

The one painting for which I have a title is described by a reviewer of a Royal Qld Arts Society exhibition in the Brisbane Courier 24 Jul 1929:

"A delightful phantasy is Winifred Stephenson's "The Wattlemen Discover Australia"; it is simple, and conjures up visions of fairy tales."

I wonder can artistic influences such as an interest in children's book illustration and fantasy be handed down the generations?

She sold many paintings at Finneys Department Store in the Valley, Brisbane.

Her mother was admitted to the Mater Hospital and died in 1931 having suffered from Hidaties prevalent at the time and transmitted from eating the meat of diseased sheep.

Winifred suffered ill health due to the strain of supporting herself and her mother as a single woman artist. She lived alone at Spring Hill or Paddington and became quite deaf. After suffering some damage at the hands of an eminent Brisbane psychiatrist who experimented on her at a private hospital, she was nursed back to partial health in hospital in Toowoomba, where she did portraits of the nurses, and was moved to Dalby during WW2. Her brother Edgar kept her in pocket money until she received a pension in about 1955. She came to Brisbane General Hospital for cancer treatment and died in1968.

I would like to find some existing works by this artist who has disappeared almost unremembered from Queensland art history and from our family history. Please feel free to contact me if you know any more about this artist.

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Drawing Room at Matisse Art exhibition at GOMA Brisbane

Matisse was master of the simplified drawing showing the essential elements of his subjects.
The Drawing Room at the Matisse exhibition at GOMA in Brisbane used live models and still life objects to allow the public to try to draw with conventional drawing materials of paper and pencil, or on a digital drawing tablet. http://blog.qag.qld.gov.au/category/qagoma/matisse/
Those who drew on a digital tablet could then email their drawing which was saved as a stroke by stroke animation. This gives a fascinating glimpse into how people draw as well as using the email to further promote visits to the exhibition...Animation of a drawing