Thursday, November 19, 2009

the time traveler's wife



I finished reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" (Audrey Niffenegger) a little while ago and then saw the trailer for the movie since. It was a great book that was very moving and I can't wait to see how they try to portray it in the movies. I'm sure it won't be the same as the book, but I am pleased to have read the book first.
I had to do a journal page or two after reading the book, and this was the results. There were so many wonderful moments and images and quotes in the book that I didn't know where to start. I decided these were the quotes that I wanted to remember Clare and Henry by.
Henry's page shows him time travelling and shows him falling to represent what a dangerous and helpless condition he has. His wings are because of the constant references to angels and Clare's art and they relate to the central themes of the book (you will have to read it to know any more!)
Clare's page shows her self portrait. The full page doesn't quite fit in my scanner, but she is actually floating. The floating and the quote reflect the flying theme again.
There is a printed page in the background for both pages with all the years from the book printed in different sizes and fonts. Then there is a layer of gesso and water soluble crayon. Then I drew the picture of Clare using pencil and posemaniacs for a model. I did Henry falling by cutting a stencil from an internet image and sponging with acrylic paint. I drew in the wings, then painted with silver acrylic, highlighted with red acrylic and black Pitt Artist pen and tiny touches of white Uniball Signo pen. The text was done on both pages by hand with black Pitt Artist pen and black Sharpie. The stenciled edge was done with punchinella scrap and acrylic paints and graphite stick.
I know that some people found the book slow, but it is a book that you have to feel the characters slowly, not have them thrown at you in an exciting, fast paced way. I thought that the author got the pace just right and I can't wait to read her next novel.

8 comments:

pinkglitterfae said...

your post makes me want to read this book. I've been trying to find it used but haven't had any luck so far. A friend of mine read it and said she couldn't get into it, it was too slow for her, but I think it sounds like my kind of book.
I love your artwork! and the Rilke quotes

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

i loved that book! you illustrations are lovely too...

Shelley Malone said...

I especially love the way Henry seems to be phasing in, from transparent to fully there with his huge wings. And also how in this case you have made the quotes the star of the pages, with the images supporting the quote instead of the other way around. Very inspiring!!

Marilyn Harris Mills aka Maer said...

your lettering is awesome....love it!!! interesting story about the Queen.

Linda Jo said...

Ohhhhh!!! I loved that book! I haven't seen the movie...guess I'll have to wait for the video now. Did you see it????

Mixed Media Martyr said...

The movie hasn't opened here in New Zealand yet. Will definitely be seeing it though!

Lindart said...

Your pages are beautiful - I love your lettering! The page about Henry is especially nice with his image fading down the page. I read TTW and loved it too, didn't find it slow at all, in fact couldn't put it down! I also like making the books I read into journal pages! Right now I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Anonymous said...

I love that you included two of my favorite Rilke excerpts from the book. This is beautiful and, in my opinion, really illustrates the book well, especially as this is a book that cannot be illustrated easily. Well done!