Vispo: It Could Happen To Anyone / Armchair Travel / The New Altered Book Project

RTomens, 2023

I like to think that the black dog sitting at the foot of my bed this morning did not exert too strong an influence on either the piece above or my ability in general to retain a satisfactory creative flow - I like to think - but who knows?  I can't see any signs in the work...possibly the tentative formality...the lines in search of lines with which to connect are the result of the need for a pattern...stability. 

It's May 4 - I'm sitting here in The Cave with a scarf on...and you wonder why us Brits are obsessed with the weather - it doesn't behave - it doesn't do what it should! Shouldn't it be warm by now? Isn't it Spring? At least it's sunny - and a small part of me somewhere deep within my noodle is still appreciative of the weather's ever-changing moods here in the UK because despite the resulting dilemma about what the hell to wear it is preferable to, say, hot sun all day...or freezing cold all day, which I think happens somewhere in the world...doesn't it?

Talking of The World, I'm enjoying watching Michael Palin's travel series in which he goes everywhere, struggling with various transport difficulties and meeting all kinds of strange and interesting people. The other night he met one of those healers who perform 'operations' with his bare hands and no anesthetic. I can't recall where he was. Much of his travelling entail encounters with ramshackle trains rolling implausibly over remote lands, such as the Andes. I like watching the journeys, but wouldn't pay for one, being a softie who likes comfort, as opposed to adventure. The trains and the people, though, are admirable...their casual approach and the almost-falling-apart machines creak, groan and wobble but they get there. The raw, earthy nature of old world mechanics appeals to me. 

More raw mechanics? If my typed Vispo is 'primitive' compared to digital methods, it's still a very different thing to cutting, pasting, painting and tearing paper, which is what I've been doing since last Friday. Yes, another altered book project is under way. The last one sold quickly but this time I'm without an obvious publisher to sell it through so we'll see. Someone may want to act as promoter for the new book.  After all, they don't have to do much other than set up a page and take their percentage. below are a few sample pages and since then I've progressed to almost halfway, I'm guessing, although how many pages finally remain is dependent solely on my continued inspiration, of course. 

TTFN!