Reading Year journal page
Posted: January 1, 2021 Filed under: book spines, Darkroom Door, Woodgrain | Tags: Coliro paints, Darkroom Door stamps, Ranger Distress inks 11 Comments
I know 2020 was a very different year from what any of us imagined but I hope you are able to look back on it and see some new habits or achievements that please and encourage you. I’ve always been a reader but I have to admit I spent more time immersed in stories this year. I read physical books, listened to many audio books as I worked on art and in the last week read e-books on my new e-reader. I was hoping to reach 100 books but fell a little short with a total of 93 and three currently on the go.
It is highly possible that I had years as a child when I read more than 93 but I don’t know; I didn’t keep a record. I have this year’s books written in a bullet journal but I decided to record them on an art journal page as well. This is the second book filled spread in my art journal and who knows, there may be more.
I love the book spines stamp from Darkroom Door and this time stamped it across the pages instead of in piles. After I had coloured all the book spines with watercolour markers and pearlescent paints I drew a shelf underneath and then stamped the DD woodgrain stamp above and below the shelf of books in grey and brown distress inks. I added a few titles to book spines with gel pens then used a scribbly script to fill the surrounding area with all the rest of the books. It soon became apparent that there would not be room for author names so I just did book titles. Once I had filled the space I had to squeeze the last few in between lines. I splattered some black soot distress ink over the page before removing the masking tape and adding the hand lettered title.
I read mysteries, war novels, crime novels, literary fiction, comedy, romance, historical fiction and a thriller. There were books I didn’t care to finish so they are not on the list and there were a handful I read twice. I read several series; I do like a good series and I took pains to try and have them arrive in my library holds in the right order or close to it.
The book club I belong to did manage to meet this year, once indoors before the pandemic started then two more times, outdoors around a picnic table then, in late October, around a bonfire. We discussed ‘Where the Crawdad’s Sing’, ‘Small Great Things’, ‘The Lager Queen of Minnesota’ and ‘The River’. If you know of some good ‘book club books’ please let me know in the comments below. I have received helpful recommendations from you before which I’m looking forward to reading in 2021.
Happy New Year!
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Heather Telford 
I have really enjoyed your beautiful creations over the past year Heather, including this one! One of my favs was your hydrangeas, (which you showed in your top 10), I love these and we live in Hydrangea Road! I hope to soon get stuck in with the water colour course I purchased last year and haven’t had time to do… Wishing you and your family a very happy, creative and blessed New Year!
Happy New Year to you. Cute card. Keep them coming. Always enjoy your work.
Love your work. I’m adding your books to my art journal.
Best book recommendation. The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson and The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyers. Both set in Appalachia during depression and tell about the women who took books into the mts on horseback. Both very good and different.
Very nice! Happy New Year!
Oh my gosh I love this! The details held my attention for quite a while and your calligraphy is just gorgeous. I too am an avid reader so this caught my attention. My favorite book in the last years has been “Beneath a Scarlet Sky” by Mark Sullivan. Thanks for sharing your talent!
I’ve stalked you for years and this year’s resolution is to do more commenting.
I really liked The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah and Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver. Who was the author of The River? There are several.
I enjoyed the Great Alone too and we did The Nightingale in book club the previous year and thought it was excellent. I have read some Barbara Kingsolver but not Unsheltered. We read The River by Peter Heller.
What a fun idea to document the books you read last year. I read more too, but not that many. Happy New Year!
That is a lot of reading to have done in a year Heather and love your bookshelf with some of the titles on the spines and also on that wonderful background. With 93 to catalogue it is now wonder you ran out of space to write them in. A fantastic design and love that you wrote the amount and the year on the underside of the shelf too. x
Hi Heather,
I love your work, andvthis was particularly pleasing to me. My family claims that I would beggar myself for books….! Just finished reading A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier. It was one of my favorite reads this year.
Wow! I’m not sure I’d be able to stamp something in a bound book without messing up the stamped image!!!