As soon as I come back from the mountains, I longingly wait for the days when I get to make the drive back there again. During one of those waiting periods, I designed and made this book. I also play music. Thoughts of the mountains and music coupled together to make something new. This is the story of this book – “High Mountains and Flowing Water.”
An alpine lake at 9,290 feet (2,830 meters). A beautiful place for letting the mind wander.
My beloved musical instruments, along with the Kantele I picked up last year during our visit to Finland.
With the two in mind, I started designing the book cover. Once I had the measurements for the paintings, I started with the drawing of two old Chinese instruments – the dizi and the guqin. I was having a bit of trouble with the motif on the guqin. So I sketched another one at the bottom of the page, where I could erase and redraw to my heart’s content, until I was content.
A close-up. I used a few helper lines while drawing the curves on the guqin. I added a bit of shading in the sketch as a reminder for those areas when I started painting.
This was the first attempt. Honestly I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it either. The dizi was fine, but I didn’t care for the rest. The branches were too dark, the ribbon was too prominent, and the guqin lost the lighting effects.
After a deep breath and the passing of another day, I restarted. This time I got want to wanted.
For the white motif, I used the white of the unpainted paper. Once the guqin was painted, I used a tiny brush to smooth out the lines and blend in the colors. I painted the two pictures together to keep the flow of the background from one into the other.
When stitching books, I have to pay attention to the tension of the stitch. As I was stitching the papers together for the book, I was being a bit heavy-handed. That resulted in my tearing the gentle watercolor paper at the needle hole.
I cut up those discarded papers to make this little black watercolor book as a smaller prototype for the larger one.
A couple of days later I was done with making the book. I added the red headband on the top and bottom of the spine. I thought it looked perfect with the black book and the blue paintings that I was about to add on the cover.
Trimming the painting to fit the cover insets took some careful work. Since I had painted the two together, I could feel the sky, the branches and the music flowing from one into the other.
Another story that I shared previously about my hiking in the alpine high country.
During the time at home away from there, I thought of the mountains and the snow-melt waters playing and singing together as two souls in this intimate, yet vast landscape.
“High mountains and flowing water” refers to a deep unspoken bond between two souls. The name came long after, but I find it befitting what I have created.
What started as a longing for the mountains has now taken on a shape of its own. I will fill this book with what kind of paintings, I wonder. That story is yet to be told.
Until next time,
-Soma
P.S. After a long break from the computer and other activities, my shoulder is on the mend. Thank you so much for your well wishes.
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