Altered Book Poetry Pg 1

I recently learned about a really neat creative outlet, Altered Book Poetry. I've been familiar with altered books for awhile now but never been brave enough to try one. Seeing the altered book poetry, I decided I wanted to bite the bullet, besides organizing a poem out of the words on the page gave me a theme or concept to work with instead of just my blank imagination, which isn't always that productive on visual arts.

I just happened to have two copies of Janet Evanovich's "Lean Mean Thirteen" from her Stephanie Plum series, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and alter a book.

In case you aren't familiar with the art form, to make altered book poetry first you select a book that you can alter (a book you own, not someone else's and DEFINITELY not a library book). You open it to a page, select random words from the page that spell out your own message or poem (these are abstract and loose, doesn't have to have perfect form or rhyme). You circle the words you have selected, then apply white gesso to the rest of the page, creating a perfect canvas to add your own paint and art to to illustrate your poem. Here is my first completed page, with the poem below in case you can't make it out in the picture:



"I'd been debating whether to do something
I knew I shouldn't do
Feeling the unusual Truth
you don't know until you jump in,
right?"