The Melisanda Factor

Aussie possum

Just made a delightful discovery.

Recently I'd been mystified because a container on top of one of my cupboards on the verandah kept catching on the door and nearly falling down every time I opened the door. I'd pushed it back repeatedly so that this didn't happen, but a short while ago when I pushed it back I felt a resistance. And there, peeping at me with startled eyes from between two containers was ............

It's not a great photo, I know, but I didn't want to startle him/her with the flash.

In case you don't recognise it, it's an Australian native possum (a brushtail, I think, but I couldn't see his tail) ... they're sweeter than the American variety I think. This one is quite young.

So, not only do I have Australian native flora on the verandah, but fauna too.

And now ... the Artist ebook

Curses! I thought I'd coined a term. Artist ebook, meaning an ebook that is a work of art. A Google search on 'artist ebooks' returned 6,790,000 entries, but visits to those on the first page revealed that most (if not all) were ebooks about art or artists. I rarely come across an ebook that is even well-designed, let alone a work of art in itself.

So perhaps, after all, I'm starting a new genre.

If you come across any ebooks you believe to be works of art, please let me know. I'd like to network with others.

It's pertinent to draw attention here to a quite extraordinary CD Rom, which includes beautiful ebooks and much much more. http://rivertext.com/monks.html Not exactly artist ebooks, but closely allied.

You can download, at no charge, a couple of my special ebooks at http://www.dream.net.au/melisanda/

About artist books

Although 'artist books' have been around for a long time, they have only recently become a 'movement'. A Google search on 'artist books' produces 157,000,000 entries. Not all will be relevant, but still, that's pretty impressive. Wikipedia states "An artist's book is an art object in the form of a book." Elsewhere you might find the definition, "a book made by an artist". I don't like that literal definition. So when I use the term, I mean that the book itself is the art form. A visual artist in other media might make a book, but it won't necessarily be a work of art.

Do I think my books are works of art? Some are, I suppose, but some are just nice enough handmade books. Special. Individual maybe. Occasionally unique. But I'm a little embarrassed even to call myself an artist, so I'd rather let others decide whether my books are works of art.

Be that as it may, you'll find some examples of my work in the album labelled Artist Books in the sidebar.

Art of the familiar

The best subjects to inspire creativity are often close to home

A little about Carmel

I really don't know if starting this blog was a good idea. I already have too much to do. According to Margaret Lobenstine's description, I'm a Renaissance Soul http://www.togetunstuck.com/ . A Renaissance Soul, to put it very briefly, is a person "with too many passions to pick just one". This can be a serious handicap, especially when (like me) a person reaches their 'autumn' years and has accumulated a list of Things to do Before They Die which would take several lifetimes to complete.

But I'm not sure if you want to know all that. Anyone interested in personality descriptions might also like to check out the Enneagram http://www.enneagramworldwide.com/ . Enneagram 7s are Renaissance Souls.

So, back to what I was saying ... I already have too much to do. Yet one is advised that a blog should be updated at least 2 or 3 times a week. Good grief! Don't people have anything else to do! When do people have time to read other people's blogs if they spend so much time writing their own?

Anyway, to justify the title of this post, I suppose I'd better supply some information about me (ie Carmel).

I live in Brisbane, capital city of Queensland, Australia - in a small but charming pre-war house in an inner-city suburb.

You already know I'm of 'mature' age, which is no guarantee of actual maturity. I'll have trouble having a second childhood because I haven't really finished the first one yet (some would say that's typical of Enneagram 7s, but they're just jealous).

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I thought I did ... until I resigned from my graphic design position at a certain educational institution two years ago. At that time I was pretty sure I wanted to be a maker of artist books (do a Google search on 'artist books' if you don't know what that means). I'd been dabbling in artist books for years, and it seemed to bring together a number of my major interests - writing, photography, playing with textures, design etc. However, since I resigned I've made very few books. I've been distracted by digital storytelling, making jewellery, artist dolls, and now this blogging thing.

I need focus. So where's the focus button?