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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 2h00

Paint a book or journal as art, or for reading.
Painted book art - can still be read - or hung on the wall.

I'm certainly not the first person to paint on a book - I just wanted to share my project.

Published 8th June 2010

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Amanda B. favorited Painted Book Art 25 Oct 13:23

Step 1
First, decide on your art, what do you want to draw/paint. Lightly sketch on the book face, in pencil. ( I found lighter colored books were easier, dark books can be hard to see the pencil and make it harder to know where you are painting.)I'm doing a woodland scene, so I decided to tape off the spaces that will remain pink and I want to paint the trees. This step is semi-optional - if you want to just go for it - just do it! I wanted to have these straight lines as a place to start - I will be elaborating on the trees later.
Step 2
Paint your trees. I used goauche paint. Its an opaque watercolor that's fast drying. Not too watery though - because it will bleed under the tapes. Acrylics will work - but take more time to dry.
Step 3
Take off the tape. Mine was pretty ugly, but now I free handed some more branches and rounded out the base of the trees etc. I had already sketched the fox and decided to go with a simple blue dress.
Step 4
Add details. I used gel pens to give the fox details on the face and dress. I used a black gel pen to scribble and smudge texture on the trees. I painted a few light layers of grass on the ground, added some mushrooms and different shades of blue to the grass. I also added clouds and birds with a pen.
Step 5
Admire your finished piece of art. If you want to hang it on the wall, you can cut a hole in the back of the cover with an xacto knife ( be careful though - its kind of a pain to do this) You can leave it as is, if you still want to read the book. You can add a ribbon loop between the back cover and glue the back page to it. You can seal all the pages by adding a healthy amount of pva (or paper specific glue) around the sides of the closed book and hold it down with something heavy. If you leave it overnight, you're book will be sealed shut.
Step 6
Scan or photograph your artwork to share online.