A Little art book in the works

I've got some news: I've got a little art book in the works; a little publishing project of photos I've been assembling these last few months. But did this come out of the blue? Not really.

Books and writing have always been a part of my life. As I may have mentioned before, I stumbled into collage art relatively recently, just a few wonderful years ago. Before that, as a working professional, I was a technical writer. I worked for IT companies, working on documentation like user guides, release notes, how-to guides, etc. It was in this environment that I was introduced to desktop publishing and how to "build a book".

Back in 2005, I decided to put those skills to use and wrote and self-published a reference travel guide. It was a hellish 2 years getting that book together (before I became busy with kids, no less), and my husband who was not yet my husband probably thought twice about marrying me after all the stress, but I'm proud it. It's still a useful book today if you are an expat moving to Slovakia long-term. Yes, it is a tiny niche, and I didn't sell many copies, but it got good reviews. Used copies are still available on Amazon. It's no longer in print.

The time is right to start thinking about creating books again, but now for something completely different. I love artist's books. I love collections, compilations, and whatever else, of artwork from artists I admire. Seeing artwork is wonderful on the internet, but sometimes you just want a book to sit down with and enjoy, or to have some inspiration on a desk or at a near-by bookshelf --at least I do. I have begun thinking about creating the kind of art books that I look for. Time will tell if I'm on the mark.

I've decided to get my feet wet with self-publishing a small lookbook, which is basically a book of photos and almost no text. What will this new one be about? Dearest to my heart--collage-art, of course, but more specifically, collage art with postage stamps. Here's the cover:

Pretty, isn't it? The size is 6" x 6". I love the small size because it feels more personal; like it really is a collection of special photos. It has 50 pages of full color, full-bleed (meaning the photos go all the way to the edge of the paper) photos of collages I've made over the past year and a half, all containing postage stamps. It's at the printers now and I can't wait to get my hands on them. I'll need to review a proof, so in all, it could take a few months.

I'll have more details soon, of course. I hope to make it available to anyone who want it, through Etsy, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll stop right there and simply say, more details to follow.

Update: It's out and available at my shop on Etsy. Check it out for more details.