I have a project where I find books that are about to be discarded and give them a new life by drawing on one of the pages. The drawing illustrates what is been described on the page.

This began in 2014 and through a chance meeting I had a display and presentation as part of Melbourne Rare Book Week. I have also been their sketcher on location at many of their events during the week and have been each year since. But that is another story.

My initial drawing in books were in old law books that were about to be discarded. They literally could not be given away.

Since then I have been drawing in old unwanted books that are about to be discarded. These are the ones that the charity shops don’t even put on their shelves, or are left at the end of the day at a school fete etc. I have have a self imposed rule that they have to be under $5.

I take them home, identify interesting pages that have text that I can imagine a drawing on it.

I then look for a series of images to draw from online (within copyright rules)

I draw on the page in watercolour pencil. This is where it gets tricky, as the pages of these drawn in books are not archival as the books were printed in different years on different quality paper. Some pages like the pencil and I can add more detail and layers. Others do not.

I love to draw and love books – to draw and to draw in !

My ‘drawn in books’ are available to purchase on my ETSY store. I also have a range of library and bookithemed greeeting cards for sale there.