Yeoman's in the Fork Blog

I promised to tell you this week about the newest available fore-edge, a painting of Saint Teresa of Ávila, but since then the book has been sold. I was going to tell you about her writings, The Interior Castle, and how she seemed to pop up everywhere I looked, and how intense it was to paint her likeness. I really was going to tell you all about this, but now I think I just have—well at least the condensed version!

So if you missed a chance to see Saint Teresa of Ávila, here is a photo of the fore-edge. And this takes me to another topic-- I do special orders. If you missed an opportunity to purchase a fore-edge you were thinking of, let Michael Cotter know and I can create a special fore-edge just for you.

Last year at this time I was staying in a Texas Hill County decor pool house over looking a winding pathway to Lake Granbury water’s edge where I spent one WHOLE day fanning paper. Yes, fanning paper! I was learning how to make a book from scratch and create a fore-edge painting on it—which I did. It gave me a whole new respect for bookbinders.

One year from creating my first book from little pieces of paper I am blessed with spending time in England, meeting Martin Frost, and getting good advice from Jeannie Bennett who expects her new book on fore-edges to be complete very soon.

In the past year I have learned how to blend fine art and craft together to create fore-edge paintings. I am constantly discovering new ways of improving this unique art form. I always know when I breathe life into something, because that joy is also shared by the viewer.

I have a sense when the first edge decorations were created by monks, that they invested spiritual energy into their painting. This is what needs to be brought back into fore-edge paintings today. What a wonderful connection with the cosmos!

See you all next week.