The Many Faces of Ed ~ An RSD Altered Board Book

Hi all. Rick St. Dennis' fabulous cat series which can be found in his Zibbet store is so funny and clever that I've been wanting to do an altered child's board book starring most if not all of them. I knew I would have fun with this mixed media project because the cats and the poor mice make me smile, grin, and laugh. I decided that the theme tying the book together would be Cat ~ Ed and all of his favourite activities. He is quite a guy. I prepped the 4.25 x 4.25 inch book by sanding it lightly and applying gesso to all of the pages to give it tooth and cover up the original colours and writing.

The first two page spread features Intoxi ~ Cat ~ Ed, aka Martini, with his cocktail glass and oh so dapper pajamas. I coloured Ed like a gray tabby using Prismacolor pencils, fussy cut him leaving a white border, and matted him with black cardstock.

The background began with blue and green Neocolor II watercolour crayons activated with water. Limelight and Beach Hut Fresco Finish paint was sponged over that to even it out and intensify the colours. Tiny circles and dots were stamped with Ranger Archival inks. Larger circles were created with gesso and bottle lids. Stencilling was done with embossing paste scraped through TCW's Mini Sketch Grid. The letters were black stickers. A little doodled border, blue gelato on the edges, and some washi tape completed the spread.

The second spread features Domesti ~ Cat ~ Ed, aka Mouse Cake. He was coloured like a marmalade cat using Prismacolor pencils and was matted the same as the previous image. He was adhered to a layered background of a corrugated tag, book text, music paper, and washi tape.

The background began with pink, orange, and yellow Neocolor II crayons scribbled onto the gessoed pages and activated with water. This was done a few times to achieve the look I wanted. Hero Arts Starburst stamp was applied with Magenta Hue Archival ink and a grid stamp with Pale Ochre Archival. Embossing paste was scraped through TCW's Tile texture stencil and black gesso lines were added with an old gift card. A border was added with thinned gesso and dots with Black Archival ink. Again, sticker letters were added to indicate which Ed we were seeing. To finish, orange gelato was applied to the edges and smudged with my finger.

The third spread features Compli ~ Cat ~ Ed, aka Clifford. This Ed was coloured like a calico or tri-coloured cat. He was fussy cut with a narrow white border, and again matted with black cardstock. he was backed with a black punched circle off set over a circle punched from mop-up paper.

The background had yellow and tan Neocolor II crayons scribbled in a random way over the gessoed background and then activated with water. Once again, Fresco Finish paint in Haystack and Pumpkin Soup were sponged over the top of the crayon and dried. Vintage Photo Distress ink was applied to the edges and also through TCW's Spinning Tops stencil. Layers of text paper, black cardstock with embossing paste stencilled on it, and a stamped piece of yellow designer paper topped with a die cut mixed media remnant were added to the left side of the spread. White gesso circles were added with bottle tops and more gesso was pounced through punchinella. The same stickers were added for lettering but this time the open letters were filled in with white paint pen. A zigzag doodled border, some grid stamping with Vintage Photo Distress ink, and brown gelato edging and I called it done.

Thanks for visiting today. Stay tuned for the next installation of The Many Faces of Ed next Tuesday when I return with three more of Rick's hilarious cats.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie