Compassion - book one

©2019 Barry Smith - Book 1 on Compassion

Fiona and I are taking part in an artists book exhibition in July. The exhibition has the theme of compassion. Of course July seems quite a long way in the future; but you can bet we will start to run out of time. We have committed to making 6 books - I started and completed my first over the weekend.

I like my artists books to have content. In this first book I have used a quote from John O'Donohue: "May I live this day compassionate of heart, clear in word, gracious in awareness, courageous in thought, generous in love."

The book is made from beautiful patinated copper salvaged from a very old copper laundry boiler.

©2019 Barry Smith

©2019 Barry Smith - Leaves of the book cut

The book pages are 12cm high by 8cm wide. It has: 7 leaves; three pages with sections of the quote stamped into them; and is held together with 11 brass rivets.

©2019 Barry Smith - Stamped pages and other leaves given a gentle grind to remove sharp edges

©2019 Barry Smith - Opening the book in the vice

©2019 Barry Smith - Beautiful patina and words (clear in word, gracious in awareness)

©2019 Barry Smith - Small 3D copper book

I love the solid feel of this book - both in terms of the metal and the beautiful words.