A White Hand: a story of noblesse oblige - Part I

Altered book pages from “A White Hand: a story of noblesse oblige” (1875)

Mineral pigment on book page

4 ½”x 7”

2008

All I know about the author, Ella Farman from what I could find is that she was probably an American, and she was born in 1837 and died in 1907. Her book, A White Hand: a story of noblesse oblige was published in 1875 in Boston. I can’t remember where I got this book. I used to collect old books and photographs. It must have been between 1996 and 2005? I can't remember. Farman wrote other books, and it seems that she had also written some children’s books. I painted every single page of this book, leaving some words and sentences floating on the page. It had 260 pages, so I must have ended up with 130 pages of painted book pages. Painting on a book page has been my go-to practice for a long time ever since I worked on "Dear John" series. It must comfort me somehow. I don't usually show these work. But I ended up giving many away and also sold many pieces at my open studio before I even thought about documenting. I documented what I was left with, which must have been less than a half of what I made from this book. One of the pieces was auctioned at a fundraising for a cancer patient.