I have been enchanted by books forever, so it is time I learn to combine my art with making my own books.

There will be many types of books here, but my favorite will probably always be the one I wrote and illustrated called "daVinci and daGypsies" ((c)4/2002 mary beth dodson) I sewed several signatures together using 200 lb.watercolor paper after first texturing the pages and leaving borders. Then I wrote the story about daVinci's supposed encounter with the gypsies, watercolored and collaged the figures, along with ink drawings and Italian script, and copies of some of his own drawings done in sepia and transfered to mulberry paper. I fastened this down with matte medium, so that the paper that they were printed on becomes transparent. Dimensional objects were added, as an old pair of glasses, button, string, optical lens and pockets for documents. There are more pages than are illustrated here.