Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Grand Manan Rock Books

Every summer my family and a few friends make our pilgrimage up to the island of Grand Manan off the coast of New Brunswick in the Bay of Fundy. A fairly small and quiet island, Grand Manan is unbelievably scenic with panoramic ocean views, sheer cliffs, and long rock beaches. We rent out several cabins right on the edge of a marsh overlooking the ocean and, totally devoid a wireless connection, we spend our week reading, playing cards, hiking, picnicking and of course, drawing and painting. But one of our favorite past time is collecting rocks. It may sound pretty lame, but the rocks found around the Grand Manan archipelago are unlike any other. Just look at what I mean:


In honor of our overwhelmingly large rock collection (my mother actually has started returning some to the island), I decided to make a few little sketchbooks for my traveling companions.



Each book is decorated with some rocks drawn in pencil, sealed in wheat paste and bound up with some nice linen thread in durable book cloth. My great friend (and shameless plug: excellent writer) Celeste started hers right away with a few watercolors.