Blurb | Elizabeth Fram

I am still adjusting to being dog-less after losing Lola last summer. Yet I’m very grateful for all the drawings that remain. In the same way that a song or a smell will evoke a time and place, sketches also seem to have the magical ability to transport you back to a particular moment — a consequence of the Zen-like mindfulness that comes with concentrating so intently.

Lola was a wonderful teacher because, even though most of the time I tried to catch her while she was sleeping, she could never hold a pose for long. She had a very active dream life and pushed me in my on-going aspiration to develop an ability to catch an image quickly.

When our daughter was visiting in August, I handed my sketchbooks over to her so she could mark the drawings that she might like copies of, thinking I would probably scan and email them to both our kids in a zip-file. As often happens, things got busy and I was slow to follow through. But then I had an idea…

I know I’m late to the party in discovering this, but I had read somewhere about making books with Blurb — and also, I know someone who had mentioned in passing that she has had good luck self-publishing with them. Rather than just emailing a slew of images and leaving it for the kids to figure out what to do with them, I decided it would be fun to try to put together a little hardcover book as a Christmas gift.

It was a breeze to do; the software is easily downloaded and very intuitive. If you want to create a polished presentation of images of your work, this approach is well-worth considering. Blurb is not the only place that offers this service, so shop around to see what’s most cost-effective and has the options that are right for you.

The end results were worth the effort. This little memory book will mean a lot to me as I look back — not only in remembering a loyal pal, but also as a symbol of the quiet sense of teamwork we shared each time she took on the role of patient model.

Elizabeth Fram

Eye of the Needle

Tag Archives: Blurb

Bound Up with Memories