A special book

Barry and I have been collaborating on a special artists book for my parents. They are both celebrating 70 year birthdays so we decided to give them a joint gift. As a starting point we used a set of Tabernacle doors from a decommissioned and deconsecrated Catholic church - the metal and Gothic nature of them was so beautiful. Barry's blog probably best describes what he did with them to make them look even better.

We placed them onto a wedge of rose gum timber and I then went away to design the insides and write some words. The Scottish island of Iona has a special place in my parent's hearts, so I used some words and images from the Cloisters of Iona Abbey - a very special place.

The cloisters have four sides - East, South, West and North and a meditative walk through them brings you quietly back to the beginning point. The carvings reflect birds or plants of Iona, Scotland or the Holy Land and I used some verses of the Cloister poem and wrote in uncial which has links to Scotland and those times. The Book of Kells has links to Iona as well.

Here is the finished product - we were both proud of the outcome and pleased that it was welcomed warmly to its new home yesterday.