As a teacher, I end up with quite a few books that are beyond repair. Being an avid reader, I end up with some books that I’m not all that crazy about and would rather not have on the bookshelf. Do you ever find yourself in one of those two positions? Well, rather than getting rid of those books, why not turn them into some book page art?
This is a super easy and fun art project you can do on your own or with kids. All you need are some old books, paint and some imagination.

Materials

• An old book
• Exacto knife
• Ruler
• Cutting mat
• Pencil
• Black liquid ink pen (0.7 tip is best)
• Watercolour paints and/or gouache
• Paint brush

First, cut a page out of your book. Use an exacto knife and a straight edge, such as a metallic ruler, to get crisp lines. It’s best to get an even border of blank page around the text.
Use a pencil to draw your image on the page. I like to take themes or words from the page to choose what I’ll draw. The footnote on this page discusses how cows are sacred in India and therefore milk is not commonly consumed. So, I decided to draw a milk carton.

Carefully trace your pencil lines with a black ink pen.

Paint your image, being careful not to go over the black lines too much. Be sure not to get the paint brush too wet or it will ruin the page. The drier the better. Allow the paint to completely dry before going over the black lines with your pen again.

If the idea of actually painting something is giving you heart palpitations, go the abstract route! Just dig your brush into some paint and start stroking away. It can be really satisfying to start from a blank page with absolutely no idea of what you will create, and end up with a unique piece of art.
Alternately, you can try this easy geometric art, but I would be very cautious with the washi tape as book pages tend to be a bit more fragile and prone to ripping.

Happy painting!