My 12 Connected Challenge Piece for "Color" theme; Punk-a-Doodle Color Book

My work is usually done in bold saturated colors, therefore when the theme of this challenge, "color" was announced my mind instantly went to an idea I'd been mulling over. A color book for and of my grandson using Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) by Lesley Riley. Ever since finding out you could use various art materials to color the transfer paper, I have wanted to "experiment".
To simplify things I decided to turn my photographs of "Punk-a-Doodle" into line drawings. There was only one problem....I didn't know how, which meant learning a new process in Photoshop Elements....not always as easy as I'd like it to be. Then I also needed to experiment with a variety of art materials to see which would give me the look and/or depth of colors I wanted. The page on the left was done with watersoluble oil pastels, I love how it looks like an old coloring book page. For the page on the right I wanted the colors to be more vibrant, that was achieved by using Crayola Sketching bright colored markers.

The only problem for me was the rough, blotchy effect the watersoluble oil pastels....as I sat staring at the colored transfer paper the "lightbulb" went off, why not even out the strokes with a damp paint brush. It worked just as I hoped it would .

The cover needed to be a bright yellow, like the color books of my childhood...at least that is my recollection. Below the piece is shown flat, however it does fold nicely (as shown at the beginning of this entry) and that is how it will be used. I placed staples along the binding with the plan of adding more pages. It even has it's own barcode just like the other books in Grandma and Kristins' shop, where he has always helped out.

When I began working on this he began planning, so "we" will choose 4 additional photographs, alter them and let him apply the color. Hopefully it will become a special keepsake to remember his Grandma by.