Altered geography book

I started this project before Christmas... and it is finally seeing some action happening on the pages.  Starting life as an old childrens geography book, I have removed some pages, and added gesso, and now some paint, and drawings, doodles, images etc... as part of a book club I attend.  This is a stress free way of being creative around a purpose...each night when we get together to talk about a book we are reading, we each have a journal or a sketch book, and we work on a page while chatting.
What type of book?  Anything can be used for an altered book.  BUT it really, really should be stitch bound!  I am not worried about the torn binding, as when I sand and paint the cover, I can add masking tape to repair this and then paint, over the top, and add embellishments etc.

This is what the pages start out looking like - the original text and images.  Sometimes I leave part of the page show through.  Sometimes I highlight certain words.  OR other times I gesso and paint right over everything... feel free to leave as much or as little of the original page as you like!

This is the inside cover and first page I did.  You can actually see the cut stiches from where I removed a lot of signatures all at the front.  I was intending just removing all the pages... then decided to leave a minimal amount to allow for lots of tip-ins ( additional pages), added pockets, and lots of paint and collage...

Third page... lots of drippyness, and a image torn from the Matisse Exhibition catelogue... done over a few days - essentially just playing with colour.    At a later stage I might add writing about a book we are reading... (I also bought the black Paris tape at the art gallery too - too cute not too get some!)

One final page... you can see I have added some writing here - leaving some text showing, added some drawn and collage elements, and played with colour...


The beauty of this process is the complete freedom it offers.  An old book, some gesso, and some coloured pencils, and watercolours - and you are off and running to be as creative as you'd like :-)
Love your comments!  What do you use your altered book for?