May 31, 2016

This is Spread #27.

Before

Hand written text reads: "I can't part with my tea cups! Tea is meant to be sipped from a proper cup, not gulped from a mug!"

May 23, 2016

Before

I have decide to work randomly through the rest of the book. Each day I will page through until I find a page I want to work on that day. This is spread 26 in the journal.

The handwritten text reads: "No sketch today. Instead an image transfer. The cross is from a funeral program. Have so many of them and funeral prayer cards…too many"

Post IFJM 2016

I had put my book on the shelf and thought I was finished. But it kept nagging at me.  I had so many unfinished pages and I really like my Gelli Plate prints on each page, so yesterday and today I open the book and began working again. No finished work but I stamped 19 more of my hand carved rubber stamps on pieces of vellum; taped out and gessoed 2 squares on 2 pages; collaged paper from cardboard coasters and bags on three pages. Probably not the easies method since I still have to paint on the remaining spreads but this does mean I can throw out all the used and unused hand carved rubber stamps and the bag of extra stuff I was saving to use in the book. Now I just have to get out my gouache and paint. I plan on keeping the same theme which means painting items from my house. The great thing about that is the weather or time of day does not impact my ability to work on the journal.

IFJM 2016 Wrap up

Before

REAL life really got in the way of my International Fake Journal Month journal this year. Two funerals, two waves of out-of-town guests, a retreat, and an art show really ate into my art time. On my list of priorities my IFJM journal comes after my daily sketching and painting. Therefore, I only completed the first 16 days and got starts on 3 other days.  I do plan to finish the last 14 spreads in May. Even with the lack of finished work I still met most of the goals;

1) play with my Gelli Plate (done);

2) work in gouache (liked it enough to order the Scmincke gouache set from Wet Paint that Roz inspired). Think I will like gouache even better when I use it on watercolor paper;

3) sort through my old hand carved stamps (used and threw out 32 of my stamps so far). You can't keep stuff forever.

In addition I used a book from my $1 library sale books stash and used a large selection of pages from a old vellum sample book I stumbled across. So in some ways I was mimicking my character.

Overall I would call this month a success for me personally.

Now as to who my character was. She still has no name and I wanted to keep her sex, age, and occupation as secret as long as possible. She was a single, childless owner of an import business and traveled around the world on buying trips for her entire career. At the age of 66 she had decided to retire and downsize. I was very surprise she wasn't the only character who had similar plans this year. So she was going through her house and determining the disposition of items by checking a sticker KEEP, DONATE, TRASH, or GIVE TO______. Plus documenting memories.

April 16, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "How many contact lens cases [does] don't one person need?" The writing should read "does" not "don't", it was along day!

April 15, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "What another great find! A spare pair of glasses always comes in handy."

April 14, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "Amazing what you find tucked into the back of a drawer, an old Prayer Bell from a trip to India."

April 13, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "Is this little water pitcher from Japan or China? Whatever it is great for adding  just a drop of water.

April 12, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "As soon as I throw these out I will need them."

April 11, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "Why do I have remote controls for TVs I haven't owned for years?"

April 10, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "Rocks from the river. Fun in the sun day. Picnic, splashing in the water, great food…laid on the bank, napped, reading, sketching, great conversations & discussions" 

April 9, 2016

 Before

Handwritten text- "Don't know why these tiles are called"Flowers". Glad I have kept this set for myself, beautiful ivory and handcarved. Plus I enjoy the game."

April 8, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "Thought I had handed [in] the keys to my New York pied-a-terre. Perfect for those layovers on my way to Europe. Great location and doorman, George."

April 7, 2016

Before

Before vellum tip-in added.

With vellum tip-in added.

Handwritten text - "Moved on to the drawers…found letters, photos, envelopes, postcards, stamps, package receipts, scraps from mail, local, national, international stuff"

April 6, 2016

Before

Handwritten text - "This little bowl of shells gathered from different beaches brings back the thought of warm gentle breezes, waves breaking, sunset & sunrises, baby sea turtles hatching, moon light walks on the beach, laying in bed and watching the sun rise over the ocean between my toes…"

April 5, 2016

Before

Handwritten text – "A gift from next door neighbor for use post surgery. Not my style but think it might be Ellen's formal china pattern. She is fond of peacocks."

April 4, 2016

Before

Handwritten text – "Live plants aren't a good idea if you are hoping to travel…so off with this violet."

April 3, 2016

Before

Handwritten text – "What are the chances I will be going to France anytime soon or decide to study just to keep the brain sharp? Of course I have already put in a lot of time. Shame to let all that work go to waste!"

April 2, 2016

Before

Handwritten text – "Starting with the book shelves. Got this little guy in a white elephant gift exchange. If I get rid of this laughing Buda will his good cheer and bag of good fortune go with him? Just looking at him mades me smile. He will have to stay.

April 1, 2016

Before (forgot to take a pic before I started to work)

Handwritten text – "Saving this bottle of Familia Deicas Preludiom Barrel Select  Lote NO 92, 2009 for a special occasion. Why? Just the thing to start this project off. My comfort food?"

2016 prep work

Roz encouraged people to keep it simple this year to help everyone to have the time to complete 30 days. I had made a list of possible ways to go then took a different direction. The times I didn't keep up were when I was not excited with my drawing subject matter or materials.

I have answered the four questions Roz gave us to help discover our character, but I don't plan on sharing them until May 1st. I don't have a story line or a personal issue to work through. I am just dropping into my character's life for one month. I know my character's age, sex, occupation, and reason for drawing and journaling. I didn't even pick out a name because that really isn't important to me. I should be able to draw and journal each day for 30-60 minutes then photography or scan and blog each day.

This year's goals are as follows:

• Use my 6" square Gelli plate to make prints for backgrounds. I didn't want to make a book like I usually do but luckily there was a small 8" square gift style book on my shelf. I had picked this up for $1 at the local library book sale. First I cut out about 20 pages to get it down to 30 page spreads. The pages were thick but slick so I applied a layer of white, gray, or black gesso before printing. Printing in a book is messier and trickier that printing on a single sheet of paper but doable. Last (I know I should have waited until I finish working in the book) I decorated the cover. I had such a fun time. Some pages I love others not so much. The not so much ones will probably end up with larger sketches and more collage.
• Use my dresser drawer full of my hand carved stamps from the mail art phase I went through a number of years ago. Thus I will be able to sort, save or discard some or all.
• Play!!! I discovered during a major creative block last year that I need to rest, play, and refill my creative reservoir. This gave me a new direction that I am loving.

My past IFJM journals

I found Roz's celebration of IFJM in 2010. After lurking in the shadows and enjoying everyone's entries I finally worked up the courage to participate until 2012. Those old journals were posted to my flicker site which people were finding difficult to navigate, so this year I decide to give my journals their own space. The site is a very basic design so my time can be dedicated to creating pages in my journal and posting them.