Eighth Page Spread in Roz's Fake Journal

Above: the 04.08.09 entry for my fake journal. Still working with Ziller acrylic ink, a dip pen, and Schmincke Pan Watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Here's a particularly ripply and crunchy page with every spec of it painted over. I couldn't resist letting great puddles of color slide down the water resistant pages. I'm going to do more journals in these Alvin field books!

For folks reading along the text from verso to recto page reads as a whole:

09.04.08 4:30 p.m.
It's 8:30 p.m. now. I sketched this male cardinal when Chuck took me out on my constitutional. So he has at least one redeeming characteristic—he'll wait patiently while I sketch even when we're off the clock.

This guy was puffed up and singing mightily to attract attention when we left. When we returned 45 mins. later he was up close and personal with a lovely beige brown female. He looked—if possible, even more full of himself.

At dinner Fleck informed me that Cardinals mate for Life. (So was this a first date today or a reunion?) Females, however, will let multiple males mate with them. DNA tests from eggs or chicks in one nest have shown multiple fathers. Clearly someone doesn't understand the whole "mate for life" concept.

I need access to a specimen for measuring before I can do any completed sketches of this bird. They aren't something I studied. I need to separate the feathers from the skeletal stucture.