Welcome to International Fake Journal Month 2013!

What is IFJM?
Please read the page "What Is IFJM" for details.
Learn the difference between Faux, Fake, and Fake Historical Journals.

2019 IFJM Celebration
IFJM has been suspended indefinitely. Please read the pinned post about this below.

Participants who Post Their Journals
A list of 2018 participants who are posting their fake journals this year will appear near the top of the right side bar of this blog around April 6. Lists of participants who posted their pages in 2010 through 2017 appear lower in the same column. Please pay them a visit and check out their fake journals.

View a Couple of Roz's Past Fake Journals
Roz's 2009 fake journal takes place in an alternate Twin Cites, where disease has killed the human and bird populations. (It ends up being an upbeat tale of friendship.) Watch a video flip through of Roz's 2009 fake journal here.

Read an explanation of Roz's insanely complex 2011 fake journal.

Tips on Keeping a Fake Journal
Click on "tips" in the category cloud.

Remember, "Life's so short, why live only one?"


Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ninteenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Above, the ninteenth page spread in my 2011 fake journal created on April 19. (Note: She scanned one of her pigeon sketches and printed it on Infinity watercolor paper using 4 of the 5 to try out color tests with gouache. The images were perforated and glued into the journal before being painted.)

The text below the images reads:
April 19, 2011  4:40 p.m.
"When I go looking for a new bird species, I'm searching for a mostly lost authenticity, for the remnants of a world now largely overrun by human beings but still beautifully indifferent to us; to glimpse a rare bird somehow persisting in its life of breeding and feeding is an enduringly transcendent delight." Jonathan Franzen, "Farther Away," New Yorker April 18, 2011


For me I have that transcendent delight when I see an invasive species, like pigeons persisting…adapting to the mess man has made. Sure I would love to see always the rare bird, and to know they will survive…but the invasive species also speaks to the power of adaptability and survival urge of nature. And I can be reminded daily!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Eighteenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above, the eighteenth page spread in my 2011 Fake Journal.

Just a quick word of explanation, since the only text on the page is the date and time the page was put together, 4.18.11  3 p.m.

All the portraits on this page were done on scraps of paper and then glued down to a painted background. The paper used on the left is Nostalgie from Hahnemühle and let me tell you it is killer fun to work with Pentel Pocket Brush Pen on that surface! The guy on the right was done on a Rhodia pad that had little dots in a grid. You can see the edges of the sheets because of paint buildup on the edges, if you look at the enlargement. The finch was sketched on Strathmore Mixed Media paper (in their Mixed Media Visual Journals).

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Seventeenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above, the seventeenth page spread in my 2011 fake journal. Just a quick word of explanation since the scan doesn't show it—the light green in the background is sparkly! Since the text was written rather small, here it is typed:

4.17.2011
2 p.m. Como

Later, at 6:30 p.m. on our walk, watching Turkey Vultures soar, scratching on the limited lift over the E.R. Flats ridge.


B: Turkey vultures are a pretty  bird.
T: No I think they are an ugly bird.
B: Maybe their face but they have a very pretty wing from underneath.
T: No, not their face. They are a scruffy, ugly bird. You're a ginger who wore a green suit. Stylistically your opinions don't count for much.
B: [uncontrollable laughter, per usual.]

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sixteenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above the sixteenth page spread in my 2011 fake journal. There are little notes scrawled here and there which should be readable when viewing the enlargement, things like "this one." The top left paragraph reads:

April 16, 2011  10 a.m.

Doves + pigeons at Sam's. Killer headache but it's the only time I could get out there. Bill drove and took photos.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Fifteenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Above the fifteenth page spread in my 2011 fake journal, it was created on April 15. I think it will all be readable if you click on the enlargement. The sideways text on the right edge of the spread is as follows (just to make things easier for you)

4.15.11  3:30 p.m. I met Dick* today too. He took a vacation day to finish the taxes. *her husband.
We only had time for this quick sketch because we both had so much fun painting Gert. I took some reference photos—we'll get together again to sketch.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Fourteenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above is the fourteenth page spread from my 2011 fake journal. The text and dates are below.

Verso Page:
April 14, 2011  7:30 p.m.
Playing around after watching an episode of "Out of the Wild: Venezuela" (sp?) Thinking about how some of the people who give up aren't the ones you would expect…making a joking point
T: "I'm not a very emotionally sound person…"
B (interrupting): "I love the way it rolls off your tongue."
He repeats it, with clipped tones and clearly ennunciated [sic] syllables. Laughing. Mimicing. [sic]
"It's…you sound like Joan Cusack."
T: "I love how you laugh at my emotional distress and drepression." Smirking, but neither hurt, nor surprised.
B: "It's only because I love you.
[sketch time] 9:37 p.m.

Recto Page:
Marriage, after all, is itself a kind of narrative that you have to make up, develop, vary, and sustain as you go along." David Denby in "End Games: the films of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami." New Yorker 3.14.11
Use for Libby Vernon?

10:30 a.m. 4.15.11 too much to do. Too much stress. How can you make a permanent eye tic funny?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Thirteenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above is the 13th page spread in my 2011 fake journal. If you click on the image to view an enlargement you'll be able to read the text. It was created on 4.13.11 at 9:54 p.m.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Twelfth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above is the twelfth page spread in my 2011 fake journal. It was created on April 11 (the yellow background portions) and April 12 (the far right fox sketch with color test swatches).

Text on the yellow background portions reads:
[vertically at left] 9:30 p.m. Space after"u" in last line of reviews

[Three columns of text]
April 11. 2011 My Birthday and what a great present in today's mail. The mock up for "That's No Excuse…" I know it's not the final cover, but it's worrisome to see a typo…Makes me nervous that I'm missing others. I'll look at it again tomorrow with fresh eyes. And have Bill look at it. The Real Bill. More cake today. Always a good thing. Lots of phone calls from friends. When I got home from my bike ride (26 mph gusts!) there were 6 calls, each one singing a birthday greeting.

Maybe it's possible to think about a sequel to TNE? If it's a hit, they'd probably go for it. Cats are a pain to draw but this Bill has such a fun personality. And it would be fun to have plush toys.



Text on the back cover (left portion) of the book cover proof stuck to the left page (front cover and spine are readable):

All around him things were falling apart. If Bill didn’t act quickly he was going to end up having a very bad day indeed. What’s a cat to do?

Praise for That’s No Excuse…
“Bill takes multitasking and disaster management to new levels
from which we can all learn. I couldn’t put it down.”
—Tony Hayward, former CEO of BP

“How Bill overcomes the calamity that is “Tuesday, the 10th of May” will have every reader, young and old, rolling on the floor in laughter.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Not one day goes by when I don’t pray to God that this woman would stop writing books,
and corrupting our children.”
—Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and current reality TV star (unsolicited endorsement)


Cover illustrations copyright@2010 by Esther Rayde
Cover design by Emma Spark


Mind Factory Books / Dapper Design
Printed in the United States of America


Ages 7 and up
$7.95/ Higher in Canada

Text on the White background and painting on right reads:
Cobalt, Indian Yellow, English Red, All Schmincke gouache, Also Holbein white handy at time
4.12.11  10:08 p.m.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Eleventh Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above is the 11th page spread in my 2011 fake journal created on April 10. The painted text might be difficult to read so it is typed below:

Verso Page: 
[Along the left edge vertically] life drawing 4-5:30 p.m.
[Bottom] Squint

Recto Page:
The artists sketching were more interesting than the model. No biking today—I believed the weather reports and then when it wasn't raining I'd already talked myself out of it.

(I like this #2 Ruby Satin monogram liner the best. Better than the #4. Buy more.)
4-10-11  10 p.m.

[Along the right edge vertically]
You cannot out smart crazy. Crazy always finds a way.—Jon Stewart.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tenth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

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Above is the 10th page spread in my 2011 fake journal. It was created on April 9, 2011.

Monday, April 18, 2011

An Explanation of Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Since the buttons are flying off to participants it seemed like a good time to let people in on everything that is happening here with my fake journal—who is the author, what does she do for a living, etc.

Because the explanation is a bit lengthy I decided to post it as a page:
What Was She Thinking?—Roz's 2011 Fake Journal Explained.

So if you are interested in who, what, where, when, how—go check it out.

That only leaves Why? To which I can only respond, "Why not?"

Now you understand a bit better why this year's slogan is "Dig Deep."

The Participation Buttons Have Arrived!

Above: The 2.25-inch button design for International Fake Journal Month 2011. (The actual button does not have a black outline.)

As many of you may have ascertained, Esther Rayde, children's book author and illustrator, is my character for 2011. (Well, not REALLY—but more about this in a separate post later today.)

Pierce, the French Bulldog from Esther Rayde's book, "The Year of the French Bulldog" is on this year's button.

Each year, in addition to the main blog slogan "Life's so short, why live only one," there is a button slogan.

This year's slogan is "Dig Deep." And that's not just because Pierce is a dog, it's because that's fake journaling at its best—when you dig deep.

Once again the folks at Pure Buttons did a fantastic job. These buttons are so bright, shiny, and well made that I can't stop smiling. You'll love it.

Buttons are going out today (Monday, April 18) FREE to all the journal keeping participants who followed instructions and sent in their postal address with their entry. People who didn't, were sent an email on Sunday and, have until Sunday, April 24 to email rozjournalrat@gmail.com with their postal address (don't add it as a comment to this blog). 
Note: People participating in the promotional aspect of the contest—your buttons are being held for you until the final check of your blog at the end of that contest, in May. If you do not send me your postal address, by April 24, however, you will not receive a button in MAY.

Note: People participating in more than one contest will only receive one button. If you are participating in both the posting and promotional contests your button goes out today with the other posting participants buttons.
After Monday, April 25, anyone who wants one of the remaining buttons (supply is very limited) can order a button for postage and packaging costs. (I'll update this post when I get back from the Post Office and know what that is going to be.) The buttons themselves will still be free.

Thank you again to all the hardworking participants who are making this such a fun International Fake Journal Month 2011. Thank you for giving me a reason to make buttons!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

New Image for First Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal Posted

Since I found out that I can actually scan my oversized journal on my scanner, with a little bit of overlap for knitting together, I went back this weekend and scanned the first page spread.

If you return to the First Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal post you'll be able to see the improved image. I hope you enjoy seeing this improved view.

When Enough is Enough: Stopping Your Fake Journal?

It's past the half-way mark for people who started their fake journal on April 1. I thought this would be a good time to discuss stopping early.

Here's a little secret. This year, 2011, I experienced a huge epiphany on day two of my fake journal. (I started before April for logistical reasons, which means that on March 27 the light bulb turned on.) The epiphany was so clear, so loud and persistent, that I felt confident I'd learned what I needed from the experience and could stop. I didn't stop, however. I'm holding out for a couple more epiphanies, or so much irritation that I can't wait to get back to my own life full time. But I wanted to share thoughts with you on when to throw in the towel on your fake journal.

1. If you're uneasy, uncomfortable, maybe a little queasy, scared, frustrated, and your feet don't feel right in your shoes: Keep Working!

Don't quit on the time table of your internal critic or your subconscious or even your general habit (which might be to end things early). Quit on your own terms.
a. Assess the situation. Ask where the discomfort is coming from. Think about how you might be able to address that discomfort by changing media, making more time to work on your journal, taking less time to work on your journal, etc. Make a list of what comes up in your questioning and address it.

b. Consider ways to tighten up your goals by scaling back on the scope and breadth of your project. (Do 30 minutes a day, instead of one hour. Do one page a day instead of one page spread. Stick to only one type of medium. Stick with or return to a medium you are comfortable using.)

c. Focus on finishing the project rather than posting your results daily on a blog or website. For some people the scanning and posting adds too many extra steps to their already time-squeezed days. Finish your journal project first, then in MAY scan and post your results. The project is important—not when you post. (Alternately some people may find it helps to post everyday to get their momentum moving.)
2. If you have an earth shattering epiphany about your creative process—don't stop your fake journal. Keep going another two days while you take time to also think about that epiphany and what it means in your life. After two days of digestion, you'll know whether there is any point in continuing the fake journal, e.g., "I found out X, now what else can I find out?" Literally ask yourself that. (This is the position I was in this year.)

3. If your whole life seems topsy-turvy, the dishes aren't getting done, and you feel so much stress some other aspect of your life is becoming unhealthy (e.g., you see your coffee consumption increase), back off of the project and participate three days a week, or even one or two days a week only. You'll keep up the momentum. You'll still learn something. You won't be giving in to your internal critic.

In any type of exercise, physical or creative, we have to push ourselves past our current ability and habits and patterns. It's where the growth and learning take place. But part of that growth and learning comes in the form of new knowledge about ourselves and how far we can push without collapse.

Keep that in mind as you work in your fake journal. You are pushing to get stronger, not to wear yourself out.

Don't quit—assess and stop on your terms.

As for me, yep, I'm still working in my journal, even though I have a sense of my limitations with the project and really want to start exploring the epiphany further. I know two things. 1. The epiphany, if genuine, will hold for another two weeks. And 2. I know enough about myself to know that there's more to come out of this process if I hold in there for the month. (I know this about myself because I've done these types of projects over and over again. If this is the first time you have done something like this you might be learning this for the first time.)

I also know I'll enjoy the completeness of it—we get so little completeness in real life. I also know that at the last hour, in the last push, some final barrier will part and I'll get even more. (Again because I've done this before.)

The deal is to know yourself, and to give yourself a chance to grow. If you want to stop, look at the steps above. Think again.

If you still want to stop after your assessment, do so on your terms, knowing that you do it because it's right to do so at this time. Take a moment to write down what you have learned, the difficulties you've encountered, what you could have planned for better, and so on. Basically take some time to honor the project by debriefing yourself. Allow an hour at least, and do it on the day you decide to end the project. It is important to do it when all of your reasons are fresh in your mind.

By honoring your project in this way you can walk away from it with self-learning, while your internal critic just stands there slack-jawed, and powerless.


Here's another secret, which isn't all that secret, because I've written about it here before. What you learn keeping a fake journal can be applied to your daily life, your real journal. If you have always wanted to keep a real journal but have always stopped for some reason, now is the time to set yourself a new goal, one month of real journaling. And during that month, if you feel you aren't going to fit it in your life, go through these steps and assessments.

Journaling isn't for everyone. People process their lives differently. You won't know if journaling is really an activity and process for you, however, until you really honor the process and give it a fair shot. Queasy stomach and uncomfortable feet and all.

The quicker you show up and assess journaling as it might fit in your life and process the quicker you'll be able to get on with it—or move on and find that process which really does speak to you and your creative needs.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Ninth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The above left page and first column of the right-hand page were done on April 7. The remaining work was done on April 8.

The text on the left-hand page reads:

4.7.11  12:30 a.m.
Lunch remains 
Exterior
Interior
Pitch to Pat—Kiley Ramsay—forensics artists
What it's about. She's just out of school and economy is bad, no jobs.
Who does she work for—agency/dept.?
Normal duties.
How she's embroiled in murders.
What's the proper term?

Next column:
Drawing Your Heart Out
Drawing from Death
Drawing Your Last Breath
Death Penciled in
Murder in Grisaille
Murder in the Abstract
  (too fine art-ish) [mark for both the last two]
Portrait of a Murder
Palour (sp?) in Pastel
*Chalk Up Another Death*

First column on the right-hand page—You're on your own. Even I can't read it at this point.

Second column on the right-hand page:
I'm exceedingly frustrated that I can't remember things like my bike wheel circumferance so I can enter it into my bike computer—which needed a new battery (as it does every year) and lost its data.


Life seems to be a succession of battery replacements and changings never in sync. Yesterday the alarm system battery today the bike computer, always the cell phone. 4.8.11 noon.


Third column on the right-hand page:
B: You ask those questions people stop asking at 4.
T: Don't you still need those answers?
4.8.11 10 p.m.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Eighth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The text on the spread above is written around the edges of the pages. On the far left edge of the page, running up vertically from the bottom of the page the text reads: 4.6.11 a.m. Sunny, high 40s degree F. E.R. Flats.

At the base of the page, starting at the left and running along the bottom of the page and up the right fore edge of the right-hand page the text reads: the whole meeting was an elaborately staged act of misdirection—DAVID GRANN in New Yorker, April, 4 issue on the assasination [sic] of Rodrigo Rosenberg in Guatemala.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Seventh Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
In the above page spread the horse shooting research continues on the verso page. The photo of Jackie Kennedy-Onassis on the recto page (April 5 entry)  is ©1971 Ron Galetta and was torn by the journal keeper from an advertisement in the New Yorker Magazine.

The handwritten text on the verso page reads as follows:
April 4, 2011  7:05 p.m. "Do you want your caramel now?" I ask. He  nods, not even taking his eye from the road. I unwrap the wax paper carefully, without touching any surface of the candy, a rectangular log. Using the wrapper as a glove, pinched on one side I hold the candy up for him. Keeping his eyes forward he turns and nibbles the candy off the sheet with his teeth. He laughs. "I don't want you to get any germs," I say. "I love you more than anything." And then I laugh at my own germphobia. (On the way back from cake.)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sixth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Printed text on the above spread is a collection of articles on horse shootings, with authors listed for each note. The handwritten text reads as follows:

April 3, 2011  9:30 a.m.
File Reasearch folder in Box 2—2011
All notes including book list.
Pat Called on Friday and we talked about my horse idea. Despite some of the accounts I dug up—or in her mind because of them—she is not sold on the idea at all. I've been processing my arguments and still think I can make a great novel on a serial killer in training. Pat argues 1.  follow the money and do the insurance angle and 2. No one wants to read a hard, gritty forensic book from me. "They expect your snarky tone and an occasional (sp?) bit of "wisdom" from Jones.["] I'll move on to the next idea for now, but I'll keep this much out to keep it in mind.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Fifth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I know that I wasn't going to do explanations, but with this spread I have to do a short one. On the verso page that bantam is a sketch I did last fall in my journal (with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen). Well I used a scan of it to make a transfer with Rub-onz, a product I reviewed on my regular blog.

Here's the text from the Verso page:
The Answer Starts with the Right Question. For me today that's Who?
[below bantam]
•Hazel, fanny, Maureen (Mo).
•Bainbridge, O'Reilly, Cower, Corby, Booth, Harris, Price, Bell, Locke, Gordon, Parkinson, Frazer, Foster

main column of text:
4.1.2011  5 p.m.
All over the neighborhood even this late, I can hear hammering. People are having their roofs fixed—a bumper crop of ice dams have [sic] led to this. It's 43 degrees F and finally a little low sun after a cloudy day…but still some snow on the ground. I should have gone out for a walk when the sun came out but I convinced myself I was tough enough to read John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza." I've taken stabs at it throughout the day and I keep putting it down. No problem reading about Marburg but influenza accounts make me queasy. I heard Barry giving a talk on MPR the other day and "[sic] thought ["]there's something I need to look into for future reference." Well not today. And it's not really in my line anyway. Not poison, not mayhem of the usual sort. Indiscriminate, uncontrolled. He writes that when influenza kills it kills through pneumonia. Evan Osnos in the 3.28.11 New Yorker has an article on the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and reactor radiation problems. He writes very clearly about the devastation. He talks about an outbreak of influenza in Kamaishi threatening the survivors.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Who's Posting Their 2011 Fake Journals?

This posts provides links to the fake journals that people are posting themselves. I will create a sidebar of links to these posts so if you should wish to return to them later you won't have to find this post again. Simply look for the 2011 Participants List in the right column of this blog.

Many people started a blog dedicated to IFJM to contain the postings on their fake journal. Others are posting on their regular blogs. The links should take you to their first IFJM post and after that, either way you should be able to navigate to the rest of their posts using their blog apparatus.

If you don't find yourself on this list it means that your entry(ies) didn't reach me.

If you intended to enter but don't find your name on the list please follow the instructions for emailing your intention to me in this post.

If you have been sending your images to me to post here because you don't have a blog, please note that I am going to start doing that next week. I will hold the post until I have your 8 journal pages (or spreads) and then create one post for you.

If you are participating in IFJM in a private way (i.e., not publishing your pages) I would like to offer you encouragement to keep going, to keep working, and to keep looking for the insights you set out to find when you set your goals. I hope it is a great journey for you as well.

This year's crop of fake journal characters is diverse, I'll let you discover who each is as you visit the links. Please be sure to leave a note to let participants know that you have stopped by to see their project!

Anne M. Bray (I wrote about the return of spygirl a couple posts ago)

Carol Bonomo

Timaree Cheney

Denise Thornton

Donna McMenamin

Jamie Williams Grossman

Jeanette Sclar

Jill Lee-Jones

Joan Tavolott

John Tubbs

Judith D. Gluck

Kalina Wilson

Kitty Lynch

Kyra Scrapacat

Meinhild Selbach

Melinda Bilecki

Michelle Himes

Mimi Holmes (no website)

Nan Westbrooks

Sarah Robinson

Wendy Lynch

If you want to find additional examples of fake journals, scroll down further in the right-hand column of this blog—just below the category list you'll find the "2010 International Fake Journal Month Participants who Post Their Pages." Some links may no longer be in use as people take their work down, but you will find several interesting examples of fake journals to look at.

 

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Fourth Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The text on the recto page is clipped off from scanning. It reads:
it has been warm, (43 degrees F) all day. It's raining outside—which is not good for flooding
I'm out of white paint and have to stop fussing
the beads will need to be perfect shiny orbs

Friday, April 8, 2011

Third Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.


Above is the third spread of my 2011 fake journal, covering 3.29.11 and 3.30.11. The text reads as follows:

Verso (Left) Page:Top Left: March 29, 2011 Harry at Bona for dinner around 7 p.m.
Around sketch at left: Harry looks just like Jack Lemmon looked before he died.
Main Text Column: Harry is getting older. It struck me hard tonight while his family talked after dinner and I sketched. I noticed this—How sometimes suddenly we cease to look like ourselves, the iconic self we carry around with us in our minds, that perfect self that immediately ressonates [sic] from photos and video as "ah, yes, there I am." The self we realize is our peak self—never improved upon. There is a hardening around Harry's eyes and cheeks—a hardening of edges and a softening of the fleshy bits.

Recto (Right) Page:
And a hollow-ing. The skull is peering out. "I see you. I'm coming." The face of death you have to look past to see the iconic self. The familiar self, the self you wish hadn't passed its peak.

Fortune Cookie Fortune:
May your faith always exceed your fears--no price is too great to go through life afraid.

HUH?!

Text on torn paper:
3.30.11 4:30 p.m. My mind is filled with little thoughts and I blew off my workout this morning, so even less focus is possible. Instead I keep thinking "I have acrylic paint all over ALL my pants. I have acrylic stains on all my hand towels. Some part of me says that I should worry about this, but the moment that might start to happen there is another part, a larger part that tells me I don't give a damn. It's amused that I even let these thoughts in for more than a notice. Why ponder what you aren't going to change? The real question is why did I blow off that workout? Get at that.

No just get out period. It's brilliantly sunny, I can hear the birds singing. I just got up to go check the temp and it's 43 degrees F.

6:18 p.m.—why does everyone think I'm a DeLorme? I got stopped by drivers 3x.

Sketches 5:54 p.m. E. River Flats. Five pairs.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Second Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal; also Preparing a Links List

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Above is the second page spread in my 2011 Fake journal, the March 28 entry. On a happy note, I messed around with positioning my journal on my scanner. I found that since the scanner takes a slightly oversized view I am actually able to get most of the journal on with only two scans, stitched in the gutter by a slight bit of overlap.

This weekend I'll be compiling a list of people who are publicly posting their fake journal pages on their own blog, website, or Flickr account. Even if you aren't entering any of the prize drawings, if you are posting your images and would like to be included in this list, please send me an email at rozjournalrat@gmail.com. Include a link of course. (If you are entered in the contests and have already sent me your information there's no need to repeat it.)

Despite the scanning clarity you still can't read the page, and since I'm not doing explanations with this journal (more on that another day) I am typing the text out below.


10:22 p.m. Can George be a viable character? Can I find his shape under all that fluffy hair? Does a one-eyed dog bring too heavy a symbolism? Can I get his shape in movement? Are there too many dogs. Not enough dogs?
I went over to Wet Paint this afternoon and met the oddest person…potentially the oddest: Roz Stendahl (found out she's a graphic designer). She was over in a corner by the paper counter chatting with Tim who works there—I've seen him before. As near as I could make out they were talking about Anthony Mann Westerns. Who does that? She laughs quite a lot. She is rather enamoured of buddy films, which is where the conversation edged. They were also talking about the Kimberly 9xxB pencil. I didn't know about it. Tim had some lovely zoo drawings he'd done with it. Soft, textured tones, but not horribly smudgy. I bought a couple (tested them out sketch[ing] George.[)] A bit stiff and scratchy but it really keeps its point.
I bumped into her again near the Schmincke pan watercolors. Turns out she also likes Schmincke gouache—and dogs. We talked for a long while and since she wasn't totally irritating and because she had an interesting nose (large) I asked if I could paint her portrait. She said I could if I could also sketch her in my sketchbook (she assumed I kept one because I had a new one of these in my hands). She has some sort of project: Project Journal Infiltration. She wants people to sketch her from life in their journals.
Now she was sounding a bit like a nut job, so I started to back up and said I'd probably only do studies from photos in my sketchbook. But I need to take photos of her and have a sitting.
When she started asking me questions about my painting and art it turned out that she has read both books by Rayde and Seetre. I meet so few pepole who have done both.
Blue lettering: Swapping "I" for "me" does Oprah cringe when she sees it later?

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

First Page Spread in Roz's 2011 Fake Journal

Click on the image to view an enlargement.
REVISED POST: CLEARER IMAGE
Above is the first page spread from my 2011 Fake Journal.

This is a REVISED VIEW because I found I was able to scan my journal after all (my scanner, it turns out, takes slightly larger than an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet and allows me a little bit of overlap to knit the two halves together.)

The journal I'm using is an 11.5 x 8.5 inch Moleskine Watercolor journal; they don't have perforated pages at this size.

Part of the 2011 experience for my character is "no explanations" so that's all I'll write at this point. I will say that she was testing a pen which I will have something to say about on my regular blog later in April (need to do more tests). My character has abandoned the pen, and frankly I'm just about to do that myself, except there are more tests to be run. But now we're getting into explanations.

Oh, one thing, yes, the journal started on March 25, 2011.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Reminder: Please Follow the Instructions for Entering the Prize Drawings

I'm really excited to see so many people are joining in to celebrate International Fake Journal Month this year.

Many people are writing messages to the blog saying that they are joining in, and that's great to hear, and a great way to share what you are going to be working on.

Please note, however, that to enter the drawings for prizes you need to follow the instructions for submitting an entry to me off-blog, as indicated in one of the contest sections.

There are 3 contests and they are listed with links in the right column of this blog under 2011 Contests, as well as repeated here for your ease:

1. Post your own images or send me jpgs to post (if you don't have a blog or Flickr account).

2. Promote the contest by button a linked button on your blog.

3. Do a Project Journal Infiltration within IFJM (more on this later)

If you have written to the blog, but want to enter a drawing, please be sure that you take a moment to follow the instructions for entering the drawings so your entry ends up in the right folder.  Thanks!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Welcome to International Fake Journal Month 2011!

Today is the first day of International Fake Journal Month 2011. Time to explore your character's life and journaling practices.

Several folks, including me, started in March—some started out of sheer excitement to get going, I had to start in March so that my character could actually meet some people she needed to meet before April. More about this later.

Great news from Anne M. Bray—Spygirl is back this year!

I'll post a list of links and participants at the end of each week, but I thought it would be good to start you off with work from a past participant.

And finally one more tip:

I know I've said it before, but for some reason I didn't listen to myself—choose your book size so that it is easy for you to post your images! I elected to go with the Moleskine Watercolor Journal that is 11.5 x 8.5 inches (no perforated pages in this size!). Well it doesn't fit on my scanner! I would have to make a couple scans and splice them for each spread. Even if I only wanted to scan a page I'd have to make two passes to get it all. That extra half inch! So there is much gnashing of teeth in the Huron Blvd. studio! (OK, not that much gnashing, I'm not blind and I did realize this problem going in, but I needed a large commercially bound book and ignored my own advice.)

On the bright side, I'm five page spreads in and already have learned something key about myself (more about this later too), so I will not complain more about this. I am spending my energies working out what would be the best way to show the pages. If I photograph an open book I'll need to get the lights out each time, and it's already too cluttered around here, and so it goes. I'll work this out and put something up on Monday.

In the meantime…
Everyone get busy with your fake journal. Have fun, enjoy your materials, enjoy your process. Let me know how it goes. Don't forget, in medias res. (Now that really is the final tip for today.)