Lately my sketches have been getting larger and larger. When I came upon a windfall of mystery printmaking paper that was 22 x 30 inches and only 20 cents a sheet I couldn't resist using it for my 2014 fake journal. There were problems with the paper—it wouldn't take wet media without buckling severely. I restricted my media to various brush pens, or acrylic inks applied with a brush and some rubberstamp inks (sponged or brushed on). There's also a little bit of collaged paper here and there, but it's almost listless—a second thought while I was weak, a desire for more color on a paper I couldn't just splash it on, a nod to my original plan's hope of playing with composition.
All the images were made
1. From life (bird sketches mostly)
2. From several sketches I'd made previously from life of particular subjects (some of the people, all of the dogs)
3. From photos of friends and correspondents who responded to my pre-April request for photos I could work from, AND
4. From memory (the first entry 04.01.14 is a memory drawing of actor Stephen Fry—I'd been watching episodes of his "quiz" show while resting and hoping not to be getting ill, and I was too tired to think about sketching anything else. It actually sort of looks like him, though it's horribly unflattering.)
Oh, and I almost forgot, I also drew 04.13.14 from life, using my new friend a GIANT (it's larger than my head) foam toad.
Oh, and I almost forgot, I also drew 04.13.14 from life, using my new friend a GIANT (it's larger than my head) foam toad.
When I planned to work large for 2014's International Fake Journal Month I didn't know I was going to be ill and I had plans to meet with several friends and draw them from life in a large format. Being sick prevented me from doing that. The request I put out on my two blogs for photos to sketch from had been a whim—insurance to save me on any given day when I couldn't get out and sketch a life model. Instead those photos became the basis of the project, and I'm grateful that so many people wrote in and sent such outrageous photos of themselves, hamming it up for the camera. Never has there been such a group of universally attractive people so willing to mug it for the camera. I am grateful to each one of them for providing fuel for my pen, and lifting my spirits while I was "coughing up a lung."
At the end of May I was able to meet with my friend, the fabulous photographer, Tom Nelson to photograph these ungainly pieces. Using a friend's office space we hung a fake show of my fake journal, and Tom recorded it all for you, in the following images. Click on an image to view an enlargement, and read the transcript if the text on the pages isn't clear to you.
In the next couple days I'll get my wrap up posted.
Transcript:
Below is a transcript of the text in my 2014 fake journal in case you can't see the writing clearly enough in the enlarged images.
04.01.14, 10:30 p.m.
Really a sore throat?
Inextricably linked
04.02.14, 10:35 p.m.
The 4 stages of a COLD
• Denial
• ANGER
• Superstitious behavior
• ANGER
• Superstitious behavior
• Bargaining
04.03.14, 10:15 p.m.
If I’m honest I’ll admit I’m rather
afraid of the Pineapple.
It lurks at the edge of the counter—
skulking. [sic]
I more than half expect giant spiders—
Hairy Spiders—will crawl out of its leaves
while I lean towards it, against the
door jamb, brushing my teeth.
I jump back—startled at the thought
and tear my upper right gum line
with my toothbrush.
and tear my upper right gum line
with my toothbrush.
04.04.14, 10:00 a.m.
COUGHING
THERE’S NO ignoring
9 inches of snow
Sunny & Windy
9 inches of snow
Sunny & Windy
04.05.14, 5:30 p.m.
Does anyone really know the
rules to Hopscotch?
rules to Hopscotch?
04.06.14, 10:30 p.m.
What is the mechanism of likeness?
I buy into Oswald’s self-projection.
He only knows how to be monumental.
He only knows how to be monumental.
04.07.14, 5:30 p.m.
OK So I can’t focus on pattern through
the coughing.
the coughing.
Everyone advises napping. I think they’re
obvious and WRONG. And it doesn’t
matter, I can’t nap.
obvious and WRONG. And it doesn’t
matter, I can’t nap.
When I lie down I can feel my brain expanding
behind my eyes. Each breath burns
and there is no expansion. I’m not out of breath I’ve
simply slowed my respiration rate below
what can be observed. And while I’m not
hallucinating I can hear the snap, crackle, pop of my
pillow’s foam in my ear, magnified to a
deafeningly loud degree.
Who can nap through that?
behind my eyes. Each breath burns
and there is no expansion. I’m not out of breath I’ve
simply slowed my respiration rate below
what can be observed. And while I’m not
hallucinating I can hear the snap, crackle, pop of my
pillow’s foam in my ear, magnified to a
deafeningly loud degree.
Who can nap through that?
[note: Knitted hood on model]
04.08.14, 5:25 p.m.
There is a huge vocabulary of hair.
04.09.14, 5:40 p.m.
Tests show the Freddie Mercury Mouth
frightens 8 out of 10 Cockateils. [sic]
frightens 8 out of 10 Cockateils. [sic]
04.10.14, 7:50 p.m.
• What’s warm and fuzzy?
• What does evil look like?
• What’s the line of intersection in appearance?
• What percentage of our expectation is needed
to create unease and a sense of imbalance out of
which change and growth can come?
to create unease and a sense of imbalance out of
which change and growth can come?
Fairy Godmother
04.11.14, 10 p.m.
falling in Love with a line does no
justice to the WHOLE.
justice to the WHOLE.
04.12.14, 9 p.m.
Effervescence
now make it non-human.
now make it non-human.
04.13.14, 2 p.m.
Why is my chocolate habit under constant scrutiny
While all around me others dose themselves
With endless cups of caffeine?
04.14.14, 5:30 p.m.
I don’t have a basic concept of what’s
necessary to make life go!
Neal
necessary to make life go!
Neal
04.15.14, 6:30 p.m.
How am I supposed to finish if they
won’t make up their minds?
won’t make up their minds?
04.16.14
• Don’t be surprised when I’m dead or dishonored.
• DISHONORED??
• I don’t know…I’m just making this shit up as I go along…
04.17.14, 3 p.m.
That’s
CARELESS
PARENTING
isn’t it?
PARENTING
isn’t it?
04.18.14, 9 p.m.
Sure I’d love to travel with him, but I’d
Never let him hold the travel money.
He’d pay it all to a pedlar [sic]
for magical beans…
He’d pay it all to a pedlar [sic]
for magical beans…
…the next morning he’d be surprised
when you didn’t want to rush up
the beanstalk to giantland.
when you didn’t want to rush up
the beanstalk to giantland.
04.19.14, 5 p.m.
Once you put a name on it there’s no going back.
04.20.14
[just the dog’s face]
04.21.14, 6 p.m.
The way you’re talking:
like someone who is going
through color withdrawal!
like someone who is going
through color withdrawal!
04.22.14
No one
was more
surprised
at the
code of
CONDUCT.
was more
surprised
at the
code of
CONDUCT.
04.23.14, 2:30 p.m.
FINGERS
CROSSED
CROSSED
04.24.14, 5 p.m.
Things I didn’t want to regret forever.
04.25.14, 8:15 p.m.
David re: Survivor
There’s no integrity
in making stupid
decisions!
There’s no integrity
in making stupid
decisions!
04.26.14
[just the portrait, K in glasses]
04.27.14, 6 p.m.
The more you
explain the
less I
comprehend.
explain the
less I
comprehend.
04.28.14, 6:15 p.m.
What are we but what we are?
04.29.14, 5:50 p.m.
The universe is a
random place.
random place.
Enjoy it.
04.30.14, 7:05 p.m.
Don’t hope
just observe.
just observe.
Posts
7 comments:
What fun! I must try to participate in next year's Fake Journal month. Sorry you were sick this time around...I loved what you did, Roz!
I was intrigued with your physical process before but now I'm fascinated with your mental process... who is this person? ... and why (not how) draw such oversized figures?
... and I found "me"; my head is nearly 30 inches high!!! I love it!
These are great. I would like to know: HOW IS YOUR MARK-MAKING DIFFERENT DUE TO SCALE?
- is the drawing slower or faster?
- are you more conscious of the ' abstraction ' of line working big?
- Now do you have a secret desire to work even bigger? Or are you swinging in the other direction, looking to work small?
Ellen, those are great questions and I write about them in my own wrap up, but I haven't posted my wrap up yet because I'm waiting to do one more technical thing that if it works will be really cool for everyone who wants to see these sketches upclose and personal.
I'm hoping to work it out this week and then it will be made more clear (HA).
I can say that for the past 3 years I have started to work larger and larger. I think part of it is a vision thing. I can't see the detail to do the really fussy stuff unless I put my glasses on and sometimes I just want to sketch without my glasses. Other times it's simply because I love using the brush pen and that leads me to make bigger marks.
I made a 4 x 6 FOOT painting of a goose (one of my favorite geese who is gone now, probably dead, since he hasn't returned for years) in 2006 and that was really the start of it, followed by lots of 12 x 12 inch portraits of birds (head only, that type of thing.
It has got way out of hand!
Thanks for asking great questions.
They will be answered one way or the other even if we don't get the technical thing worked out!
Dana, I'm glad you found yourself. Yours was probably the most fun to to. You made yourself look so different and I did it fairly early in the month, and it only took about 5 minutes (hence it looks even less like you) but it made me feel the whole project was going to go, even though I wasn't feeling well, because I could still get those lines down on paper.
I have had all the pieces shot individually and there was a small problem, a little bit of shadow from a weight at the edges, so I have to see if I need to photoshop that area or if it falls out of the "live" area. I'll be working on those this week. And then I'll make prints for the models! So I'm moving along. Thank you again!
Oh, and Dana, the why of drawing big faces, I'll touch on that when I do my process wrap up (see what I wrote to Ellen).
Thanks Serena, sorry I didn't see your comment earlier. I'm glad I got through the month. Sometimes it was a little iffy. But it was fun.
I hope you do join in next year! It's an opportunity to make a fun project and bust out of the constraints we sometimes put on ourselves.
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