Tenth Page Spread in Roz's Fake Journal

Above: the April 10 page spread from my 2009 fake journal. Again I used Ziller Acrylic ink, dip pen, and Schmincke Pan Watercolors. Click on the image to view and enlargement.

I tend to use the page in my regular visual journal in a number of different ways, sometimes leaving a lot of white space, sometimes filling every inch with color and writing. Other folks tend to have a particular and uniform way of approaching their journal pages: a single image bounded by a box, set in the middle of a page with a bit of writing below that, for instance.

With a fake journal it's the perfect opportunity to bust out of a pattern and try something new. If you tend to stay on one page in your regular journal take the opportunity to explore other page use options in your fake journal. Work across the gutter like I did in the page spread above. Use the whole page like I did on April 3 and 8. Focus on one drawing, or make a composite of many drawings. Let your visual artist explore all the possibilities you don't try in your usual journal, whatever they might be. Maybe for that author/artist there is something to be said in finding a pattern? Through circumstance (her supplies are lost at the beginning of the month) my journal's author is using the same supplies (Ziller acrylic ink, a dip pen, and Schmincke pan watercolors) throughout the month. While these are all materials I use regularly it is very rare indeed that I stick with the same materials day after day. A book filled with drawings executed with the same tools is quite satisfying in a totally different way.

For people reading the text it is as follows: Verso page:

Today another day of orientation, explanation of tasks. Since there are no new people on the teams—everyone has been in the field at another location, it was a straight forward and rather boring day. Roger suggested that we all stay close to the compound today so I spent more time with the turkeys, watching them through the chain link fence, Chuck nearby (maintaining what I believe he believes is a discrete distance—or useful vantage point? [closing parens omitted]

09.04.10
4:30 p.m. Another brilliantly sunny spring day. 50 degrees F. Flowing and not flowing I still have not got the hang of this new nib.

Recto page:

So how is this not like a vulture?