Some Sketches Didn't Make It Into the 2013 Fake Journal

Left: A 12 x 16 inch sketch of "Paul Drake," from season one of "Perry Mason" that didn't make it into the journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I hope to write a more informative post this weekend about the hows and whys of my 2013 fake journal. But as you know from other posts this year, many sketches for it were done on loose papers.

Not all of those sketches made it into the journal.

Some of you may know of my fascination with "Perry Mason" reruns. I've been watching them since around the beginning of the year. Sketching the character actors in each episode kept me sane through the early months of 2013 when I had bronchitis.

It seemed natural then when I started keeping the fake journal that I might sketch some "Perry Mason." Early in the fake journal process I did the sketch shown today of actor William Hopper as Paul Drake.

The sketch was so large (12 x 16 inches—not including the lettering) I had to keep taping more pieces of yellow legal pad together to keep sketching. When I finished I knew I'd have to paste it on its side across the gutter of my fake journal or if I kept the vertical orientation it would have to fold down. I thought about the latter quite a lot. I glued the image to a piece of sumi paper just for that purpose.

But when it came time to think about adding it into the fake journal, I just couldn't fold it. My character, who likes to destroy and cover over images couldn't even do it. It's not because I think this is a great sketch of Drake. I've done a dozen that capture him more recognizably. It's just that Paul Drake's character had become so important to me by the end of March and beginning of April, when the shit literally hit the fan, that we simply couldn't do it. This pensive stare just had to be saved.

(If you want to see how I feel about Paul Drake read "Don't Worry, You Don't Need To Call the Police. I Let Myself In—Paul Drake: The Hardest Working P.I. on TV")

By April 3 this sketch was taped to the door behind my desk chair—in other words, Drake has my back. And as each new emergency came up I said to myself, "WWPDD?" (What would Paul Drake Do?)

Hardworking, resourceful, able to handle himself in all sorts of situations (but able to not get into situations), Paul also knows when it's sometimes best to just go fishing.

In the past few weeks I have annoyed friends by punctuating conversations with "WWPDD?" It's good for a girl to have a role model.

Originally when I taped the sketch to the wall I thought I would create a painting based on the sketch. But as time went by I realized I liked it just the way it is. Next week sometime I'll be taking it down and gluing the entire sketch and the text to a big piece of mat board. I'm sure I'll stencil and maybe even "Gelli" print on the mat board. Then I'm going to frame the whole thing "just as it is," a reminder of an IFJM 2013 that doesn't have to be folded up, closed, and put in a box (which is actually how I'm going  to have to store the 2013 fake journal because it's bursting at the seams—but that too I'll write about another day).

As IFJM 2013 starts to wind down take a moment to look back over your pages. What do you know now about your character, and your character's approach and outlook? What new directions will you go in your real journaling because of the process? What creative souvenirs (which are carried internally not just externally) will you be bringing back with you? Take a moment to write about that in your real journal.