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.)

Spy Girl: Thoughts on Fake Journaling from Anne M. Bray

Left: An image from Spy Girl's 2010 fake journal. Image ©2010 Anne M. Bray. 

Anne M. Bray is a two-time fake journal keeper. You can find the 2010 fake journal of Anne M. Bray here. (Sorry for the clunky name repetition but I want my links to be "complete.")

I asked Anne if she would write about her experiences with fake journaling now that her second year was finished. I think that people new to fake journaling can benefit from reading about her experiences with fake journaling in part because her 2009 and 2010 journals differ from each other in media and in approach.

I recommend you read Anne's experiences with fake journaling in her own words. Her journey will be an inspiration for people who aren't "hard core" journal keepers. Fake journaling has actually spawned additional blogs for her! I would suggest that those are journals and that Anne is actually becoming a "hard core" journal keeper after all! (You need to check out her delightful blog Cupcake Safari. The delicate colored pencil drawings of cupcakes are delicious.)


I love two things about Anne's 2010 fake journal. First she let the idea flow from a found object—a sketch she found under an oleander bush outside her house. This ties in beautifully with her involvement in "Found It (Urban Artifacts), a Facebook group. But it also speaks to me of the way in which creative minds look around and find something (either an idea or a physical object) and allow it to expand and give life to a whole other creative project.


The other thing I enjoyed learning about Anne's 2010 experience was that she let the fake journal serve for two creative projects she wanted to participate in. ArtHouse sponsored a March/April project for work in a small black moleskine themed "this is where I live." Anne's Spy Girl journal documents what she wore during April. 


Sometimes we have a lot of desire to participate in several projects at the same time. Finding a way to satisfy that urge without busting our schedules is a good skill to work on. It can also help you focus on what is truly important to you about each of the projects that you take on.


OK, there's a third thing I loved about Anne's 2010 fake journal: the inclusion of found items in her "confidential" envelopes on each page. In so many ways this simple approach allowed her to combine so many of her interests. When projects are structured that way we have a higher possibility of completion and an even deeper satisfaction in the final product or outcome.


Take a moment now to read what Anne has to say about her experiences with fake journaling. Then think about how her discoveries and approaches might be useful for you next year when you are getting ready to jump in to your 2011 fake journal! 


Thank you again Anne for your active participation in this year's celebration!

The 2009 IFJM Contest Winners

Above: the last post in Anne Bray's 2009 Fake Journal. ©2009 Anne M. Bray. This journal was also an altered book journal.

The judges, as I mentioned in an earlier post, were prompt with their task. The delay has been mine: no computer time. However, I'm very pleased to announce the results today.

The winner of the 2009 International Fake Journal Month Journal Competition is Anne M. Bray. You can see her first submission here. There are additional items posted on her site, and of course the image above is from the same journal.

After the competition had ended Anne wrote in to tell me about the process.

Wanted to share my latest (last?) post. Though it's not my intent to stop, I did come to some sort of an ending point and haven't journaled since (for various "reasons"). I found it much harder writing about places I'd never been, and got too busy to do research on them—probably why all the map making entered in. (Actually Leonard is back in the states now, so...)

I did 14 pages and feel very accomplished about that. I enjoyed experimenting with the colored pencils, it lead me on to using them more in my "real" art. Also impelled me to take Kate Johnson's WC pencil class.

Thanks for giving me the inspiration to try the fake journal. "We" both thank you!

Her comments hit on some points that I believe make the fake journal an interesting exercise in artmarking and journaling: experimentation, the use of new materials, and the realization of how our choices can aid or hinder our process. I hope that if you are thinking of starting a fake journal you take a moment to read past posts from other artists on this blog and reflect on how their choices helped them. It will enable you to eliminate some of the obstacles you might encounter.

In addition to the first prize winner the judges selected a second and third place winner. These are, respectively, Jana Bouc and Janet Hedley. (Janet, if I have missed a blog or website location for you please advise and I'll update this post with a link.)

The judges (4 visual journal keepers who sorted through the entries from 14 separate artists; some of whom didn't want their entries posted) told me their choices were difficult. They were entertained and intrigued by all the entries. (They've asked that I never ask them to do this again!) The altered book approach that Anne took obviously appealed to them.

They know they have my thanks. I'd like to add to that my thanks to everyone who did participate in the contest. I'm so glad that you took the plunge and kept a fake journal and then shared it with us.

And to the winners, congratulations your t-shirts will go out in the mail early next week.

So, now it's time for my fake journaling efforts to go dormant. I may get the urge between now and next April to delve into another fake journal, but I'm pretty satiated. I had a great April 2009.

I imagine this blog will be quiet for the next several months. Please be sure to check back in March 2009 when I start ramping up the April 2009 celebration.

In the meantime, if an idea for a fake journal author and situation occurs to you, jot it down. Have a special page in your regular journal for this purpose perhaps?

And if you are out shopping for journals and find an unusual book, well this might be just the vessel for next year's effort. Or, when you are binding next, take a moment to use those scraps in a creative structure, or create a certain size of book that you think would be fun to work in for one month. Just a little bit of prep between now and April first will allow you to hit the ground running.

And if you are continuing with your fake journal I wish you a great and continued adventure.

Keep thinking about how you journal, why you journal, and what you journal. Are there things you can do to jostle up your habit to make it more meaningful for you? Let's all keep learning and observing.

Thanks for a great 2009 IFJM Celebration!

Anne Bray is Working away in Her Fake Journal

Above: a page spread from her 2009 altered book fake journal. ©2009 Anne M. Bray. Click on the image to see an enlargement.

Anne M. Bray has written to say she is still working away in her fake Leonard Cohen journal.

"I" [meaning her journal's author] am using mostly colored pencils now, they work very well on the book's cheap paper (which is just like newsprint). This one is the 12th spread wherein I draw a map. Maps and charting my drive have become more important, now that I'm traveling in areas unknown.
I haven't been able to journal every day, but am doing a lot more visual journaling than ever before. It's also a great way to read Leonard's poems.

There's still time for you to have a bit of fake journal fun!

A Look into Anne Bray's Fake Journal

Above: A page spread from Anne Bray's 2009 Fake Journal, ©2009 Anne M. Bray. Read below for details. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Anne Bray sent in the above page spread from her 2009 fake journal. (Note that when you visit her blog, some of the page spreads will have adult content. Her entries have been inspired by the poems.)

She explained she is

repurposing Leonard Cohen's "Stranger Music" while "I" [the author of the fake journal] follow his spring 2009 tour—"I" may even continue this into the summer when he goes to Europe. This was my 2nd page spread, I am still working out media—I found the gel stick pen is a little too harsh and bleedy for writing on the back side of pages, though it looks good.

I’m having a blast going on a fantasy road trip. So far, the tour is on roads I’ve traveled many times—when they get to Canada, it’s to places I’ve never been, which will be even more fun. Journaling a parallel life has given me permission to draw from my memory or imagination (saguaro scene)—something I never do "normally." I’m also allowing myself to do "whatever"—doodles, patterns, illustrations of Leonard’s poems, experiment with media—all very liberating.

It's great to hear that the experience has been a positive one for Anne. I loved seeing the first page spread she put up on her blog. I love the simple and free sketches that she is doing in the pages of this book of Cohen's poems. Anne will finish the month not only with a fake journal but an altered book journal. Double fun!