A Virtual Walk Through of My 2014 Fake Journal

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.

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

• 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.

04.04.14, 10:00 a.m.

COUGHING

THERE’S NO ignoring
9 inches of snow
Sunny & Windy

04.05.14, 5:30 p.m.

Does anyone really know the
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.

04.07.14, 5:30 p.m.

OK So I can’t focus on pattern through
the coughing.

Everyone advises napping. I think they’re
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?

[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]

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?

Fairy Godmother

04.11.14, 10 p.m.

falling in Love with a line does no
justice to the WHOLE.

04.12.14, 9 p.m.

Effervescence
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

04.15.14, 6:30 p.m.

How am I supposed to finish if they
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?

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…

…the next morning he’d be surprised
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!

04.22.14

No one
was more
surprised
at the
code of
CONDUCT.

04.23.14, 2:30 p.m.

FINGERS
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!

04.26.14

[just the portrait, K in glasses]

04.27.14, 6 p.m.

The more you
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.

Enjoy it.

04.30.14, 7:05 p.m.

Don’t hope
just observe.

2014 International Fake Journal Month Wrap-Up: Susan Jolly

Above: ©2014 Susan Jolly, a page from her 2014 fake journal. click on the image to view an enlargement.

Susan Jolly participated in the 2014 International Fake Journal Month celebration by creating in a quad ruled journal.

Susan wrote about her journal choice in a post saying that

I wanted everything to be as easy as possible so of course I planned to choose a journal I already had. When I opened the drawer where I keep most of my new and partially-used journals, I was delighted to find this marble cover—80 sheet composition book that I'd forgotten about. I'd bought it when we were on vacation last fall when I saw it in one of those drug stores that sells everything and just had to have it. I had only used the first dozen pages for a trip diary. 

It turned out to be perfect for my IFJM project! It's a No. 77227 hard-cover sewn [!] 5x5 Quad Ruled 9.75x7.5 in. rounded corner notebook made in the U.S.A. by Roaring Spring Paper Products. It opens flat. The sheets are sturdy but very thin so almost anything except pencil or ballpoint pen bleeds through. Nonethless they feel lovely and the pages make a cheering noise when you turn them. I really liked this size: large enough to put quite a bit on a page if you want to but small enough that a half-filled page doesn't look empty.

She also wrote that she found it was "freeing and enjoyable to write on quad-ruled paper." (I'm guessing future real journals may be kept in similar books.)

Her character Anne is a couple years younger than Susan. She is described as a wonderful person, gentle, thoughtful, creative. She sews, cooks, and is very organized. As Susan "friend" she encourages a memory exchange between them.

Anne of course knows that most of us have mixed memories of loved ones but she said that I might want to capture some of the happy ones I have of my father.  I was hesitant about how to do this until she suggested that she'd make a quick phone call to me every day and ask for one memory.  She then grabs the closest writing instrument and jots down her summary of what I've told her in a composition book she had on hand that happened to have only a few pages already written on.  She's also been adding sketches and ideas for the memory book which she plans to make when IFJM is over.

With this artistic conceit in place, Susan was able to complete her project and make an entry each day in April. She attributes her success to limiting herself on materials. She needed only her journal and a writing implement, whatever was at hand. (There were times she did add some collage material.)

Susan wrote that this created a big advantage—it kept her working:

Typically when I try to do any art activity including art journaling, I spend more time hopping up and down and looking for stuff than I spend actually working. (I should note I'm not usually this way when doing other creative activities.) I've tried limiting materials but this hasn't worked very well for me in the past. There are of course numerous other approaches that have the potential to improve this situation. I hope to use the momentum from my IFJM project to discover which of these approaches work best for me.

Susan wrote two additional posts on her blog about wrap up which can be found at this link.

In those posts you'll find additional insights that Susan's project brought to her. I encourage you to go and check them out. She had a very valuable insight into her relationship with her journals.

When I look back at journals I've done, they typically make me glad that I've done them whether or not I particularly enjoyed doing them at the time. This is in contrast to looking at individual pieces of art later because I usually don't like them any better than when I did them.

But what I enjoyed reading the most was that her character came up with creative solutions even when she was having difficulty. "This means that I am capable of coming up with creative solutions."

I think that's something that we all need to remind ourselves of every day!

2014 International Fake Journal Month Wrap-Up: Dianne Carey

Above: ©2014 Dianne Carey, a page explaining her plan of attack for her 2014 fake journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Dianne Carey is another artist returning to International Fake Journal Month. For 2014 she has provided a wrap-up on her blog.

One of the things I love about artists who come back to IFJM is the way they can refine their project to something they know is doable. They have had the additional experience of observing themselves at work and seeing what can and does work within the structure of their regular lives. This is something that all of us as artists have to learn to recognize, to adapt to, and to handle and sometimes wrestle into a new structure and organization. IFJM is a great way to think about these issues.

Dianne's character was a cake decorator and Dianne limited her character's media to pen and watercolor. In fake journaling often less is more.

Take a moment to look at the additional notes Dianne provides at the link above. And then spend a bit of time investigating this post where she reveals more information about her character. It's always fun to play with not giving full disclosure. The readers can guess along and it is often more fun for the fake journal keeper. There is a second part of the character reveal in this post here. 

It is particularly fun to see how Dianne kept in character and at the same time explored so many subjects, simply because her character would have done so too. This was a very fun idea.

I don't need to remind you that keeping the fun in the project is a great way to keep up momentum and explore new things, regardless of the subject matter your character might document.

And I think looking through the eyes of a character for useful ideas for design and color helps remind us to do so in our real lives as well. 

You can also visit with Dianne at her blog Art Beneath the Cottonwoods, and see the "real" projects she explores in mixed media. (Even her fake journal blog's title is a little sideways nod to the other blog.)

2014 International Fake Journal Month Wrap-Up: Michelle Himes

Above: ©2014 Michelle Himes, a page spread from her 2014 IFJM journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Michelle Himes has participated several times in International Fake Journal Month. In 2014 she joined in with the experiences of a character who plans and reads about gardens. She wrote the following wrap-up at the end of her project—

I had a lot of trouble coming up with a "character" for this year's fake journal, so I went with Roz's suggestion to think of a technique that I wanted to try and then figure out who would use that technique.  

I wanted to try a line and wash technique that Gerald Brommer calls "color independent of line" in one of his workshops. I like how the technique looks, and thought it would be quick and not too labor intensive.   

I decided to use gardens, since it was spring, and gardens lend themselves well to this technique. In hindsight, maybe should not have restricted myself to a single subject, especially that subject, since I do paint realistic, close focused flowers in my real life. 

My "character" was someone who plans and reads about gardens, and works hard to make her garden beautiful—in contrast to myself who never gets around to doing much garden work and must buy flowers at the grocery store if I want to paint them. It was hard to distance myself from my character though, because real flowers and real weather were occurring all around me. Perhaps it would have been better to have placed my character in a different climate—maybe tropical, so that she wouldn't be writing about what was actually growing here. Perhaps it would have been better to have used a different subject matter as well as a new technique, but I was trying to keep it simple. 

I liked and always wanted to try this technique, but honestly, coming up with an image and a quote that would work with it every day was a bit challenging, and I did get bored with it on occasion. I had also intended to put a bit of gardening advice on every spread, but since April is early for gardening in my area, I ran out of things that could realistically be done in the garden—thus the change of location/climate would have helped with this. 

I loved the idea of using quotes though, and plan to use them in my regular journal. And as usual, since I am not a disciplined, every day journaler, I fell behind and did not complete all 30 page spreads.  But I like what I've done with the 24 spreads that I did do, and I would really like to finish the rest at some point.

If you follow the link to Michelle's fake journal blog above, or click on this link, you'll be able to see the other spreads of her fake journal.

I think we can all learn from Michelle's experience—there is a fine line in selecting a character that is close to us but not too close. I think personally it is sometimes better to err on the side of the character being too close so that we can rely on things we know to ease us through the rough patches in the month. On the other hand it is sometimes difficult when you are too close to the character to get the type of distance you are aiming for.

I think the use of the line and wash technique is lovely and I think an approach like this where you take a style and work in it is a great way to experiment with the style in a concerted block of time. I find the pages charming, and I'm eager to look up Gerald Brommer and learn more about his art too. I couldn't find a website for him but there are tons of paintings on the internet of his, and I found this workshop listing from last year with lovely stained paper collage work. 

Michelle also encountered several hiccups that we all may encounter depending on the character we pick and the subject matter he or she might sketch—specifically the problem of April being too early for the types of garden advice inclusions Michelle hoped her character would do.

But what I'm excited about is that in all this she came out of her project with new ideas for her REAL journal. That's one of the best results we can achieve.

Take a moment today to go through Michelle's fake journal for 2014 and think about things you might like to try in your own art. Be inspired to jump in, set some time aside, and go for it.

You can also visit Michelle at her regular blog: Michelle's Watercolors.

2014 International Fake Journal Month Wrap Up: Dana Burrell

Above: Page spread ©2014 Dana Burrell from her 2014 fake journal. This was a test page her character created. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

What can you get done in 15 minutes a day—journaling, and even fake journaling. That's the daily time limit artist Dana Burrell allowed herself each day in April to work on her 2014 fake journal.

Dana has posted her write up here with more images. Her wrap up also details how she approached her fake journal this year; how she thought of her character; what role planning played in this year's project, and the journal that she created for the project. Dana has participated in IFJM before and I think it will help you to see that in any given year setting a new project boundary can generate new issues.

I encourage you to go to her site and see the full write up. I think my favorite part is how Dana worked in watercolor pencils and neither she nor her character had ever used them before so her character created a color chart and test sketch at the opening of her journal. (See opening image.) A sensible character indeed. And in a year without explanations it makes total sense to all those reading why she would do that. It's also a nifty way to handle a bit of life-overlap!

Dana also explains the value of seeing the project as a whole at the end of the month. Her character dealt with issues of anxiety regarding her mother's illness and Dana found this situation paralleled her own thoughts but brought a new perspective.

You will also enjoy seeing Dana's post on "Gearing up for IFJM" here. There you'll see the lovely small book she made with it's vibrantly colored cover.

Next year think about exploring a new medium, or looking at issues you face from a different perspective. The experience can leave you with new skills on many levels.

One Third of the Way through International Fake Journal Month 2014

Left: A photo of one of my first 10 pages of my 2014 fake journal. I haven't come up with a good way to "shoot" them during April, but I wanted to give you an idea of what I'm doing. The only way I could think to do that was to include my toes for reference. (I wear a ladies size 6.5 shoe.) The paper is about 22 x 30 inches. The bird's head is larger than my head. Brush pen with rubberstamp ink for color—since the paper won't take wet media. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

We are officially past the one-third mark (day 10 of a 30-day month). If you started on April first and have been able to work each day you'll now have at least ten entries.

Congratulations for making it this far.

If you haven't already started and still want to join in, dive right in because 20 days remain and you can get a lot of work accomplished in 20 days.

If you've been working right along now is the time to take a moment to look at your past pages and ask yourself a couple questions:

1. Am I staying consistent with my character? If not how can I fix this? Is there a time of day that's easier for me to get into character? If so make a conscious plan to work during that time each day.

2. Do I see changes that would be great to explore even though they depart from my original plan? If so, think about the impact they will have on your plan and make a conscious effort to embrace the changes if you think it's a good direction to go.

3. What difficulties are you encountering? These can be character problems or time management or media issues. Pinpoint what they are. Brainstorm some ideas on how to deal with them for the rest of the month.

4. Congratulate yourself for making it this far, even if you have missed a couple days. Now keep going.

A Bit About My Progress
My main obstacle this year has been a spring cold which turned into bronchitis. I'm finding it difficult to do some of the experimental work I'd hoped to achieve because I've been relying on my inhaler rather heavily—and my inhaler makes my hand shaky.

I'm enjoying what I'm doing while at the same time I know I have to push myself some more. And I'm also seeing how difficult it is for me to not explain things. My whole life is tied up in explanations—to teach, to write, to interact with people—and it's difficult to shed that behavior. We'll see what happens.

The 2014 Participants List Is Up
If you have been watching the blog you'll see that I'm starting to get the participants listed in the column to the right. Each participant's name is linked to the dedicated fake journal blog or Flickr site they are using.

If they are posting on their regular blog the link goes to the first post for IFJM 2014 and it's my hope they've indexed their entries well enough that you can find your way around.

If you've got 8 entries in your journal by now and are publicly posting send me such a link and I'll add you to the list. (Be patient if nothing goes up for a couple days as I'm not on the computer much right now. Both the real Roz and my character are trying to "rest.")

Check out the other participants' work and be sure to leave them some comments and encouragement.

Now get busy on your fake journal!

Getting Ready for International Fake Journal Month 2014—No Explanations

Left: The logo for International Fake Journal Month shown at the left in this post (and at the top of the right-hand column of this blog.

It's time to start gearing up for the 2014 celebration of International Fake Journal Month.

Of course that means a new logo and a new motto.

The motto for IFJM 2014 is: NO Explanations.

That's right, no explanations.

I've deliberately been a little fuzzy in the logo because I either have a massive migraine or think that this helps communicate the non-communication.

First some sad news. This year there will be no commemorative buttons. The project has simply grown too large for me to send out all the buttons. (The buttons are still affordable it's just the darn postage and the special padded envelopes that are pricey.) But not having buttons doesn't stop us from having fun. You can always printout this image and glue it to foamcore board, trim it and attach a pin back! Bingo, a button.

Now some good news. So many folks are participating it isn't feasible to send out buttons.

And some additional good news. When I selected the motto for 2014 I had in mind setting you all an additional task.

Don't gasp. You can still participate in the way you usually do—whatever has been working for you. But if you want to add another dimension to your participation I'm setting some additional parameters for you—actually in a way they've always been set, I just want you to pay particular attention: No explanations.

That's right. This year when you keep your fake journal I want you to pay particular attention to the "reality" of what your character would or wouldn't know, what he or she would or wouldn't write in his or her journal. I'm encouraging you to take the verisimilitude of your project up a notch.

So for instance if your character is meeting someone or experiencing something for the first time he (or "she" understood for the rest of the post or I'll get bogged down in double typing) would probably note something down about that person or thing. But what exactly would he note down?

He might complain about his job, but would he really go into hyper detail about little indignities he can't forget? Might he not just gloss over such things? Or would he keep a detailed list because he's obsessed with "justice" (and maybe just a little scary).

You'll have to decide how thorough your character is. Some might just note a name of a new person they meet, others might write a phone number and address, or a line or two of text describing the person or the thing they are observing.

That's one level to this: how observant and diligent is your character?

Another level to all this is that I'm encouraging you to have no explanations. JUST DIVE IN and whenever possible check yourself before you explain. Is it that important to your character that he explain something or is it important to YOU. If the latter, then leave it out.

This is another way of distancing yourself from your character. It is also a way of changing your character's mode of interaction with the journal.

And if you can distance yourself from your character, then those of you who like to participate in this event in order to set greater distance between yourself and your internal critic will immediately find a greater safety cushion of distance.

It may feel more uncomfortable because your normal mode of journaling is to explain everything. But for this project's duration stick with it and give it a try and see what benefits you can derive. You may end up with a greater respect for your own ability to detail your life when you're done. Or you may come away freed from the restraints or "work" of explaining everything all the time.

One of the goals of IFJM is to help the participants explore new ways to interact with their journals when the project ends. By setting very specific goals and parameters on your fake journal, that are different from your usual behavior, you'll be able to maximize those results.

Now if this sounds all too complicated or uncomfortable to you, or if you find it goes against your plan (good for you for already having a plan for 2014) for your fake journal, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

Go ahead with your original plan. Just keep your character in mind.

The most important thing is that you participate and explore different ways to interact with your journal.

For some IFJM Participants you've already been exploring the no explanations approach by being extra vigilant about what your character writes down. You've already analyzed you're own journaling process and found yourself hyperdetailed or very non-explaining already. You know your character would never stop in the middle of his fake journal and write introductory paragraphs about his mother because he knows his mother. Nope, not in the journal you're creating. So if he had the need (for whatever reason) to introduce information about his mother you found some sly and realistic way to get it in. Fantastic.

Continue on.

This is something I want you all to think about as April arrives.

I do believe it is important that we all look at how we normally journal, and then distance ourselves from that normal journaling through not only the choice of character (perhaps a different sex, age, city of habitation, occupation, etc.) but in the methods employed by that character to journal. Things that make up that character's voice. His response to his world.

Explore that response; set yourself up to be able to do that. Then sit down every day in April and have some fun.

For now, take some time to select a journal to work in, and spend a little pre-event time with your character so you know what materials he might use in his journal. I'll have more to say about this in March.

I look forward to seeing your fake journals.