The April 17th Page Spread in Roz's 2009 Fake Journal

Above: the April 17 page spread from my 2009 fake journal. I used Ziller Acrylic ink with a dip pen and Schmincke pan watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I'm fascinated with the feet of Canada Geese, and I've allowed my fascination to spill over and become one for my fake journal's author. Sharing some likes and dislikes is a simple way for me to let my real life feed into the fake journal, making the latter easier to keep up.

It's down to the wire now. I have 5 blank page spreads left in my fake journal—one for each remaining day in April. Later this afternoon I'll take a few minutes to do today's page spread. I've been keeping my time involvement down in the 30 to 50 minute range. The most time is spent on the text because my life is always filled with birds. Friday I was surprised by a Pileated Woodpecker on my bike ride—that event made its way into my fake journal, but more on that when the page comes up chronologically. It is always good to be open to any sketching possibilities. Visual journaling keeps you alert to your surroundings for "raw material."

Also, on this day I had a headache that was quite severe and this got folded into the fake journal. Sometimes the fake journal is a good place to escape from such realities, but on other occasions if it means giving up working on a project or working on the project at the best level you can, I think scaling back your expectations and doing "parts" is preferable than taking a pass. Afterwards it also feels better to push through the physical impediment.

While there are only 5 days remaining in International Fake Journal Month, it still is not too late to keep one. A five-day journal can be a wonderful experience. Consider stepping in to try it out, to prepare and plan for next year perhaps?

The text of this page spread reads:
Verso:

sharp angle where these join
near leg
far
thinner profile to far toe
There's a flatness to the foot as it flops onto the ground taking major contour shapes from it.
Close alignment at base—pigeon-toed.

O9.04.17 4:30 p.m. East River Flats on Bike again.
April snows in Colorado today 12 inches! Here it is 70 degrees F. with sun and a bit of a gusty wind.

Recto:

This afternoon we were given a half day off to explore on our bikes…get used to them. Fleck is greatly subdued, and staying eactly where Chuck wants him. Fleck's natural fears, put aside by the enjoyment of being out yesterday are now back in force. I helped him fill out some of his charts. Then he took photos while I sketched. I've had a headache all day so I focused on parts. It's all interesting. I'm hoping we get our assignments in the next couple days. I'm getting a bit claustrophobic at the compound.

A Look into Trudi Sissons' Fake Journal

Above: A page from the 2009 fake journal of Trudi Sissons (©2009 Trudi Sissons). Click on the image for an enlargement. Read below for additional information.

Trudi Sissons wrote a couple days ago to tell me she had just stumbled upon this blog and immediately sat down to participate. I love to hear that!

Here's what Trudi had to say about her process:

I have had an 'alter ego' for a few years now. Her name is 2 and she is the artist in me wanting a simple life with two dresses - thus the name of my blog - Two Dresses Studio. Two summers ago, I completed two workshops (no pun intended) with Nick Bantock on Salt Spring Island. He taught me to let go of my 'inner critic' and I have done a paragraph or so about the death of the IC (as in "iK') But, I realized he'd been born again when I read through some of your posts, so I thought I must have a little talk with IC.

I wasn't prepared to take on a bird, but I loved your 2009 IFJM journal, so I started with watercolor (H20 Twinklers) and mapped out a feather. My IC was alive and well, and initially even bigger than I ever recall. But slowly, Two got the best of him and eventually, the brush moved outside the lines and complementary colors went the way of the dinosaur. Well, even the feather morphed and up popped Mother Earth. You never know when you let yourself go!!!

Trudi has posted another page to her fake journal at the web link I've provided above. You can also see her photography and collage work, plenty of fun things to look at and be inspired by.

But perhaps the best inspiration from Trudi today is the way she just jumped in and didn't let the internal critic hamper her!

All of us get a little cocky sometimes. We think that we have things under control because we have been productive creatively for long periods. Then we see something, a glimpse perhaps, if not a full-blown situation, which shows us the internal critic is alive and kicking. Don't be discouraged by that quick glimpse, just use it as a check point to do diagnostics and get tuned up again. Silence the internal critic at the first whimpering or needling noise. It's faster and easier than waiting. All the time you gain is time you can put back into your art and life.

Oh, Trudi did one other thing that I have been recommending, she kept her time expenditure under an hour. Don't set out to spend hours and hours on a new project such as this. A missed session will put you overwhelmingly behind.

Remember, 15 minutes, even 10 minutes a day. That's all it takes.

The April 16th Page Spread in Roz's 2009 Fake Journal

Above: the April 16 page spread from my 2009 fake journal. I used Ziller Acrylic ink with a dip pen and Schmincke pan watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Well, in the page spread above my journal's author gets to deal with geese, one of my own personal favorites. While there are some geese back from their wintering grounds, I'm sad that the fake journal will end before the glorious time of GOSLINGS. This is one of my REAL favorite times of the year, when down-covered drumsticks march across the river flats in rowdy groups, protected by doting parents, aunts, and uncles.

Remember, if you count today you have 7 days left of IFJM and that is plenty of time to create a slim but interesting fake journal. Think about it.

Here then is the text for this page spread.

Verso page:

09.04.16 5:15 p.m. East River Flats, checking out reports that some Canada Geese had returned.

This one just stood and stared at me for the longest time.

There is an impossibility about the neck.

striations in the gray breast feathers.

Recto page:

9:30 p.m.—We got bicycles today so we can start going out to our assigned research "plots" (when they get assigned). Chuck suggested we pedal down to the river flats before dinner, to start to acclimatize—adjust. I haven't been on a bike for 20 years but it all came back—ending with the scary slide down hill to the flats entrance. Fleck yahoo-ed the whole way and kept riding up the next hill past the entrance. Now I've seen Chuck pissed off and it isn't pretty. We have to all be together.

The good news is there were a few Canada Geese at the flats. WIth luck there will be a flock to study. We might even get the assignment. I love these dinosaur birds!

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!

The April 15th Page Spread in Roz's 2009 Fake Journal

Above: the tax day spread in my 2009 fake journal. I used Ziller acrylic ink and dip pen, with only a smidge of Schmincke Pan Watercolors.

A good friend wrote to me today and asked said, "Why fake journals, it doesn't compute for me?"

It was a serendipitus note because today was the day I was scheduled to put up the fifteenth page spread in my journal: April 15, 2009—Tax Day. (Even in the alternate Minneapolis that my journal author lives in there is of course death and taxes.)

I had tried to explain to my friend, "What's the point? Why? Why anything in art: because you're drawn to it, because you have to, because it's fun, because, just 'cause." And I went on to explain some of the other points I mentioned when I started this blog.

But one thing I omitted and didn't realize until I posted the April 15 page spread. I hate April because of taxes. I hate the paperwork, I hate everything about it. I'm the type of person who likes to finish things well in advance of deadlines yet I have learned to live with a man who likes to do taxes at the very last moment. In the past if you were to turn on the news April 15 you would typically see Dick right there at the post office at 10 p.m. in the video of people posting their envelopes. Happily, just as I have adjusted, he's adjusted a bit too and now he's typically done before dinner time.

Because of the stress of April (if you don't work for yourself with a business that has many many jobs through the course of the year, sale of artwork and books, and teaching, you cannot believe the paperwork and I keep current all year long) I have always had special projects in April so that I can move from work right into a very intense and demanding, yet fun and engaging project. One that can be interrupted often to answer questions as required, or provide additional copies of some receipt or other. (Interruptibility is key, but deeply engaging at the same time.)

One year I wrapped various body parts in sculpting wire and attached them to boards to make a series of self-portraits in 3-D. Other years I would do a daily series of paintings. But since 2001 it seemed simplest to just shift my fake journaling to April.

Some people might find that adding another task to your day makes this month even more stressful, but I find that the additional task helps me focus all my work better.

So there are many reasons I like to keep fake journals upon occasion, but April offered an additional appeal. And of course I love any excuse to have buttons and t-shirts.

There are nine days left for people containing their fake journals in April. I'm off to do today's entry. If you haven't started yet and want to give it one last sprint there's still time. Why? Just 'cause.

For people reading the text on my pages, the spread above reads:

Verso to Recto:

09.04.15
Another day close at the compound. Roger has been making assignments. Nothing yet for me, Chuck, and Fleck.

Funny how some things never change. Tax Day. The mood is subdued. I took advantage, before coming here, of the corps' accounting network. I'm filed. Several folks here were up late last night doing paperwork. And Chuck was one of them! In an unguarded moment he let slip that he has two sons (5 and 8) and a wife in Seattle. Why she doesn't file I don't know. The courier comes at 8 p.m.

Michelle said she'd baby sit me while I sketched so he'd have more time. Frankly she frightens me with her gung ho attitude. I sketched this bunny feeding—inside the compound. A good choice because it was obvious right [a]way she was impatient to be inside.

light hitting the side of the bunny making an edge of brilliantly light fur. This bunny has a split ear too but no myxomata!!?

The Question of Historial Fake Journals

Above: this is the page spread from April 14 in my 2009 IFJM journal. I used Ziller Acrylic ink, dip pen, and Schmincke pan watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.


A number of folks have been writing to me and telling me that they are keeping historical fake journals. Their authors are living in past times (no one has written to tell me they are writing a future fake journal, but I'm sure one of you is doing that!).

International Fake Journal Month was originally conceived to celebrate and facilitate the creation of fake journals in the month of April, in the present year. This construct was hit upon, simply because it was what I was always doing in my own fake journals at the time.

I see the historical fake journal as a subcategory of fake journals and want to encourage anyone who has a predilection for writing about the past (or future) to keep on writing and drawing.

The point of the project has always been to get people to journal more and with greater ease. By writing a fake journal in a contemporary setting the originator of that journal only has to focus on his journal author's character and artistic style and it simplifies the process. Adding historical distance, for some folks can be a detail nightmare, requiring research and planning, and extra thought to avoid anachronisms and other such pitfalls in historical work.

But for some people there is great charm and fun in doing the research involved in doing an historical fake journal. Things that would bog down other folks, actually free up the mind or engage the mind of the historical fake journal originator.

There is another advantage that might lure some folks into the historical arena—the shifting of TIME as well as place (or dimensions) gives an added level of distance from the author of the journal. This translates into greater freedom for the historically minded. This actually allows them to create a better barrier against the internal critic that might stop any journaling effort.

So if you decide to keep a fake journal, whether you fall into the contemporaneous or historical camp is simply a matter of how best your journaling impulse will be served. Either way, have fun speaking in the first person voice of your journal's author.

Text on April 14 page spread:
Left to right across the top of the spread:

09.04.14 4:30 p.m.
Must have been 59 degrees F today. Sunny with a slight breeze. I was dying to be outside but after last night's fiasco that was not allowed. Only got to sit on the fence and sketch what came by—so what a delight it should be another confirmed sighting of Robins! Two A breeding pair with luck. They bopped around too fast. I can't get their proportions.

Bottom Verso:

closer
can't see the feet clearly because they are the same gray color of the asphalt.
Roger said that lock down last night was because there were non-registered "transients" in the area. Lou, Hopper, and Chuck went out first thing this morning. Some dead pigeons and 4 dead turkeys—remains in a fire pit on Ontario—no other damage or activity. They cleared it all up. I'm still pissed they didn't eat the damn birds!

Bottom Recto:

Shorter
angled out flat
longer just off the page
Fleck too[k] a ton of photos of the 2 robins hopping about. 2 witnesses (on the 7th) are great—but headquarters loves photography for sightings of this nature.

The April 13th Page Spread in Roz's 2009 Fake Journal

Above: this is the page spread from April 13 in my 2009 fake journal. I'm using Ziller Acrylic ink, dip pen, and Schmincke pan watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

On this day I stopped to see friends who feed ducks and was able to sketch, thus making my real life meld into my fake journal project seamlessly. (On other days I've had to plan to go somewhere to sketch, or dig out reference sketches to work from.) This page is a very clear example of how the text had absolutely nothing to do with what was around ME at the time, except of course the ducks.

Have fun playing with this.

For people reading along the text on these pages is as follows:

Verso:

09.04.13 7:30 p.m. Mallards in the vacant lot adjacent to the compound.
Bulge

Oddly thin and narrow here

black or darkish triangle at tip of bill

Breast has plum tone but is much darker brown

couldn't wait for the was to dry. Chuck insisting I come in now.

dark orange red legs and feet

grass hiding the feet which are moving too quickly

The colors are impossibly graduated. The grays across the back look like a grayscale chart, smoothly blending.

blue accent on wing

Recto:

It's 8:30 now and I still don't know what the fuss was. Chuck got us all in lock down and he's outside with Hopper and Lou.

There is a navy blue and emerald look to the neck as it shifts colors

Breast mush darker

with magenta and emerald green

with transp. yellow and magenta

Exploring Orange and Other Thoughts for Fake Journals

Above: the April 12 page spread in my IFJM journal shows some turkey studies. (Ziller acrylic ink, dip pen, and Schmincke Pan Watercolors.) I was working with one of my favorite Schmincke colors: Translucent Orange. Click on the image for an enlargement.

I have been working with Schmincke pan watercolors throughout this fake journal and that has given me time to reconnect with one of my favorite Schmincke colors: Translucent Orange. Just after painting this page I happened to talk to my friend Diane about using this color and she went off to experiment with it on her own. You can read about her experiments on her blog.

One of the opportunities created when you keep a fake journal is the freedom to use new materials, new media, new colors, new papers, new whatever, that you might not venture into in your regular journal. Sure you might take time to experiment in your regular journal, but the fake journal can actually offer an opportunity for intense scrutiny and focus on just a few tools and art materials. (Conversely if you always use the same materials in your regular journal a fake journal can give you permission to let go.)

If you're still on the fence about keeping a fake journal this April realize that there is still plenty of time to turn a fake journal experience into a focused artistic study. Select a slim blank journal of your making or a commercial journal, or take a few pieces of watercolor paper and fold them into a pamphlet book as I mentioned the other day. For the remaining days of April spend just 15 minutes a day as an artist who is experimenting with one type medium, doing color studies, doing line work, whatever.

In those daily 15 minutes put that person's hat on and really run that chosen art material through its paces making charts or making swatches of color or line hatching or whatever. You can throw in a few bits of commentary from your author about why he/she is focusing on the paints, or commentary about his/her life.

This approach will appeal to all those folks whose internal critics are still telling them there's no value in this type of play (or in any play at all). When you finish April you'll not only have a fake journal you'll have a useful reference journal of your 10-day exploration of a new medium or tool.

Have a go.

For people reading the text in my fake journal it reads:

Verso, labels at the base:

There's an olive cast to the brown of their feathers. Trans. Orange and Helio Blue can work into this.

Pinky peachiness to legs
Slightly greater distance between feet.

Recto:

09.04.12 5 p.m. Sitting on the compound fence
All hell broke out last night at dinner. People shouting about being exposed to unknown "pathogens" (Which I didn't think was the correct way to phrase it—but I stayed out of it completely!) So did Chuck. Alec and Angie were the most insistent and even though I was silent they kept looking over at me like it was my idea to go to the zoo. I've been lowkey all day today—scarce. Chuck and I did target practice. And I got some more turkey observation time in just now before dinner. Everyone else is using their free time to register written complaints—except Chuck of course who's here with me.

Labels:

Propotions on this sketch work as corected below. Large eye in relation to head. Body angle and carriage like this

Move down. This leg needs to be longer—on same level line from and [sic] toe of rear foot.

The April 11th Page Spread in Roz's 2009 Fake Journal

Above: the page spread I did on April 11 in my 2009 fake journal was based on a sketch I did earlier that morning at the Como Zoo during Sketchcrawl. Click on the image for an enlargement. The sketch was made using Ziller Acrylic ink, dip pen, and Schmincke Pan Watercolors.

After a long day at SketchCrawl on April 11 I still needed to complete my page spread in my IFJM journal. See the sketch I based this page spread on in my post about "Mining Your Sketchbooks for Inspriation (Again)."

This is an example of how you can let something in your real life spill over into, be useful in, or be reinterpreted in, your fake journal.

For people reading the text of the journal it's as follows:

Reading from verso to recto:

09.04.11 55 degrees F, sunny, a slight breeze making it chilly in the shade but I want to think Spring is here.

A reward for another week of orientation meetings: we were loaded into the station's large van and taken to the research labs at old Como Zoo. They have the last remaining black-footed penguins and are trying to get the small population to breed so that they can do more experiments. The outlook is grim. This penguin seems to have some sort of autoimmune response and is experiencing a super molt (sp?) and loss of pigmentation. The director hinted that the remaining birds might have to be destroyed before they can be useful.

There is also destruction of the beak. A sort of cracking which leads to painful/difficult eating, which causes listlessness, lack of interest in eating and death, so far of 4 birds…

This one still has his pink eye skin and head colors but feathers, where they are coming in are a liver-colored brown outside of any recorded normal variant.

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?