Danny Gregory and I Discuss Visual Journaling From May 2008: Part one of a two-part podcast. Danny Gregory, author of "An Illustrated Life," talks to me about journaling, art media, and materials…The second part is in the same location. Be sure to check out the great interviews he does with other artists included in his book!
Finding Bits of Time Ricë Freeman-Zachery, author of "Creative Time and Space," talks to me about finding time to be creative. (Taped October 23, 2009.)
Twin Cities artist Judith Lang Main has just started a new blog: Brush and Pencils.
I first met Judith at one of the first Bell Museum Sketch Nights in 2010. I have since seen her at several of the local sketch outs. She works quickly with pencil and brush to capture both intimate details of wildlife as well as vast vistas and full scenes. Her journal work manages to exude a great sense of place.
At our first meeting Judith worked fearlessly, with wet media, on paper of an unknown origin. (A friend had saved the paper from a dustbin and Judith had then bound it into a book.) Since that time I have seen Judith also work frequently in a Fabriano multi-colored artist journal. She has a wonderful knack of making the often brightly colored papers work well with her vision. She used such a journal at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair.
I just learned of Judith's blog, but it has been up since September of this year. Visit now to catch up from the beginning. Her posts are short on text and focus on her sketches and related photos.
From Judith I learned of The Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design. Visit this link to view a short little video which explains the lab while giving a visual tour. For people familiar with the Bell Museum of Natural History's Touch and See Room the lab will have a very welcoming ambiance. It is definitely on my list of places to visit.
Ken Avidor, artist and political muckracker (his description, I just think of him as a thoughtful guy with a sense of humor and interest in social justice), will be signing copies of the book he wrote with Karl Bremer and Eva Young: The Madness of Michele Bachmann.
The event will be at Common Good Books in St. Paul, on Saturday, December 10, 2 p.m.
These three authors have been keeping tabs on Bachmann for years with their Dump Bachmann blog. In this book you find details important to consider as elections draw close.
Above: the completed editon (30 plus a prototype) of my 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal Fascimile. Read about it below. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
For the recent MCBA Visual Journal Collective's Box of Journal Bits Exchange I made a short facsimile of my 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal (18 pages, not the 90 or so in the full journal). You can see the completed edition above, as well as the errata slips which were attached to the inside back cover before it left the studio. (I discovered a couple errors after the printing and first sewing were completed!)
Left: A closer view of the internal stitching, from both the back of the book (on the left) and the front of the book (on the right). Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I created the book in Quark Xpress and had it output at FedExOffice (I don't currently have a toner printer that will do the size sheet I wanted to do). I had to trim the sheets, but I was able to do that quickly at MCBA on their guillotine cutter. (If you are a member at MCBA you can rent their equipment at a very modest rate. I only spent $9 on this aspect of the project.)
Right: A closer view of the prototype (left, which had a darker green cover than the final edition of 30 books) and the stack of books not yet covered (right). You can also see the hand tipped in archival print of Spin Art that I used on the title page, and which is visible through the cover window (as seen on the prototype). I used unwaxed linen thread for the inner stitches (see the white spool) and for the outer decorative stitch I used a 4-ply dark green waxed Irish linen thread. You can also see the templates for sewing the cover stitching. They are sitting right at the head of the books on the table. I use a bulldog clip at the head and at the tail of the book when sewing either stitching, to keep the template and the pages all in place. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Left: This image just gives a closer view of the print I inserted on the cover, and the window feature, both on the prototype (right, without a print) and the first book of the edition (left, with a print). Both are shown before the final cover stitching. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The book has an inner sewing which isn't visible in the final product (see the second image of this post for a view of it), but is crucial for holding things together and making a tidy book. I was running out of time and thought about using two staples, but they would have shown through the cover. Instead I just hunkered down and stitched in every spare moment. I found that drilling all the holes with an electric drill saved me a lot of time, over hand punching.
We have more exchange projects that are in the works for 2012 so watch for them. You don't always have to be on site to participate.
Our next group project does require on-site attendance. It is of course our annual portrait party on January 16, 2012 (the third Monday of the month) from 7 to 9 p.m. You show up, sketch a partner, she/he sketches you, I paste it all up into pages, we photocopy the pages, fold, collate, punch, and sew a photocopier edition, with everyone going home with a book. ($5 covers the paper and toner costs.) So if you want a fun and crazy time, and a book to show for it afterwards I suggest you show up!
I realized, when preparing this post that I've yet to post a video flip through of my complete 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal. I'll try to get that video shot in the next couple weeks.
Above: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch with Schmincke gouache, in my 9 x 12 inch Fabriano Venezia in-studio journal. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The other day at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective a group of us stayed to chat and Tom Winterstein mentioned he really liked Walt Stanchfield's Drawn to Life books (there are two volumes—that I know of—in paperback from Focal Press).
I think I've written about these before, but my search engine isn't working for me again today (something in the way I set up my browser). It can never hurt to mention them again.
I picked up volume 1 when it came out in 2009 and have been reading it (and volume 2 when it came out) as time allows. The books are lecture notes—short little pieces on a specific drawing-related topic from curves to "Pose and Mood Plus Timing and Phrasing and Texture."
Each piece is a lovely little gem with great illustrations of the topic at hand. Stanchfield was the artist Disney asked to teach other Disney artists. These are the master classes.
I am constantly entertained and inspired by the topics he addresses. I see these as essential discussions for all artists, not just animators. The purpose of art is to communicate—who better to tell you how to communicate than someone lashed to the narrative tradition?
(I paid $30 for each book, but Tom mentioned he got them for $14 or so at Amazon—check around.)
The above video shows participants and friends painting boxes at Monday Night's meeting. If the above video doesn't play, check it out on YouTube.
If you don't follow me on Twitter (I rarely tweet) and you aren't a friend on FaceBook (I'm rarely there and now they don't automatically update notices about my blog posts, grrrr) then you might not have seen the short (2 minute long) video I made of Monday's meeting when 16 artists got together to exchange "journal bits"—bits of art (prints, zines, calendars, small books, etc.) that had their origins in the creator's journal.
Today I wanted to post a little bit more about the project and so I created the second video you see in this post. We began our meeting with our short presentations about our projects. We spent about 30 minutes sharing our work, maybe longer (I am making a full length video of what everyone said to include in the library copy of our project, but I haven't added the times together yet).
The next order of business was to paint boxes to store our sets in. The group had voted to go for an inexpensive white corrugated cardboard literature box that was about 6 x 9 x 3 inches. This kept costs for the project down, and allowed people to focus on what they wanted to do for their actual edition. But not everyone likes a plain white box so I thought it would be good to have the option of painting the boxes. We did this with rubberstamp pads and acrylic inks (mostly Golden Fluid and Lumiere).
I like Lumiere acrylic paints because they dry quickly and are so sparkly. They look great on dark book cloth if you want to cover a book with paint (and sometimes you do). If you do try this yourself—painting on boxes like this or on books (which I've written about elsewhere on the blog) you want to use a dry brush, and if you rinse that brush to then add another color be sure to squeeze all the moisture out of it that you can, before you dip it into the paint. Too much moisture and the box (or book) will be ruined by seepage.
The video will show you how people all went in their own direction with decoration. Each participant was given a set of 4 labels with the project name, so that they could glue those onto the box later.
After the painting was finished we broke a new record—finishing before 9 p.m. (our stated end time). About a dozen of us stayed to chat, sitting around a table showing our recent journal work and discussing book arts. Some of us actually stayed past 9 p.m. (as usual).
Note: One More Boxed Set Remains for Sale The group made 20 pieces for their "editions" and some artists dropped out at the last moment. One set was always earmarked for the MCBA library. Three sets remained. Just as with our zine exchange any extra copies were to be sold to raise money for MCBA.
I'm pleased to annouce that two of the sets sold that night to other Collective members in attendance (who didn't participate in the exchange). The group had voted on a price of $32.00 for the set (which is quite a deal when you consider the wondrous contents—but we also wanted the boxes to sell…)
One box of "Journal Bits" remains. It contains contributions from 16 artists. The box is unpainted but the project labels have already been attached. I thought I would offer it on the blog to give far flung journal artists a chance to purchase it, since there would be no chance that they could get to MCBA for that. You can see what the box contains by watching the Journal Bits Exchange video on YouTube.
If you would like to purchase the remaining set please write in to the blog in the comments section. I don't know how much interest there will be (sometimes such sets are most valuable to the participants) but if you are a zine or book arts collector I think you'll find there are fun things here that will make you happy. And maybe even inspire you to start your own exchange.
If there is more than one person who wants the box I'll put names in a hat and draw to see who gets to purchase it. The cost will be $32.00 (for the set; check made out to MCBA) plus a $10.40 check to cover priority post and confirmation and insurance made out to me, as I'll be the person taking it in. (Sorry I have no idea what it would cost to send it overseas, it you want to buy the set and are overseas I'll discuss it, but I think it would be prohibitive. I only know what it costs to send it in the U.S. because I sent one to an out of town participant on Tuesday.)
Not only will you be receiving some fun artwork, but you'll be helping to support an organization that does great things for a wide community every day. I'll wait until Monday, November 28, 2011 at 5 p.m. to check the emails to see if we need to have a drawing. If it doesn't sell it will go over to the shop—speaking of which, if you're local and want to buy it I can leave it at MCBA's shop for you. It won't be on display or shop worn, just waiting under the counter for you, and you'll save the postage cost. (The $32.00 includes local and state taxes because none of us could do math on Monday night.)
Update: Karen (from the comments below) purchased the box of journal bits so all the extra boxes have been sold. Thank you to everyone who made this project a success!
Above: A page from my Stonehenge kraft paper journal. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen gesture sketch of a resting dog. I went in with acrylic paint and colored the background after I finished the sketch. Then I used some of that decorative translucent Japanese tape, laying it in place and carefully cutting around the drawing (but not into the paper). Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I'm fortunate to be able to spend some time with friends and relatatives today. Whatever your take on Thanksgiving Day I hope you're able to do the same.
Plan to get some sketching done, maybe of your family and friends as you chat, or of pets, or well, the zoo is open, that might not be a bad idea.
Above: French Bulldog study in my in-studio journal, a Fabriano Venezia 9 x 12 inch journal. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen covered (except at the chin) with Schmincke Gouache. Right edge clipped in scanning. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I thought you might enjoy seeing the before and after, and this time I remembered to get the camera out before I painted. I'm still toying around with cobalt blue and I'm not entirely happy with it. It makes lovely purples with my reds, but I don't get the darks I get when I use my beloved PB60. I'm still undecided. But this it the type of thing I do when I'm undecided.
Dick went to bed when the dog was still in process and there was a hideous green on the dog's forehead (top left side of his head). I don't know what I was thinking. "Looks great," said Dick as he departed for the night. Of course I'm sloshing paint around like my life depended on it, because it did, and I'm wondering when he started to ingest hallucinogens because the sketch was looking awful. I asked him the next morning and he simply said, "I wasn't worried, I've seen you paint before. It changes in an instant."
It's nice to instill that type of affectionate confidence, but I suggested non-commital responses might be better in future—I actually debated waking him up to test to see if he'd had a stroke.
And yes, the expression is a reflection of "me" on hearing I may never move. (What gets clipped off at the bottom of the right hand page is "[A scary pause]" and by that I mean, when he said "Yes" he then paused and said "Probably." That last word is a rather loaded one in our lexicon, somehow attaching to itself, over time, the inverse meaning that others might expect.)
Below: The sketch without paint. I have to admit (but everyone has already guessed it) that I'm rather addicted to simply moving the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen across the surface of my favorite papers. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
Above: Another spread from my Stonehenge kraft paper journal; 10 x 8 inches. Gesture sketches of dogs (from dog park photos I threw up on the computer). The background was pre-stenciled with acrylic paint, then I sketched, and then I added the blue gouache on the verso page. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
I'm probably still sewing those pesky little books together for tonight's exchange—so another short post, set to go up while I'm at my table!
Tonight's 7 to 9 p.m. MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting is an exchange.
We'll begin the evening with participants in the "Box of Journaling Bits Exchange" decorating their box covers and attaching box labels. Next we'll exchanging our completed materials with other participating artists so that each participant will go home with a box full of journaling bits! We'll learn the whys behind the artists' work in a brief presentation from each participating artist.
Even if you don’t participate in the exchange this will be an excellent meeting for you to meet the members and see what work they create and why. You will leave inspired to start your own book arts collaborations. (If you would like to decorate a box with us for later use of your own, bring $3 to cover cost of the box and paints.)
You'll need to bring: Your completed journaling bits for the exchange (if you were signed up for the exchange). Also you'll need to bring cash or a check for the supply cost (box cost) as there will be no one in the shop to help with change, etc.
This will be our final meeting for 2011 (no December meeting—next year we will meet every month). Be sure to mark the third Monday of JANUARY 2012 on your calendar, because that's our PORTRAIT PARTY!
