Above: A stack of scraps that started to form when I did a "cleanse" of my flat file. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The other day someone slammed my right hand in a door. (It was a warm day and the bike ride actually saved my life because I had my cycling gloves on and they cushioned the blow.) I was out of commission for several days, unable to drive, write, type, or bind. I even had trouble with my shoelaces. (After a day I was able to sketch on very smooth paper with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen barely held, and with no pressure applied. Why would you want to do that? Hey, I was going crazy. I had to make sure I could sketch without pain at the Portrait Party.)
I have one drawer of my flat file that collects large bits of paper, whole signatures of folded paper that never made it into a book, for instance. I started to take stuff out of the drawer and make a "toss pile." Then I realized that with some scraps I had in my scrap bin I actually had the makings of a new collage journal. (Like "Adjustment: P10.")
I pulled some type cut from magazines and some of my sketches from my collage pile. I think it's going to come together in a fun way. Gathering up a selection of materials in this way is one way that my mind keeps busy thinking up visuals and page layouts, even if I am not able to actually execute them at that moment. Every time I pass the pile on the table I smile because I know that it will soon all merge in a book. And every now and then I add a little something to that pile.
So when the hand is all healed and I can put pressure on it again I'm going to bind all these scraps up into a journal. I'll keep you posted. I thought it would be fun to have a "before" image of the materials to get you thinking about the possibilities you have lying around on your desk, in drawers, in bins…
Also, when the hand heals I make that video of me tearing paper. I had hoped to do that last week.
