Above: My page spread from Jean Shannon's journal—which has a topic of "Toys." The subjects were sketched from life with a Pentel Aquash Brush Pen with Light Black Ink and gouache. The text was written with a Staedtler Pigment Liner. Click on the image to view an enlargement.
The four of us exchanging the journals we made with Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper are still exchanging. This is the page spread I did before our August meeting change over.
Jean Shannon's journal had "Toys" as her theme, and I had "put a bird on it" as the running theme for my participation throughout the project. Naturally Gert came out to play.
For instructions and restrictions Jean simply said she wanted something on the "Toy" theme, and she wanted the journal to remain flat (i.e., not have 3-D inclusions). For someone like me with a huge collection of life-like toys for "life-model" sketching it was a no-brainer. (You might also want to check out this post and "Meet Martin Frobisher" who joined the clan after the first toy collection post ran.)
That dapper chipmunk on the left is Frank. He's actually life size and quite wonderful. I got him at the Bell Museum shop, where you can find his cousins. Everyone who meets Frank agrees that he is "too cute." (Which is unusual for me as I don't typically warm to "cute." Dottie of course being the major exception in my life.)
You can read how 30 of us each made a book of this style with this paper in May at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting here—and see the group in action and the finished books.
You can read about how I started my journal for this exchange (and see my title page and opening page spread) here.
Here's my "Obscure Tokens" offering in another journal.
And by the time this post goes live I hope to have finished my entry in the "Mermaid" journal. I'll post that soon. I'm using "glitter glue" per the request of that journal's owner. And of course I'm putting a bird on my spread!
