Roz Wound Up

Another Peek into Roz's 2013 Fake Journal—A Dog Portrait of Course!

Above: Page spread in my 2013 fake journal, April 2, 2013. Read about this image and see detail photos from the process in the post. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Yesterday on the Official International Fake Journal Blog I posted a bird-related page spread peek into my 2013 fake journal. This journal is impossible to scan and I haven't had time to video tape the thing yet. (At the rate I've been going the book will be filled by April 18, at which point I'll have some free time to video tape it!)

Most of my extracurricular art time this month has been spent working on this fake journal. Because of that, and certain family circumstances, I won't have time to write on both blogs—especially on an almost daily basis like I do here at Roz Wound Up. 

I wanted to give you all a heads up, that even though fake journaling isn't your thing, you might want to wander over to the Official International Fake Journal Blog from time to time in the next few weeks. It's there that I'll be posting not only more peeks into this journal, but reviews on the materials I used to create it. Materials like—gelli arts printing plates, various acrylic paint products, rubberstamp inks, a variety of papers, pens, and Da Vinci Gouache. I'd hate for you to miss any of that.

I'll continue to post here as time allows. I have lots of faces to show you from an on-going project, as well as other updates and art. But if you don't see something here, you might want to check out the other blog for interesting news on a variety of topics.

Perhaps of greatest interest will be in how I took a totally unlikely and unsuitable (for mixed media) journal—the Leuchtturm 1917 Notebook—and filled it up with mixed media. The results were surprising. (The link in this paragraph is to my original review of that commercially bound journal. The results will be upcoming on the Official International Fake Journal Blog.)

Briefly, because if I explained here everything that is going on in my fake journal everyone would simply pass out or miss his bus, this journal was about layers, and using inexpensive materials. (Though it is arguably the most expensive journal I've ever produced since I didn't have any of the inexpensive materials to use in it until I went out and got them in order to use them in this book!)

Since the approach was layers I had plans to take photos of everything each step of the way and compile it into a number of posts and videos. Personal time constraints are making that impossible, but I do want to look at some of my approaches and I love this spread so I thought I'd do that here today and if you're interested in more you know where to go.

Left: The spread with the Sumi paper and collaged papers in place. The lavender is acrylic paint. I created a monoprint using the Gelli-Arts Printing Plate. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

First off in the above spread I used a Gelli-Arts Printing Plate and some cheap acrylic craft paints (all reviews will eventually run on the other blog so this is just quick notes about the process) to create a monoprint on Sumi paper that was larger than the page spread. That's the purple paint you see everywhere. I glued that complete sheet down over the spread. When it was dry I trimmed the edges (you've seen me do this in a video—if you missed my Strathmore Visual Journaling class in which I also demonstrated this you can see it on a smaller scale in this video here).

In a departure from my usual practice I used PVA for gluing the large pieces throughout this journal. (My rationale for that choice will be described in a future post on the other blog.) I didn't worry about weighting things or bubbling of paper. This journal has an absolutely scrumptious bulky-crackling to its pages.

Next I collaged some decorative papers at the top and sides of the spread. At the far right you'll see gold metallic paper under the dog's ear.

Left: A detail showing the line work sketch. I drew directly on the page with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. (It doesn't like to dry on the type of metallic paper I was using at the right edge, but I knew I'd paint over it.) I was using sketches I made from life and a couple photographs as reference. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

When I came to this page on April 2 I decided to draw and paint a dog portrait. (This is my muse Sophia Grace, only I've changed her color a bit. She's so lovely.)

I struggled a lot deciding on whether or not to paint this sketch or leave the line work. I loved the background and wanted it to show, not be painted over around the dog. Conversely I didn't want to hide the line work. But the driving force of this year's fake journal was letting things go, and not being precious about things like line work. My character dove in and painted over the line work with Da Vinci gouache (after giving me a moment to photograph it!). I used that gouache because it is less expensive for the volume I was going to go through, wanted to try it, and wanted to experiment with a different set of pigments (they don't make a PB60). I'll go into my findings about this gouache when I review it on the other blog.

Left: A close up photo of the painted dog-portrait so you can see some of the brushwork. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Once the painting portion was completed I decided to rubberstamp in the background. Some stamps were used as background texture (dots, squares, lines, and text). But I also used a large alphabet to stamp my character's thoughts on the page in large pink letters. "Letting things slip." Before stamping the letters I cut and positioned a mask of tracing paper on top of the painted dog.

My character ends her journal pages with a stamped red dot and the date written around that dot. You can see this at the bottom of the right-hand page.

There you have it, a close look at the construction of one of the page spreads in my 2013 fake journal. In the coming weeks I hope that you'll take a moment to venture over to the Official International Fake Journal Blog to see other spreads and reviews of the different materials and products I used to create the journal. Maybe next year you'll join us?

Life's so short, why live only one?

 

Project Friday: Keep Drawing Even if It Isn't Working

Left: First sketch of a French Bulldog, while I'm still warming up. Sumi paper, 8.5 x 11 inches, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, and gouache (which soaked through the paper and buckled it in interesting ways). Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I'm still working on my dog portrait project. In February, while I was still under the weather I got out my sketches (made on site from life) and my reference photos from my visit with Sophia Grace and started to sketch. 

My first attempt pushed her nose in too much and elongated her face. But even though I wasn't happy with the sketch I thought it would be a good sketch to experiment using gouache on, since I was working on a sumi paper that doesn't let paint flow like watercolor paper.

I had a great time making a mess with the paints, and I also got a better understanding of how I might render her eyes.

Left: Second sketch of Sophia Grace, from the same drawing session). Also Pentel Pocket Brush Pen on sumi paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Despite the fact that I wasn't happy with the likeness in the first sketch I was happy with the experience of creating it—it's always a good day when the gouache comes out.

What I want to point out today, however, is that we can't let disappointment about "nailing" a likeness or a technique in our sketch or painting, diminish our desire to keep trying.

Assess what you like and don't like, rethink how you're going to handle shading and line quality now that you know the subject better, the paper better, whatever.

With a new plan of attack jump in and try again, immediately! In the same sketching session. 

Don't worry that two consecutive pages of your journal will have sketches of the same subject all over them. That's actually a great thing because each sketch shows that you're learning something and there it all is in your journal. Embrace what you might otherwise consider clutter. It definitely isn't a waste of paper or time.

I knew after my first sketch that I was making Sophia Grace's muzzle too long and not wide enough. I also knew that her entire head had turned out too long. And I didn't like the expression in her eyes. (Sophia Grace is a lovely dog and she is soft and sweet and I am continuing to look for that elusive quality.)

Armed with my observations of where I was off I launched in to my second version and hit something much, much closer. This looks like Sophia Grace to me. And I'm pleased with the brush strokes I used and how I approached the shading with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. I liked this piece so much in fact that I didn't pull out the paint. Painting on the sumi paper was problematic and I wanted to keep my line work.

So here's the Project Friday plan:

Pick something that you love to sketch (pet, friend, peppers, landscape, whatever). It helps if you really love the subject because then you'll stay engaged even with repeated efforts.

Sketch it.

Get up and walk away; get a drink of water; stretch a bit. Come back in less than 5 minutes (I think 2 is actually best) and look with a fresh eye at your sketch/painting. What jumps out at you immediately?

We aren't looking for "how awful" it is. Look for where your focus is (or isn't). Look for what attracts your attention. Look for what you like. Look for what you could do better. Look for lines that really have no business being there (if it's a pen sketch in particular and you're trying to be economical with your line work).

Put your sketch aside, take a deep breath and draw your subject again. (If you are working on a journal page spread just work somewhere else on that spread and ignore the first sketch while you draw the second. Cover it if you prefer.)

Apply all the new information you picked up in your critique. (For mine I used different eye sketch references to change my approach for rendering the eyes, but my main change was to really concentrate on what the shape of her head was and get that the way I wanted it in the second sketch. I also slowed myself down so that each of my strokes was very deliberate on this very weird [to me] paper.)

If you're working with a still life feel free to change the arrangement of the pepper you were sketching, or go stand in a different vantage point for your second landscape attempt. Sometimes a simple change in vantage point can make all the difference. Especially since you now have so much more observed information.

Set your second drawing aside and take a short 2 to 5 minute break, and repeat if you have the time. In my example I only did two. I would have liked to do two more because I think four versions is a good number for me (I don't tend to fatigue until I do the fourth one). If you are just trying this for the first time, aim for only two approaches. If you are accustomed to painting in quick series do at least 4 sketches for your session.

(You'll find over time your stamina for concentrating will increase.)

If you are experimenting with new media or with new paper, and after your third sketch things are still not coming together for you and you know you're fading, do your fourth and final sketch on paper you're totally familiar with and with media you use often and easily. (In other words, try to eliminate some of the variables that are frustrating your attempts so you can end on a positive note.)

Set your work aside and take a longer break. Come back in an hour (or tomorrow) and look at the progress in the entire, quickly-executed series.

That's your Project Friday assignment!

 

2013 International Fake Journal Month Starts Today

Left: The button for 2013 International Fake Journal Month (which actually might change…ack it's always something, but read on). Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Today is April 1, the start of International Fake Journal Month 2013.

If you are a new reader of this blog you might not know what IFJM is. (Click on that category to learn more.) It's a little project I've been doing for years. I went public with it to my students in the 2000s, and then I really went public with it in 2009 when I started a blog dedicated to this event: the Official International Fake Journal Blog.

You can read about the origins of International Fake Journal Month and the guidelines and ways to participate at that blog.

You can also see my fake 2009 through 2012 journals on that blog (earlier fake journals are private).

For the next 30 days I'll be working as another "character" in my 2013 fake journal. I'll post probably once a week (for reasons you'll understand when you see the first post) on the other blog.

The image you see here is this year's button (I always have buttons). You can find out ways to "win" or buy a button over on the other blog.

I have to say that the past week has been incredibly insane (for reasons I won't go into right now) and the button file was all set to go EXCEPT that I changed the slogan for the year at the last moment to: Never Explain. 

That would have been perfect for this year. I loved "Embrace the Fake" when I thought of it in January, but "Never Explain" was just too perfect, given the type of journal my character is creating.

The problem is I changed the files, and it looks as if I sent this file in to the button makers! We won't know for another couple of days until I receive the buttons.

It also looks like I might have sent them a file which will print oddly (a long explanation you don't need to know). What you need to know is that if the buttons show up and need to be reprinted I'll redo the file to carry the other slogan. If the buttons come back good to go—well then we'll go with it because at this point it just makes sense.

Moral of this story (or any story involving sending things to the printer late at night when your life is in chaos)—Don't send things late at night!

And remember to breathe.

Now it's time to jump in with your own fake journal project, or at least check out what people are doing this year or in past years (there are links on the other blog that will take you to the fake journals of others).

One thing that never changes is the underlying premise of, and overall slogan for, IFJM:

Life's so short, why live only one?

KJE Felties™: Busting Out All Over for Spring

Left: "Sage Bunny" holding a pussywillow staff (wood and wool pussywillow buds), approximately 4 inches tall. Needle-felted wool figure by Karen Engelbretson. Click on the image to view an enlargement. 

Karen Engelbretson of KJE Felties™ has done it again with new needle-felted animals for spring—bunnies, chicks, and crows.

If you want to acquire one of these figures you can find the bunnies at the Textile Center featured in their shop. (Each animal or bird is so expressive that I think of them more as friends than objects.)

If you don't live in Minnesota there's no reason for you to miss out on these lively critters because Engelbretson has opened an Etsy shop: KJE Felties.

I have to admit that I have quite a collection of KJE Felties™. Since Engelbretson started with birds it seemed like a no-brainer as I love birds. And her approach to needle-felting birds combines not only a rich base of observed detail but an artistic editing eye which imbues each of these handmade characters with attitude and personality. I think they are little works of art. I've found them to be the perfect gift for anyone who loves birds and art—and now bunnies. It has been exciting to see how Engelbretson has grown her line of birds and animals always finding new ways to express her love of the natural world.

I don't like sweet, and I don't like cute (Dottie being the exception to the latter). I have to say that these small figures may have a touch of both but their real appeal is in their individuality—no two are exactly alike. Whether the birds hang as an ornament or the bunny sits on your desk, they all invite conversation and interaction. They want attention.

With her line of bunnies Engelbretson has allowed just enough anthropomorphizing to shape a unique collection of individuals while not losing the naturalistic and observed details for which her work is noted. (Engelbretson's daughter has a rabbit and I'm sure close associating with Benson over time has given her insights that we now see in these small figures.)

If you would like to see how some of Engelbretson's work is literally growing, she has a pair of crows—"Two is for Mirth"—in the Seasons on St. Croix Gallery's Wit and Whimsey Show. Her not quite life-size crows converse with each other while balanced on a branch. She has explored numerous approaches to capturing the texture of "not-simply black" when rendering this talkative pair through needle-felting.

The show at Seasons on St. Croix will be up until April 2, 2013. You can find details for hours and directions to the gallery at the link.

You can also read a review of Engelbretson's needle-felted birds at "Felter Skelter: Creature Felt" by Zoe Williams. 

Get out and notice one of these creations today. You might come home with a new friend.

You can read an earlier post I wrote on Karen Engelbretson and her needle-felted creations (which includes a primer on needle-felting) here.

Maddie the Dog Is Coming to Subtext Books July 28, 2013

If the above video doesn't play, see Maddie on YouTube.

Maddie is a rescue dog, a Coonhound who likes to balance on things. When Theron Humphrey discovered this in his travels with her he started taking photos. "Maddie on Things" is a collection of these photos. The author/photographer and Maddie are going to be at Subtext Books on July 28, 2013; at 3 p.m. I don't know anything else about it. This is all I heard from a friend who thought I'd be interested because I love dogs and physics. I'll write more closer to the date, when I find more out, but for now, keep your eyes and ears open! And watch the short video about the book. (According to the video she drove right by my house but didn't stop! You'll recognized other Twin Cities locations if you watch the video.)

My Fall 2013 Dog Project Is Still Moving Slowly Along

Above: Working in a new journal on Arches Text Wove (Arches Velin). The journal is approximately 6.5 x 9 inches. I worked first with a 3/4 inch wide tipped acrylic marker getting loose lines and warming up (light blue; sometimes working on the edge of the marker) then I went in with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Brush Pen, to capture contours. Finally I played around with gouache, Stabilo Tones, acrylic paint, gold wax pencil resist and some white markers in the background. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

My dog portrait project originally scheduled for last fall is still on-going. It's been difficult to find time to paint paintings, but I'm massing up studies galore. That's what this is about. Becca is a lovely black lab. She was in the original pool of dogs and I saw her again briefly around this time, but not in a situation where I could sketch her from life. I took a couple photos and used those, popped up on the screen, as reference. 

I think I need to see her once more in person and do some more sketches from life before I do a large painting of her. She is so calm I'm not sure I'm getting her essential look. When the snow melts I'm going to pester her owner for face time!

I find sketches like these, playing with materials, thinking about a subject, help me keep my enthusiasm for the project even during long periods of time when I might not be able to get to the drawing board or easel. 

More Recent Sketches from the Bell Museum

Above: Second sketch of the day (and third and fourth) on my recent trip to the Bell Museum (see below for a link to my first sketch of the day). This 13 x 9 inch page spread (from a journal I made with Magnani Annigoni Designo, which is tan) was prepainted with blue and yellow acrylics before I left home. When I got to the Bell and got to this page I had to paint over that surface. I used a large—about an inch wide—acrylic marker from Montana Markers with blue ink to color around various subjects after I finished the spread. Liz had some thin tipped markers out when we were sitting at the table sketching and writing. I did some test swatches below my sketches of the live turtle. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Last week (not this week, but last) I got to duck over to the Bell Museum for a couple hours of sketching with my friend Liz Carlson. I was getting pretty stir crazy (the Bell Museum had been my last scheduled destination before I got sick and I never got there). It was a great way to get back into the swing of things. 

My first sketch of the day was of my favorite Beaver sitting on the dam, picking fleas off his tummy. You can see that sketch over at Urban Sketchers Twin Cities. 

The otter sketch page is my second sketch of the day.

Not everything is a taxidermy specimen at the Bell—I spent some time sketching one of the live turtles. Liz and I both ended the day by sketching the Ptarmigan in a case in the touch and see room. Liz got them to pull it down and put it on our table. Sketching it gave me a chance to try the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Big Brush Pen in White India ink on the tan surface of the Magnani Annigoni Designo. (Don Colley introduced me to this white pen when he was in Minneapolis in the fall of 2012.)

Below: My final sketch of the day, a Ptarmigan (spelled correctly on my journal page, but not on my scan name), for which I used pen, white pen, and some gouache. My notes on the left-hand page were written at the end of the day when I returned from life drawing. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Earnest Ward: Bird Sketching Tips

Left: Drawing of an egret on toned paper ©2013 Earnest Ward. Click on the image to view an enlargement. Used with permission. 

 

Earnest Ward is one of the 40 artists in Danny Gregory's new book "An Illustrated Journey"—but that's not why I'm writing about Ward today. (I've only read through the "L" names in Danny's book so far, savoring it all!)

A drawing of Ward's popped up on a Nature Drawing list to which he and I both belong. I love bird art as you will know if you read my blog much at all. I clicked on the link and found a delightful post about sketching birds. (You can check out "Tiny Voices, Part II [A Tricks of the Trade Tutorial] here.)

In that instructive post Ward explains his outdoor sketching kit and provides some delightful sketching diagrams of bird parts and sketching approaches. I know you'll find his tips clear and helpful.

This is the perfect time of year to start looking out for birds that are returning to their spring nesting areas. Take advantage of Ward's advice and get prepped for going birding with your sketchbook.

If it's too cold in your area to get out and see the birds this weekend you can be inspired by the artwork of Earnest Ward and others over on Danny Gregory's site. Danny is putting up video chats with the artists in his new book. It's great to hear the artists talk about their work and methods—more sketching inspiration until your weather breaks and you can be outside.

UPDATE March 11, 2013—Danny Gregory has posted his Skype interview with Earnest Ward. Go check it out to learn more about this artist and how he works.

Just for Fun—Stylizing Characters

Above—This is an individual.

Below—This is a character (and maybe even a self-portrait of Roz).

Click on the images to view an enlargement.

Both dogs were sketched in a 9 x 12 inch Fabriano Venezia Journal with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

I've Posted About Maru before I Just Couldn't Resist

If the embedded video doesn't play see Sunny Spot and Maru on YouTube.

I've been grumpy and out of sorts lately because I'm stir crazy. Then Tuesday night I got a note from YouTube that a new Maru video had been posted. Maru is an incredible cat whom I've posted about before (I found his videos through the cat video festival the Walker did I believe).

This video is incredibly calming. I had to post about Maru again and encourage people to go and subscribe to the Maru videos. I'm not even a cat lover (I have cat friends but I could never live with a cat for a host of reasons). Maru makes me think that maybe I could, but then I don't have to because I get to see Maru. 

I think it is one of the most wonderful collaborations between person and animal on video that I've seen. So if you haven't discovered Maru yet, watch this video (especially fun when it has been so overcast and cold here in Minnesota) and then watch more of them. I can't think of one I haven't enjoyed.