Roz Wound Up

My 2011 Minnesota State Fair: A Video Flip Through

If the above embedded video flip-through of my 2011 Minnesota State Fair doesn't work please view it here on YouTube.

The other day I met a woman who loves animals and loves painting animals, but when I asked if she sketched her cats she replied, "You can't sketch animals from life."

She was adamant.

Well, I'm equally adamant that you can. I do it a couple times a month at Como Zoo (sometimes I even get down to the Minnesota Zoo). I do it when I visit friends who have dogs. And I do it every year when I go to the Minnesota State Fair.

I don't think I'll be able to convince this woman to sketch animals from life, but I hope over time, if you read my blog, I can convince you.

To that end I finally had an opportunity to make a video flip through of my 2011 Minnesota State Fair. In the video I discuss the types of pens and paints I'm using. I worked in a handmade journal that was 7 x 8.5 inches. I filled 84 pages this year, which is down from last year's total of 121 pages; but I'm pleased with the results.

You'll see that there is a color image insert on the front cover of this book. That was made by creating a depression on my cover board before the board was covered with fabric. At the Fair I made two pieces of spin art. I scanned both pieces, selected a portion of one of the spin art pieces, and printed it out as a full color, archival print. It was sized to fit the label depression I'd earlier created in my front cover. Before attaching the color image to the front cover depression I laminated it to protect it. I scruffed up the back of the photo paper so it would adhere better and glued the image in place with PVA. 

Tip: I put wax paper over the image and then put a thin piece of foam or a towel over the cover before adding weight for the drying process. The soft material helps push the label into place better.

In the video you'll see some tabs in the gutter where pages have been cut out of the book. These pages were cut out at the start of the Fair, before I had worked in the book. This process allows me to add collage material without bursting my spine. If a tab occurs on a page where I want to work across the gutter I simply paint over it.

Before I started this blog in the fall of 2008 I would post journal selections on my website RozWorks.com. If you look down the list at this link you will find Minnesota State Fair Journals from as early as 2003. 

If you would like to look at Minnesota State Fair Journals from 2008 to the present please use this blog's search engine to search for key words, or click on "Minnesota State Fair" in the category list in the left column of this blog. (As you scroll down the posts in that category you'll also come across video of some of our sketch outs at the Fair.)

I have kept a variety of journals for my Minnesota State Fair Journal over the years. In 2007 and 2005 I made portfolios to contain journal cards like these used in 2007. Sometimes I even create a box that is painted to match my pre-painted cards (as I did for my 2003 Minnesota State Fair Journal.)

Whatever form your State Fair Journal takes, make sure to take part!

And note that my posts on the State Fair include a variety of informational posts on how to dress for sketching success for the Fair, manage your sketching time, sketch from life. If you haven't been sketching at the Fair before be sure to read my packing light recommendations. (Use the blog's search engine to look for posts on "Minnesota State Fair Prep."

Please check back during the summer when the date for the Fourth Annual Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out will be announced—it will be at the end of August 2012. There will be buttons again, for sketchers who shows up at the sketch out to sketch from life at the Fair. You don't want to miss out on the fun.

A Facsimile of My 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal

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.

This was a great exchange project and if you would like to see what other people made for the exchange or read more about it (and see two short videos) please see my post from Friday, The MCBA Visual Journal Collective's Box of Journal Bits Exchange.

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.

Update on the MCBA Visual Journal Collective's September Meeting—State Fair Journals and Visual Journals

Left: Ruth Smith (who doesn't have a website I can link too) began our "Sharing Your State Fair Journal" evening at the September meeting. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I'm a hearty soul but when I reached image 25 that I was processing for this post I simply had to throw in the towel. There was no way I could include those and more in a single post. Deadlines had also intervened and my recollection of all the details of what people shared with us that night was fuzzy.

It also became clear to me that it would be better for people to look at scans of the images than blurry photographs taken in low light while people were moving (photographer and speakers!).

So all I can say is, you had to be there. About 25 journal keepers showed up to share sketches from their 2011 State Fair Journals as well as work from their daily journals.

There was a range of work from specific barn vignettes to panaromic composites. People worked with colored pencils, ink pens, fountain pens, watercolor, graphite.

Ruth pointed out that a year ago she met me and other members of the Collective at the Second Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out. She's been coming to meetings ever since, joining in at sketch outs, and she's enjoyed looking back on her work from when she didn't draw at all to the present.

If you would like to see more sketches, but non-blurred, please go to my blog post, "Pigeons, Pigeons, Pigeons (and a little bit about the Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out)" where I have links to some scanned art.

I want to thank everyone who attended this meeting. I'm sorry my photo processing skills aren't up to the challenge. But I can say that everyone at the meeting was inspired by your act of sharing your journal, and letting us see what caught your eye. Your adventures help alert us to what to watch for.

Thank you also to the patient journal keepers who shared their work after the State Fair work. It was great to see the diverse ways in which you are all using your visual journals. I hope we explore these more fully at future meetings. 

If you showed your images at the meeting and have them on a website please send me a link to that site so that I can refer people to your work. I'll update this post.

I have yet to have time to scan and post more images from my own 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal. I hope to do that soon. Perhaps it will be in video flip-through mode (less processing of images; I have to find some way to get it done quickly).

I look forward to seeing you all at the October meeting!

Reminder: MCBA Visual Journal Collective Meets Tomorrow

Monday, September 19, 2011 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. join other visual journal artists for an evening of sharing your journal work. In particular members who attended the Minnesota State Fair (whether or not it was on the day of the Sketch Out) are encouraged to bring their Fair work!

However, if you didn't get to the Fair, don't worry, bring your recent journals with some favorite pages marked to share.

Each artist will be given time present to the group, "set the scene" and explain any media use (if desired).

This is a great way to draw inspiration from the work of others, share your own work, receive insights into working methods and tools, find new sketching friends, and just have fun catching up!

I look forward to seeing you all (and your journals)!

This Is Roz Focusing: The Ukulele Question—Part II

Above: Cockatoo sketch using Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and watercolors on a journal handmade with Stonehenge paper. (Journal is approx. 7.5 x 7.5 inches.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Saturdays are days I allow myself to check out some ukulele music on the internet. Really we have to keep a cap on this obsession. The other day I wrote 4 songs, one of which, "I Used To Be a Valley Girl" makes me giggle (which I don't ever do; and no I will never sing it for you, some things are too personal). Then I came up with a couple album titles, of course. So we all know where this is going—and I don't even have a ukulele yet (though we are going to look at some tonight)—I'm going to be making fake album covers just as I enjoy making fake book covers! I have to fill my spare time some how.

In the meantime I thought I would share a little movie scene I wish would find its way into a movie:

Sir Sean walks into a subway and down the platform, and as he walks we hear it, the little picky tones and strumming of the busker playing on his uke. Sir Sean tosses a couple bills into the gig case and keeps walking.

Once you fall in love with ukuleles you can't help imagining them being used EVERYWHERE!

Left: Detail from the cockatoo sketch so you can see how the watercolor works on the paper, and see the little bit of white gouache added in the orbital ring. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

So what's with the cockatoo sketch for today?

1. I'm still working on my State Fair scans.

2. I'm making two artists books (one an edition of 6 and the other an edition of 30) based on the State Fair scans and the deadlines are perilously close.

3. Despite the heartfelt encouragement of other ukulele fans who've written in to me, I doubt that I will ever sketch a uke (mine or someone else's) so I had to come up with something to illustrate this post.

4. Haven't you caught on by now that 99.9 percent of my bird portraits are self-portraits and that this one, even though it pre-dates the creation of the song is exactly what I would look like if I were to sing, "I Used To Be a Valley Girl." I thought you could enjoy it this way. (Actually I lived in San Jose, but I can do a good Valley Girl if I have to—just don't ask me under which circumstances such a portrayal might be necessary; my life is complicated.)

Oh, and the fortune that's stuck to the featured page spread reads: "The difficulty is not on [sic] coming up [with] new ideas, but to undo the old one."

Now how is that for serendipity!?

Fade out to a snazzy ukulele tune (just perfect if you're being chased by spies), which is actually a fun little tutorial as well.

Pigeons, Pigeons, Pigeons (and a little bit about the Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out)

Above: Page spread from my 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal. This spread shows a fancy pigeon with curly feathers everywhere (including the legs and feet which you can't see because he was sitting on them). The journal is about 6 x 8 inches and made with a defunct paper that while it's for drawing I love to paint on it. Staedtler Pigment Liner and Daniel Smith watercolors. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The above sketch is from my 2011 Minnesota State Fair Journal. It's the only page spread I've had time to scan so far. I had hoped to provide you all with a wrap up of my experience this year's Fair today, but that's not going to happen. Instead you have one of my favorite sketches from the Fair this year in general, and probably my favorite sketch on sketch out day.

And yes, the feathers on this guy were all frilly and curly. My light watercolor strokes don't even begin to address the wildness of his couture.

But wait, there's more—My friend Karen G. sent me a link to a wonderful pigeon photography project. She doesn't even like pigeons, but she enjoyed these pigeon photos by Andrew Garn in the New York Times. Check out the slide show.

Then, if you are in the mood for more State Fair Sketches, jump over to Urban Sketchers—Twin Cities and see my posts from

• Saturday, Sept. 10 (on the Sketch Out wrap up and Marty Harris and Suzanne Hughes),

• Sunday, Sept. 11 (on Miss T and her bunny series and one pig),

• and today, Monday, Sept. 12 (after 5 a.m. CDT; on Judith Lang Main and her Fair panoramas; no link because it hasn't posted at the time I'm posting this.)

There I've written about intrepid Minnesota State Fair Sketchers who have been much more timely in scanning their Fair work! Go and check it out. It will inspire you to look around in your daily environment as well as any unusual situations you might find yourself in.

In the meantime I'll get back to scanning!

It's Not All Sketching at The Fair for Roz

Above: My friend Tom (who was traveling without his normal photography gear) nevertheless managed to catch me photographing the taxidermy at a stall in Heritage Square. It was a perfect opportunity for me to test out some of the "modes" on the new camera while gathering useful sketching references—lots of shots showing how a head looks viewed from beneath, you never know what angle you might want to draw at. Click on the image to view an enlargement. Photo ©2011 Tom Nelson.

Friday I made my fourth (and possibly final for the year) trip to the Minnesota State Fair. As usual I spent my first 4 hours there sketching live animals in the various barns. Then at 1:30 I met up with my friend Tom (who was just arriving). We checked out the Fine Arts Exhibit, the Minnesota State Fair Museum, the Newspaper Museum, and various other sites in between. On the way out of the Fairgrounds after 5 p.m. we walked through some of the animal barns, but there was no more sketching—my feet needed to get me to my car!

If you're wondering, it was about 75-80 degrees, overcast, with a nice breeze that took all the morning humidity away. (I wore my rain hat and had a small travel umbrella in my fanny pack just in case.) 

I haven't processed any of my own photographs or scanned any of my sketches yet. I thought you would enjoy this photo of me (in my Fair gear) taking photos. (That's the Third Annual Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out button on my fanny pack. The bag hanging from my left wrist contains the box of 65 pieces of salt water taffy I bought for my acupuncturist—always buy things when you past the stand because chances are you won't feel like walking back later! And always plan your route so that you don't have to  carry purchased items until you're on your way out.)

Today and tomorrow are the final days of this year's Fair. Remember that all the barns close at 3 p.m. on Monday so that the remaining animals can depart. Plan accordingly.

Same Location, Don't Be Fooled by the Different Stand at the First Meeting Place for This Year's Fair Sketch Out!

EMERGENCY UPDATE 8.26.11: I've just returned from my first visit to the Fair this year and they have moved the cinnamon bun stand to the Northwest corner, across from the cattle barn. A BRIDGEMAN'S ICE CREAM STAND is on the Northeast Corner now. Look for us at Bridgeman's on the Northeast corner.

Same corner, different concession stand.

Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out 2011—Reminder

Left: Spin Art—Just one of the many fun things you can do at the Minnesota State Fair. Click on the image to view an enlargement. (One of my spin art pieces from 2010.)

The Third Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

Meetings at 1 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

See the map in the first post on this event, for locations of the meetings.

Come to the third MSFSO and sketch the animals, people, food, rides, interesting signage—you name it there's something for everyone to sketch at the Fair.

Remember, sketch from life at the Fair and you get one of this year's commemorative buttons. (While supplies last.) Can't join us on Saturday? Go another day, sketch something on site, and send me a jpg.

Does it get any better than that?

My Painting Is in the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition 2011

Left: "Clicker Trained," ©2011 Roz Stendahl. Gouache on watercolor canvas board; 12 x 16 inches. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I'm very happy to announce that my painting shown here was accepted into this year's Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition.

Update: I found out on August 25, when my friend Karen emailed from the Fair, that I'd received an Honorable Mention in my category.

You can visit the exhibition and see my painting in person at the Fine Arts Building on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The building is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day of the Fair: August 25 through September 5, 2011.

(There is a fee for attending the Fair, but entrance to the art exhibit is free.)

This is my first piece in the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit. I entered once before, but the piece was rejected.

For people outside of Minnesota a little background might be in order.

To enter the Fair's Fine Arts exhibition you submit an entry form in June or so. You receive an entrance tag for your painting with the information from your entry form. There are a lot of categories to enter and each category has specific rules, all of which are published each year in the "premium" book (which is now online).

On a certain date (you're actually given 3 days) you bring your framed painting to the Fairgrounds and leave it for judging. About a week later you receive notification that your piece has been accepted or declined. If the latter you show up on during another 3-day period to pick up your art. If your piece is accepted you will see it in the exhibition and will pick it up after the Fair closes.

Many of the pieces on display will be for sale (mine is not for sale). This art exhibition, because of the attendance levels of the Fair, receives a lot of exposure.

So many artists working in so many different media, capturing such a variety of themes ensures that some really great art will not be selected by the jurors. Out of this has grown another Minnesota tradition—the Salon 300: Minnesota State Fair Overflow Show. This year's overflow show, at the Hopkins Arts Center, will run from August 13 – September 4, 2011—with an opening reception on Saturday, August 13, 6-8 p.m. I suggest that you also check it out.

If you would like to know a little about the judging process of this show you can read Tom Winterstein's report on the Old Town Artists' Blog. This year—"Between 16-22 percent of the works entered in each category were accepted." There were 2084 entries and 355 pieces will hang in the final show.