Roz Wound Up

OOPS! Correction to My Pen Post

Sometimes I really should get up from the computer and walk over to my desk to read the labels on my pens when I am writing about them!

Tonight when I sat down to do a little writing in my journal I picked up my pen and realized it was empty and reached for a cartridge—and then realized I'd listed the "Preppy" fountain pen as non-refillable. Actually as the evidence in my hand makes clear this is not the case. I have corrected my pen post so that people going to that post for the first time will not have to follow a thread. But for regular readers who might not return to that post I wanted to be sure to alert you to this error!

The inexpensive fountain pen I like to use that is NOT refillable is the Pilot Varsity. It's a lovely little pen and it comes in a couple different colors (though I only use the black ink). I find that for a very inexpensive fountain pen it has a serviceable nib and I like it a lot. (Even if I can't remember its name when I'm writing a post!)

The Preppy can be refilled with cartridges. I don't think I've ever been able to find a converter for it because if I had there would be one in the current pen on my desk. I like to buy converters for refillable fountain pens and then use the ink I want to use. But just because I don't have a converter for it doesn't mean there isn't one out there. If you find a converter to fit the Preppy, please drop me a line.

Ink in both these pens is watersoluble.

Well, I hope this clears up any confusion. I have to get back to writing.

Choosing a Pen for Writing (and Sketching) in Your Visual Journal

My December 9 post busting the notion that watercolor paper is only for painting made me realize I hadn't dealt specifically with an important part of the “writing-sketching-paper” equation that often gets overlooked, or not talked about: pen preference and pen type.

There’s no visual for today’s post because I don’t want to play favorites to any of the many pens I use. A look at past posts, or a click on the “pens” category will take you to illustrated posts. What I want to do today, without the influence of an image, is mention which pens I use and why I use them.

You don’t need fancy tools for visual journaling. You need a pen and paper. (Some of you may work with a pencil and that's OK too!) But your hand should like the feel of that pen on that paper if you are to be encouraged to continue. Often, people with no experience of pens and paper beyond office supplies (and office supplies have much to recommend them, don’t get me wrong) become frustrated when they don’t get the results they hoped they would.

Going with the Flow: More on Mixing Sketches with Collage

Above: yet another spread from my “weirdo” journal. I discuss this below. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

In an on-going attempt to show you what is going on in this journal, and give you a sense of the working method in the hopes that you will experiment and discover a working method that suits you, I thought the above image would provide a useful example. Here’s the breakdown of what happened, with a little bit of editorializing:

What My Blog Readers Are Reading

Above: two more faces and some more collaged text fun from my current journal. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketches with Holbein gouache (whatever happened to be out on the plate, hence the "odd" choices?) on Magnani Annigoni Designo paper in a book handbound by me. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

On July 12 I posted the winners of the 9-months of Daily Posting What Other Blogs Do You Read Contest.But the response was so good that I haven't been able to post all the suggestions that people sent in. It has been one of the "unfinished business" pieces I meant to address in the first few weeks of year two of the blog and if I don't get to it right now the lists are going to be buried even deeper in the growing pile of "give me attention" papers!

Ideas on how to organize these blog recommendations from my readers has really stumped me. There doesn't really seem, even after months of looking at it every so often, a clear way to do it even now. So in the interest of getting you something to look at over the weekend (should I decide not to post—it could happen—it will happen) I've gone for the straightforward "lumping" approach.

Entertain Yourself: Your Journal Shouldn't Be a Chore

Above: a recent journal spread from the "weirdo journal." This is just me playing with the brush pen and gouache, on a spread where white paper had previously been attached. I added the collaged text when I finished the sketch. (Text reads: She was an amusing companion in a hard, brittle way.) That dot of blue paint is just something that fell off the brush while I was painting the background—don't sweat it. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Seems to me people who start keeping visual journals sometimes get so caught up in "I should do this," "I should do that," that they forget the bottom line: the journal shouldn't be a chore. (Normally I try to avoid the word "should" which reinforces the idea of "chores" but hey, the journal really shouldn't be a chore!)

Entertain yourself when you work in your journal. This is your time to find out more about what makes you tick! Make a page that means something only to you. Make a page that's full of your favorite things—full of fun.

Your journal isn't for someone else—it's for YOU. Entertain yourself. (And remember, entertaining yourself is going to look different for each person too: someone might fill a journal full of practice sketches of some difficult to grasp object and while that might look like work to another person that "work" was entertaining to the artist.)

Your journal is going to look different from everyone else's because you're different. What entertains you isn't going to do it for someone else. What looks like a great composition or use of line or use of negative space or inclusion of a humorous line or whatever…isn't going to do it for someone else. (Self-explanatory isn't it?)

That's the joy!

When Is the Best Part of Your Life Going to Begin?

Above: journal spread from the weirdo journal. I was at Como Zoo sketching with a friend. The tab down the gutter was built in when I bound the book. The white paper was added and it is folded and fits behind the tab, is glued across the recto page, folded over the fore edge and glued across the next spread as well. The rectangle of white paper (Arches Text Wove/Velin Arches) which sticks to the tab and has the Lesser Kudu sketch on it, folds open like a page within a page, to reveal a full recto page beneath it. (Schmincke gouache over Staedtler Pigment liner .3; book made with Magani Annigoni Designo.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I didn't get home in time yesterday to finish my planned post for today (about the weirdo journal) but I thought I would give you another view of it and the randomly attached collage bits, such as the purple and blue watercolor paper scrap on the verso page of this spread, and the inserted horizontal and folded strip of Arches Textwove, which doesn't extend to the right edge of the spread—there's another sketch under there and a bunch of writing.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective October Meeting and an Art Show Reminder

Above: This is the first page spread from that "weirdo" journal I'm going to be telling you about. But not today. Anyway, this book has built in tabs, you can see one in the gutter. I sketched Gert with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and then slathered on the gouache. It's so fun to use gouache on a toned paper like this Magnani Annigoni Designo. Well I really thought Gert deserved her tail, but I didn't want to go onto the next page. I attached a scrap of Fabriano Tiziano that just happened to be lying in the scrap pile and also happened to be a tan. Then I finished my sketch. The type talking about "Gert's tail" (with a typo—no space between "the" and "pre-existing") was applied in Photoshop to draw your attention to the flap. Joyce Lyon…More about this fabulous artist below. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The year is winding down for the MCBA Visual Journal Collective. We have two meetings left. Monday, October 19 is one of them!

Please come and join with other visual journal keepers to discuss Favorite Tools and Media. This is a great way for beginning artists to learn about supplies and gather usage tips. It's a perfect venue for veteran journal artists to pass on insights. We did this at one of our first meetings in the fall of 2008 and it was also a great way for people to connect with sketching buddies.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m. It's free and open to anyone who keeps (or wants to start keeping) a visual journal. For this meeting simply bring your three favorite tools to show and tell about. If you have examples of how you used them in your journal, bring that journal along too. (Depending on attendance numbers we each may only share one item, but prepare for 3 just in case someone before you nabs your favorite!)

In Other News: Joyce Lyon's New Show Opens October 25

As you can see from this journal spread I received a show announcement postcard for local artist Joyce Lyon's new show of her stunning graphite drawings. (These are huge pieces, in the 3 x 4 foot range and more.)

Otricoli Drawings runs from October 23 to November 20 at the Traffic Zone Gallery, 250 Third Ave. N., Minneapolis. The opening reception is on Friday, October 23, 6 to 9 p.m. Joyce makes the kind of drawings you can look at for hours and hours and still find fresh nuances. Indulge yourself and go and see this show.

I couldn't find any new info about the show up yet. But you can read about Joyce's 2008 show here. She is rerpresented by the Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis and you can view additional images on their site as well.

Time to Get Your Honey Crisp Apples

Above: Sketch from a 2007 Journal—Honey Crisp Apple of course! Pentel Pocket Brush pen sketch with Schmincke gouache. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I'm prepping for a bunch of classes right now and am eating Honey Crisp apples like there is no tomorrow, and there isn't as far as these apples are concerned! I haven't had any in my hands long enough to sketch, yet I wanted to let you know about these, to urge you to get some while you can. If you seek them out you won't regret it. You can read more how Honey Crisps came into my life on my website. And you can read on my blog about an adventure last year which ended happily with a large supply of them.

Now I know you'll excuse me, but I have to go back to cutting bookcloth for Saturday's class. Go get some Honey Crisps!

Calling all Minnesota Artists: Minneapolis Institute of Arts Foot in the Door Show

Above: journal sketch using Stabilo Tones on page spread of Gutenberg Paper (13 x 8 inches approx.). This isn't related to today's post, it's just a continuation of my on-going discussion of Stabilo Tones. This started as a quick gesture sketch of a bird too small to see clearly, made with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. Then Stabilo Tones were applied. I started sketching at the head and when I finished my brush pen sketch I knew the head was too small so I enlarged it. The Stabilo Tones cover the first head's lines. See yesterday's post for more details on how I use these soluble wax pencils. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

My friend and indefatigable artist Mimi Holmes sent me a notice about this upcoming show. If you're in Minnesota—do it, have some fun, exhibit in the MIA.

Tip from Mimi—What I learned last time: there are a lot less sculptural works; and, making it smaller than 12 x 12" for a 2-D piece allows it to show up better on the wall.   Have fun!

Here's the information:

Calling all Minnesota Artists!
Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP)
Opening Reception: Thursday Feb 18, 2010

Foot in the Door is an open exhibition for all Minnesota artists, which takes place every ten years at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Since 1980, Foot in the Door has celebrated the diversity and enthusiasm of Minnesota's visual arts community. Submit your work and be part of the state's largest art exhibition.

Who Qualifies: Anyone living in Minnesota who considers him or herself and artist. Limit one (1) artwork per artist.
What Qualifies: Any visual media that can fit completely into a 12-inch square box. Check the MAEP website for more information about A/V submissions.

Art drop-off and registration
Thursday, Feb. 4: 10:30 am–4:30 pm
Friday, Feb 5: 10:30 am–4:30 pm
Saturday, Feb 6: 10:30 am–4:30 pm
Sunday, Feb 7: 11:30 am–4:30 pm

For details and registration information, visit the MAEP website.

While We Are on the Topic of Backgrounds…

Above: journal page spread where rubberstamped text forms the background. Click on the image to view an enlargement, and read below for more details.

I'm still fighting a cold and suffering from Fair Withdrawal. I am aching to sketch something, anything, including two not-too-attractive pears (I like pears with a little more variety and oddness to their shapes) that were on standby for Dick's lunches. So I flipped over the page in my journal and the next spread was covered with pre-stamped text. (The text is actually a line out of an article I read a couple weeks ago. "This insistence on open endings and on feelings." I had stamped it, running right off the edges of the page spread, with a large stamp typeface and Brilliance stamp pad inks, which have a nice metallic quality.)

I picked up a Faber-Castel Pitt Artists Brush pen that is a sort of periwinkle blue and started sketching the two pears I'd put on my desk. I was sitting on my foot-rest close to the floor. (Yes some of the handwritten text at the bottom of the verso page has been obliterated in the scan.)

Then I started scribbling with my Stabilo Tones to add color to the pears, their shadows, and the table top. The thing I love about Stabilo Tones is that you can scribble, then wet the lines and move the paint around, and finally blend with you finger.

If you want to read more about Stabilo Tones go to this post, and then read several of the posts which follow it. I was on a Stabilo Tone kick at the end of the summer. Just like me to love a dead medium. You could have similar fun with Caran d'Ache NeoColor II—which are also wax and watersoluble.

The blending with your finger is the real joy here—especially when you are fighting a cold and dying to sketch something (and there's no puppy in the house).

So next time a cold has you trapped in the house with nothing but produce, cover a journal page spread with text for the background and start to paint over it. Don't worry about the finished product. Just be sure to pick a medium that is tactile and fun, because the process will perk you up, even if the chicken soup isn't working.