Roz Wound Up

Even More Bad News About DaVinci Gouache

Left: Sketch of Michael Kitchen as DCS Foyle in "Foyle's War." Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper hardbound journal, 11 x 14 inches. DaVinci Gouache over Pentel Pocket Brush Pen Sketch. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

On May 15 over on the Official International Fake Journal Blog I posted an update to my review of DaVinci Gouache. "Beware."

I mentioned that I was working in a Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper journal and the moisture from one painting reactivated the paint on the previous spread.

(My original review of DaVinci Gouache appeared on that blog on April 24, 2013. I had lots of reservations about it even then.)

Today I've posted the painting that was dry and then reactivated by painting on the next page. This has NEVER happened before to me with this paper or any other of the papers I use to make my journals. It was a shock. 

I knew the paint reactivated when I put PVA on the back of my paintings that were done on thin pieces of graph paper for my fake journal, but this took me by surprise.

In the above photo you can see across the gutter to the left hand page and underneath the glassine (which was added after the fact now that I know this can happen) you can see how some of the paint from this right-hand page lifted off and "printed" on the facing page. This of course means that the painting as I left it is no longer as I left it!

Well if that weren't bad news enough this past week we've had some very humid days. I went to type a transcript of my 2013 fake journal because the handwritten text is not readable in the video I shot. (You can read the text from my 2013 fake journal here.) Happily, because I have not had the pages photographed yet (it's too large and cumbersome, and deformed, to fit on the scanner) I had placed pieces of glassine between the pages. As I turned the pages while typing I discovered that just the humidity in the air was enough to ACTIVATE the gouache and make it tacky—gouache that had been dry for weeks had been reactivated. It actually stuck to the glassine! Nothing sticks to the glassine.

Right: A scan of the painting which has been color corrected to match the actual painting. Cropped to what would fit on my scanner, which is about 11.5 x 13 inches. I only wanted to make one scan and not patch things together. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

What you may not know, or remember if you read earlier posts about my 2013 fake journal, is that it is so over stuffed with stuff that it is impossible to close it. It yawns open at about 9 inches. In order to avoid putting pressure and strain on the binding I elected to store this journal open at the center, "flat," in an archival box. (The box has arrived, but I hadn't put it in the box yet.) It has been sitting half open on a table so there has been no pressure on any of these pages, pushing them into each other to facilitate sticking. 

There was just simply some humidity in the air causing the components of the paint to reactivate and become tacky again. Which in turn resulted in the paint sticking to glassine in some areas.

So while DaVinci Gouache may have little problem with cracking (and frankly I have little problem with cracking when painting with my two favorite gouache brands: Schmincke and M. Graham, so that's kind of a moot point) this is pretty much a deal breaker for using these paints in a journal: the fact that the previous page's work will reactivate when you work on the next spread, and the fact that weeks later changes in humidity can reactivate the paint.

Left: Detail from the Michael Kitchen sketch. The cheek area did not sustain too much damage from the reactivation process (that's deliberate dry brushing going on there breaking up the paint), though there are problems with the nose especially in the white highlights which were the last layer to go down. I'm unclear whether certain colors tend to pick up more than others or it's simply a matter of how much moisture comes through the paper. When I was using PVA to glue paintings into my fake journal it seemed to me that all colors lifted off equally, but then I was dealing with a lot more moisture applied to the back of the entire image uniformly in the gluing process. I just wouldn't trust any color in the line. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I can't recommend this paint for anyone working in a visual journal anywhere on the planet, unless you're in the middle of an arid desert where there is never a rainy season!

While you may enjoy aspects of working with this paint (I've discussed them in my review; and I admit there are some fun things about this paint) I really urge you to use it only on flat paintings that will be framed. I caution you from using it in either a bound journal or a loose-leaf journal (in which your paintings are stacked in a box for instance; pages or loose leaves will end up sticking together). 

If you've started in gouache with this brand, let me tell you that you don't know how much of a joy working with a great brand of gouache can be. I urge you to try either Schmincke or M. Graham gouache brands as soon as your budget allows. (And you can read why all over this blog but the Gouache Compendium will get you started.)

I forgot to mention that for this painting I worked with two filberts, one rather large (about 1 inch), and the other about a 3/8 inch wide. I'm able with the filbert to go on the side of the brush and create thinner lines of paint. Sometimes for end details I'll go in with a very fine (1, 0 or even 000) round brush, but on a quick sketch like this I never bother changing brushes just as I don't bother putting on my glasses. The small filbert I used had been severely damaged using this sticky, tacky paint in my fake journal so there are a lot of errant hairs causing a broken line. Also DaVinci gouache doesn't have a PB60 in its line so you'll notice that my darks are mixed differently from my usual palette creating blacks that I think tend to green (which I don't care for).

I Just Posted the Transcript of My 2013 Fake Journal

Left: Sketch that didn't make it into the 2013 fake journal. Pentel Pocket Brush pen on Strathmore toned (tan) paper, stuck together with washi tape, and collaged on Stonehenge (page 8.5 x 11 inches) that has been pre-decorated with rubberstamping and stenciling. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I finally had a moment to type a typescript of the entire 2013 fake journal I made this year. You can see the transcript here.

You can see the video flip through of my 2013 fake journal here or on YouTube.

If you watch the video you can read along with the transcript and see what the character was thinking about when she was making those images, or living that day. 

Don't expect it to answer any of your questions as she isn't an explanation kind of gal. But her comments will give you a better sense of who she is.

Next to holding the thing in your hands (it weighs a ton with all that pasted on stuff) this is the next best thing to going through it in person.

Brush Pens: Another Look at the Pentel Aquash Brush Pen Filled with Light Black Ink

Left: 8 x 10 inch page; Richeson Recycled watercolor paper. Pentel's Aquash Brush filled with light black ink. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Today's post is really for my current journaling students (it's an ink class that spans several months). I was writing to them this morning about brush pens and then afterwards I thought of this sketch I did a couple days ago and so I'm putting it up here so you can see it too.

This sketch was done with the Pentel Aquash Brush Pen Filled with Light Black Pigment Ink. 

Yeah, why don't they just give it a name that we can write? The labeling on the package says something like that. 

I first wrote about this pen in September 2011. You can see the pen packaging there as well as other info about the pen.

I wanted to post it today so that people could see how you can build up layers of darkeness with this pen. Each layer of "light black" builds up as you work. Also the ink is waterproof when it dries so you can paint over it, and for some people painting over light black ink might be easier and more felicitous than painting over the dark, rich black of the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.

You can buy refills for this pen (an entire replacement barrell). (I get my pens and replacements at Wet Paint in St. Paul.)

There's a lot to recommend this pen. Some days when I'm using the PPBP and everything just seems so strident and in my face, and every line seems to vie for attention, or I've created a mass of black from which there is no return, then I know it's time to pick up the Aquash with light black ink and give myself some breathing room, a little bit more of an oportunity to restate. (For instance I don't find my first go at Mike's forehead nearly as distracting here as I would have if I'd been sketching with rich black lines from the PPBP. That's Mike from the TV show "Oddities" about his shop in NYC which sells, of course, oddities.)

It's just another tool for another day. But if you are new to working with brush pens in ink it might be a gateway pen. (The layering qualities will be different on different papers because of the paper sizing, so be sure to try the pen out on a variety of papers to see which works best for you.)

If you want a project to help you get used to this pen you can use the same directions I give in my 5-part series on getting used to the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, which starts at this link.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective May 20, 2013 Meeting: Your Favorite Art Tool

Don't forget that tomorrow, Monday, May 20, 2013, is the next meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective. We are all bringing our 3 favorite tools to show and tell. (We'll even make a little video.) Besides your favorite tool bring a journal in which you used the tool, to show us a sample.)

It will be a great evening of sharing and inspiration.

So join us Monday night at 7 p.m. (meeting runs until 9 p.m.) at MCBA (see their website for directions).

The meeting is free and open to all adult journal keepers.

Hope to see you then.

A Video Flip Through of My 2013 Fake Journal Is Finally Up

I was finally able to shoot a video flip through of my 2013 fake journal. I've embedded it here for folks who don't read the Official International Fake Journal Blog.

My 2013 fake journal represents 19 days of journaling and a few days more of prepainting those backgrounds so it was the piece of creative work I did mostly from March 31 through April 18. 

I would love for you to see the video so I've embedded it here as well as on the other blog. If you are interested in the contest connected with the video you can read about it in the original post—but do so before Sunday evening because the contest is only lasting 48 hours from the posting of that post.

I had great fun selecting royalty free music from Kevin MacLeod's incompetech.com. If you aren't familiar with his site be sure to visit it and look around.  

At the end of May I'm going to have some photos taken of the pages of this journal. I should be able to post some detail shots of various elements of the journal. All that, and more about my character for 2013, will happen over on the Official International Fake Journal Blog. I hope you'll stop by and check it out now and then.

Also, in a couple days when I've compiled it, I'll have a list of links to various other artists who have done an end-of-project write up about their participation in IFJM 2013. They share some thoughts about how the project went for them. (Right now on that blog there is a list of participants in the right-hand column so you can go visit their work.)

This is the craziest thing I've ever tried to do during all my years of fake journaling—the tightest deadlines, the most intense production, and a character who is only superficially similar to me—it's that nearness that almost made my head explode. But it's also a journal from which I've taken a lot of energy and joy back to my regular journal. It has planted new seeds of thought in my mind and made me think anew about something so indelibly a part of me. It was worth all the almost sleepless nights.

Catch Up—Why I Haven't Been Posting

Left: All of today's sketches are 8.5 x 11 inches and made with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. The first two images and the fourth image are on coquille paper. The third image is on Richeson Recycled Watercolor paper. You can click on any image and view an enlargement.

 

It has been a killer week as I sort through Phyllis and Dick's home of 59 years (they've been together 64 years or so). All my time has been spent on this process and blogging has taken a back seat. So today I've put up a couple face sketches, all of which were done early in January while practicing for the Portrait Party. All of today's sketches were drawn while I was watching episodes of Perry Mason (which sadly I haven't had time to do in the past several weeks).

But I did manage yesterday before going to meet the packers, to post about the Gelli Arts Printing Plate process I used in my 2013 Fake Journal. You might want to go over there this morning and check it out. It might be something you'll want to try in your real journal.

If you scroll back through past posts on the Official International Fake Journal Blog you'll find other posts I've been making there this April about the tools and materials I used in my 2013 fake journal. (DaVinci Gouache, inexpensive acrylic paints, rubberstamps, rubberstamp inks, pens, stencils, collage, etc.)

The fake journal is so huge and unwieldy that I can't scan the pages and haven't had a moment to record a video flip through. However, I hope to do that soon so that people can see the finished encrusted pages.

In the meantime I have a series of posts coming up on that other blog which will show some of the steps and stages of the process as well as photos of finished pages that I managed to take before life got so very, very busy. I find that fake journals always teach me something about my regular journaling process. You might find some ideas to take into your own regular journaling process there.

I am also continuing to draw Phyl and Dick in darkened rooms when they nap—but none of those new images have been scanned either. It is an interesting time for my artwork outlets.

I did escape one day to go sketching at the zoo with my friend Bill. I'll share images from that trip when I get them scanned. 

In the meantime I ask myself daily, "WWPDD?" and move quickly and decisively forward. I hope you are all doing the same.

Sketching in the Dark

Above: Two sketches made in low light conditions, watching Phyl sleep. Nideggen journal I made that's 7 x 7 inches, Staedtler Pigment Liner. The image on the recto page was first then I did the verso page. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Sometimes when someone finally settles in and starts to rest, and even falls asleep, you don't want to get up and move to turn on the light. If you're already holding your journal (and why aren't you?) or it's sitting nearby, I recommend you just pick it up and start sketching. You won't have a model fee…

This is Phyl, Dick's 92-year-old mother. She's been a real mother to me as well. And a great template for how to manifest bossiness in the world. Effective bossiness.

A couple of years ago she announced at a family dinner that "Roz is in charge now." Sadly not everyone has paid attention to that. But I just laugh. I know, and have always known, that Phyl recognized in me her bossy but effective heir, just as decades ago Emma, my wonderful Malamute bitch, recognized that Phyl (who hated dogs because she'd once been severely bitten) was a true alpha bitch. Emma showed her total respect. (Phyl reciprocated by making room for both our dogs in her life.)

Real bitches always recognize real bitches. It's one part in the engine of life.

An Update on What's Been Happening Lately…

Left: a 7 x 7 inch (approx.) sketch on Gutenberg paper, stuck in my last journal. It was easier to sketch on loose scraps than to whip out the journal in the emergency room. Staedtler Pigment Liner. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I seem to have a pretty good track record on predicting when the other shoe will drop. On January 17 when I got ill I told myself it was going to fall in April. I was off by 7 days.

In March after being sick myself for over two months at the start of the year I was just recovering when Dick fell ill. I had been thinking that I shouldn't make too many plans because "something didn't feel right." And that was fed by the vague unease I always have over Dick's father CR caring for Phyllis—two 91 year-olds, frail and "frailer."

On Saturday March 23, I came home from the second outing with friends since my illness (there had been some emergency friend meetings before this but this was the first week in 2013 that I'd gone out with no constraints), to learn that CR was in the emergency room at North Memorial. Dick's sister in California had called the service we use for parttime nursing help for Phyllis and arranged for a full-time temporary caregiver to stay with Phyllis. (CR and Phyllis already lived in assisted living but the facility offered no nursing care and no fulltime companionship, which is what Phyl needs.) 

I rushed over to the hospital where I stayed for most of the next 4 days until CR was released to a recovery unit. We don't know what caused his collapse (he couldn't walk for 2 days) but tests showed his carotid artery was 90 percent blocked. He opted for surgery in 10 days. That stretched to almost 2 weeks, or maybe it was three. Time doesn't have much meaning to me right now.

In the interim I moved CR's belongings from the assisted living apartment he was in with Phyllis into a new studio apartment connected with the care facility he was recovering in. (It's a really nice space at Iris Commons, and I can recommend the Minneapolis Two Men and a Truck who sent 3 young men and a truck to move stuff with less than 24 hours notice!) 

Dick and his sister Lisa arranged for Phyllis to go into long-term nursing care in the same facility through a series of phone calls. I then turned around and moved her from the old assisted living apartment to a temporary room in the new facility. Lisa flew into town to be with her father for his surgery. She was able to help her mom move into her permanent nursing care room, which became available during Lisa's visit. Lisa also got movers to take the rest of their furniture (that won't be used) at their previous apartment back to their house, which will soon be sold.

Left: I turned my journal on its side to paint on the recto page of a spread in this 7 x 9 inch journal (so it's 9 inches wide by 7 inches tall here). CR's forehead got a bit elongated, but you get the general idea. Staedtler Pigment Liner. Magnani Annigoni Designo. While sitting bedside in the transitional care facility. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The best news of all, CR had his operation on Friday and he's making a good recovery. There's some vascular damage that we knew would be permanent but he looks better already and he's working hard in physical therapy to get back to walking strongly. He won't be able to take care of Phyllis going forward, but he will be able to share meals and days with her, and be rested and enjoy the company of the new friends he's already met at the new facility.

I had a few moments to sit and think about everything this week. (We had another snow storm so running errands wasn't possible on Thursday, or rather it wasn't prudent so after an appointment of my own I stayed put.) There's a long recovery yet to happen, but I feel like we are all breathing again.

I'm a pretty stubborn person (if you've been a regular reader you've already noticed that). During this time I threw myself into my 2013 fake journal (because International Fake Journal Month is April). Sketching CR during our hospital time and rehab time kept the real Roz calm (actually in emergencies I'm so calm you might almost think I'm asleep, except that all sorts of shit gets done—I have really low blood pressure). Working on my IFJM fake journal in "character" while all this was going on pushed me right to the edge of insanity—which is exactly where I needed to be to stay sane.

Think about it the next time you're in a stressful situation. I'm writing about this today so you'll understand that all my pre-written blog posts are exhausted (I usually have two week's worth in the can). There won't be a lot of posts on this blog until after IFJM ends (because I'm using what little free time I have to post over there this month). But I'm also writing about these personal events to remind you not to forget that in times of stress you need to hang on to the things that center and ground you (and if that sounds new agey, well OK). 

I also wanted to tell you the following: walk all the time, get lots of aerobic exercise, get your heart rate up, take care of your joints, work on your upper body strength, do balance enhancing exercises, eat right, don't smoke, drink plenty of water, plan how you want to spend your extreme old age, and act in your current life like you really want to get there.

And surround yourself with friends who can make you laugh and don't offer up banal little platitudes. People who don't mind literally pitching in and wiping someone else's ass. 

Shit is going to get really messy, a lot sooner than you thought. 

The Amazing James Gurney Does a Plein Air Gouache Sketch in Monterey

 

If the above embedded video doesn't work see James Gurney's gouache sketching video here.

My friend Diane sent me a link to this wonderful 3 minute video of James Gurney doing a plein air sketch in his sketchbook using gouache. He is amazing. He removed two portraits he wasn't happy with from his page, put in a background tone and then painted…well just go watch the thing. 

I think gouache is amazing, and fun to use.

But when you see someone like Gurney whose talent is so superlative work with it, well you just feel happy.

You might also want to watch this video if you don't understand the fuss everyone is always making about "values."

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?