Category Archives: Journaling

Train Sketches

I’ve been drawing on the train and as I wait for the train. I pic something that I want to focus on, hats, noses, eyes, puffy jackets, or interesting shoes. (I actually picked the car I was going to ride on today based on the number of neat hats people were wearing vs those who weren’t wearing hats on the other cars. Seriously.

Generally I don’t get any attention for my activities. I'm discreet (usually) about who I’m drawing, I try to pick people who are engrossed in their phone, book, or newspaper. I try not to stare but to look for a few moments gather some info, then look at my page, then look again gather info, and draw. Eventually I stop looking and keep working on the drawing. My goal is to get as much info on the page in a minute or two.

Most people don’t notice me. I usually wear headphones and blend in with everyone else. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve gotten more attention for my sketching habit than usual. Last week a fellow grad student (from UMass Lowell) saw me sketching as we waited for our trains. He watched me over my shoulder and we had a pleasant conversation. Another person was a little pushy and rude, wanting me to draw him and then give him the drawing. While I could tear the page out of my notebook/journal it would mess up the binding and I was a little put off that he expected that I’d want/be excited to draw him and then give him the drawing for free. Hell, he could have offered to buy me a coffee.

Today a woman, about my age, saw me drawing and came up to me and asked if she could take a picture of my sketchbook. She explained that she takes a picture of one interesting thing a day that she sees on the T. I let her take the picture and we talked about her project. She does it just for her. the images collect on her computer. She doesn’t share them. But she says she always finds at least one interesting thing on the train every ride. Truly a neat project. (we could talk about the importance of keeping a journal of some sort even if you never share a page with another person, but I think that’s a WHOLE other blog post. {and yes I consider what she does a “photo” journal.})

So far I’ve only ever had positive interactions with people about my drawings. I await a day when someone tells me to stop, while I hope that never happens I know it could.

All images are from my 3.5×5.5 in BanditApple Carnet notebook/sketchbook. It is housed in a flauxdori or Midori traveler's Style Notebook cover. I've written about it before (did a video too, but I'm too lazy/tired to link it up.) Anyway, no affiliation, but I thought it would be useful to give you the size of the page. Also the pens I used on these pages were a Parker Flow refill and a Pilot Metropolitan Fountain pen with pilot ink. I've got reviews in the works for both the inks and the pen. Lots of reviews coming up.

Journal Flips 2

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The first video is of an art joranl, a lot of paintings and drawings in a moleskine. Watercolor, ink, acrylic, and a variety of other media are used. It's a lovely journal. (She really ought to wax her pages though.)

This one uses nothing but black ink, sakura pigma to be precise. He draws from life and makes no notes or observations but for the drawing. It's another style of journal. It's gourgeous. Blow it up big on your monitor and LOOK at that hatching.

Journal Flips

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I thougth I'd do a post of journal or sketchbook flips I really like. What I like about each of these videos is how the person used their journal. Some of them are more art based and more are less so but all really USE their book. To me that is the important thing.

I really dig this flip. First off, look at the cover. That journal has been loved. It's batter and stretched to it's limit. To me that's a sign of how much it's been used. Inside it's pages are pasted in images, newspaper clipings, drawings, notes, paintings, doodles, post cards, etc. This journal has it all. Boy it is amazing. I'd love to sit down have coffee with this person and look through some of her journals.

The style of this journal is entirely different from the last. It's crisp, organized, doodly, and loaded with writing. What I like about this one is that it's the first step into a more visual style of journaling. It uses a lot of writing, and sometimes that's needed, but sometimes, words just aren't enough. I think this journal is a great example of just that bridge between words and images.

Squaring the Circle

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One of the things I've been pondering is the following question:

"Do mandala's have to be circular?"

I keep arriving at no as an answer.

Last night on the train I did my usual relaxing automatic drawing. I started the hatching, realizing I was making 7 marks over and over again. I went with it and slapped a 7 on the head of the skull. I suspect most of you won't like the video, but the Pixies are a favorite band of mine and I must've listened to this song a million times when I was in high school.

When I got home I couldn't focus on the hatching in the background. Too distracted, too amped up by class and the presentation we had and the papers I have due.

I couldn't let it go.
This morning when I got up I was able to focus on the hatching and feel relaxed while doing it. Mindful. feeling the pen on the paper, counting to 7 over and over again. Though the Zebra Sarasa is smooth and glides across the paper I could hear it.

scritch scritch scritch

scritch scritch

The sound of pen on paper is something I enjoy. I don't need music to listen to when I can hear the pen on paper.
I was able to feel the bumps of the paper through the pen as it telegraphed them to my fingers. The rubbery grip of the pen keeping the pen from slipping out of my fingers.

Slowly and carefully I filled in the 5×7 rectangle on my page.

Oh, yeah, what does this have to do with mandalas? I think that a mandala can be square. WHAT WHAT WHAT. A little research shows me that many cultures used square and rectangular shaped for their mandalas. We (Western peoples) know more about the circular mandalas from Jungian psycology and Western practicioners of the art. The circle is mor often used.

But Not Today

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I had a rough day yesterday. Intense, hard discussion, aggravating, the type of discussion that gets under your skin. Feeling attacked verbally.

While I waited for the train I read, and then once I got on the train, I got out my sketchbook and I immersed myself in the process of creating an automatic drawing.

I focused on the feelings of making the lines.
I focused on how my pens felt on the page. The stiffness of my fingers and wrist as I cramped up from not being mindful of the moment and how it reflected the stiffness of my mind and the cramped feeling of my headspace as I worked on the feelings of being attacked.

I'd like to tell you that this image allowed me to completely let go of everything. But it didn't, it made me AWARE of all of the thoughts and feelings. It allowed me to name my thoughts, give them weight, allow them to be explored. This image gave the stuff in my head form. It will allow me to continue to work on these thoughs. eventually I will be able to let go.
But not today.

On The Go Drawing

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Now that I take the train to work I have a choice of drawing or reading. It's pretty evenly divided as to what I pick. I more often then not decide to draw on the way home. It's also a great way tot get uppity type people to not sit with me. Automatic drawings seem to weird those people out.

This is where things get complicated. I have drawing stuff for at home and drawing stuff I take with me to school. I’ll write about the stuff I take with me for use on the train and T. At home any pen or pencil is fair game. I use 3 brands of gel ink or gel hybrid ink pens, all of which are water resistant,so that I can add watercolors when I get home. I don’t like using a fountain pen on the train because of the bumps, shakes and jolts. I don’t want to crush a nib.

Zebra Sarasa 0.7 This has been my go to pen. It’s not scratchy, the ink flows perfectly on every paper I’ve used and when I layer watercolor, watercolor crayons, and acrylic paint over it, there is NO LIFTING. This is very important in my current work. If I’m layering bright clean yellow over black I can’t have black lifting into the color and turning it muddy or green. Occasionally this pen grays out or doesn’t make a perfect black line. The one detractor of this pen is it’s cheap feeling body. Awesome ink in a cruddy pen body. If I have to write standing up I’ll use a Sarasa, as the clicky pen is easier to use than a fountain pen.

UniBall Signo in a variety of sizes. Again water resistant or waterproof ink that doesn’t lift. I find this pen to be a little more scratchy and not as smooth on all papers thrown at it. It is a great dark black ink that never grays out. It’s just not quite as smooth as the Sarasa. The pen’s body is better than the Sarasa.

Pentel Pocket Brush Pens I carry 2 with me at all times. I’ve written about them before, nothing has changed from those initial explorations and feelings. I still love these brush pens.

Pentel Hybrid Technica I have 4 sizes. I like these but they do have a slight tendency to lift, so I only like to use these when I’m going to leave the page black and white. I have reviewed these in the past.

I also carry one of my many technical pencils in 0.5 with me, usually with HB leads loaded. It varies from day to day depending on what I want to use.I also carry a wite out pen and a clicky eraser.

Everything gets shoved into a pen roll I picked up at Staples for $5 at the start of the school year. It is padded and offeres some protection for delicate points.

More Composition Book Stuff

Art Therapy Camp

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I spent much of last week at art therapy camp. Actually it was orientation for grad school for art therapy. No matter what I call it, it was AWESOME. Seriously awesome.

First it was in a place that looks like this:

There were drum circles and singing and lots of clapping. I was surrounded by 150 (or so) women and a few men who were all interested in the same sorts of things I am.

There was a table loaded with art supplies and we could use them at anytime, day or night. Speaking of nights, holy crap I was up until at least 11pm EVERY NIGHT and then up again at 7am. That's how I got the sunrise pics and this one:

That's the moon and a little bit of lens flare. Cell phone camera and shooting directly into the light…

Anyway, I made a lot of art, stretched my limits by writing some poetry and in general had an awesome time.

I also learned that if I ever go to "camp" again, to include Gas-X in my bag. The food wasn't bad it was just a huge change from my current largely vegetarian and home grown diet.

I have to write a paper about my experience, 6 pages, in APA style and I have to include references… Holy moly. Loads of work, but I have to tell you, I'm totally excited to be doing it. I feel like I've gotten to the place where I'm meant to be and that is an awesome feeling.

Evidence #2 and Starting Grad School

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I had my first week of grad school last week. It kicked my ass, in a good way. It was an intense 9am to 6pm class Monday through Friday. We did a lot of writing and reading and art making. It was the most completely intense class I've ever had. In short it was awesome. I got to meet and hang out with 23 amazing women. The best thing is I'll be spending the next 4 days with them as well. This time in New Hampshire.

I expected to have evidence on Etsy by the end of last week but I ended up having a lot of work to do for school. I finally got it all scanned and up today. You can get your very own copy.

Peaking In

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When I decided to publish a few pages of my journal as a zine I didn't really think much about doing it, other than I wanted to have it be in the vein of the old school zine. That feeling of being hurriedly photocopied while a copy shop employee looks on worried about the number of copies you're making. Or rushed while at work early hoping your coworkers won't come in and see the weird stuff you're copying and then having to explain to someone. I wanted that feeling, the rush of feeling like you're doing something vaquely not quite right, but yet, feels so right.

A peak inside: