Category Archives: Journaling

Honesty, Authenticity, Truthiness and Resonance

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When I was in school everyone talked about wanting to make "honest work." The new buzzword for honest work is "authentic." We could spend days over glasses of red wine and mugs of coffee (as we did in college) talking about what this means. In the end it all boils down to, "I want to make work that resonates deeply withing myself and has deep personal meaning." End of story.

Or is it?

I think the truth of all the discussion and thinking on these topics is that essentially we're afraid of what we put on the paper/canvas/board/ or in the journal. Many of us make work and hide it away. It's why the art journal is so perfect, at the end of your art session you close the covers and never ever have to confront what you made again. Simple right? Except you're missing out on a  prime piece of the art journal process- learning from what you've put down and thus from yourself.

I think that fear is why we also buy into what the industry pumps out for us. It's far easier to follow the industry's recipe for success than to forge our own path and style.

Maybe the real question we need to ask ourselves is, "How do we move past the fear and into creating our work? How do we learn from ourselves to create work that resonates deeply?"

It's this hard work that an art journal is intended and supposed to help us explore. If you never look back at your pages and be critical of them (without gessoing over them) and learning from those pages what are you missing out on. If you focus on nothing but making pretty pretty pages I think you're missing out on a very important part of art journaling.

Here's a challenge: Go through your art journal, either the current journal you're working in or a recent one. Use a sharpie, write on the margins of a page what you'd change on that page. If you are too chicken you can use a post it note. If you get bold, draw right on top of the page with your sharpie.

Journal Flip: Moleskine #3

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I started this journal the spring before I found out that a family member was going to need emergency open heart surgery and have her aeortic valve replaced. I found out that August and the surgery occured in November. Not long after finding out I ordered a new journal, the happy summer drawings and paintings didn't seem to fit with the down and somewhat sad theme that seemed to pop up.

I've never bothered to go back and fill the remaining pages. I don't think it would fit with the journal. Sometimes it's time to simply move onto a new journal and start fresh. It's okay to simply move on.

 

Watercolor Play Experiments

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I've been using watercolors for close to 20 years now. It's crazy when you thinkg about it. The first 5 years or so of using watercolors, I hated them. I used them primarily to add a toned color to a sketchbook, large flat washes of one color, let it dry then draw. Lovely.

Then about 10 years ago I decided I was going to master them. I never did. What I did do is learn how to use them better. I learned how to layer colors, be patient and let one layer dry before floating another over it.

I also learned to love the happy accidents, like the things you see in my current videos.

I learned to give up control and get beutiful results.

I get messages on youtube where people ask me, "How do you do this? Where did you learn this?" The video below is my answer.

 

The truth is, you have to give up control. You have to be willing to get something ugly to get something that really is beautiful. Sometimes in the midst of the ugly is just one spot that speaks to you and will motivate you to create more. Then you try again and again and again and find more beauty, and beauty in colors you'd never have combined before.

I don't usually use the word play, I prefer experiment, test, and try. The truth is that when I use those words with other people they give me a look like it's scary. If I cay play, suddenly we're out of science class (I forget I was a geek and loved science class.) and back in the area of playful experimentation where we can leave behind our concious thoughts and truly try things out. So get in there and play.

Review: Exacompta Plain Journal

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I was given the Exacompta plain (unruled) journal to review by Karen and Stephanie of Exaclaire,the US distributor for Clairfontaine and a variety of other French stationary products. I like to put journals through a few paces before I do a review and since it took me a full year to get through my last journal, it’s been awhile.

The paper is off white, a very nice cream color that I really like a lot. The paper is laid textured on one side and much smoother on the other side. For some this would be a detraction, personally I like it very much and feel it opens the journal up for a variety of media I wouldn’t normally consider. Dry media does much better than expected- things like charcoal and soft pencil really like that laid texture. Though it is textured fountain pens love it’s surface.

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Wet media also does admirably on this paper. I was pleasantly surprised when I soaked the paper down with water and color that it held up. It didn’t just hold up, it out performed the luxury of the Rhodia Webnotebook. When it dried the wrinkles (cockles) relaxed. While the paper is not perfectly smooth it’s less cockled than I’d have expected. I was able to lay down a nice wash of watercolor on BOTH sides of the page and have not one drop show through or soak through to the reverse side. That is pretty amazing.

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Even my wettest writing pens don’t soak through. Occasionally you can see dark colors through the pages, but that is the case with most any journal. I’ve painted pages with ink and it doesn’t soak through to the reverse side, which again, is pretty amazing. I haven’t been interested in doing any collage in this but I’m sure it would take to it well.

In summary:
100 Laid Textured Ivory pages 100gsm
5.5×8.5 inches
Ribbon Marker
Soft Covers with a fabric spine, meant to go inside a leather cover, many companies make them
Price $15.50 at gouletpens.com

It handles wet media like a champ and is wonderful for a fountain pen. Pencil does amazing textural things on the textured side but doesn’t smudge as much as would be expected on the smooth side.

Exacompta 1
Exacompta 2

It’s not cheap but it’s a better value than the moleskine sketchbook, it’s got more papges that behave better and respond better. I’d rate this 2 happy thumbs up and would recomend it to anyone looking to get a nice journal that they can write in, sketch ink, test watercolors in, and abuse.

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observations on making videos

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I’ve been messing around with my video camera, my iPoo, and the boom mic stands that I use to hold them. I picked up a couple of official iPoo* tripod holders and for less than $5 each they are a little better than my clamp method, and cheaper, but don’t have that kludge** factor. They are a little less strong/ sturdy than my holder, but I can see how they can easily be made a lot stronger, so should I need to, I can adapt them.

I took an evening and a 1 minute clip and decided to figure out the RIGHT settings to manage quality, speed of render, speed of upload(aka file size) for videos I plan on uploading to YouTube with my software. At one point I got super frustrated with the included help and the official online help and delved into google. Go figure, I should have done that in the beginning. I found a helpful YouTube channel explaining which settings to use to get rid of the letterboxing (don’t use the obvious settings, duh!) Rendering is still not at the speed of my iPoo but it does do a much higher quality video AND I can do longer videos plus I can use a variety of different music, do a voice over if I want, and add effects.

I found some music to use with my videos as well, stuff I haven’t heard a million times before and fits my style. I’m really happy with that. I need to put it on my iPoo so I can use it consistently across the board. I am trying to stay away from stuff that has copyright or isn't made for use.

I’m trying to keep my videos to particular lengths- sketching or drawing videos with no instructional content are under 3 minutes, Q&A videos are under 5, instructional videos can go as long as they need to go. i’m considering some review videos on favorite products.

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Fountain Pens and Inks I use

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Dave asked me on YouTube to link up my favorite fountain pens. So here’s a list:

Kaweco Sport– I like it for it’s ability to fit discreetly in a pocket and be converted to an eyedropper. (at jetpens)

Platinum Preppy– for $3 it’s a workhorse, it comes in an array of colors and can be converted to an eye dropper. (at jetpens)

Lamy– To get this to convert to an eye dropper you need to find a clear tube to fit inside the case or find a matching roller ball. Even then you need to epoxy the vents. In my opinion it’s worth the hassle you can get interchangeable nibs and expand your nib size for not a lot of money. (at jetpens)

TWSBI– the most expensive of my pens, it lays down a smooth even line and its a joy to sketch or write with. (not available at jetpens)

Pilot Parallel– These come in a range of sizes and I think act more like a paint brush than a pen. I have a 6mm size and it lays down an awesome swath of ink. (not available at jetpens)

Inks:

Private Reserve– I enjoy their shades of blue. (not available at jetpens)

Diamine– I enjoy their chocolate brown shade. It’s deep it’s dark it’s really nice. (at jetpens)

I hope this list, though not exhaustive helps out make some choices about what fountain pens to start out with and if they are for you.

Please note that I am not compensated for linking to these particular sellers, I link to them because I’m a happy customer who has recieved nothing but top notch service from both sellers. I’m happy to steer people in their direction.