Index Cards. Mini-collages.

Decided to do a few

quick collages on 4x6 inch

index cards. 

Scraps from the day:  Fabric bits,

tissue box designs, scrapbook paper,

watercolors, cough drop wrappers,

postage stamps, tempera paints.

Journal Pages: Doodles, Sketch, and Collage

Tempera paint on typing paper--created

while my grandkids painted too.

Doodles added using Sakura

white Gelly Roll pen. Originally to be

torn up and used in collage, but

decided to paste it whole

into my art journal!

Sketch in purple crayon~

toddler watching television...

admit it, you would like to

watch tv in your underwear too!

(click to view larger image, hopefully

you can see it better)

Collage borders from fabric, paper,

and drawings...waiting for writing

or more images.

On journal pages that are filled

with hand-written notes, I like

to add a little color. These

are tags collaged at the bottom

of the page.

Collage from a map, doodles,

a stamped image salvaged from an

envelope, drawing and writing.

When I won a give-away over at

Christine Cemmonson's blog, she

sent me some wonderful ephemera.

The chickens are from her stash.

It is a good challenge to

combine unrelated images and 

rather use them as Color, Shape,

Size and Value in the composition.

I have been wondering if I should

do the Index Card A Day challenge

over at Daisy Yellow again this year.

What do you think?

Action Words: Art Journal Pages

Visual journal pages continued

in my spiral mixed-media sketchbook

while I worked in the Fake Journal.

I tend to save small scraps, and often

put them in a plastic baggie to take along

with me. They are great to create journal pages

by just combining disparate scraps.

Then I often come back to the collage

later and add the written words

or more drawing.

Watercolor, scrapbook paper, gouache,

Sharpie pen, and painted papers.

I made the little "journaling labels" myself,

using watercolor and pen.

What are the Action Words
 that you use?
 

Fake Journal Recap. The Very End.

Cover of the Fake Journal~

made from handmade paper 

created by my friend Elizabeth.

Inside the cover I wrote pertinent

information about the project, with

dates and credit to Roz as the

project creator.

My alter ego for the month was

 a student of Japanese art.

  I purposely didn't explain it

in my posts, but I believe it was fairly obvious

in my choice of subject matter and notes.

(My art journals & sketchbooks are filled

with notes about all sorts of art-related

things, I don't always show them here.)

My goals for the month were:

--to draw from life more often than I have been

--to simplify the compositions of the art

--more awareness of the negative space 

around the subject

--to draw with a paintbrush

--explore Japanese philosophy of art

With the effort to simplify, came the idea

to progress to the abstraction of the subject itself.

The 'Stones', above, were my favorite

painting of all the entries in this Fake Journal.

With the idea of abstraction, came the

progression to 'anime' or cartoon-style art,

that is widely appreciated in popular culture.

But being a fan of Kandinsky, I knew that he

had painted abstractions of what looked

like 'little creatures,' so I decided to

include a painting inspired by his work.

The post showing these two pages is here.

Also, with the cartoon creatures, the idea

of a 'simple' composition was left behind,

but the creatures themselves are simplified.

I did not really intend to create a story,

but there is a progression in my pages.

I did indeed draw with the brush more often than

I usually do, but also 'fell back on' my normal

watercolor & pen technique. I did paint and draw

from life. I did simplify somewhat, and that has

always been difficult for me. Complex collages

have been taking place in my other journals

all the while! I do have a renewed appreciation

for Asian art in all its forms, Wabi Sabi, and 

nature in art.  What looks like a 'simple' composition

was probably a most difficult thing to achieve!

I confess that I didn't actually bind 

the pages into a book until I had

completed the art work on each page.

It was much easier to scan unbound pages.

Additional blue Canson paper was

glued onto the inside of the 

front and back covers. A pocket for

research notes, above, was adhered to

the inside back cover.

The Fake Journal could have been

anything, by anyone.  Think Dr. Who traveling

to another version of your own universe.

Wonder what I should do in 2013?

And this really is the end of the Fake Journal 2012.
I promise.

Fake Journal. The End

Watercolor, Sharpie pen and

red gel pen on paper in Fake Journal.

The last entry on April 30th.

In 1938, Kandinsky painted

mythical creatures in a 

cosmic world...

In 2012 popular culture,

we create mythic creatures in

a cyberspace universe...