November Meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective

November Swap Meet at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective, November 17, 2014

The Art Supply Swap Meet for the MCBA Visual Journal Collective is this month's meeting. Join us on November 17, 2014 from 7 to 9 p.m. to swap and silently auction all manner of art materials and art related items.

It’s time to clean your studio, craft cupboard, or art journal bin to hunt down the items you no longer use, hate now that you own, or just don’t want the mental pressure of having sit around and not being used any more so they can be swapped out for an fresh new item that is exciting and fresh.

Plan to arrive a little before 7 p.m. if you have stuff you want to swap or auction. Member Jean Shannon will run the meeting. She will explain the procedure to everyone when the meeting gets under way at 7, but basically there will be tables for you to put your "free" stuff (things you want people to take off your hands) and tables for you to set up stuff you want to silent auction. (There will be sign up bidding sheets for the latter.)

What to Bring:

Art supplies and tools you no longer use but which may still be useful to someone else—so partially full paint tubes and jars of medium, lightly used brushes, pencils sets you've outgrown, partially used rolls of unprimed (or primed) canvas…

Art magazines and books that you want to swap or auction.

Paper scraps, partially used paper pads that you know don't suit your working method but might be fine for someone else…

Photos and dimensions (height, width, depth, and weight) of larger items like easels, desks, light boxes, lamps, etc. that you might want to auction, but don't want to haul in and home again case someone doesn't bid on them (owners will arrange delivery/pick up with the winning bidder).  If you do have larger items and want to generate “buzz” feel free to post a picture to Facebook with a description.

Cash or checks so that you can bid on items—the shop will not be open so all transactions (and change) will have to be made between participants. (I suppose if you have one of those "squares" for your smart phone you could bring that, but you get the idea.)

What Not to Bring:

Actual junk that is not art or journal related. Artworks and crafts that you have made and want to sell or auction—this isn't a sale of your artwork, this isn't what we'll be doing at this meeting.

About the Collective:

The MCBA Visual Journal Collective is an adult visual journaling group (we also have some members who are writers or just journal curious) that meets on the third Monday of each month. The meetings are usually free (sometimes there is a small materials fee if we are making something); they are open to adult journal keepers of all skill levels. Please come and share your ideas and journals with us.

Depending on the amount of stuff brought to the swap and the time it takes to redistribute it we'll have some journal sharing at the end of the meeting so be sure to bring your current journal to show us what you've been working on. We hope to see you on November 17.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective March Meeting

Join us at MCBA, MARCH 17, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

For Journal as Escape ~ Let's Draw Some Green

This winter has been long and intense even by normal Minnesota standards.  We have had far too much of this . . .

And it's time for some spring!

As a collective we will discuss use of journaling and art as a means of mental escape, exploring some online options and art activities designed as get aways or are merely mental flights of fancy on paper. 

We will also have on hand a wide selection of living green and colorful plant materials that we will sketch and paint together.  We may not have them outside yet, but drawing them inside will be tons of fun I promise. It will be an evening of sharing ideas and art making.

Bring your favorite color producing art materials and a journal to work in and share!

MCBA Visual Journal Collective - Sixth Annual Portrait Party Reminder

PITT pen size S, Strathmore Mixed Media Sketchbook

Don't forget that Monday, January 20, 2013 is the Sixth Annual Portrait Party of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective. We'll meet at MCBA from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

We'll sketch a partner, and print an editioned photocopier book of all the portraits—and bind the books.  All that fun in 2.5 hours. We've done it before, five times, and we'll do it again, January 20, 2013. It's great fun and I encourage everyone to come out and draw us
with us.

All adult sketchers of any skill level are welcome. Normally our meetings are free, but for this meeting we have a $5.00 fee (exact cash or check; we don't have a way to make change or run VISAs because the shop is closed during our meeting) to offset copying and supplies.

We need to start right on time at 7 p.m. to be sure we have enough time to fit it all in, so be sure to come early as parking can be a problem.

Bring your favorite black ink pen as pencils never copy that well. See you there.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective December Meeting

Join us at MCBA, DECEMBER 16, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

To view the completed Not-So-Blank Page Group Project

Whether or not you participated (and whether or not you are done) in the nine-month long collaborative project to fill our custom Smash journals "The Not-So-Blank-Page-Project"— you are cordially invited to meet with us tonight for a fun simultaneous viewing party of all the pages. 

We'll see what a page was like originally (my background empty below on the left) and then we'll see what each member of the project did to that page (my completed journal page below on the right). 

It will be a fun evening filled with journaling surprises! 

End the year by being inspired by creative responses to the not so blank page. You'll be all set to jump into your 2014 journal and maybe just a little relieved that this journal is complete.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective November 18, 2013 Meeting Reminder

Monday, November 18, 2013, 7 to 9 p.m. 

STAMP CARVING NIGHT at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective, at MCBA. 

We're going to be watching a how-to stamp carving demonstration by me, Suzanne Hughes. Participants will then be given a small block (2x3 inches) of their own to carve into their very own mini-block print.  We will then create super easy multi-color prints by using watercolors. 

Come to the meeting prepared to create your own stamp!  

You will need an image or two to create a stamp from;  any small (2x3 inch) image will do.  It can be from a photo that you are going to draw from or from a journal image that you would like to replicate, for that matter it can be more of a pattern than an image and be used for backgrounds.  I will talk about multiple ways of moving the image you bring from its starting place onto your stamp block for carving.  

Bring a small set of watercolors and a brush - waterbrush or regular.

Bring a small cash donation ($2 max) for MCBA to thank them for supplying our paper.

After we all carve our image we will make a stack of stamped images (think edition) to trade with everyone on hand!

It's pretty cool when you get to both make and trade art on the same evening!

If you're interested in stamp techniques because you want to incorporate them in your journal you'll come away inspired and armed with your very own stamp. If you have always seen stamped images and been curious about the process come and give it a try.  Stamp carving really is very addictive and you only need a few very basic tools at home to repeat our activity any time the fancy strikes.

There may be some time to share current journal work after all the stamping and trading, so bring what you are currently working on.

If you're an adult visual journal keeper come and join in. It's free, usually, although a small $2 donation to MCBA will be collected on Monday as they are supplying our paper for the stamped image trades. We'd love to meet you, or see you again. And of course peek into your journal!

My Not-So-Easy-to-Fill Journal and it's Reclaiming

For the last six months a journal has sat on my studio table.  From time to time I have paged through this journal and added a thing here or there, completing some pages along the way.  On those page throughs however this journal has often stopped me, stumped me, and other wise frustrated me like no other journal has.  This journal has a looming deadline and must be conquered before time is up and my frustrations were quickly turning to a panicky feeling every time I was near this nearly empty, needed to be filled, monster on my studio table.
What journal is this you ask?  How is it possible that someone who writes grocery lists on fine art paper and will splash watercolor with near abandon on a thirty dollar sheet of Arches can be stopped by a collection of color copied sheets bound into a book?  Those are the exact questions I asked myself this week.  Why?  Why is this a stopping place instead of a jumping in place?
This week I finally had an answer to that question - I have been trying too hard.  Trying for perfect.  Waiting for the right idea for every page.  Desiring that each and every background would shine and be the star it was meant to be.  As an artist I recognized that desire, the elusive quest for perfect and as an artist, I also was seeing the same results, nothing; a not-so-blank-sheet as it turns out.  When perfect is the goal, nothing is the result, because nothing is perfect, particularly when making art.  We all see the flaws we create so clearly that the resulting work will never be perfect.  It will be so completely un-perfect that we will be stopped in our tracks.
Thankfully, I also remembered our goal and original starting place for this idea.  The Smash Journal and the desire to make our own custom version to use as a collaborative project because it was fun.
Let's get reacquainted with the original idea:
Watch the Smash Journal video.
If you type Smash Journal into Google images.
If you have followed my links you should see a common thread of delicious non-perfection.  A mash-up of lives, ideas, images, drawings, and day to day stuff that is glued down and penned in with abandon. Books bursting with extra papers and lovely unique liveliness.  No thought was given to the background other than that it was a vehicle for the stuff contained on the page.  Not perfect and in its non-perfect state we reach wonderful, fabulous page turning journal goodness.
In my focus on the not-so-blank part of the project I was forgetting the most important part of the project title - journal.  A journal is a personal record of experiences, thoughts, events, and observations.  A record of a daily life on paper.  This week my focus came off the project as a vehicle for perfect pages and went to a focus on the project for MY pages, it is a journal after all.
With the pressure to create perfect pages off my back I have been creating my pages all week with complete and utter abandon.  Oh, I am still going out of order and not quite taking the sheets as they come but I am not letting sheets stop me anymore.  It's my journal and the pages need to be mine, whatever that means for the background.  Suddenly, I am having fun with this journal.  Knocking out multiple pages a day, not because of a looming deadline but instead because I am enjoying myself.
If you too are a part of this project and have been stopped by the pages, the project, the pressure of perfect, let it go.  Perfect will never happen and the idea of perfect only gets in the way of making the pages yours.  Remember it is meant as a journal, not the fancy Art Journal where the pages must be beautiful works of art, but as a record of your thoughts, observations, and experiences.  
A journal journal that's real and a reflection of you and your life.  Go!  Smash some of your life today into those pages:  receipts, recipes, drawings, photos, thoughts and all.  It will be beautiful because it will be uniquely you.  I know that's what I cannot wait to see in December, the completely unique approaches, the beauty that we each placed on the pages that reflects who we are and where we are at that day the page came to be smashed together.

October MCBA Visual Journal Collective Meeting Recap

For the October meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective, local artist and creativity coach Briana Goetzen came and gave a presentation on the Gelli Arts Printing plate.  Let me just say, her demonstration was fantastic!  

Briana brought along her Gelli plate and set it up right in the flexi space at MCBA.  It is small (8x10) and portable, coming in a plastic shell type box that works for storage and transportation.  It needs no special set-up, you simply take it out of the case and apply paint.  The Gelli plate is really quite magic for making monoprints in the quickest possible fashion using any acrylic paint, texture tools , stencils, or stamps.  Results are instant, dry really quickly, and it turns out you don't even need to wash the plate between prints (bonus).  

Briana showed a number of different techniques for the printing plate highlighting it's versatility and ease of use.  One of her first recommendations was to use multiple colors of paint in the same print, blobbing them on the plate, allowing them to blend with a brayer.  Textures and shapes are then applied to the wet paint layer by simply pressing them into the paint on the plate.  Prints are lifted from the plate by rubbing the back of the sheet and pulling it up.  The process is seamless and enjoyable.  Once the plate is set up and your paints are out it really is quite addictive.

She also showed how easy it was to layer prints on top of each other creating new interesting layered effects.  Sheets that have been printed dry fast, and with no need to wipe or clean the late between images, a quick rhythm of making image after image, experimenting as you go becomes apparent. 

Participants on hand got to try the plate themselves, we had two Gelli Plates on hand and plenty of paper and paints.  Nearly everyone who tried was instantly in love with the plate and its potential.  It was so easy to use and the options for different ways to create prints are nearly endless, allowing for each artist to put their own spin on how and what they create on the plate.

If you enjoy mono printing, pastepaper, or gelatin prints, you will love the Gelli plate.  That it is durable (real gelatin is not) and easy to use makes it all the more enjoyable.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective October Meeting Reminder

Our regular monthly meeting of the Visual Journal Collective is coming up on  
Monday, October 21st from 7-9 pm. at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

As our special guest speaker we will have local Twin Cities artist and creativity coach Briana Goetzen on hand to show us the magic of the Gelli Arts gel printing plate.  Briana's artwork is vibrant and joyful and she is a mirror of that work.  Our meeting is sure to be exciting as Briana will talk with us about using the gel plate in her personal work and demonstrate some techniques for using the plate to create mono-prints and backgrounds (you can watch a brief video that Briana created about using the plate here).
Meeting attendees will then have the opportunity to try the plate for themselves, with some available paints and paper.  It is sure to be a blast!
As usual, we will also have time at the end of the meeting for sharing our current journals.
I hope to see you there!

MCBA Visual Journal Collective August Meeting ~ A Sketch Out!

Sketch from a recent outing to Gold Medal Park.
Faber-Castell PITT calligraphy pen and watercolor wash

Join us for a practice sketchout at Gold Medal Park in Minneapolis just a couple blocks from MCBA, on Monday, August 19th from 7-9 p.m.. We will meet at the corner of  South 2nd Street and 10th Ave., right at the base of the spiral path. There is street and ramp parking available in this area or you may arrive early and walk over from MCBA.

We will gather as a group at the park at 7p.m. rather than walk over from MCBA (although it is a quick walk) to allow as much time to sketch as possible.  I will give new sketchers some tips, I will pair up experienced sketchers with new sketchers as needed and we will draw whatever is in the park that evening.  
Gold Medal Park is right along the river, with great landscape and river views, as well as city sights, including walkers, bikers, picnics, dogs, birds, trees, etc.  This is the perfect opportunity to gain confidence and build your skills for sketching in public.  This is also a great warm up for the Fifth Annual Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out on August 27th.

Bring your journal, a favorite pen or pencil, travel palette and water brush, a folding chair if you like to sit when you sketch, a sun hat or sun glasses, some drinking water, and bug spray (in case the mosquitos are out).  Remember to travel light, you will be hauling whatever you bring along with you while you are drawing.  

We will stop drawing at about 8:30 and meet back at our starting place to share images created and discuss any "ah-ha" moments from the sketch out experience.

Roz Stendahl will be putting up signs at MCBA as a reminder of our location change for the evening and will walk over with late-comers, leaving MCBA at 7:10 p.m.

If it is raining around 7 p.m. we will meet at MCBA and have an indoor sketchout for practice instead.

Google map showing MCBA (marked with flag) and it's relationship to Gold Medal Park.
We will meet at the beginning of the spiral path, near the park sign at 7 p.m.

MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.—Gold Medal Park, Minneapolis—Practice Sketch Out 

The spot we are meeting for the August Journal Collective Sketch-Out via a Google Street View image.

Upcoming Not-So-Blank-Page Project

My crow (watercolor on added in paper) on
Roz's Squiggle background (see original below)

On Monday February 18th Roz Stendahl and I unveiled the new collaborative project for the MCBA Visual Journal Collective.  The project is called "The-Not-So-Blank-Page" and involves the group creating a collaborative custom "smash" journal.  Participants in the project will create two unique, original backgrounds that will be photocopied and become a part of the spiral bound journal that each person will fill between the April meeting (when we deliver the books) and the December meeting when we will have a simultaneous viewing party.

Examples of pages from the project prototype. . .

Roz's Squiggle background made
as an example for our upcoming
collaborative journal project

As preparation for this project Roz and I exchanged a couple of backgrounds via computer and I ran and had example copies made into a small prototype journal to experiment in with different art materials and to test the nature of the pages when they came in contact with water based products like paint.
I discovered that the copies took watercolor and a wide range of other art supplies fairly well.

My watercolor pear on Roz's photocopied background.
I was testing the paper and the copy to be sure both
stood up to water based journal work.

The photocopied image is very waterproof, none of the pages I worked on bled or changed due to the water in my paint and sheets only buckled somewhat after having paint applied; the image above has paint on both sides and some buckle is evident.  As you can see in the image above, the copy does resist the color, which makes very heavily imaged sheets a bit more challenging to work on than sheets that are more open or white.  I dealt with that problem by either letting the paint sit and soak in (interesting effects as can be seen in my heron page posted on Roz's blog post about the project) or by adding my journal elements on via collage (crow above, and both of the following examples).

On the left: my background made as an example for the project

On the right: my art work and collage element on the page

On the left: Roz's background made as an example for the project

On the right: my art work and collage elements on the page

Interested?  Keep reading.
How to be involved . . .

The Details:

Each person will create two separate 8 1/2 x 11 (portrait orientation) original backgrounds - 

        Work only on one side of the paper you use, do not sign your work.  Label the back of each page with your name, neatly printed and either "page A" for right handed page or "page B" for left handed page.  See the example diagram below which includes two pages front view, showing how they will be bound and a back view of each page, labeled correctly.  Because of printing limitations each sheet will lose about an 1/8 inch around all sides - be sure to keep any key elements away from the very edge of your pages.

All artwork will be photocopied for use in this project, with that in mind please keep all artwork flat and do not use anything that you do not have the copyright for in your background.  

Keep in mind that other artists will be using your page as a backdrop for their journal page at some point in the project, any element that you include can or will be covered, distorted, altered, or changed to suit the needs or desires of the new owner of the page.  All art work created on pages become the copyright of the artist who worked on the page, your background will only be your background when it is empty of another artist's work.

No pages can be removed!  We will view these together and want to see what each person does to each page, it would be no fun at all if we get to your page and it is missing!  If you make a "mistake" or really struggle with a background challenge yourself to work around it by adding a collage sheet over the problem area or using gesso to lighten a problem spot, etc.  There are lots of ways to continue to work and change a page for the better without resorting to its removal.

Backgrounds need to be complete and turned in at the March 18, 2013 Collective meeting along with a check to cover photocopying and binding costs associated with the project.  We are not making any profit on these books, we are only charging each person exactly what it costs to create the journal.  Costs are to be figured based on the number of participants x $.50 photocopy costs +$2.75 binding. (if 30 people participate the cost will be $18)

Payment is due when you turn in your artwork at the March 18th meeting, we will know at that point how many people are joining in on the fun and can give a price to all involved.  Please be prepared to pay with cash or check, made out to me, Suzanne Hughes, as I am the one who will be dealing with the copies and book production.

If you can not make the meeting but want to participate, please send your art work to: Roz Stendahl, P.O. Box 141434, Minneapolis, MN 55414. (Roz doesn't get mail delivery before the Collective on Monday so she needs to have your artwork in hand on Saturday to ensure you're in the count.) 

Mail in participants will be notified of the final cost, contacted (include email when mailing work), and will need to respond by March 19th that they are still participating and mail a check to the same address by March 25.
If you are unable to pick up your journal at the April meeting you will need to let either Roz or me know so alternate arrangements can be made for delivery of your book (potential fee for postage, pick up on Open Studio night at MCBA, or the May meeting as a last resort).


Additional information, examples, and details can be found at Roz's blog post about the project.

Sketch Scavenger Hunt

Sketch folder and title sheet I made to place inside
my scavenger hunt collection, along with our topic list.

On Monday December 17th the MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting was a sketch scavenger hunt.  Our first job as participants was to use a large map to put together a little folder to hold all of our sketches.  We created this by a series of folds using a large sheet of paper (in this case a map).  We then gathered a stack of pages pre-cut to fit nicely in the pockets of our new folder and off we went to find sketch-able subjects that fit the scavenger hunt list we were all using.

First sketch - people

Our list included people, landscape or scene, holiday, machinery or equipment, texture, and interesting negative space.  We had the whole of the MCBA space, the coffee shop, Open Book, the Loft, and if we were adventurous (and dressed warmly) we could go outside.  We had a fixed amount of time to sketch (about and hour and fifteen minutes) and all had to meet back with our finished sketches at a set time to look at what everyone had sketched.  We also voted on sketches - best complete collection, most unique, best mixed media.

Second sketch - landscape or scene

The sketch scavenger hunt was quite fun, although for the most part a more solitary way to spend our meeting than usual as we were all off in various parts of the building sketching on our own for most of the time and only together as a group for the folding and the voting.

Third sketch - negative space

It was fun to explore the building that I am in at least once a week in a new way.  I wondered to places that I usually do not think about, admired several displays of work that I did not know were hanging, and generally got re-inspired by the space as a whole.

Fourth sketch - holiday item

It was also very fun to gather and see everyone's sketches.  Even though I rarely saw someone else sketching and I never sketched the same thing at the same time as someone else, when we all looked at our work it was really interesting to see how many of us sketched the same subject at some point in the evening.  There were at least four drawings of the owl ornament (see above) that I sketched as my holiday item, and three of us had sketched the book binder (see below).  Seeing a different artist's perspective on the same subject is one of my favorite things, so seeing these different versions of sketches was one of the best parts of the evening for me and really made me wish that I had thought to bring a camera to the meeting. Roz Stendahl did bring a camera and she has posted on her blog (click her name to follow the link) about the event and has included photos of other artist's drawings and our different versions of the same subject.

Fifth sketch - machinery or equipment

I always enjoy our meetings and I am always excited when our gatherings result in a new art creation I get to take home to remember the event.  As you can see from the opening image in this post all of the sketches fit in the map folder along with an introduction sheet and the list of our hunt requirements.
I am also looking forward to our January meeting which will be a portrait party and we will all go home with a complete collection of all the portraits made that evening bound into a book, it is always one of my favorite events.

Sixth sketch - texture

Upcoming Talk with the Collective and Upcoming Class

Next week, on Monday night, I will be presenting at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective from 7-9 pm.  My presentation will be about my experience as a part of the moly-X sketchbook exchange project, my frustrations working with the Moleskine books and the paper that is in them, (which pushed me to create my own accordion "molys"), my experience with taking the exchange into my classroom in a high school, and some of my discoveries about journaling on a topic in my own accordion style books.
You can explore the moly-x project sketchbook exchange, started by Marty Harris, on the project's Flickr site.  There are links to all the different project blogs and photos of work done as a part of the many exchanges past and present.  The exchange that I am a part of is Moly_X 81.  I am one of four artists in the exchange and we are about to send our books around for the second time through the cycle.
As a part of my talk I will have many different books with me including my moly test book and in process moly_x books and images of books, along with finished exchange books and my own version of the Moleskine accordion book both empty and full.

I am also going to be teaching a class this spring at MCBA that was created as a result of the sketchbook exchange project and all the fun I have been having with the idea of exchanging sketchbooks or collaboratively journaling on a topic.  It is a combination of a book binding class, a journal/sketching technique class, and a collaborative project between the participants.  The class is called "Hardcover Accordion Visual Journal: Collaborative Chain Journaling", you can register by following this link to the MCBA course list for spring or by calling the Shop.  It begins on Sunday, May 8 from 10-3 with a book binding day where we will make an accordion journal (see above photo) with a hardcover and high quality artist paper suitable for both wet and dry media, which will be followed with five follow-up meetings on Thursday evenings from 7-8:30 where there will be a brief demonstration on a journal technique or tips as well as time for participants to share and exchange their books for the following week.  By the end of the class participants will learn how to bind an accordion style journal and they will have an accordion book filled with multiple entries created on a single topic or theme of their choosing.
It should be loads of fun!

Inspired to go Big!

Full 12x18 inch page spread in my 

Fabriano Venezia sketchbook, drawing done in 

Sharpie pen with Grumbacher watercolor

On Monday's meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective  we had nature and travel journal keeper Pat Beaubien in the studio showing us her fantastic journals and talking about her journaling/art habits and how they have changed or grown over the years as a part of keeping a journal.  I have to say I was so inspired by her work.  She keeps these large journals, both handmade with watercolor paper and Fabriano Venezia more recently, all between 8x10 and 9x12 in size and she fills them with absolutely fantastic watercolor and ink drawings.  She also talked about the challenge to create art while teaching (she was an elementary school art teacher) rather than just in the summer and how her art habits have evolved since retiring.
Funny thing is, I have a Fabriano Venezia sketchbook right now and have been hating it. Because it was so big, 9x12 closed size, it had gotten banished to my coffee table as a Saturday book.
Having this beautiful journal as my Saturday book was not really a bad thing, it is just that I had sort of given up on it as something to use more frequently and fill up in a timely fashion and was looking at it more as a spare time kind of thing (which is never good for your art by the way).  Well, after seeing Pat's beautiful work on Monday night I was totally inspired to haul this large book around with me for a bit and fill it up - no excuses or complaining.
Last night I began by hauling it to my lap while I watched TV and drew a pair of shoes from my entryway.  I forced myself to fill both pages and to work across the spread with one subject.  I began with Sharpie pen for my contour line sketch and then used watercolor to complete the image.  After I was done  painting, I accented a few spots with some more ink lines and added the text "frame" around the whole thing.  I spent about an hour and a half altogether and was watching Chopped on TV at the same time.

9x12 Fabriano Venezia sketchbook (verso page)

Faber-Castell Pitt calligraphy pen with Grumbacher watercolor

I hauled it a bit farther today.  Luckily the book fits in my backpack and I take my backpack to work with me, so into my bag it went, and over the course of the afternoon I drew the view out my classroom window.  I spent about a maximum of an hour on this image in ten and fifteen minute bursts as I had a few moments to spare between classes and during a study hall I supervise.
I do notice that this larger page takes me a bit longer to completely cover in paint than the journals I typically have been using (around 7 inch square).  And of course it fits in no bag other than my backpack.  But it does have lovely, heavy, smooth paper that takes watercolor well and is a pleasure to write on with pen, especially with the Faber-Castell Pitt calligraphy pen for some reason.  Realistically of course it is also great to stretch myself and work differently than I normally would.
So suddenly rather than dreading this book and wondering how I am ever going to fill it up, I am excited and looking at my environment with curious eyes, searching for the next subject to place on the once seemingly over large pages.

Collage Night at MCBA

My collaged spread from Monday night's meeting.

The Monday night meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective with Roz Stendahl was themed "Collage". Participants were encouraged to bring sketches on loose paper, ephemera, and decorative paper along with a glue stick and scissors to try out some collage techniques in their journals.

Knowing that our meeting was about collage, I had done two quick sketches on loose paper that afternoon of some random stuff I had seen (apples while on the phone, a bird started from out the window and finished with a reference photo on my computer). I also gathered some painted paper from a paper test (Aquabee Super Deluxe paper) and a whole pile of other stuff like maps, photocopies of sketches, paste paper scraps, marbled scraps, etc.

After a brief intro on some collage techniques by Roz, the thirty or so people that turned up for the meeting got into our evening of collage creation.

I have to say that a rarely collage in my journal but I enjoyed putting two random sketches done on loose paper down into my journal when they may have just ended up in the trash or floundering in a drawer in my studio. It also caused me to think about all the times during the day that I show a student how to shade or draw something on a small scrap of drawing paper and that I tend to throw them out at the end of the day. I think I may just start saving all those random little drawings, and collage them into my journal from now on. It could be interesting.

Visual Journal Collective - Treasured object night

On Monday night the MCBA Visual Journal Collective met with a topic of drawing a treasured object. Each member brought an object to draw and a story about why the object was important to them. It was fun to draw everyone's stuff, although I didn't draw very many objects, time just flew.
I did manage to draw Roz (see above) while everyone on the other side of the table was introducing themselves and telling about their object. She is working to infiltrate as many journals as possible in her lifetime. You can follow the link or click the icon on the sidebar for more information about her project.
Roz brought her toucan model, Hector (a rubber puppet), he was on the table while everyone was discussing their object and I added him in. He was such fun to draw I went to the table to draw him directly during our group drawing time.

Of course because I spent time painting Hector in I didn't have time to do anymore sketches, oh well. It was fun to draw Hector and he caused me to look at some of my daughter's toys, most of which are on the way out of the house, with new eyes. Maybe I need a live in studio "life" model to draw when "there is nothing to draw". I will have to see what I can find.
Our Visual Journal Collective leader, moderator, and champion journaler Roz Stendahl has a free online workshop coming up! Roz's energy is amazing and her ideas are fantastic, I really recommend that all of you take advantage of being her student (for free). The course is being offered through Strathmore, follow the link and sign up. It is a free class, Roz's is the third in a series, and I know it will be great. She is going to talk about choosing paper type and finding materials and how to get going on keeping a visual journal complete with handouts and video lessons. It is a four week class and free, what better way to start the warm months of outdoor sketching than with a few new ideas or a fresh approach?
Happy Sketching!

Zine Swap

On Monday, March 21, 2011 the MCBA Visual Journal Collective met to exchange journal zines. Participants had signed up last fall and had until March to complete the assigned task of creating a zine. Zines could be created a couple of different ways, all using the same size format so everyone who completed the swap could create a small case to hold their new zine collection on Monday night when we met. My cased zine collection is pictured above. I made the case with a 140 pound watercolor paper that was painted with Golden liquid acrylics.

Options for zine content and creation were:
1) Use a folded sheet of paper and draw/sketch/journal directly on the correctly sized template sheet (regular copy paper size, quarter folded), then make enough doubled sided copies from your original to make zines for the swap.
2) Scan or photograph journal/sketchbook pages, then use a desktop publishing program (Photoshop, Publisher, any program that will allow you to import, move into place, flip, and re-size images); print masters on your home printer ensuring correct sizing (no cut-off edges or folded images) and make enough double sided copies from your masters to make enough zines to swap.
3) Collage photocopies of journal/sketchbook pages onto the front of two regular sized sheets of copy paper. Have double sided copies made from these collages - this method would yield the most abstracted zine, with partial images visible.

The image below shows how to orient your two master sheets so that when you create your double sided copies and fold your sheets, everything is right side up and where it belongs. The sheet also includes instructions on completing your zine publication by cutting and a simple pamphlet stitch.

My cased zine collection, flap opened, zine spines showing.

My new zine collection spread out on the table. I have to say I am thrilled with it. The content is so varied and everyone's approach was so different, it is exciting to look at them again and again. Just ask my family and friends, I have been showing my zine collection to anyone who stands still long enough for me to wave the little box in their face and rave about all the zines (and the little box which I am admittedly in love with).

I would be delighted to start a new zine collection with blog followers as well. I have extra copies of my zine, "repose", that I would be happy to trade. Simply follow the instructions on the image in the post using sketchbook or journal images and create your own zine. When you have made your zine email me (sznnhghs@gmail.com) and we can exchange addresses and trade through the mail.

Making a Zine

For this month's meeting of the MCBA Visual Journal Collective, we had a zine exchange. For the exchange each artist had to create and make copies of their zine to share with the group. Now if you are confused, a zine is a tiny book or magazine that is created using a single sheet of regular copy paper with content that you as the zine artist create (for an instruction sheet on layout see Roz Stendahl's blog here).

I have never made a zine before and I found it to be lots of fun. To create my zine, I decided on a theme and then went back through three years of sketchbooks to find sketches that fit the theme. I scanned in all of the drawings I wanted to include and then sized them down to the correct size and layout in a Photoshop document. I printed these sheets on my home printer and then brought the sheets to a local copy center to have them copied as double sided sheets to use in my zine. The sheets were then cut in half, folded and stitched together with a simple pamphlet stitch.
The image at the top of the page is a view of my studio table mid-process.
My theme was "repose" and I used images of my pets and family members at rest or asleep. It was interesting to create a book out of separate images that were created at different times and I am extremely happy with the results.
I made a bit of a happy mistake when I had my copies run and I have 15 extra copies of my zine. I would be willing to trade zines with any of you who want to make your our zine. It is easy and fun and we would get to trade artwork! Just email me (sznnhghs@gmail.com) when you have your zine ready and we can trade mailing info.
More on the exchange and zine collection in coming days.

MCBA Visual Journal Collective and an owl

On Monday night I attended the MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting, with Roz Stendahl and 18 other members. We met at the Textile Center for a hands-on demonstration of fabric screen printing using an image from our sketchbook or journal. Karen Wallach, a collective member, gave the demonstration as she belongs/works for the Textile Center. The process itself used a ThermoFax to produce the screens. It was quite interesting and loads of fun.

We were asked to bring in a sketch or drawing to use, along with any fabric, paper, or clothing we wanted to print onto. Quite a few people, myself included, needed to redraw our image using black pen and white paper, as we were supposed to have a simple black and white image like you would carve a block print from. I brought a photocopy of a watercolor and ink owl from a graffiti project example I did during the school year. The original image:

So, before the start of the printing process I had to redraw the owl as a simple line drawing in my journal, which would then be made into a toner based copy to be used in the machine. Karen was the checker of images to be used (she wanted us to have success) and she was unsure of whether or not mine would show all the tiny line detail as a print, but I forged ahead anyway willing to take the risk.

The process itself involved taking our copy, matching it to a screen frame size, and cutting the correct amount of silk screen to fit the frame. Our image was then placed into a plastic carrier sleeve and sent through the ThermoFax machine. The heat from the machine "burns out" the toner ink from a gel on the back of the screen, creating tiny holes for the ink to be pushed through. We then took our screen and mounted it to the plastic frame and encased the entire frame and the edge of the screen in duct tape (have to love that stuff).

After our screen was made, we took it into the next room and printed from it. I have to say there is something very magical about using your image to create prints, it just makes me smile to see multiples that are all original. My image turned out great despite the potential for some of the fine line detail to be lost. My only problem came from not quite pulling the ink all the way down into the tail in every print.

Karen had muslin available for us to practice on and a range of fabric inks and acrylic paints to try. I stuck with black acrylic printing ink made for fabric. I printed a couple of practices on the muslin and two prints on some batik fabric I brought from home.

At that point I switched to paper and printed on two bags, the type that come from a wine bottle, all tall and skinny. I also had a pre-painted sheet of heavy watercolor paper, and a sheet of red print making paper that I tried as well.

By the end of the night I had printed on a variety of surfaces both fabric and paper and was quite pleased with the results, and especially pleased to be able to take home my screen to continue to print from.

I highly recommend giving the screen printing process a try. There are several resources for having your own images made into screens available online, just search ThermoFax printing, and I am sure you can find a spot near you that will make screens for a reasonable price. The Textile Center here in Minneapolis will make them in three sizes: 8x10, 5x7, 3x4 (roughly), for $12, $8.50, and $5.50 respectively.

Well, I am off to print my owl onto my apron.