At Your Surface

This is going to be a long post, so I won't belabor it with my usual train of thought, snarky asides, commentary about unrelated events, opinions about food, pictures of the dog, exclamations about the weather, requests for funds transfers, or any of the stuff I tend to think makes a blog...

friendly.

Now that I haven't done any of that, I'll get to the matter at hand.

What was it?

Oh, yeah! I promised journal pages, and so I'm posting them. This journaling thing is not easy, but it's fun. I think I'll keep doing it.

As we go through this torturous process, I'm going to help keep this as short as possible by keeping the essential excuses for the photos down in the photo captions.


Oh, but before we get to the journal thing, this is my first all-painted canvas thing. Well, there's a bit of copic marker, but mostly paint. No ephemera, stamping, decoupage, sewing, bolting, waxing, or fingernail clipping. My other canvases (I think there were two, and I remember doing a canvas board, as well) were collages. I like science-fiction-y things, and I tried for a weird extraterrestrial flower thing. Turns out, they just look like the usual old flowers you find around any neighborhood.


The first spread in my journal. I have since painted over this. But I liked it. But it's painted over now, with gesso, then blue and green washes. Which I didn't take a photo of because my mind isn't what it used to be.

The next spread. Mind you, I'm trying to leave spaces on these pages for writing. Even later, when there are no spaces, there's going to be writing. So, take that with you.

Felt like representative sketching, rather than only patterns, on this spread. Kinda flat. But okay. I mean, they at least look like what they are, sailboats and oil rigs on the Straits of Madagascar.

Next, I used my Prismacolor and Caran d'Arches coloring pencils on the pages. Oh, and a bit of copic marker and white Sharpie paint pen. You may notice where I didn't wait long enough for the paint pen to dry. Live and learn. Or don't learn, and do the same thing several times in succession and get cranky and throw the book across the room. Your choice.

I didn't like what I did to the face, but frankly, I didn't like the face much. So, it's a win-win. The other page will get more design elements and a mallet.

Wanted this diamond pattern in these colors. So I made one. Then made a tree (which will hold some writing), painted the background with brown, then penciled over it in blues and purples, then decided to heavily outline the tree. Pleased with it so far. No noose yet.

A coupla doodling pages.

Doodled pages, painted. Learned that some pen marks bleed when painted. Will not do that again. Will line over these later. Pink page will be for my mom. I know just what I'm going to write. The writing on the orange page will be between the boxes. Teeny tiny.

These have been painted over. My cartoony futuristic auto/street doodle didn't come out well by me, nor did the sperm-shaped leaves page. I said, who cares? Paint over them! So...

...here they are, painted over. I like this dry brush work. I want to use dry brush work more often, and I can. It's kind of a free country.


The hand-made journal cover, using corrugated cardboard covered over with duct tape. In future, will not use cardboard for a largish journal because it tends to buckle, and curve over too easily on the edges while I'm thrashing it around. Like the duct tape, and don't mind the visible seams. But don't like the way the adhesive leaks out from under the edges and leaves blackish gunk behind. Icky. Will either seal the seams with decorative gaffer's tapes next time, or not use duct tape. Actually, will probably spray paint the next cover, to be made using chipboard or mat board.

Back and edge of journal. I stitched the signature with embroidery floss. That's not advisable, a) because floss stretches, and 2) it gets stiff after painting. Waxed linen thread is the way to go. I looked for John Lennon thread, but they thought I was crazy. Huh. I thought they were sales clerks, for goodness sake. Whatever.

There you have it. My first journal. I have 8 more pages (four fronts and four backs) to surface. I will fill up the pages with more paint and doodling and writing, and then I may share the pages, or I will have written something ooky and not want to show it to you.

But we've known each other so long. What secrets could I possibly have?!


Next Up: Chris tells where each of the bodies is buried.