Confidential (Open), Things That Changed Other Things, The Sketchbook Project, Musk Ox Moon, pages from the Moleskines of Liz Schultz & QuoinMonkey for The Sketchbook Project, January 2011, photos © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. Medium: Portfolio Brand Water-Soluble Oil Pastels, Prang Metallic Markers, Uni-ball Signo 207 Rollergels, Letter Stamps, Ink, Caran D’Ache NeoColor II Swiss Made wax crayons, Black & Silver Sharpies, digital photo, gesso, sticker, water, Moleskine.
Liz and I signed up for The Art House Co-Op Sketchbook Project months ago. This week we are working furiously to put the finishing touches on our Moleskines. We’ll postmark the journals by January 15th and they will be on their way to a permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Library. But that will be after touring the U.S. with all of the other 28,835 artists from 94 countries around the world who submitted their journal art. The tour starts March 2011.
I snapped a few in-process BlackBerry shots but they don’t do justice to the vibrant colors or feel of the original pages. Tomorrow night I’ll get out the Canon and document every page, because the journals won’t be returned. It’s a lesson in letting go. One recent addition to our art materials (thanks to ybonesy’s detailed post on journals) are the Caran D’Ache NeoColor II Swiss Made crayons. I like mixing them with oil pastels. They work well with a brush and water.
Liz and I chose different themes for our Moleskines. I am working with Lights In the Distance; she chose Things That Changed Other Things. Photography lends itself to light, so I included original light-related photos and a series of Moon sketches. Liz worked with original photographs, poetry, and collage. She helps motivate me to experiment with new materials. It’s been a long time since I kept a sketchbook, so it’s been fun to work on this project together. Though I wish I had not waited quite as long to finish up the details. Deadlines motivate!
Rabbit Ears, Dragon Moon, Life Is Short, Art Long, pages from the Moleskines of Liz Schultz & QuoinMonkey for The Sketchbook Project, January 2011, photos © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. Medium: Portfolio Brand Water-Soluble Oil Pastels, Prang Metallic Markers, Uni-ball Signo 207 Rollergels, Letter Stamps, Ink, Caran D’Ache NeoColor II Swiss Made wax crayons, Black & Silver Sharpies, digital photo, magazine pages, discarded faxes, gesso, sticker, water, Moleskine.
-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, January 13th, 2011
These are great, QM. Just an FYI, I seal my pages when I use Caran D’Ache or anything that might smudge off when closed. Or, smudge if it gets wet. So essentially, I seal everything. For my Moleskins, I follow a two-step sealing process (it’s not archival, but you can use archival materials to make it so). First a matte spray sealant, and then after that dries, a coating of gloss ModPodge. The matte spray is archival but the ModPodge isn’t, I don’t think. You can get archival alternatives to ModPodge.
You would think that the finished page might stick to the one it faces when the book is closed, but it doesn’t. The sealing process does make the pages thick and lumpy (especially if you are collaging) and I don’t usually put anything on the back side of sealed pages. Anyway, not sure if this is useful or relevant in your case, but wanted to share just in case it is. 8)
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QM,
You have more practices going than I can keep track of! Natalie’s lessons of “Structure, structure, structure!” were not lost on you.
I’m doing my 365 journal practice in moleskins, too, and have moleskin-envy after seeing yours, Liz’s, and ybonesy’s. I’m on the hunt for something simple…for the completely non-artistic.
I hope you’ll get to see the touring show of journal art.
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These are wonderful, QM.
I don’t know how you keep up with it all…
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ybonesy, thank you. It’s very helpful. Actually, Liz remembered some of your techniques and was showing me how to use the ModPodge. I didn’t know it wasn’t archival. I will probably look into an alternative at some point. Liz did more collages in her sketchbook and has worked with the Mod more. She showed me how to put the gesso on and I used it on my cover. I just realized that I forgot to put credits on these photos. They are actually the covers and a few of the pages from our Moleskines but you wouldn’t know that from just checking in here. I did put the details in Flickr. It just got so late when I was finishing this up last night, I completely forgot the photo credits.
ybonesy, Liz and I are having a lot of fun with the different techniques. This first Moleskine, for me, is turning out to be where I try some things out. So it’s far from perfect. I had a breakthrough with the Moons. Started sketching inside them. Drawing is not my strong point, but I still love to draw. I especially like Sharpies or pen and ink. The way the black and white looks is appealing to me. It’s hard to add color sometimes.
We are really liking the Caran D’Ache crayons but they are spendy! We ended up getting a small box with basic colors. But I can see how it would be fun to have a huge box of them with every color!
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Robin, thank you. It’s been fun to work on these sketchbooks. And fun to sit around at night with Liz while she works on hers, and I work on mine. Honestly, I’m not quite sure how I’m keeping up on everything. Not getting much sleep, but having a lot of fun. After this deadline, things will slow down a bit until Art-A-Whirl in our studio building in May. I admit, I am tired.
Teri, it’s the truth about the practices. I keep reminding myself that after this weekend, The Sketchbook Project will be done. And my BlackBerry 365 practice from last year ended on January 1st of 2011. So that just leaves my once a week Renga check-in with Lotus. And then the BlackBerry collaboration we are doing once a week. That seems manageable to me. Oh, I guess I forgot that my daily practice is Journal 365. I am really enjoying the daily writing after have a daily visual practice last year. I don’t know how I didn’t have yearly practices before. They have become a part of me. And one thing that I really notice about having yearly practices — when the going gets tough, or I feel like giving up on the creative stuff, the practices pull me through.
I hope you try some things out with your Moleskine, try some color or sketch in the corners. You might surprise yourself. ybonesy’s collages are inspiring, too. I want to try out more collage. I, too, hope we make it to Chicago for the tour. I was looking at the dates and I think it’s in summer. I have to check again. I wish it was coming to Minneapolis or St. Paul. How did it miss us?
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ybonesy, one more thing I wanted to ask you. I did use water on two of the inside pages of my Moleskine and the pages curled. Do you have that problem? The paper seems thin in these.
I am using a different kind of sketchbook for my Journal 365 Project and the paper is a lot thicker. Pages are wider, too. I like that. But you can’t beat the compact size of the Moleskine. Tough to choose.
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An excellent point, QM! To prevent the pages from curling, try not to use water–not in your application of paints, gesso, nor ModPodge. When you apply the liquid-based medium (gesso or ModPodge, for example, without water added) the paper might curl at first then dries flat.
When I use watercolors, I use a dry brush and I apply the color as I would a pen-and-ink line. If you used water and have curled pages, put a weight on the closed book.
A Flickr friend of mine suggested I join a Moleskine exchange–12 artists working on 12 books–at the end you get your book back with artwork from 11 others (plus your own, makes 12). I don’t have the time but I was so taken by the idea of having this tactile book to hold in my hands, and the artists are all so good–I committed. What are we to do? It is the commitment that pushes us to produce.
Speaking of–I found a gently used entry-level professional ink pigment printer today. It will arrive this weekend. Soon I will be able to start making prints of my pieces. Here is my latest:
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Darn, it didn’t take. I was trying to include a little thumbnail.
Good luck on the journals, QM. I’ll watch for the Canon shots of the finished ones. 8)
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Good to know about the water. We have been flattening them with heavy art books. 8) Still working on them tonight. Will probably scan tomorrow night at the studio. Glad you got the printer. I think I mentioned that we bought a Canon last year that we’ve been very happy with. I printed the Writers Hands Series prints on it last year.
That’s cool about the Moleskine Exchange. We did that at MCAD in two classes I was in. One was a printmaking class; the other photography. I ended up with work by all the other artists in the room, exchanged mine with them. I still have those collections. I really enjoyed it. I like art that is separate but collaborative. I think I work best that way. I tend to think in terms of wholes. Gestalt, I guess.
Sometimes with the BlackBerry 365 Project last year, I’d choose the photo for that day that most rounded out the whole year (rather than what might have been the best photo in terms of exposure or frame). Wholes.
I love photography. I am going to mess around with my photos and prints more with this collaboration with Lotus. Sounds fun to stretch a little bit. Thanks for the tips! You’ve learned a lot over the last year. It’s fun to share what we know.
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That’s really exciting to send the “Sketchbook” off! I can imagine all the heart and work you both put in there! 8) I can’t wait to see more pictures, of course. Thanks for sharing your project with us, QM.
For me, I need to do something journal-related. I have so many blank journals, and journals that are written in for like about 5 pages before I abandon them. So, I need to stop buying journals! I guess it’s always the excitement of fresh pages–anything is possible–is what lures me. One of my goals though is to start and really FINISH a journal, so I’m working on it. Otherwise, LiveJournal is my other home, but I’d so love to see something on paper for a change…
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Lotus, I know what you mean about the journals. I, too, have an old cache of blank journals. I used to buy them and never fill them up. These days, once I break the ice, I try to keep going. I’m using a fun journal for my Journal 365 entry every day. And it’s fun to work in the Moleskines, a first for me.
I do think the paper in the Moleskines is a little thin though. On my last writing retreat in Wisconsin with the Midwest Writing Group, we stopped into a paper products store (can’t resist them!) and the sales person said that Moleskines have dropped a little in quality. They are made out of the country now. So they had started stocking a similar sketchbook that she liked better. And now I can’t remember the name of it! I’m going to have to consult with my friends who were with me that day.
Liz and I got up and looked at our journals this morning. I might do a few more finishing touches since they extended the deadline by a few days. I have to go out and shovel this morning! So maybe we’ll get to the studio tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by.
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Oh, wanted to mention one more thing. The last image on the bottom right out of Liz’s journal (Life Is Short, Art Long) is actually an old smeared fax. I didn’t know that until this morning. I thought she had gotten it from a magazine. A creative use of old faxes. I like the b&w effect.
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Yeah, maybe one of these days I’ll come around to STOP buying more journals and pick up an abandoned one and do something with it! lol
Good luck with the finishing touches to your sketchbooks! 8)
Oh, I too like Liz’s page with “Life Is Short, Art Long”; that’s one of my favorites. Wow, old faxes? Well, that leaves a new name to recycling–transforming something into art! Nice work.
I think you both did a great job with this project. 8) *APPLAUSE*
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Hey, QM, it’s been niggling at me since we had the exchange about water, and glad I came back to mention it to you. Moleskine makes a notebook with watercolor paper. It’s a good option if you want to use water in your paints or gesso.
A~Lotus, I just went through this weekend and cleaned and reorganized my writing room/art space. I have several nice journals that only have a few pages written then end. It seems like the nicer the journal is, the less I seem to stick with it. Anyhow, I too resolved to not buy any more journals (minus the Moleskine I’m getting for the exchange) until I use up the several that I have. Good news is that I’m back to writing by hand, a practice that I had pretty much stopped doing for the past several years.
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@yb: I agree. I too need to get back at writing by hand as I too stopped doing for years now that I pretty much composed my poems, etc. on the computer and Internet. 8) Hmm, it could be a possibility for a New Year’s goal for next year! 😉
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[…] Casket Arts Studio last night (after many late nights, Liz and I finally completed, scanned, and mailed our sketchbooks to New York) and saw this still life on the art desk. The Mirado Black Warrior is one of my favorite pencils. I […]
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ybonesy, that’s good to know about the watercolor Moleskines. Will have to check them out. BTW, I wrote a post tonight about the Mirado Black Warrior pencil and as I was messing around with one at the studio last night, I thought — this would be really nice to write by hand with. Do you use pencils for your handwriting ever? Or only pens. I’m curious what it would be like to write with a pencil again. I might try it in my Journal Practice one day. It’s not a fast writing pen like Natalie recommends. But it sure takes you back.
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Just one more note here: Liz and I went to our little Post Office this evening and mailed our Moleskine journals to Art House Co-Op in New York for The Sketchbook Project! They’ll become part of the permanent collection in the Brooklyn Art Library. It felt like a huge accomplishment to complete them, scan all the pages, and mail them off. We are debating going down to the downtown Minneapolis library and asking if they will host the Sketchbook Project there for our fair city. I can’t believe it’s not coming to Minneapolis. We’ll see what happens!
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[…] It Is Written In The Wind, I wrote about the meaning of Dragonfly in the Medicine cards. During The Sketchbook Project, Dragonfly resurfaced in a Bone & Moon Series of loose sketches; I wanted to recreate the […]
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Liz and I received a confirmation that our sketchbooks have been received and are traveling the country as part of The Sketchbook Project. Liz got another email yesterday that confirmed that her sketchbook had been checked out from the Brooklyn Art Library! Very exciting to know that a person has plucked her artwork out from the stacks and stacks of sketchbooks that are on shelves and touring the country. Go, Liz!
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