This is the 6th year I have participated in International Fake Journal Month. I always have a theme that has an actual story. Although that isn't recommended I do it anyway. lol I don't know if it makes it harder or not, but I enjoy doing it with a story.
This is the first time I had my character be a child and not an adult. That in itself is a challenge because when I would go to write the text I had to keep that in mind...that the story was being told by a child. I threw in her talking about the Awful Tower in Paris because it sounded more like what a child would think. I guess having been an elementary school teacher helped me think in a child's words.
I thought it was an odd coincidence that my sister, Michelle Himes, who got me into doing the first fake journal, was also doing hers as a child. I never was specific about Tracy's age, but Michelle's character was 10 years old. Usually we talk about the journals before we get started, but this year for some reason we didn't get around to discussing them ahead of time except to say that we were planning to participate.
How did I get my theme for the journal? My husband and I had taken a trip to Texas in September to visit friends who have a ranch. Most of the ideas came from things I saw go on at his friend's ranch during this visit and other visits. I used some of my sketches that I had done on that trip for references. In addition I used some of my photos and relied on pictures I found on the internet to get some basic positioning of the bodies of the characters for the sketches...and the anatomy of a horse which I find so difficult to draw. I made myself a calendar for the month and for each day I wrote down an idea for what might be going on. Easter fell during the month, so I incorporated that too.
I have been experimenting with a Gelli plate in the last year or so. That is how I printed the collage material that I used. To make the material "see through" and not opaque the designs were printed on deli paper before I tore and collaged with them. I also used some stencils for designs and quite a bit of splattering. I think that the next time I might want to add colored background to the pages to get a different effect...maybe combining both. Hopefully I will read this before starting next year and will remember. lol
My thanks to Roz Stendhal for the inspiration for International Fake Journal Month. Even though I usually think about not participating, the idea calls to me as the month gets closer.
I would like to congratulate all the other artists who participated this year. It was a joy to follow your posts and see the creative way that each person handled doing your journal. We had so many wonderful ideas and drawings displayed through the month. Even though there were several people who were doing something based on gardening, each was so different. Be proud of yourselves even if you weren't able to do a page each day. Life happens and it is difficult to keep up sometimes. Thanks to all of you for an inspiring month!
As you can see at the end of the last page of my journal, Tracy was heading off on another adventure. Maybe we will see her return next year in Paris.
This is the first time I had my character be a child and not an adult. That in itself is a challenge because when I would go to write the text I had to keep that in mind...that the story was being told by a child. I threw in her talking about the Awful Tower in Paris because it sounded more like what a child would think. I guess having been an elementary school teacher helped me think in a child's words.
I thought it was an odd coincidence that my sister, Michelle Himes, who got me into doing the first fake journal, was also doing hers as a child. I never was specific about Tracy's age, but Michelle's character was 10 years old. Usually we talk about the journals before we get started, but this year for some reason we didn't get around to discussing them ahead of time except to say that we were planning to participate.
How did I get my theme for the journal? My husband and I had taken a trip to Texas in September to visit friends who have a ranch. Most of the ideas came from things I saw go on at his friend's ranch during this visit and other visits. I used some of my sketches that I had done on that trip for references. In addition I used some of my photos and relied on pictures I found on the internet to get some basic positioning of the bodies of the characters for the sketches...and the anatomy of a horse which I find so difficult to draw. I made myself a calendar for the month and for each day I wrote down an idea for what might be going on. Easter fell during the month, so I incorporated that too.
I have been experimenting with a Gelli plate in the last year or so. That is how I printed the collage material that I used. To make the material "see through" and not opaque the designs were printed on deli paper before I tore and collaged with them. I also used some stencils for designs and quite a bit of splattering. I think that the next time I might want to add colored background to the pages to get a different effect...maybe combining both. Hopefully I will read this before starting next year and will remember. lol
My thanks to Roz Stendhal for the inspiration for International Fake Journal Month. Even though I usually think about not participating, the idea calls to me as the month gets closer.
I would like to congratulate all the other artists who participated this year. It was a joy to follow your posts and see the creative way that each person handled doing your journal. We had so many wonderful ideas and drawings displayed through the month. Even though there were several people who were doing something based on gardening, each was so different. Be proud of yourselves even if you weren't able to do a page each day. Life happens and it is difficult to keep up sometimes. Thanks to all of you for an inspiring month!
As you can see at the end of the last page of my journal, Tracy was heading off on another adventure. Maybe we will see her return next year in Paris.
I really enjoyed your time with Tracy, Joan and you did some wonderful sketches and decorations on your journal pages. I really like the fact that you tell a story as it makes the whole thing so much better. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou are so sweet, Val. Thank you so much for following along all month.
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