Wreck This Journal...Part Two!

Hey guys! Some of you may remember a previous post I did a little while ago about my beloved Wreck This Journal. Well, it's back, and it's more wrecked than ever. Once thing I noticed right off the bat is how drastically the journal changes over time. I had to hurry up and take pictures before it evolved into a completely different creature again!

  Needless to say I've been working with my WTJ a lot lately. It's become my new "busy project" that I do during my idle time (very similar to my boobs piece, now that I think of it!) I feel like I have the freedom to work on more than one page at once, so that keeps things interesting for me. I'm constantly doodling and doing weird mini craft projects now.

Thanks for the idea, Patrick.

One thing I finally finished up was cover and spine of my book. I had a problem with my book trying to "shed its skin" so instead of letting the entire cover peel off, I went ahead and glued down the remaining pieces and colored the spine with crayons. I think it looks wicked now, like a rainbow is trying to burst through the page seams or something.

 I also recently finished the copyright and dedication pages. I tried to insert cryptic secret messages in by highlighting certain words and letters.

I didn't mention this page the first time I wrote about my Wreck this Journal, but I should have. I added my own table of contents and it really got me passionate about using my journal for some reason. Possibly because it's easier to pick a page to work on when they're all listed out in front of you!

Blue Bats Galore.. The instructions page is definitely one of my favorite pages now. I used highlighter, crayons, and a little bit of india ink. "Work against your better judgement" is the only instruction I need to keep in mind.

Another one of the classic pages, "Poke holes using a pencil." The first page is watercolor and india ink while the second page is colored pencil. On the second image, I gouged the outline into the paper with pen so that the other side has a cool embossed texture to it. I totally love that kind of stuff. 

Whenever my hands got especially dirty, I made a point to press them down on this page before I washed them. It's scary how cruddy the paper is now.

This is another one of my favorite pages. My boyfriend gave me a bunch of flowers, so I dried them out and glued them in my book. I really enjoy using flowers in my work, their colors are beautiful and they can have a very paper-like texture.

Speaking of my boyfriend, he especially wanted to "help me" do this page for some reason. I can't imagine why! Afterwards, I added some of my troll face stickers, they'll be good for future targets.

Dirt creature!

In the spirit of recklessness, I challenged myself to get more people involved in the process of my book. I got a great opportunity to do this when I went over to my relatives house for this past Easter. I have a lot of little cousins running around that literally jumped at the chance to help mess up my WTJ. They were already playing outside in the yard, so it was the perfect setting to complete some pages which involved getting your hands (or feet) dirty. I definitely got what I wished for, and was soon overwhelmed by piles of dirt clods and patches of dried grass that were donated by my little cousins to put in my book. I have to give them credit for not only their enthusiasm but their creativity aswell. At one point they were just using the dirt clod chunks as crude coloring untensils... brilliant. Wreck this Journal was made for kids, they have such a free spirit when it comes to art.

"Rub here with dirt"

Stand here and wipe your feet.  Drawing out where your feet should go first helps.

Tie a string to the journal and go for a walk..
but where are you going??

These two pages demand that I physically throw the book around. I haven't worked up the gall to do that yet, but I did start decorating those pages instead!

Two of my more stylish pages. Instead of making paper chains, I decided to make paper braids. I also added some laminated bananas to my fruit stickers page...There's five of them I think, and they're super cute. I was going to make them into bookmarks but I like them better this way.  Oh and also, if you didn't notice, I whip my hair back and fourth.

"Sew this page" so far... Umm I think I'm doing it wrong. Still a work in progress..
I will write more about this mysterious creature later.

I added some water color and blue ballpoint pen to my free'd fishies page.

"Color Outside the Lines"Pt. 1

"Color Outside the Lines" Pt. 2

This one's a two-fer. I decided to be a little different when it came to my interpretation of the "color outside the lines" page. Instead of coloring outside the lines, I cut along the lines. In result, I was able to do this cool peep hole effect. I used good ol' reliable crayons, pens and sharpies for the colors and detail.

Another one still in process. Trace your hand. In my case, I traced several.

Magic's in the makeup! So I put makeup all over the back cover of my Journal. Now it's beautiful.

I am no where near finished with my Wreck this Journal, but I'm savoring it while it lasts. It's been a very inspiring experience so far, and I can't wait to get into even more zany journaling adventures. Expect even more updates from me in the future about this subject. There are still so many pages to go until my goal of completely filling up the book...

In the mean time, is there anyone else out there that's in the process of wrecking their own journals? I'd love to see your techniques and interpretations of the directions.

P.S If you don't have a WTJ yet, go out there and get one! It's a great exercise for big and little kids alike.

My Journey With Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal 

1) The Beginning.....
2) WTJ Part Two
3) WTJ Part Three - Vengeance 
4) WTJ Part Four - The Reckoning
5) WTJ Part Five - Return of the Journal (Final)

The skeleton man

Skeleton Man- India ink

I did this piece a while back but I'm still pretty attached to it. You can imagine why, since it has all of my favorite obsessions wrapped up into one package. Naturally, the things you feel passionately about always inspire more intriguing works of art. For me, was skeletons, sunglasses, and Ralph Steadman. If you haven't heard of this guy before, he's an incredible political cartoonist that did most of the illustrations for Hunter S Thompson. He was called to my attention when I watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on DVD. On the menu screen it shows a clip of him scrawling out the title of the movie with pen and ink. He's completely mastered the skill of haphazardly slinging ink everywhere. After seeing this video, I had to try it for myself.

So, this piece is definitely channeling Steadman. It was also one of my very first experiences using india ink, so it was nice getting to be so loose and reckless with my pen strokes.  To keep motivated in learning this new media (which is now one of my strongest and most favorite to work with) I kept a quote from my newly favorite artist in mind:

Concept sketches surrounded by doodles.

By Ralph Steadman

"There's a saying: 'In art there is no such thing as a mistake -- a mistake is an excuse to do something else. That's how I feel about drawing and writing. I couldn't draw very well. I kept blotting things by accident, so I decided to make mistakes part of my work."

  Some artists (especially me) always strive for perfection in their work. Tiny stray lines, smeared colors, a crinkle in the paper spells failure in the eyes of some. But who's to say that these mistakes cant be embraced? After many projects where I tried to be perfect, this idea was exciting to me. I allowed myself to make mistakes as I carved out the Skeleton Man in ink. It was very freeing. And of course, you can't really pinpoint any of the areas I messed up, can you?

An eerie closeup of his bony face...

Salt used on india ink

Another cool trick I experimented with in this work was using table salt on the wet inks. Allowing salt to dry on newly applied paint will absorb some of the moisture and pigment, leaving a beautifully speckled design on your piece.
For my skeleton man, I think it's the specks that really bring the whole piece together. It gives an extra sense of color and textured in areas that otherwise would've been plain.





Since this piece was featured in a local art show, it's already professionally matted and ready to hang. If you're interested in buying the original, contact me for a negotiation of price.

Prints are also available. Each print is signed personally by me and come in a clear plastic sheet protector.

$10.00

By the way, Skeleton Man returns in my other infamous piece, Death's Designer Shoes. I can't get enough of this kid.

The Importance of a Sketchbook

I think sketchbooks are so fascinating. Honestly I enjoy them more than refined, finished artwork. I love finding artists that use sketchbooks, the pages always tell a very personal story about that individual's life. Flipping through these books will reveal old ideas, lists, project outlines, and personal notes... they serve as a autobiographical snapshot of the artist's life. Alas, more often I find that many artists own a sketchbook, but never use it. They're always either barely touched or have a million torn out papers and scribbled out drawings.

I've finished 9 sketchbooks since 2004, (red) one in progress!

It's truly a shame, because I have found great value in using a sketchbook. I have actively been keeping one since I was in middle school, when I discovered I needed to put all my doodles and thoughts into one place instead of crumpled notebook paper. Looking back now, I already am thankful for keeping up with it for so long. I simply wouldn't be able to function as an artist without it! I use it to flesh out project ideas, for references, practicing, and often to cure boredom. Believe it or not I've used it as a social crutch... working on a radical drawing in your book is a great conversation starter. Your sketchbook can even make you money- I have earned several commissions just because of the diligent work taken from its pages.

The back of my first official sketchbook named Pinkerton.

I, of course, take everything to the extreme and really went crazy with my sketchbooks. They're awesome to look back on now because I did a lot of cool drawings/sketches through the time I've had them. I also name and decorate all my sketchbooks, by the way, it's just part of my "ritual."  The names are mostly random, but I secretly like to believe that the books choose their own names. Weirdly enough, many of them actually reflect how I was actually feeling in real life at the time.

Here is some of the random work from my 9 sketchbooks. I love seeing how I've grown and what kind of stuff I was doing at the time.

For AP Studio Art class I had to do some stupid sketchbook assignments. Here's an over zealous self portrait!

Ooo I was such a bad kid. I drew this in after school detention.

 The frog is retelling a tale from its childhood.

A class assignment requiring me to talk about my idols and art shows I've been to. I had to do SHT!

My mind is organized. Two of my favorite geeks on the same page.

I was very proud.

This is close to how I looked my freshman year, minus the fruit.

One of the few sketchbooks with a torn out page in it. Didn't happen often!

  Oh, I forgot to mention my massive sticker collection I keep in the fronts and backs of all my sketchbook. It's probably more impressive than my artwork! I collect tons of them.. But that's a whole other story for another time. Here's a little taste of what I have in store for a future post.. Check out my stickers!

If you aren't keeping a sketchbook yet, I hope you will find inspiration to start one soon. It's never to late to start. It's an outlet for your thoughts, but it also serves as a milestone in your artistic development. To be really artsy fartsy about it, it shows how far you've come and how far you still have to go.
One last thing I think people should remember about sketchbooks is that they are perfect because they are imperfect. Our imperfections as people are what make as fascinating, and simply trying to hide that part of us by having a pristine sketchbooks with no mistakes or "only good drawings" seems pointless to me. Someone once told me to never scribble out your drawings, because you may change your mind about it later and discover it was a good idea after all. I tried to follow that idea with my sketchbooks, and it's paid off for me many times.

Also, if you're interested in more of my sketchbook stuff, check out this post for my life drawing series.

Genitalia face

An unusual abstract watercolor that has additional naughty hidden images inside it..

This oddball picture was an experiment in style during a sketchy part of my life. (I'm pretty sure I was having a mental break down at the time.) I did a series of these abstracts, all of them quickly scrawled out and fit together like puzzle pieces. This, however, is still my favorite of the series. I feel it has the most, erm, personality.

I like to consider my blog PG, but this is kind of pushing it a little bit. Luckily, you can't see all the "sordid bits" unless you have a perverted mind. So speaking of which, can you spot what's off about this image? How many crude representations of human genitalia can you find hidden in this evil picture?

Prints are available:

$10.00

The "art" of people watching

  Have you ever "People Watched?" It's fun, you can do it nearly anywhere, and its free. Just sit down where some people are and casually look around. It's fascinating observing people's behavior when they think no one's watching them. They aren't posing to look good or saying things to impress you. They're just being natural.
  Artists are able to take "people watching" to the next level when they sketch the life they see around them. In my opinion, the most powerful life drawings are the ones that are spontaneous, when their subjects are unaware they're being drawn. In this way artists are able to capture tiny snapshots of "mundane" every day life. These are things that are rarely officially documented but the very things we're dying to know about a decade or two later.
  The following images are drawings from my sketchbook I've from life done over the past few years. Almost none of my subjects knew I was drawing them while I was doing it, not at first at least. I love the element of surprise. It left my subjects loose and natural, just going on doing what they do best, whatever that was. What results is an intimate glimpse into my youth, the people and places I went and experienced. If you look carefully, on some of the sketches I jotted down what they were saying as I drew them.
By the way, they're all in order of the date in which I drew them. Do you think I improved any over time?

Highschool Sketches

A "friendly caricature" of my freshmen science teacher.

The old man who babysat us in study hall.

Bob can't draw

"One Eyed Jake" got shot in the eye with a roman candle. I think he's all healed up now though believe it or not.

I called this kid Mouse Man. It was his birthday when I drew this. He was usually very shy but that day we had a long conversation. He was oblivious that I was drawing him the entire time.

A left and right view from my desk in Spanish class.

 

 
College Sketches

Various people from the lobby. The eyepatch guy was a real person but I screwed up on drawing him :P

 dirty hippie loves being a model 

I love her enthusiasm for life! (And Lionel Richie)

He's mad. The school wouldn't let him use his hookah.

So, now that you've peeked into my sketchbook, does anyone want to share what's in theirs?