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 Junk Windchime

The other day I got inspiration from an unlikely source. 

A crushed Budweiser beer can circa 1970.

My dad just randomly walked up to me and handed me this old, dirty, crushed up beer can. At first I was (naturally) confused, but then he explained the significance of this strange artifact- it's a classic Budweiser can from the 1970's.  You can tell how old it is by its use of a pull tab mechanism which haven't been used on beer cans in over 30 years. The idea that the can had endured for so long was incredible to me... It's almost twice my age and there's no telling how much it had already been through in its lifetime. For a piece of junk, that's pretty impressive.

 In a weird way, I have respect for this can.  I just had to do an artwork that implemented this gnarly artifact in one way or another.

My found objects
wind chime.

 That's where the wind chime idea came to mind. The crushed can wasn't the only strange piece of metal to accumulate in my area. I went out and searched for more "debris" and found many more fascinating trinkets and pieces. My dad also helped by donating some more metal pieces he found while at work. I raided my bead collection and found even more tiny embellishments to add. With my wind chime, I wanted to take these average, bits of industrial trash and transform them into a functional work of art. I think there is something especially inspiring about giving purpose to things that are normally considered useless junk.

This project was kind of different for me because I don't have much experience with building sculptures out found object. I usually just stick to two dimensions, so there was definitely a learning curve. It was kind of crazy to be so "hands on" with my work.. I had to thoroughly handle each piece, including all the rust, dirt and grime that came along with it. I also implemented a large amount of aluminum wiring, which is another material that is still somewhat foreign to me. Because of this, I had to be a little bit more resourceful with my tools. This time, I actually had to use pliers, crimps and wire cutters to get the effects I wanted in my artwork!

The finished result reminds me of a nest that an overzealous bird would build- Scavenging from bits and pieces of every shiny or colorful fragment it could find.

To string my objects on, I used old junk chains from broken jewelry I have accumulated over the years. They were perfect for the "industrial" theme I was trying to go for, and was great for attaching the charms too.

Some of my favorite components of the wind chime include these two "evil eyes" made from some more 1970's pop tabs.

 I like to think that they ward off evil whenever the wind blows.

Charms that I used in my wind chime include various bottle caps, metal cogs, buckles and broken glass bottles. It was an interesting challenge having to"beautify" each scrap, each thing required something a little different. Some things, like the glass shards for example, didn't need much decoration at all. They already look like shiny shards of crystal.

I even used charms on my charms!

. It started with a cruddy old beer can, but ended with a new found respect for discarded objects. Just about anything can be beautiful if shown in the right light.

My new found objects wind chime hanging out  on the trellis.

The Phoenix

The mythical firebird Phoenix lives in cycles of 1,000 years at a time. Nearing the end of this cycle, the phoenix ignites in a blaze of flames and completely burns itself to ashes. From those very ashes a young, refreshed phoenix emerges, reborn again to live for another 1,000 years.

Just making an update about a very personal artwork I've been working on recently. It's a phoenix done in a rather "traditional" medium for me, colored pencil. I wasn't sure how crazy I could get with my materials this time because it's a gift to my cousin who is currently incarcerated.  

I guess I should explain the situation a little further.  I usually don't share bummer stories like this, but it's so astonishingly sad that I feel like it should be put out there just so that people know it happens. My cousin (and my family in general) has had a very rocky couple of years. It began with the death of our grandparents, who both passed within 5 years of each other. They were the "glue" that really kept my family together. My cousin was especially close to my grandparents as they were major influential figures in his life.  Then, to make matters worse, his mom gets diagnosed with breast cancer. As she was going through chemo, my cos got "mixed up in the wrong crowd" so to speak and was influenced to make mistakes that will now cost him years of freedom. His mom passed away while he was in jail. Can you imagine what this must feel like?

My cousin is only 17.  He still has an entire lifetime ahead of him...

As an artist, I regularly give people artwork as gifts all the time, but for obvious reasons I tried to make this piece especially meaningful. The phoenix mythology has always been attached to the symbolism of rebirth and renewal, which is the only positive thing that can come out of tragic situations like these. I hope that this can at least encourage my cousin to move forward with his life and have the strength to start anew. We are all given the chance to move beyond our past if we put fourth the effort to do so.

My hideous paint palette!

On a random note, I fondly nicknamed
my set of fav. paintbrushes my "A-Team"

Today I figured I'd make a little post about my "traveling" painting kit. It's basically all my favorite paintbrushes and tools packed into one box that I can take with me anywhere. No biggie... most artists have a version of this. However, I have a very special ongoing project involving my paint supplies that I couldn't help but share with you guys... It's a masterpiece in the making!

BEHOLD! My super gnarly paint palette, proudly never washed.

I always get a lot of comments on this thing. Most people find it gross.. I can't imagine why!

It all started a few years ago while surfing the net. I discovered illustrator Will Terry's blog post about a paint palette he's been using for the last 20 years. This thing is truly inspiring, see for yourself:

Will named his palette Benjamin. And about the mountain-like shape it's taking, he says, "That arch you see was at the request of my children constantly nagging me to sculpt some form into him - that took about 9 months."

After seeing this post, I decided that I would start "growing" my own paint palette. By comparison, I still have a lot more layers still to build up before I'm anywhere near Terry's level. But it's definitely something to work towards. For the record, my palette is probably about three years old now.

You can see the layers slowly emerging. Also, in its defense, it looks a lot grimier than it actually is. I use india ink often, so there's this lovely blotchy black glaze all over everything..

Here's the palette from the bottom. As you can see, I've completely filled up the original "wells" to the top, but evidence of their existence still remains underneath.

GEROSS!! And by gross I mean.. AWESOME.

I am often questioned about how I am able to use this thing without "mixing up my colors." I actually don't have this problem with my palette at all. Since I use mostly acrylic based paints, they don't run after drying. I just keep building layers upon layers on top of the older paint, like some sort of crazed mad scientist of paints. 


Not all artists can have a paint palette as monstrous as this one, it certainly isn't for the "Faint of heART" (get it?)

 It requires you to never clean your paint palette, and serves as a valuable lesson in wastefulness. It's incredible to see how much left over paint will accumulate in time- seemingly wasted and unused. But a benefit of creating a crazy palette like this is that you have a chance to sort of build something completely new and unusual out of something that would otherwise be washed down the drain. Plus, it's a testament to your journey as an artist.

Like Will Terry mentioned in his blog post- "[My Palette has] been to Maryland, California, technically Nevada and idaho, but mostly he's lived here in Utah. Like I said before of the thousands of paintings I've done he's got parts of all of them in him."

Wreck this Journal!

I admit it folks, I've hopped on the bandwagon. I am officially a Wreck This Journal junkie.

Wreck this bible!

If you didn't know yet, there is this book out there by Keri Smith that demands that you completely (yet artistically) trash it. Each page contains a series of directions on what to do with the book next in order to "wreck" it... all sorts of zany things from coloring outside the lines to making a drawing with pieces of hair. The book is slowly gaining a cult following. If you search the net, there are thousands of pictures and examples of very cool ways to complete the different pages.

Soon after acquiring this book I was hooked. The concept is very freeing, and it's got me doing art more often and keeping my skills sharp, which is always good. Also, the idea that you create the art naturally and by chance is very exciting to me. The more you work with the book, the more it develops in an often unexpected direction.

Cover page of my Wreck This Journal. I love its mantra... To create is to destroy!

The instructions page, not yet in its final stage of development.

 Speaking of incomplete metamorphosis, my journal is slowly shedding its cover like some sort of reptilian skin.  I can't decide if I want to salvage the cover or make a whole new one! Hmm... better work against my better judgement.

The "materials" list has become a scavenger hunt. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Achoo! My take on the classic "rip up strips" page.

I had a lot of materials to use for this one, I work in an office.

The daunting "bring this book in the shower" page. I actually brought the book in the shower with me on two different occasions, I didn't think it got wrecked enough the first time!

I didn't realize this at first, but there sure  are a lot of four letter words.

I really like these two pages, but they aren't going to stay "perfect" for long.
The conjoining page requires me to sew through the paper, thus significantly changing them in the process.

WTJ Zombies of mass destruction. Oh yeah, and for the record, I have made many sudden destructive movements with the journal. My favorite one so far is when I got my to boyfriend run it through with a pocket knife. On many of the pages (like this one) there is a stab mark directly in the center now.

Escape the nets of oppression!

"Glue random items on this page." One of my favorite ones I've worked on so far.. there are just so many random things in this world to be glued!

I checked out a lot of other Wreck This Journal stuff for inspiration and I came across the official WTJ blog written by the author. She has a lot to say about the philosophy behind this book. One thing she said particularly stuck in my mind. It was something along the lines of- "While working in your journal, you will naturally come across pages that are harder to complete than others. This is normal, it all depends on your personal concept of destruction. However, the pages you avoid represent aspects of your creative process that you probably need to work on the most."

I really took this idea to heart and have challenged myself to complete those certain pages that I struggle with. I haven't got to all the difficult ones yet, but I'm working on it. For example, I tackled this page:

Creating a drawing out of hair. Firstly, I think hair is gross, so messing with it long enough to make a drawing disturbed me. It was extra gross that I decided to use dog hair, but my dogs are very hairy and have a lot of this fluff stuff lying around...

Another thing that's fun about the journal is that it encourages other people to participate in your "wrecking." One page instructs you to leave the journal in a public place and let others deface it. My first location was the kitchen table. My mom, who isn't usually the "artsy fartsy" type, decided to add a few little stickers. Something about her addition is very charming to me. Like I said, the genius of this book is the unpredictable nature of its finished product.

A tiny Jack Skellington sticker.

Some of my friends have also caught the "Wreck Bug." I love seeing how others interpret the directions in this book. It gives anyone a chance to be creative without the fear of making mistakes. My pal Tiffany recently got a WTJ and has especially been inspired:

Check out all the supplies she got to work with! WTJ should always be worked on with this kind of childhood exuberance.

She's using this book to "break" the habits of the common OCD idea that things must always be perfect. I think this is the most important aspect of  Wreck This Journal- learning to loosen up and appreciate things for the way they are.

  I look forward to updating about the progress of my (and Tiffany's!) journal. There is still so much to do. Until then, does anyone else have a Wreck This Journal they would like to share? If you don't have one yet, go out and get one at the book store, you wont regret it. You can also get it online for pretty cheap, just make sure to get it used!

".SDRAWKCAB ETIRW"

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)