Welcome to International Fake Journal Month 2013!

What is IFJM?
Please read the page "What Is IFJM" for details.
Learn the difference between Faux, Fake, and Fake Historical Journals.

2019 IFJM Celebration
IFJM has been suspended indefinitely. Please read the pinned post about this below.

Participants who Post Their Journals
A list of 2018 participants who are posting their fake journals this year will appear near the top of the right side bar of this blog around April 6. Lists of participants who posted their pages in 2010 through 2017 appear lower in the same column. Please pay them a visit and check out their fake journals.

View a Couple of Roz's Past Fake Journals
Roz's 2009 fake journal takes place in an alternate Twin Cites, where disease has killed the human and bird populations. (It ends up being an upbeat tale of friendship.) Watch a video flip through of Roz's 2009 fake journal here.

Read an explanation of Roz's insanely complex 2011 fake journal.

Tips on Keeping a Fake Journal
Click on "tips" in the category cloud.

Remember, "Life's so short, why live only one?"


Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Roz's Wrap Up of Her 2016 Fake Journal

A couple weeks ago, Dick and I “paged” through the loose boards that make up the 30 entries of my 2016 Fake Journal. It was satisfying to look at them all again, and then pack them neatly in their box. There is a real heft to each entry because they are on boards. Their 10 x 16 inch size is also substantial. (It was very pleasant working without a gutter.) Each day as the stack of painted boards grew and the unused board stack shrank I felt quite productive.

But as always happens, the project gets packed away (it fit perfectly in the 3 inch tall box, no space for even one more!). After we’d gone through them, Dick hoisted it up onto the shelf—and I had a clear table for new projects. (Which right now is filming new online classes.)

The end of a project always seems a bit weird to me. I suddenly have all sorts of free time—which only serves to confirm in my mind my sense that we can always find time to make art, we just often have to “work around” other things in our lives. And even make choices about not doing certain things in our lives to make time for making art. Most important, we have to realize that the “art time” we want, crave, desire, or even need, might need to be adapted to the actual time we can find, but it’s a place to start.

This year, as in past years, was stressful. The folks don’t seem to do well in the spring. CR ended up in the hospital in March, and his recovery in transitional care lasted well into the end of April. This made finding the time I wanted to spend on this year’s project difficult, in fact there were aspects of this project that were more stressful than any other fake journal, because of what I had hoped to do. (My desire not meeting the realities of life.)

This year, just as I had encouraged others when I set the theme, I sought to shift in place. I didn’t pre-think or plan my character, media or approach, until almost the last minute. The exception was I knew I wanted to take time to work with watercolor because I just wasn’t finding the time in my day—instead always defaulting to using gouache or ink. To facilitate this urge to work with watercolor, just before IFJM began, I cut Arches Cold Press watercolor boards into 10 x 16 inch pieces that I would use for this project. That was the only planning I did.

Two days before IFJM began I thought that it would be great if I could work on sketching with pencil and watercolor instead of my usual ink and watercolor. But I decided that while I would work on that during the month I would also work with ink as desired, just to keep things moving. 

I was hoping that I could take 2 hours a day off to sketch. I had cleared away other projects and it seemed doable. However, with my father-in-law’s health emergency it was the rare day when I found a two hour block to work. In fact I don’t think I ever did. I think the fox entry might have taken 90 minutes, but then, like most of the others it isn’t finished. Oh, the three views of the finch, that took 2 hours.

It’s not that I’m obsessed with time, OK maybe a little, it’s just that the night before IFJM began I knew that I wanted to shift very little indeed, and have a character who loves to draw the same things I do (birds, people, dogs), but who works in watercolor and graphite mostly, and who spends a leisurely time working on glazing and glazing. Her sketches, on boards are her studies and experiments, practice for other pieces. And she doesn’t write a lot. 

I’ve had a lot of characters who don’t write a lot, who don’t think about process. It’s funny to me that I had a character who doesn’t think about her process this year, but because I was thinking about how to work out the glazing I was doing and get the contrast I wanted without ink, I found myself thinking a lot about process. And that often got in the way of me being “in character.”

And then when I would think I couldn’t get into character I would find that the painting took me into character and everything would be right again.

But there was no way to find the time block that I wanted each day so I did what I always do during a project—I looked for the key elements that were most important to me, and still doable, and found a way to adapt to save those elements.

By letting go of the desire to spend long periods of time on this project I was able to hold on to working in glazes with watercolor, and test out my new watercolor palette that I’ve had sitting around for almost two years with very little attention—certainly no focused attention.

I had also hoped to read several books on watercolor, to remind myself of all the things I used to do with watercolor in the 1980s, and all the things I haven’t yet thought to do with it. But the five or so books I stacked up to read were left unread throughout the month. There simply wasn’t time to “research” and paint, so I opted to paint.

I have found that I enjoyed the watercolor so much that the first week after IFJM I continued to work in watercolor on boards, and also used the same watercolors in my regular journal sketching. 

(I’ll be doing a review of my watercolor palette later this summer, on Roz Wound Up.)

I came out of the project with a few new favorite colors, a love of Arches Cold Press watercolor board, more patience with glazing (it’s the drying time that kills me—towards the end of the month, but always when sketching Dick from life, I resorted to a hairdryer to help speed things up), and a renewed enjoyment of the squirrel mop! (Most of the paintings were executed with 3 sizes of mop; only the fine details at the very end of a painting session may have been added with a #12 round.) I found that the mops allowed me to be loose and play with the paint while at the same time control things enough for glazing purposes.

This project also raised questions in my mind about what other projects I wanted to do in the future. With time at such a premium I’m tired of sprinting. I am looking at ways to carve out longer sessions in my days to make those projects possible. It’s a lot to think about. In anyone’s life there are fixed commitments—work and family; exercise and care of one’s own physical health. Starting the online teaching in 2010 just as the folks required more attention has been an interesting juggling feat. I’m already using realizations that occurred during IFJM 2016 in my self-evaluations and goal setting. 

While there were many days during April when the project was frustrating to me I relied on my usual “make it work” attitude to keep going, to modify as needed. Letting my character have more of a voice as the month progressed was the natural reaction to getting to know her as I went along. I would say for me that’s the best argument for doing a little pre-planning, so you know the character before you get going and have a full 30 days with him or her, instead of a “ramp-up” time as you feel your way. 

Any project you can come out of wishing it wasn’t over is a great one. And in response to that I’ve found ways to take some of this project forward in my life and I’m grateful for that.


Hardest thing about the project: Not using gouache for 30 days. Gasp!

Thanks again to all the 2016 participants, whether they shared their journal pages on the public list, or shared pieces in the Facebook group it was great to see what you were doing and what your characters got up to. And it's been great to read your project wrap ups!

As time allows I will be doing a few "process" posts showing various stages of my pages. These will appear on Roz Wound Up. It's a little difficult because I would become so engrossed in painting that I would forget to take "stages" photos. But seeing even the initial sketch might be fun in some instances. I have already discussed with Dick the need for a set up a way I can automatically tape as I paint. Some of the paintings, saved at the very last minute, or blown apart earlier than that could then be used as teaching aids for my students—or cautionary tales. I'm sure this will happen before IFJM 2017. It remains to be seen, however, if that character will sit still! 

Note: If you're new to this site and want to see other 2016 fake journals please look at the participants list in the right-hand column labeled for 2016. Further down the column you'll find participants from past years. In the past two years we've had a Facebook group where people have posted. That's worked great to get people immediate feedback and encouragement. If you are interested in participating in 2017 (and I hope you'll consider it) I encourage you to join the Facebook group in February 2017. 

Also, take a moment to read some of the explanatory articles I mention at the top of this blog, with links. That will give you a sense of this project and the potential benefits. 

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

April 30 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches).
This sketch was made with a Pentel Colorbrush (Sepia). They are
always watersoluble. Watercolor washes were added, then
gouache was added as a final layer. Click on the image to view an
enlargement. (Some rubberstamp ink as well of course.)
The final "page" in my 2016 fake journal. My character makes it home despite the flooding and she continues her experiments with cold press watercolor board, using a Pentel Colorbrush and watercolor and gouache.

I will be posting my wrap-up of my 2016 International Fake Journal Month project either tomorrow or in a couple days. I hope you will check back to find out how the project went for me and what my original goals were.

If you would like to view all the entries in my 2016 fake journal please go to the category list for this blog and select "Roz's 2016 Fake Journal." All the entries (which are page entries for each day of the project will load in a list. You can scroll down to the first entry and then scroll back up to see each entry in order, stopping to click on a listing if you would like to see an enlargement of the image.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

April 29 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches). With
pencil sketch and watercolor. Some rubberstamp ink as well. Click on the
image to view an enlargement.
My character seems to have more patience for glazing watercolors when she is working on her watercolor studies than I do.

Monday, May 16, 2016

April 28 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches) with
pencil sketch and Daniel Smith Watercolor. Click on the image to view
an enlargement.
Well the topic is "Shift in Place" this year and it seems fitting my character should enjoy birds as much as I do even if she likes cold press watercolor board!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

April 27 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches). With
Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketches and watercolor. Click on the image
to view an enlargement.
My character spends the rainy afternoon sketching in the barn.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

April 26 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches),
with Pentel Pocket Brush Pen Sketch and Daniel Smith
Watercolors. Some rubberstamp ink. Click on the image
to view an enlargement.
My character doesn't let the rainy weather stop her from sketching the animals on the farm.

Friday, May 13, 2016

April 25 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches). Pentel
Pocket Brush Pen sketches with watercolor washes. Click on
the image to view an enlargement.
Stuck on the "farm" my character makes the best of the models she has at hand.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

April 24 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch Arches cold press watercolor
board. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen Sketch and
watercolors, with some rubberstamp ink. Click on
the image to view an enlargement.
As will be made clear in later "pages" my character is "stuck" somewhere with dogs and birds as sketching models.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

April 23 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch graphite and watercolor sketch on cold press
watercolor board (Arches). Click on the image to view an enlargement.
My character ends up getting stuck away from home by a storm.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

April 22 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch Arches cold press watercolor board. Sketch with
Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and Daniel Smith Watercolors. Click on the
image to view an enlargement.
My character spends a lot of time with dogs and a lot of time thinking wear and tear on the physical body.

Monday, May 9, 2016

April 21 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch cold press watercolor board. Pencil and
Daniel Smith Watercolor. Click on the image to view an
enlargement.
My character continues her experiments with cold press watercolor board.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

April 20 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board with Pentel
Pocket Brush Pen Sketch and Daniel Smith Watercolors. Also
rubberstamp ink. Click on the image to view an enlargement. 
My character spent some time with chickens and is particularly fond of Simon, shown above—although the design of the page leaves an open question about Simon.

In the following image you can see detail from the portrait. I think it is fun to see the texture that the cold press watercolor board gives to the PPBP line.

Above: Detail from today's entry. Click on the image to view
an enlargement.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

April 19 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board (Arches).
More monochromatic experiments. With rubberstamp ink.
Click on the image to view an enlargement.
My character continues her monochromatic watercolor experiments on this board and thinks about some issues in life.

Friday, May 6, 2016

April 18 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor
board (Arches). Pencil and Daniel Smith
Lunar Violet watercolor. Click on the image to
view an enlargement.
My character continues her experiments on cold press watercolor board with a monochromatic watercolor using only Lunar Violet.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

April 17 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 16 x 10 inch cold press watercolor board with painted
background, rubberstamp and written text. Painting is 9 x 12
inch brush pen and watercolor sketch on Fluid E-Z Block
hot press 140 lb. watercolor paper. Click on the image to view
an enlargement.
My character goes to life drawing on costumed model day.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

April 16 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board
with a pencil sketch and glazed watercolor.
Unfinished.
My 2016 fake character has some of the same friends that a fake character from several years ago has. Wonder how that could be? (Hint: nose, hair, ears.) (Maybe I need to have a quiz? I miss having quizes.)

I will have something to say about this piece on Roz Wound Up at some point after this posts.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

April 15 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: More swatches, more pencil and watercolor, again on
a 16 x 10 inch cold press watercolor board.
Click on the image to view an enlargement and see what the character is up to.

Monday, May 2, 2016

April 14 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board
with watercolor and rubberstamp ink.

Above: Detail of the color swatches at the base of the entry.

Above: Detail of the face—pencil sketch with watercolor.
The above three images are from the same entry and show the type of thing my character is doing with pencil and watercolor. As usual, click on the images to view an enlargement.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

April 13 Entry in Roz's 2016 Fake Journal1

Above: 10 x 16 inch cold press watercolor board
with brush pen, watercolor, and rubberstamp ink.
There's always something to sketch—even my character eats red bell peppers.