Sunday, October 26, 2008

Weekly Journal Spread


I was able to work my way through a second week of Nina's idea of doing one spread gradually throughout the week. This works well for me as I am a veeerrry slow worker and can't get a whole drawing done at once usually. This spread really took a lot of my time this week but I love how it turned out. I made one super error in it but don't think it will show much on a casual perusal. Any artist worth their salt would eventually see it after studying it but I think I'll leave it at that. If you are a person who loves puzzles you'll enjoy my little unofficial challenge.
My aim this week was to try out Andrea's medium of just plain, cheap blue ink from any standard ink pen that people use all the time in their ordinary writing. I started with the pencil and although it didn't come out as nice as her work, I still liked it well enough to continue on to the ink bottle. This led me to the idea of making a page around the idea of writing a letter so I added the paper. (Because I am not typically a single color person but one who wants to see all colors at once, I made the paper in the complementary color and then heaved a sigh of relief!) Well, you can't use ink with a pencil so I had to add a pen and I admit to cheating a bit here-- the pen fit perfectly into my scheme so I traced it rather than drew it. I know, I'm trying to learn to draw but it was just too perfect to pass up. Blue Ink came next and then I was stumped. Folk art being one of my loves, I decided to add some to the big empty corner. I got the values off some from what I wanted but its okay; I figure I gained a little more experience.
At this point I figured I was done with the major parts of the page but wasn't satisfied and then I did something I almost never do -- I started to play! I added the figures sitting on the pencil and the spider and that led to the other figures. These represent my grandkids and they will love seeing themselves on the page. Then I added my little muse Beady Guy who is telling all of you to give this technique a try whether it's using the blue ink or building a page one piece at a time. Come on and have some fun!
I apologize for the long run-on paragraph. Blogger isn't accepting my double enters for space between paragraphs so I am resorting to different colors. Hopefull that makes it easy enough for you to read.

28 comments:

  1. Wow, Freebird, this spread is awesome! You rendered everything so well here, that ink bottle is fantastic. And it´s great that you got a theme here too, I haven´t managed that yet. I have only decided on a medium for each week, such as waterproof colored pens the first week, grayscale the second, and this week it was non-waterproof coloured pens with somewhat lighter colours. (Not posted yet, though.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this, Freebird! The complementary color scheme works very well, and the page manages to be polished and playful at the same time. Good on ya!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OOOH MY Timaree...What a glorious spread! This may be one of my all time faves of yours! Well done! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this post!
    I'm going to offer some feedback, but there are rules. It's my thoughts only, nothing else, you choose to consider them of reject them.
    Be bold - you are an artist, no mistake - speed is immaterial!
    If speed is an issue, work in a smaller space and fill it- but don't forget to be brave, bigger space next time!
    Keep trying different medium, have fun exploring!
    And steal, poach, experiment whenever you can! If the police call - I never told you that. Love your stuff. i'll keep coming back for a sneaky look.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, this is very well done! I am new to EDM so don't know what this challenge is but your work is great!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Freebird, I am new to EDM, too. Wow! Your spread is amazing!! I am SO impressed! I look forward to seeing more of your work.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is an absolutely fantastic spread...Keep at that pen work, it suits you, these sketches are fantastic! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, thank you. How lovely. I think you've done a great job with the ballpoint. I especially love the ink bottle. I'm touched. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I popped over from Andrea's blog. She quite remarkable isnt she. I hate her.

    I'm kind of hating your stuff too - very good. You two are going to make me want to take my time when I draw. Something else I hate to do.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Freebird this is soo beautiful and awesome! I love the figures, they are so light and energetic:) I can see when you started to play on this one and I think it comes in a process, I mean you start stiff and strict but as you forget yourself you enter this world of playfulness and sketch takes it's own route. The beginning is difficult but please carry on I'll be coming back to see more and more:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great Page! I just loved looking it all over there's so much good stuff to look at and it's all beautifully laid out.

    I thought the different colored post text was to echo the page -'till I read the whole enty :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is absolutely great. Love the use of blue and what you've done with it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thankyou everyone. It was so nice having you visit. The encouragement offered from EDM members is so super.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love the idea of one medium cant quite Let go of my normal pen and wash of color. Great spread.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh wow. This is fantastic! I love it!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is such a great spread, Freebird. You really figured out how to use a ballpoint. So well done!

    ReplyDelete
  17. FABULOUS!!! I think you are really on to something here with your spreads. And you stepped out of the box and played! I'm envious and you're an inspiration. Breathtaking and Beautiful and looking forward to more!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love the folk art and the ink bottle - really nicely done. By the way, thanks for your help and advice with my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is a great spread and you really look like you have had fun doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is terrific. You have inspired me to try this. What fun and a great result!
    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  21. hello freebird, thank you for visiting my blog...I am glad I could enlighten you about van gogh, as that was my reason for the post....such suffering and such genius.

    btw, I love your blog and will have to spend more time reading it and I think you have others?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh, this is a LOVELY spread! The fact that it is overtly inspired by Nina's and Andrea's work/ideas actually adds to its beauty, I think, because there is nothing more exciting than seeing the way that the influence of different artists is rubbing off on their fellow EDM'ers.

    My own week-long spreads have so far been confined to grids. I would love to break out of them in the freestyling sort of way that you have here!

    ReplyDelete
  23. What a fabulous journal page!

    And I've given you an award - check it out on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I've been gone and am just now checking all my fav's to see what everyone has been up to... LOVE this spread fantabulous!-

    ReplyDelete
  25. OMG you have the nack (misspelled, sorry) with drawing with pen. I've tried several times and it doesn't seem to suit me. Great job and txs soooo much for stopping by my blog. Not many people do, it is much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Tis is so cool!!!! I think I would like to try it-doing one thing over the week so that it is a larger project.
    I like it. Isn't it nice to just have fun? Ya!!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is gorgeous! I love the flowers!

    ReplyDelete

I like being part of a community. Please share your thoughts about my blog with me. Hope you have a wonderful day!