recycling to reuse...

How do you store your colored pencils and related supplies like erasers, blenders? Right now, I'm liking mine in this, scarfed before our old dishwasher was hauled away last year. I keep my watercolor pencils separate from these plain janes -- different techniques and process, so why mix them? Anyway, my tip for the day, in case you have one of these just laying around, lol. Nah, probably not...winkwink.

Journalling Update...

Lately, I've been in some kind of linear art progression borne from my being so anal, I fear. I get going on prepping pages, in my present case it is painting gesso on journal pages in every journal that needs it, and I cannot stop. Well, I can but I don't want to. I get the best feeling when I'm gessoing -- I feel secure, safe, peaceful -- much like the feeling I'd get when I colored as a kid. It's also mindless and that feels good, too.

At any rate, when I do get time to play, all of this gessoing prep gets in the way of actually creating something, because I don't have access to a journal. The journal I need is either underneath a weight getting pages flattened or laying open getting pages dried.

The answer, of course, is to have a journal for right now that is solely for creating without requiring a prepped page. That means gluebooking. So, problem solved, right? Well, you know dense old me, I have to get to the answer in my roundabout way. I went to my storage box that holds blank journals and looked around.


I "inherited" this 2006 student planner from Missy. She wrote in only about 2 dozen pages of it, so it is mostly blank. I love the way this book feels in my hands, and I like it that the wire binding is small in circumference. It has an attached vinyl zip-pocket on the front that I can keep or cut off. I'm keeping it on for now.


The back chipboard on this one is very thick and strong with a nice glossy finish.


The pages feel stronger and thicker than copy paper. I'm guessing at the very least they are 38# thickness. So, I pull out the journal and gesso a two-page spread. I immediately notice that it takes the gesso well and stays pretty flat. Score!

However, I am still in the same boat, just with one more journal in the mix.


So, I go back to my box and notice this 2006 hardbound planner. I have a few of these. I was ordering them through American Express. I like how this one feels in my hands too.


There are page spreads in the front and back that are gorgeously patterned.


And every month the month view has large photos of scenery or people doing things.


So, I gesso up a spread in this book. The pages do well, almost as well as the first planner. Still, same boat.


Finally my dense brain snaps and I pull out of the box another composition book. This one has SpongeBob SquarePants on the cover. That's the one. I can call it SpongeBabe GlueBook. winkwink


Finally, remember how I pasted on the strips from a mail-order catalog to pages in my *almost daily* journal? Well, this is a photo taken of it after the next step. I brushed gesso onto the last page spread of the strips. Doesn't it look cool? When I was brushing it on, it laid down fine, but if I back-brushed across the same spot, the gesso glopped up, literally changed form. Silly me just left it that way to see how it would look after drying. I like the way it looks. I'll have fun inking and glazing over this, and so far the pages are still sturdy and intact.

Until next time,