The JFJ Invade Greensboro, NC

Recently we worked with Artist/Educator Sam Peck at the Lincoln Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina. We spent the day working with eighth, fifth, and fourth graders. We got Sam hooked on the visual journal at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching NCCAT) in February, and he wrote a grant to bring us to his school. It was a good day, and hopefully a few of those students will turn into future Journal Fodder Junkies. We are gratefully to Sam and those responsible for having us.

Filling Space

As I continue scanning some of my earlier journals, I am often struck by how empty some of the pages feel. I hadn't really gotten into the type of layering that I do now, and I was much more linear in my way of working. As I was scanning, I even skipped many pages that just were not complete, and I only scanned pages that felt rather developed.
These are three scans from journal number 2 including the cover. Both two-page spreads here are very light - very high key. Although the space is pretty much filled from edge to edge, they still feel rather empty - rather simplistic.
Now I tend to work and rework pages jumping around in my journal adding random things. I tend to go back and fill the space more, and I add more and more layers creating richer and richer documents. But to be honest, I don't know if one is better than the other. There's something that I like about the simplicity.

Dissolve

This page from Journal #1 was begun using three or four portraits from magazines. Watercolor pencil, pen, metallic marker, and acrylic medium transfers were used to finish the page