Artistic Accomplices

It has been a strange and wondrous few weeks since NCCAT, and my head still seems to be spinning. The idea of connection has been on my mind lately - for the last few months, and with some time off away from teaching school, I have been thinking even more about it as I have been working in the journal and on my own art more this last week. Art is an amazing way to connect with others, and I am a firm believer that anyone has the capacity and the creativity to create visual art. Too often I hear people spout off about not having talent. But I believe that "talent" is just an excuse not to try. "I don't have the talent, so why bother even trying," these people seem to tell themselves. But that's another topic for another post.

But it seems that more and more, we are coming into contact with people who simply have not created in a long time, and the visual journal has allowed them to reconnect with the creator within. It seems all too easy for people to lose touch with their inner artist, crafter, or creator. Inertia has them running here and there or simply vegging in front of the tv or simply neglecting that part of themselves. It has always been a great gift to have Dave as an Artistic Accomplice - to keep each other motivated - to urge on the creator - to help each other stay moving artistically. The above two-page spread in one of my small Moleskine was a collaborative piece between Dave and myself. It was probably started at some restaurant with being passed back and forth while waiting for food to arrive. It's nothing grand, but it is a way to stay connected with each other and with art.

Finding artistic accomplices and creative collaborators is a key component of the Journal Fodder Junkies, and this, in part, drives this blog. Unfortunately, I don't post as often as I wish I could, but inertia is difficult to overcome whether it's working in the journal or posting to the blog. But it is my sincerest wish as 2008 winds down, that I can be an Artistic Accomplice to others out there, and urge on the artist within. We do not create art in a vacuum. We create art as a way to connect to ourselves and our humanity.

Connection and Growth

This two-page spread was stated over the last two days in reaction to my week at NCCAT. It began as some spontaneous spirals and curves thinking about the connections that I have with people both existing connections and new connections. The curving, spiraling lines represent growth - the ability to grow where you are planted, and the squares and straight lines represent structure and how it is only under the right conditions that this growth can happen. I am just so grateful to all the connections and re-connections in my life - grateful to all the people who have touched my life in some way. And all these connections are chances for me to grow - to become more of who I am - to reach out and connect with others and help others along their personal journey on planet earth. To know how you have changed the world and touched lives is an important gift. So this spread, although in just the beginnings of its evolution - its growth, is dedicated to all those people who have come into my life, who have shared their journey with me. I thank you all for the ripples that you have left in my life.

JFJ Rock Cullowhee and NCCAT

For the fourth time Dave and I presented a week-long renewal seminar at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) in Cullowhee, NC in a mountain retreat setting. It is truly heaven on earth for teachers as a place to go and to get some valuable professional development. We are honored to have presented our Visual Journals:Where the Image Meets the Word. This time around we had 22 educators from across the state from a variety of curricular areas - many feeling that they were not artists, but were wanting space and time to renew their spirits.

As is usually the norm with the NCCAT experience, we had many epiphanies and cathartic moments during the five days. Tears were shed as these teachers got back in touch with the most important things to them. It is an amazing and emotional experience with many finally getting much needed time to find themselves. And this past week was exceptionally powerful - for some it was a life altering experience, and many strong connections and friendships were forged.

The above photo is from the last day as participants spend a few last minutes looking through each other journals.

Another important aspect of NCCAT is not so much the content, but the time to be with one another, and it has become our tradition to indoctrinate willing participants in the game of Farkle (also spelled farkel). It is a dice game played with 6 dice that Dave learned, and we have played it for years. It can only be described as Yahtzee "on crack." There seem to be different versions out there, and we have set rules that we play by. The strange rules, the fun, and the laughter, are all a good compliment to the emotional days, and Farkle becomes an important aspect for some participants. Above is Bean's beautiful six-dice Farkle - when no dice score - and the first of the evening.

We are grateful to the center for allowing us the opportunity. We are gratefully to Center Fellow Donna Glee Williams for bringing us there and Program Associate Tootie Watson for all of her work throughout the week. We are also grateful to the 22 courageous individuals who now share the visual journal journey. More info on NCCAT can be found at http://www.nccat.org/.

Product of the Week - Art Print: Find Common Ground

This two-page journal print is color laser-printed onto 11"x8.5" acid-free, matte laser photo paper and is packaged in a clear poly bag with a stiff, acid-free cardboard backer. The print is not attached to the backer allowing for multiple framing possibilities.

It is only $15.00 plus S&H and is available on our website here along with other prints and merchandise. Using Paypal, we are able to accept PayPal as well as all major credit and debit cards.

IF - Similar

After hustling this week to get everything ready for NCCAT next week, I was able to have a relaxing day working in the journal, and I was able to begin a response to this week's topic: "similar".

This page was started with some watercolor pencil, and I then did some stream of consciousness writing about how many people want to be the same or similar to others. I mentioned how many identify with a group collective like a university, a place of work, or a sports team. For many people being a part of this collective is key to their own personal identity. I have always had trouble identifying with the group and have always preferred to identify with the individual.

For example, I am a devoted Pittsburgh Steelers fan with growing up in the Pittsburgh area during their first 4 Super Bowl wins. But I own one t-shirt, one novelty sign, and one button, and I don't say, "We won" or "We lost". I'm not on the team. I don't receive a check from the Steelers.

But many people do identify strongly with these groups. And advertisers and big business try all they can to get people to buy and consume the same things. Think about the iPods dominance on the digital music device market.

Conform and Consume became words that I was attracted to and I stenciled them in. I then built up several layers of watercolor and watercolor pencil, as well as ink and collage. The packaging tape transfer of the Dalai Lama came next, and it created a strange juxtaposition next to the words "conform" and "consume". But then I turned each into a phrase - "Consume experiences" and "Conform to your own principles". The blue ink lines were really the last big things I added. They remind me of rivers or blood vessels or even roads. But they represent the connections that we have with others.

We need to celebrate our differences and our uniquenesses while understanding that our similarities are much more general and basic - our humanity, our compassion, our desire to be happy, our resilience, and our ability to overcome our differences. We cannot break into factions and groups with an us versus them mentality.

This page is unfinished, but I wanted to post it before I left for the weekend. I'm sure it will evolve.

Search for New Ideas

The visual journal is a great place to explore new ideas and to work out artistic stagnation. Often times it is a matter of working with a new material, working in a new location, or working on a new idea. Sometimes its simply about diving in and tryring something without much thought.

Sometimes it's just a matter of being around new and different people. And Dave and I will have the chance to do all of these when we travel to Cullowhee, North Carolina to teach for a week at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT). This will be our fourth year to teach a visual journaling seminar there. It is always a great experience, and we are looking forward to it.

So, even though you may not have an NCCAT to go to and recharge and overcome creative stagnation, break out, dive in, dig deep, and search for new ideas. Look online, join a group, splatter paint, and have fun.

Product of the Week - JFJ euro Sticker

It's been a couple of weeks since I was able to feature a product off our website. So here it is. The Journal Fodder Junkies Euro sticker. For just $3.00 each, you can proudly proclaim yourself a Journal Fodder Junkie. Slap one on the front of your journal, the bumper of your car, the window of your bedroom, or nearly anywhere else. Visit the online shop here, and find the sticker and much more.

IF - Opinion

After a couple of busy weeks, I was able to work on an IF topic. This two-page spread began with some brainstorming on the word "opinion" which led me to reflect on beliefs. After writing about connection (a topic that has much been on my mind lately), I began working on these pages that already had some map-like imagery. Slowly I built up layers of watercolor pencil, graphite, acrylic paint, and paint marker. I even traced several of my students' hands.

Like many of my IF pages, this one bears little resemblance to the topic. But as I reflected, I wrote about how many people do not believe that we are all connected. They feel that they are truly individuals isolated from others and that actions have little bearing on others. Many people in essence are rather egocentric and find it difficult to empathize with others.

We, as a human race, at times find it much easier to fall in on ourselves rather than to reveal ourselves to others. What a sad world when we cannot feel that connection to others - when we are so scared, even when surrounded by people, that we cannot and will not reach out to others.

Stop dreaming about life, and start living the dream...

This past weekend, Dave and I attended the Virginia Art Education Association's annual Fall Professional Development Conference in Centreville, VA. We ended up doing three presentations/workshops total, and we left the conference feeling like we had a definite impact on a number of people. And just as with the North Carolina conference the previous weekend, we had a number of repeat "customers". These conferences, presentations, and workshops never fail to reinforce that we are onto something.

The above page was started during the conference, and I worked on it a bit over the last three days. It is still a work in progress and will certainly undergo further transformation. But it's about the connections that we continue to make and the growth we continue to see in ourselves and the people we meet.

Thank you to all the folks who paid us a visit the last two weekends. We appreciate the support. And thank you to all the folks who are not art educators, but feel a connection with what we do. The visual journal is much larger than art education, and we are always looking to connect to people from all walks of life.

You make a lot of ripples dropping pebbles in the pond...

Dave and I headed down to Asheville, NC this past week for the North Carolina Art Education Association's Fall Professional Development Conference. As usual, we had a great time. We saw a lot of familiar faces, and met some new ones. We reconnected with past participants who have taken our workshops and seminars, and made some new connections.

Each time we do these conferences and seminars, the power of the journal and its life transforming nature get brought home. Dave and I know what the visual journal means to us, but to hear so many folks come up and say how much the journal has changed their teaching and changed their lives, leaves me speechless.

I thank everyone that was a part of our weekend. Dave and I are grateful to old friends and new ones, and we see the ripples in the pond expanding outward.

The above image is from one of the collaboration sessions over the weekend. See, we have a habit of pulling out our mini journals and pocket sketchbooks and passing them around at lunch and dinner. There are always some interesting things that get thrown into these collaborative pieces.

JFJ Invade Staunton, VA

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Dave and I have been getting ready for a couple of upcoming conferences. But I am finally getting a chance to post photos from a one night art exhibit that we were part of in Staunton, VA on October 24th. We were invited to hang work by Kronos Gallery owner Kevin Postupack in a temporary exhibit space for one night. I hung ten pieces and actually sold one. I was the one person that sold anything that night. It was definitely a great experience, and I heartedly thank Kevin for including me.

Dave in front of his mixed-media piece "Eastlake"

Me in front of my mixed-media relief "Ampersand"

This is the piece that I sold. It was a piece that I had forgotten about, and as I was rummaging through my studio, I found it and decided to include it in the show. It's a mixed-media piece on a 12"x12" canvas.




This is the section where I hung my ten pieces - all the colorful pieces in the center of the photo.
So, we hung out the night at the exhibition, talked to a lot of people, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. So, if you are ever passing through Staunton, Virginia, and you like contemporary, cutting-edge art check out Kevin and Kronos.

IF - Vacant

This two-page spread began with layering VACANT shapes using various colors of watercolor pencil and water-soluble graphite. Like many others, I thought of "vacant eyes", but as I worked and began to write, I thought a little deeper. I wondered what it was that made certain folks so vapid and vacant. We as a society distract ourselves with all the bells and whistles of technology, with inane entertainment, and with insipid gossip, and we very frequently are not alone with ourselves. I think that much of the stupidity in the world - at least in the U.S. results from many people not getting in touch with themselves and finding the distractions of life much more pleasing to look at and deal with. Getting to know ourselves takes a lot of work, a lot of introspection, and a lot of courage. We often find that we truly are not the people we want to be. It's much easier to sit in front of the tv or the computer or cell phone and not confront the spaces behind our eyes and under our breast bones. Perhaps we need a map to ourselves.

So this week's entry was topped off with some colored pencil and some ramblings highlighted with some metallic gold paint pen. And it is a call for all of us to face our fears, dream big, and follow that dream instead of being mindless sheep following the herds of consumerism and celebrity.

IF - Repair

It was a busy weekend (more on that in another post), but I finally finished up this weeks topic. When I saw the topic, I immediately thought of a cut or a wound and how the body has the amazing ability to heal itself, and the large "cut" was the first thing that I created. As I worked, my thoughts expanded to include psychological wounds as well. Although the "cut" is pretty gruesome, this two-page spread really is about hope. Even the most serious physical and emotional wounds can heal. Of course there may be scars.

Writing in the Journal

Some people have trouble writing in an "art" journal, but we feel that the writting is a key component of the visual journal. It is this merger of the image and the word that gives the visual journal its power. Many visual journalists use writing and words as the final layer of their pages, but often times, writing can be used as a beginning layer. In this page, Dave began with a stream of consciousness writing in pencil using the prompt "I need..." He then used ink and metallic marker to highlight key words, and then used watersoluble graphite and watercolor pencil on top of the writting. This obscured some of the writing, but it is not importanat that the writing stays legible. It is important that it was written. He finished off this page with a packaging tape transfer of a photocopied photograph that I had taken of him.

The stream of consciousness wrtiting is a great creative writing technique, and it is a good way to "brain dump" all the stuff that floats around in our minds. We use a timed, 7 minute writing that seems to be long enough to get at the heart of an issue, idea, or concern.

Try allowing a spontaneous writing to be the spark for a page.

Product of the Week - JFJ Postcard Set

This week's featured item is a set of ten (10) Journal Fodder Junkies postcards - 5 of mine and 5 of Dave's. Each full-colored card is laser-printed onto 4"x6" photo paper and packaged in a self-sealing poly bag. Each set is $10.00 USD plus shipping and handling. If interested in this and other JFJ merchandise, visit our online shop. We can accept all major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal.

IF - Late

Lately, I've felt that my life has become very hectic and crammed with things that just need to be done. I have even felt that my journal pages have become very layered, complex, and busy. I have even felt somewhat stagnant with both life and journal lately. And so today I wanted to take some time to slow down, simplify, and meditate somewhat. So this spread is simple done with Prismacolor watercolor pencil and colored pencil - specifically indigo blue with a touch of black.

I've been inspired as of late, by the line work of milo aka Michelle White. I've done some experiments in a pocket-sized Moleskine sketchbook, and I used the same type of lines to begin these pages, but with watercolor pencil. I slowly built up layer after layer of indigo blue leaving the white rectangles as places for the eye to rest. And I finished off the spread with colored pencil allowing the rich, vibrant pigment to build up in select areas of the pages. I tried to do something different by using very limited media, color palette, and concept.

It's good to change things up, experiment, and simplify.

Randomness

Beginning pages in a journal can be extremely daunting. The perfect clean, crisp pages seem to draw out the inner critic, and it can often stifle us into submission. We get so caught up in doing something great and something worthy that the blank page becomes so intimidating and stops us from committing to the page. That is when we can just do something random to take the blankness away. The examples below are just random pages started with one of the simplest media - watercolor.
Each two-page spread was started with some random colors and techniques, and there is no preconceived idea of what these pages will evolve into. You can use any material or technique. Try drawing random lines and shapes to ease into a page. Or collaging random elements to a page. Or using random words. But whatever you do, allow it to be random. You are planting the seeds for pages, and with the right care and nuturing those seeds can grow into rich, beautiful, grown-up pages.
For more ideas check out the "How-to Posts" to the right - especially the ones labeled "Encountering the Blank Page."
So, when you are at a loss, try something random.

Product of the Week

This week's featured product is a small booklet of select pages from both my and Dave's journals. Each 4.75"x6" booklet is laser printed in full color on 32 lb paper with 20 pages of journal pages, and each booklet is hand-assembled, saddle-stapled, and hand-trimmed. Each booklet is $10.00 USD with shipping and handling, and payments are handled through our PayPal shop with domestic and international shipping. Each booklet makes for a nice gift for anyone who admires the journal pages of the Journal Fodder Junkies. Please visit our website and online shop to purchase the booklet and other merchandise.

IF - Strings

This weeks IF journal page started off with blind countour line drawings of a table top vise and an old telephone. Since I draw blind contours with one continuous line, I am always reminded of strings. I love the tangle of lines that result in not looking at the paper as I draw. As I worked on the quality of lines, I began to think of how strings can tangle and bind. And recent events in my life brought to mind how so many people are trapped and tangled in the the mediocre, and how they try to bind and tie down others. These are naysayers - people who can never stand up for your vision and will give you a hundred excuses why it won't work. Instead of giving you wings, they give you rhetoric and excuses hoping to tie you to their mediocrity. As I bulit layers of graphite, ink, and watercolor pencil, a tangled figure came to mind, so I created the figure with acrylic, and tied the acrylic into the background with colored pencil.

Although the figure is bound, it struggles against the tangle of lines, and stretches upward. Despite the naysayers and the unbelievers, we all must dream and struggle against the ties that bind us to mediocrity.

A Shout Out

This blog has been up and running for about a year and a half now, and I'm finally figuring out what I want it to really be. I posted a lot when I first started because I had so much to share, but over the months, with the commitments of life and feeling like I didn't have much, I really hadn't posted much. I really want this to be a place that people can come and find some inspiration for journaling as well as for art in general.

So, over the coming months, I am going to try to ramp up my contributions to the blog in a few different ways. First, I want to continue with Illustration Friday. It is a challenge and a push to journal more often, and I know that it has drawn more folks to the blog. Second, I want to do a bit more self promotion and encourage people to stop by the Journal Fodder Junkies website and online shop by posting a "Product of the Week" type thing. And finally, I want to include more posts that are more of journal prompts - ideas, techniques, and concepts to inspire people to work in their journals and try new things.

I am also very appreciative of all of you who have taken time to visit the Journal Fodder Junkies. So, I want to thank all of those people who have stopped by over the last 18 months or so, and a special thank you and shout out goes to all those bloggers and individuals who have linked to this blog or the JFJ website.

A special, special thank you goes out to a friend I have known since college and who has been constant encouragement, and that would be the Turtleboy himself, Go Flying Turtle blogger Steve Loya. Steve encourage me to start blogging, and has also done a great job of helping to promote the JFJ. Stop by his blog, and read the Artist Spotlight he did with me.
http://goflyingturtle.blogspot.com/
http://goflyingturtle.blogspot.com/2008/03/artist-spotlight-eric-scott.html

Please find a list below of blogs and sites that have linked to the JFJ or included a mention to us. I encourage you to stop by and have a look around. And if I missed your site or blog, please let me know.
http://www.acreativejournal.com/image-transfer-tutorials-for-visual-journals/
http://www.collagediva.com/Site/Kathryns_Blog/Kathryns_Blog.html
http://magicalmuse.typepad.com/magical_musings/
http://harrell.srhs.net/Students/Sketch/sketch.html
http://karenscraftyworld.blogspot.com/
http://3fido.blogspot.com/
http://artsyville.blogspot.com/
http://marinagey.wordpress.com/
http://freestylefibre.blogspot.com/
http://jkl23.blogspot.com/
http://livingwithmrfleas.blogspot.com/2007/05/fodder-journal.html
http://the-turtle-shell.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year-new-journal.html
http://thelinemovement.blogspot.com/2008/06/journal-fodder-junkie.html
http://www.catawba.k12.nc.us/news/detail.asp?ID=616
http://programs.durham.edu.on.ca/schools/donevan/images/stories/arts/visual%20journal%20assignments.pdf
http://wonderlost.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/why-art-cannot-be-taught/

IF - Sugary

Well, it's my second week for Illustration Friday, and I must say that this was a tough one. My work tends to be rather conceptual, and some of the IF topics lend themselves to more literal translations. And that is the main reason that I haven't really done any Illustration topics before. But as I sat and thought about the word "sugary", I immediately thought of cookies - it could have been the sugar cookies that I bought yesterday. But cookies always remind of home and my childhood.

My mom was the head baker at a local grocery store in Washington, Pa., and she is a terrific cook and baker. I still consider her chocolate chip cookies to be the best. But as I thought of my mom's baking, I began to really latch onto this idea of "home". So, I opened my journal and began to draw the house shapes in watercolor pencil, and slowly the page took shape. In the end, the page seems to have very little connection to "sugary", but it was all about the mental and emotional connections that I made to come to the final page. Even when I think of the final theme of "comfort", I think how so much comfort food is the sugary, fatty, delicious stuff. So, this page has a bit of a dark side, because I have always struggled with my weight, and my craving for those comfort foods. Also, I came to the idea of "roots" and the notion that sometimes we are stuck in the past unwilling to uproot ourselves. But that's a whole other idea for another post.

So all in all, it was a challenge, but a good challenge.

The GodFodder

Ever since I first saw a few of Joseph Cornell's boxes in the National Gallery of Art in D.C. years ago, I have been enamored with his work. His work has a mysterious magical quality to it. I have gone back again and again to those little boxes tucked away in the East Wing of the gallery. Since they are under Plexiglas, they have a very sacred feel to them - precious artifacts preserved for all time making them all the more mysterious.

I was very fortunate to see two exhibitions of Cornell's work over the last three or four years. The first was at the Art Institute of Chicago. They have several rooms of his work, and it was the first time, I was able to view so many of his pieces in one place. I believe that these are part of the museum's permanent collection. The other was a retrospective that showed at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum in D.C. This exhibition brought together some of Cornell's most famous pieces as well as many of his collages and early works. What really rounded out the retrospective was all the "fodder". When Cornell passed away, he left a basement studio packed with boxes and files of images, objects, and all sorts of random things that he used to create his pieces. Photos of his studio show shelves lined with these boxes. It was a nice glance into his process being able to see his ephemera as well as pieces only partially completed. I was able to go the the retrospective on three different occasions, and I consider myself very lucky.

So, the above page is a little homage to Joseph Cornell with the image of Cornell done as a packaging tape transfer. The page was completed a couple of years ago in Journal #9.

Illustration Friday - Packed

After months of thinking about using Illustration Friday as inspiration for journal pages, I have finally been able to use one of the topics to complete a page. As I began to think about the word "packed," I first thought of having a page packed with stuff, and then as I worked on it evolved into a representation of how my days have become so packed with things to do, that I have to write it all down just to remember it all, and there never seems to be enough time to get it all done. And that point was driven home when fellow Journal Fodder Junkie, Dave, reiterated the same thing today when he told me how his days are nothing but running. He said that he felt like he started running the moment that he got up to the moment that he went to bed. Just constant running without feeling like anything gets done - without getting anywhere.

So this packed journal page is my first foray into IF. I hope that it is the first of many.

Fodder

I wanted to post something different than my usual "Here Are Some of My Pages" post that I normally post. So I instantly thought of fodder. If you are new to this blog or new to the idea of Journal Fodder, it is simply the "food" for your journal. Over the years I have amassed a bit of digital fodder - images, words, and other things, that I can print out anytime. This saves a lot of actual space in my fodder bins in the studio. So, I decided to post these images. They are relatively large - 8.5x11in., and they should print off quite well.These two images were inspired by paper that I had seen for scrapbooking. I remember seeing some of this 12x12in. paper in a store once that looked as if it had been painted, and it was obvious that it was originally painted and then scanned. I thought to myself, "I can do that myself and save myself some money." So, these two painted papers were created the same way. I crumpled some drawing paper, and then proceeded to paint them with watercolor paint. The wrinkles soaked up the paint differently then the smoother sections and enhanced the texture. Then I scanned them in and saved them. Now I can print them out any time, cut them up and use them in the journal.
Feel free to print these and use them as you see fit. Post to the Flickr group if you like, so that we can all see what you have done. Happy Foddering.

Old Artwork

As an art educator of more than 12 years, I always have lots of demo samples around that I begin and work on with my students when I share new projects with them. Often these samples lie around in a cabinet where sometimes I pull them out in later years to show students. But more often than not, they stay in their cabinet. Occasionally, I purge the artwork and use it as journal fodder. This page was done in Journal #2 (quite a few years ago) using several portraits that I had created from demonstrations on proportion. I cut the drawings apart and recombined pieces to create something new. I need to do more of this.

Artwork

I finally got around to scanning and photographing some newer artwork for the website. Well, newer is a relative term. So this is just a few pieces of the artwork that I have created in the last two or three years.

Teesha Moore's Art & Life

This past Friday, I received a complimentary copy of Teesha Moore's Art and Life magazine where images of my journal pages took up nearly three pages. I am grateful to Teesha for including my pages. I know that she has a lot of fans out there.

It's an interesting story (at least I think it is) of how she ended up publishing some of my pages. Back in the spring, I was searching the web for new and different opportunities for the Journal Fodder Junkies, and I have know about Teesha's Artfest for many years. I emailed her, told her a little about what Dave and I do, and asked about getting an application to be instructors for Artfest 2009. She emailed back saying that she was dropping the info in the mail and asked if I had a website. I steered her to the blog and to my personal Flickr page, and she emailed asking if I would like to be published in her magazine. I sent her some images, and lo and behold, three glossy pages of my stuff. I know that the magazine has led at least one person to the blog and ultimately to the website, and I'm hoping that it will help get the word out about the Journal Fodder Junkies.

Thanks very much, Teesha.

BIG NEWS

Dave and I have some big news to share. Some of you may know that we have submitted a proposal for a book on visual journals to several publishers. Well, after several months, we have just learned that our proposal has been accepted by North Light Books. North Light publishes a lot of books about art and has published several books on visual journals over the last few years. So, we are going to be published, and we owe a big debt of gratitude to editor Tonia Davenport who put a lot of hard work into tweaking our proposal and presenting it to the board of senior editors.

Now there are still a lot of details to work out and things are in the earliest of stages, but as of now the book (yet untitled) will likely come out in the Spring of 2010. It seems like a long time away, but as I have been assured on several occasions, nothing in the book business moves swiftly. So if you are interested in the book but can't wait that long, we do have our booklet as mentioned in a previous post.
And that leads me to our other news, the JFJ website has been updated and tweaked, and now can accept online orders for the booklet as well as other merchandise and art prints. We have set up features through PayPal that will allow for the acceptance of all major credit cards and PayPal accounts. Also we would appreciate any feedback about the website in order to make it more informative, more interactive, and easier to use. Please email us.

Thanks for all the support, and we will post updates about the book as they come up.

Journal Fodder Junkies Website

It's official. The Journal Fodder Junkies have launched the official Journal Fodder Junkies website. Check it out at http://www.journalfodderjunkies.com Hopefully soon we will add a feature that will allow people to buy our booklet and other merchandise online.

Journal Fodder Junkies Booklet for Sale

As some of you know, we are in the process of writing a book on the visual journal that really shares a lot of ideas, techniques, and concepts to use in the visual journal. We have actually sent it off to a few publishers, and hopefully, someone will want to publish it. In the meantime, though, we have self-published a pared-down version that we have sold at conferences, workshops and seminars. So now we are trying to make the booklet available to a wider audience. The booklet is only $15.00 plus shipping and handling.
Each booklet is 37 pages and full color. Each booklet is color laser-printed on quality 28lb paper with card stock front and back covers, and each booklet is bound with a comb binding.
If interested in purchasing a booklet, please email me - just go to View Full Profile, and we'll work out the details. If you have any questions, please email me as well.

Dave's Pages

I've had this blog for little over a year now, and I am trying to make a concerted effort to post more. To that end, I realized that I have never posted any pages by Dave - the other part of the dynamic duo that comprises the Journal Fodder Junkies. So here are a few pages from Dave's journals.Although we use similar techniques, our styles and the way we journal are somewhat different. Dave was the biggest influence on me and my journaling when I started, and we spent many years exploring the journal, sharing ideas and techniques, and influencing each other. Now we have both matured in our use of the journal, and although there are many similarities, our differences are becoming more pronounced as the years pass. At least I think so.I hope that these pages bring a little inspiration, and I hope to post more of Dave's pages in the near future.