I’ve
participated in 6 IFJM’s now. And every
year as April approaches, my mind seems to go blank and I can’t think of what I
want to do. I have amassed a list of “good
ideas” for fake journals, but when I look at them in March, they suddenly do
not seem like good ideas anymore. Some
of them would probably not hold my interest for 30 days. Some of them would require too much research,
and I’m too lazy to deal with that for a whole month. Some of them just don’t appeal to me at the
moment, but maybe another time. As it
got close to April 1 this year, was
thinking about the past winter, and how I was sick with colds and bronchitis
for most of it. I spent a LOT of time
watching TV, and simultaneously playing solitaire on my android tablet. What if I had spent that time sketching
instead? What if I sketched what I was
watching on TV? Aha! I had my character. She was a shut-in, and spent most of her
days watching reruns of her favorite TV shows.
She would use the “on demand” feature to freeze the action, and sketch
the characters in these shows. (I had
been meaning to get more practice sketching people, so this worked out really
well). I used a Strathmore mixed media
journal, and a Micron sepia .05 pen, directly in pen with no pencil. A few pages into my journal I discovered that
if I DVR’d the program, I could freeze the action indefinitely, instead of the
two or three minutes “on demand” gave me.
And so, I met three of my goals.
1. To practice sketching people
2. To add some redeeming value to my
habit of watching too much TV. LOL!
3. For my fake journal to hold my
interest for the whole month.
Oh, and 4. To make this journal different from my usual
work.
I did miss a
few days, but I’m happy with what I’ve done.
Did my people sketching improve?
That remains to be seen.
