Circles

Another few pages of my drawing journal.

I Did Something...

I just started a new sketch journal (of course a watercolor moleskine). The drawing above is from one of the first pages.

1001 Journals

My mom just recently gave me this journal. As I don´t keep a diary and the pages are a bit thin for drawing I thought I could use it for 1001 journals, a project which evolved out of 1000 journals. 1000 journals had been the attempt by Someguy, a San Francisco based artist, to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels, to see where they go, and what people do with them. From all the 1000 books he sent off summer 2000 1 came back in 2003. What happened to the other 999? A documentary (telling the story about these 999 journals) has been just released this month at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.

Basically you sign up to add to a journal or you start one yourself and let it out into the wild. I sent this one (registered as Journal 2898) off to the States and after the next participant has added some art to it, the book will be left in some public place (airport, subway, bus, pedestrian zone, McDonald´s, etc.). This way it will hopefully travel a lot and maybe one day it will be returned to me.

I do hope that I will one day get this journal back.

Fuerteventura Gulmohar Flower Drawings

Remember the flowers I stole in a shopping center? Here are some of the petals which survived all the way to Germany.

Juice Passion

Whenever I see a new little juice bottle, I just have to get it. The content isn´t that important. I do love juices (usually the pure ones) but if the bottle is nice, I´ll also drink smoothies and shakes. The best juice I´ve ever had was the orange juice in Amsterdam and freshly squeezed pomergranate juice in India.
I started a drawing journal a few days ago, mainly to get rid of the side-effects of this passion. As I buy the drink because of its outer packing I just can´t throw the bottles away. But I do not want to collect them. Now I can draw them and then throw them out. Woo hoo! You´ll find sketches of these juices randomly across in my journal.

New Book, Hot Coffee, Empty Journal

Take an empty Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook, a good book and a hot coffee and all of it will lead to a new idea:

For a detailed view click on the images.

Hidden Message (100 Ideas 34)

Boy, this task really made my hand hurt. But it was a good excercise for being more patient. There is a secret message hidden in the pic, but it is hard to find. But once you see it, it is obvious.

34. Fill an entire page in your journal with small circles. Color them in.

I admired Mim´s and Casey´s colorful circles, but then I used my favorite color combination (red & black) again (though I had planned to do something more colorful). Strange!
BTW: Casey joined the 100 ideas project. Welcome! (3 people are even more inspirational.)

Link to Mim´s post
Link to Casey´s post
100 ideas

Four-Letter Words (WTJ)

This one was an interesting task. The results somehow show the way I am and the way Benjamin is imo. My pages are filled with simple fun little pictures. I just enjoyed doing them. And Benjamin thinks a lot more about the things he does and is a lot more complicated. At least that is my opinion. Any thoughts, Benjamin? ;)

"A page for four-letter words (WTJ)"

Mine:

I didn´t write down words, but drew four-letter words in German. I´m surprised how many of them are four-letter words in English (marked in red) as well.

"Glas (Glas), Herz, Dach (Roof), Ofen (Oven), Rose (Rose), Wein (Wine), Auto, Nuss, Salz (Salt), Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier (Four), Acht, Neun (Nine), Zehn, Mann, Frau, Kind, Mond (Moon), Erde, Welt, Ball (Ball), Igel, Hose, Buch (Book), Mars (Mars), Baum (Tree), Nase (Nose), Boot (Boat), Hemd, Rock, Hand (Hand), Fuss (Foot), Mund, Cola (Coke), Fass (Cask), Topf, Bart, Auge, Kamm (Comb), Maus, Geld"

Benjamin:

Benjamin: "When I opened up this page for the first time I immediately knew what I would have to do. I would have to fill it with letter combinations of one particular four letter word. This four letter word is actually a name, and it is a name that nobody can articulate. There are two reasons for this mystery. First: It is a hebrew name, written without vocals. In order to vocalize the word you would have to know how it has to be pronounced. But second: For thousands of years it has been deemedinappropriate to pronounce this name aloud in order to obey the biblical commandment Nr. 3.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

If you don't use the name - the four letter word Y''H''W''H - at all you cannot make wrongful use of it. That's why only synonyms where used, and the real vocalization got lost.

Making use of the divine name has nevertheless always been an integral part of mystic exercises. One of the most influential books of jewish mysticism - Sefer Yetzirah (Book of the Creation) - "explains" the meaning and powers of every of the 22 letters in the hebrew alphabet believed to be the very source of the creation. The three letters within the divine name are special in many ways. And the mystics committed to the exploration of the powers within the letters would sooner or later try write down all possible combinations of those 3 letters in four letter words - all of them names, all of them unpronouncable. And they would do it in order to connect to the strong powers of the creation and in order to feel close to the creator of their longing souls.

I'm not in a state to make an exercise like this. And if I would, this page of the journal would have to be buried afterwards like everything holding the divine name. In fact: I did make the exercise and I felt connected and inspired. But it all happened inside of me. I did not touch the page. I did not take the pen. I did not write. And that's why this page in my journal is intentionally left blank."

A Letter For The Future (100 Ideas 2)

Of the first few tasks Mim and I agreed on doing, I kept postponing this one. I had an idea what I would like to do, but didn´t feel like starting it. But I did buy a nice red envelope and two beautiful sheets of paper with a watermark.
Today I finally wrote the letter. It was easy once I started writing.

3. Write a letter to yourself in the future.

I plan to open it on New Year´s Eve 2009. The content means a lot to me. Of course I had to blur the text. It is too personal to show it to everybody.

Link to Mim´s post
100 ideas

EDM #145 - Weeping Willow (100 Ideas 18)

My favorite tree has always been the weeping willow. The curtains of drooping branches that sweep the ground are beautiful and make the tree a great hiding place. They are pretty common here in Germany, but I have only once been under one. In Autum they have a special golden glow due to the then yellowish leaves.

34. Draw your favorite tree.

At our last parting
bending between
boat and shore . . .
That weeping willow

by Masaoka Shiki (1866-1902)

Link to Mim´s post
100 ideas

Burn! (WTJ)

Today, I´m not adding anything to this post. It is Benjamin´s text, who is doing the project with me.

"Burn this page (WTJ)"

Benjamin: "Many years ago I also burned a page. It was a love letter and the burning was part of a ceremony. I was sure by burning the letter my words would find their way straight to the addressees heart. Sending it, getting it read - that's at least what I thought - wouldn't transport my feelings in an adequate way.
I used a glass ashtray and lighter petrol. I put it on a small metal plate on my bed and set the letter on fire. It was a light blue sea of flames. And while the paper turned brown then black I was still sure I would have done the best thing I could. Until - the fire made the ashtray burst into two pieces. The rest of the petrol flew onto the plate. It got hot, so hot, that the quilt on my bed started melting. I panicked, tried to extinguish the fire. But it got worse. The plate slipped from the bed and what was left from the fire burned a serious hole into the carpet.
I thought that being sick from love would be a disaster. In fact it was. But the marks of the fire left on my bed and the carpet were disastrous, too. I didn't even try to make up a story in order to explain the clear signs of my voodoo game to my mother. I've played with the fire, I said. And that was exactly the truth - before and after I had lit the match.
This time I took more caution not to burn down the flat. But what I thought, when the journal page burned down was exactly the same as those twenty something years ago: Burn my love right into her heart!
Looks like I don't grow up. She was standing right next to me. But I lit a fire instead of turning my head and telling her: I carry your heart, would you carry mine?"

This is how Benjamin burnt his page:

And this is my result:

Sushi (100 Ideas 4)

Dinner time is always very busy, specially with the kids around. No chance of being able to draw my dinner then. So I decided to draw my lunch. Usually I only eat something small at home. But yesterday I saw this delicious box full of sushi waiting for me right there on my way back home from an appointment. I decided to treat myself as I love sushi and haven´t had it for about 5 years! I´m sure I was also inspired by a sushi drawing done by The Renaissance Chameleon. I saw it the first time about 10 months ago and I really like it very much. It also got me to do more Moleskine drawings.

4. Draw your dinner.

You can´t imagine how difficult it was to draw the sushi instead of eating it. So I had to do a quick illustration... always eating the parts, which I had already completed drawing. Give me more!



You can find a lot of sushi drawings in Moleskines at flickr. I guess, it is easier to draw your food when it won´t get cold while doing so.

Link to Mim´s post
100 ideas

Pour, Spill, Drip, Spit, Fling Your Coffee Here (WTJ)

Last week finally I started Project 1 "Wreck this journal" (WTJ), which celebrates creative destruction, with Benjamin. I was surprised he wanted to do this with me as it takes some time and who´s got spare time?
But then we did the first few pages of the journal together and I could see how much he enjoyed destroying his copy of the journal. You can´t imagine how much fun it is to fill/destroy the book in a messy kind of way.
Before we started I had to get a third copy - just because it looks lovely without our messing around and because I really felt sorry for this wonderful little book. So now I have got a clean and empty copy of the journal and one which is already brown and messy after filling the first page.

"Pour, Spill, Drip, Spit, Fling Your Coffee Here (WTJ)"

Benjamin made his stains this way:

Benjamin: "I hate those unavoidable coffee stains on my white office table. So I decided just to sprinkle some tea onto this journal page. Stupid me: Those sprinkles were hard to notice.
Well, if you really want coffee stains you'll get them. I brewed my coffee making sure to spill a lot all over. Nice result after all. Like it."

And I made myself a very strong cup of instant coffe and just could not stop...

dripping the coffee with a straw...


on to the page. The whole book smells of coffee now.

100 ideas 1 - part two

Covered:


Partly Uncovered:


Uncovered:

Link to Mim´s post
100 ideas

Collecting rubbish (100 ideas 1)

The next assignment was to collect stuff from the sidewalk. I did this together with my kids on the way to the kindergarten and back. It was strange walking all the time with the head down on the ground and at first it was also very strange to pick up all the rubbish (specially cigarette stubs or dirty stuff). But you can´t imagine how happy the kids were to pick up all these colorful bits and pieces. It´s going to be hard to get them away from this again and they still keep finding wonderful things.

1. Go for a walk. Draw or list things you find on the the sidewalk.

What a variety of things we found! Usually I don´t see so many different kind of colors when I rush along.

Full page:


Right side:


Left side:


When I completed the drawing I went to have another look at andrea joseph´s sketchblog.
She has a picture showing stuff she found at a church yard. I was surprised how many similar things we found. You should take a look at her blog. Her crosshatching is just amazing.

Link to Mim´s post
100 ideas

100 Ideas By Keri Smith Has Started (100 Ideas 3)

The Asia Filmfest is finally over and I can get back to other stuff. The whole week was rather busy... watching as many movies as possible. But I did have a lot of fun doing so.
A while ago I started two new projects. "Wreck this journal", which I will be doing with Benjamin and a second one "100 Ideas" which I will be doing with Mim.
Mim and I agreed on doing the first few assignments in no special order and just try to do complete all 100 ideas.

3. Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create, (new pen, a tea cup, journal).

I started with this easy task. No difficulties for me to go shopping for nice stuff! :) So I bought this wonderful red water color journal (along with a set of pencils) for documenting the 100 ideas on this list.

The lower pics shows the 100 things on the list.

Update:
Mim started with the same task and we even bought similar things. Check her post out here.

100 ideas

Wreck This Journal By Keri Smith (Project 1)

Today I finally received my copy of "Wreck this journal", which celebrates creative destruction: "To Create Is To Destroy". She encourages the reader to fill the book in a messy kind of way and then to destroy the pages to experience the true creative process. The book is wonderful and I already find it difficult to destroy the pages, to poke holes into them and to crumble it - as suggested. Even writing in it seems hard to do, as I really consider books to be treasures and like to take care of them.

Still I wanted to start right away, but then I had this idea: It would be so much more fun to do this together with someone else. Then we could compare the pages. I think this could be fun to do and inspiring. Maybe we could also blog about it.
I´m looking for someone who would like to do this with me. In exchange for the time you need to invest I would send you one copy of the for free. I had a look through the book. There is no need to be an artist. So, if you drop by my blog from time to time, can read and write English and would have fun doing this, just send me an email.

BTW: In case you want to have a look inside the book, watch the video on Danny Gregory´s blog. He reviews some books and "Wreck This Journal" is the first one.

Happy Day!

What a great day yesterday. The ordered book "A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book" by Frank Warren finally came. I read about half of the pages so far and it feels as if I´m holding a treasure in my hands.
And then a lady I got to know some weeks ago, just gave me her old bicycle. What a wonderful present! I´ve been wanting to have one for quite some time now. I offered to pay for it, but all she wants is to have a cup of coffee with me. Thanks, B.!



This is one of the pics I took in Amsterdam. I like the pic and the text. It´s a good motto. ;) It´s a mirror in the "House of Bols". If you look carefully you can see me inside the letters. I´ll post some more journal pages and about the fun I had there, in the next few days.

Amsterdam - Day 2 (Part 2)

Houseboat:

3-D letters at the Museumplein behind the Rijksmuseum:

House along the Grachts:

I found a little bottle of ink and I was inspired by Stefan G. Bucher´s Daily Monster to this (I made two more in the journal):