Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

Green Journal.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I've found myself preferring soft-cover "recycled" look journals to the deluxe, hardcover versions. I find that the cheaper journals have the fun writing paper that is thinner and less ostentatious and doesn't scream "You'd better write something glorious and meaningful and not ruin my fancy pages!." In the soft-cover journals, the binding tends to be simple staples or basic stitching in the middle of the soft spine, which means if falls open flat and is easier to write in. Plus, they are easier to cram into a purse or backpack. They just flex more and say "Hey, it's all good. Write whatever you want, roll us up, and toss us in your bag."

I'm not at all enamored with journals that are printed all over inside with all kinds of gimmicky graphics and crap. That's my job; I'll fill it up inside!

So, the Moleskine kraft-paper covered journals are nice (but pricey). And (gasp!), I'm not actually a fan of the paper Moleskine uses; my art pens bleed on it, and it's terrible for watercolor and pencils. Recently, though, I found the perfect journal, and promptly bought three. I know how it goes (and how it has since gone): you find one you like, it's gone, and you never find it again. It's like the notebooks from the movie The Interpreter: everyone is looking for them, yet no one can find those elusive Marcel Schurman notebooks.

The journal in question is a simple recycled-brown soft-cover, made of "Italian ecological paper" (i.e. made in Italy of recycled paper), with the words "Green Journal" stamped on the cover. There's a green elastic cord to keep it closed. The paper inside is a fun-to-write-on, thin, lined off-white sheet. The inside of the journal gives a web address of: alfabet.it.

And that's it.

I can't find them anymore. Haven't seen them in any stores. And I'm certainly not going to order them from Italy, though they are listed on the site.

If you happen to run across them, you ought to buy them. Unless you're into the deluxe-look of a journal. These won't make you happy. Otherwise, buy them. As many as you can. They aren't expensive, and they are a forgiving journal; you can spill coffee on them and it only increases their charm (try that in a leather-covered gold-edged-paged journal). They're all recycled and soft-covery and pliable and a sort of haphazard on-a-whim joy to write in. I don't feel guilty about writing in all directions on the page and filling it with crazy drawings or taping stuff inside (which is problematic if you do it too much to a hardcover journal with a fixed spine). And so, I love them.

Buy me one, too, and I'll pay you back. ;-)

Labels: journals, supplies

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Sketchbook examples online.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 4 comments link this post

I found a great site that listed an incredible amount of sketchbooks that you can view online, from well-known artists to artists like myself.

The first thing I noticed was that my name did, indeed, have a listing there, though the link is for an old page that no longer exists. My new sketchbook repository is found here. The second thing I noticed was that I didn't have a red dot next to my name, which meant it wasn't considered a "highly recommended link."

After getting done pouting, I checked out some of these sketchbook links. A few were dead links, but many were good.

I really needed that kick in the pants. I need to be sketching more. Nothing deep here, in this post, beyond a "I need to be sketching more."

Related links:

Artist's sketchbooks

UPDATE: Please read here for further discussion regarding the comments below.

Labels: art life, journals, links, sketchbooks

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Failure to complete.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I am often discourage at my inability to finish projects. I also know that this is very much the norm for creative people: far too many ideas -- some started and some not -- than we'll ever be able to bring to completion.

Creative people are never short for ideas, then, but they are also never short for things that block those ideas and keep them from completing projects or goals.

Too many ideas: The proliferation of ideas is something that can overwhelm me. Though I have moments of writer's block/artist's block, it isn't for lack of ideas. Generally, it comes from too many ideas and lists of "shoulds" that have built up and clogged the gears, so to speak. There's no room to work with them all, since shuffling them around to process one or two of them means I might forget or lose or misplace one.

I hate to forget an idea, whether it is an art idea or a concept or theory I want to explore more in my writing. But I have to get them out of my head or I will grind to a stop and be unable to do anything. I can't press on. I have to deal with this overload or I will soon find myself focusing on my failure to institute the ideas instead of enjoying that I had them to spin around in my head in the first place.

Fear: Fear of failure, fear of success. Both paralyze me. Fear that I'm operating in some kind of void or vacuum and that no one is even on the same wavelength or interested in my silly little idea. Fear of rejection. Fear that I don't have the necessary skill, that I lack the chops to pull off an idea that was mine. Fear of being laughed at. Fear of being too well-liked and having to deal with compliments and people who glom on.

Time: Time management is key. I don't even think I have to expound on this, except to say that the concept of time management is a lie. It's not about managing time, but spending time. Time is money, and we spend it. Once spent, it's gone.

Help: I usually find myself fluctuating between needing help and not knowing where to find it, or not wanting help and needing to do something on my own and having people interfere with too many good intentions.

I don't have a solution for these, though I do have a few suggestions of things that I do that help a little bit as far as the first "problem", that of having too many ideas.

When I have too many ideas, I feel panicky inside. The ideas build up and I know I'm going to start forgetting the good ones. The absolute best outlet for this is a journal or sketchbook (whether you are a writer or visual artist). Until I've found a way to let the ideas out of my head, whether I end up doing anything with them or not, they sit and fester and eventually bring me to that standstill I described.

Let the ideas go. Get them on paper and forget about them. You can come back to them later, with fresh eyes, and see if they're worth the time or if maybe in need of a few changes. Regardless, you can free up space knowing that you wrote it down and can refer to it later. You can start thinking about new things and then write those down, too. There's something about that process of turning non-material thoughts into something dimensional and "outside of the moment" by writing it on paper and looking back on it five years down the road. It's an exercise in and of itself that ends up creating a fabulous work of art or writing.

It is so nice to be able to let ideas go. To forget about them, knowing they are in the safety of a journal.

Unless your house burns down. Or you lose the journal.

But that's a post for another day.

Labels: art life, journals, writing life

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The foundation you don't see.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Too often people gush about how great a drawing or painting is, ruing the fact that they can't draw that well. They miss understanding the foundation not seen: sketches.

I could expound on how life is a series of sketches until the end, but I'll just keep this strictly about art and not get poetic.

I have piles of bad drawings, sketches, and ill-thought out ideas. I obviously don't show those to many people and hence, my percentage of good vs. crap is seriously skewed. It might appear that I have some good stuff.

Oh, the iceberg below the water, the badly drawn figures and animals, with incredibly off proportions, bad perspective, ill-conceived layouts. There's so much bad art in my collection of efforts, hidden away like my own Frankensteinian monster, lurking in the dark tower of hideousness.

On an older version of my web site (maybe four years ago?) I had my sketchbooks online. Then I took them down. Too embarrassing. But now, with very little pride or self-respect left (a handy thing that starts to kick in as I get older, I've found), I've put them back up. Or at least, I've put up those older sketchbooks that I had online earlier. There are a few new ones that I haven't bothered to badly photograph and waste time putting into a gallery.

So, have a look at those old, embarrassing foundational...drawings. Here.

Labels: art, journals

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Blue dragonflies.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Dad had just taken off in his Cessna from the grass runway out behind the yard, and dipped a wing in answer to my wave from down on the gravel road.

I usually, when going sketching outside, carry my supplies in a five-gallon bucket. Upon arriving at the site, I use the bucket, flipped upside down, as a chair. It's very handy. However, I couldn't find a bucket last week when I went out to draw what had caught my eye on my evening walk.

Small, blue dragonflies, hundreds of them, latched onto the thick grass in the ditch by the slough, jutting out like spikes. If I squinted my eyes just a bit, the breeze against the grass made it all appear holographic, a splash of blue covering the green for just a moment.

I ran up to the house, trying to beat the setting sun, and grabbed my Moleskine sketchbook and a set of colored pencils, the Moleskine pages being a great, smooth texture for the soft, waxy pencils.

No bucket to sit on, though. I sat on the road, right at the edge where the gravel flaked off into the dark slough. I hoped no cars or pick-up trucks would come roaring down the road in a blast of dust like they usually did.

Trying to find a comfortable spot in the waning light, I took off my glasses and started sketching.

As always, I find the most amazing worlds right there in the ditch. The smaller picture is almost always more fascinating to me than the huge, grandiose version.

It's not the greatest sketch, nor the most accurate, but that is not the point at all. This was about stopping and noticing and learning, through the use of a pencil, what these dragonflies and this grass was all about.

Two days later, the grass in the ditch was cut and this opportunity was gone for the year. I'm very glad I took the time to sit down in the dirt and sketch, biting flies and all, when I had the chance.

Labels: art, journals

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Empty promises.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I love standing in front of office supplies and ogling the pens. I love going to the bookstore and thumbing through the blank journals, touching the paper and the cover.

They all hold empty promises.

The blank page, unwritten. The empty journal, eventually filled up with someone's story. The unused pen, waiting to either write out receipts or fill out office forms or divulge the biggest secret of someone's life right back into that empty journal.

Empty promises.

Yowsers.

Labels: journals, writing

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Great journals and sketchbooks.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 4 comments link this post

I've added two new sites to the blogroll, Moleskinerie and Notebookism. All I can say is that you should really visit these sites, but only when you have a large open block of time on your schedule. Because, if you're like me and are an obsessive hoarder and collector of journals, notebooks, paper, and pens/pencils, you'll find yourself completely drawn in.

And, speaking of journals and notebooks...

Moleskines
I have to admit that though I love Moleskine notebooks and sketchbooks, there are two things that I have a mild problem with:

The price tag is a little prohibitive. I only have a few of the books, and I mostly lean towards the soft cover versions (brown or black) because they are more affordable.
The paper. Moleskines have wonderful paper for ink, but for some other methods of sketching, such as watercolors or something that requires a little tooth to the paper, the pages are too smooth. My watercolor sketches tend to pool and not be absorbed well.

Finding a good journal or sketchbook
There are few things worse than a cheap journal or sketchbook that you have to fight to keep open. One of my policies (if there is such a thing in this case) when I buy a journal or sketchbook is to be sure I can open it in the store to see if it has a binding that literally falls open, as well as feel the paper to see what kind of tooth it has. So, the things I look for when shopping for a journal or sketchbook are:

That it opens easily to all pages (front, middle, back) and that it lays open on its own without a fight.
That the paper isn't too thin so that ink bleeds through to the pages behind it. Also, I like a stronger page that can take a little abuse in the form of scribbling, erasing, or water-based media.
That the paper has a surface quality that feels good against my hand. This is highly subjective, and that's why I won't buy a journal that I can't open and touch in the store.
That the journal isn't bound in such a way that it is tightly filled with pages. I often glue things like tickets or post cards or other items that are visually interesting, and journals that are so packed with pages end up not closing well or, worse, with a broken spine or binding. They don't close without me tearing out pages every so often to free up space for the addition of glued items.
I don't like journals that have pre-printed writing prompts, quotes, or images on the pages, generally. There are a few journals in my collection that have interesting art printed on the pages that I find fun to work with, but in general, I don't like a lot of canned "prompts" from some publisher.

Other great brands
A few of my other favorite journal brands are Rhodia (with its bright, orange cover) and Claire Fontaine (often seen in plaid or block-color covers). Both are French brands, oddly. They have the most amazingly smooth, plate finish paper that makes your pen seem to fly over the paper. Really, writing in them is a lovely experience. The feel of the paper against your hand is one that paper lovers like myself can really appreciate.

Videos
I have a few videos (somewhat grainy videos, so I apologize) over at YouTube of me flipping through a few of my journal/sketchbooks. You can get an idea of what I use them for if you are so inclined.

You
What are your favorite journal or sketchbook brands? Why? What do you look for in a journal or sketchbook?

Links:

Kikkerland: The American distributor of Moleskine, and other extremely cool stuff. Period.
Moleskine
Exaclair, Inc.: This site offers both Rhodia and Clair Fontaine, as well as a number of other favorite stationery/pen brands of mine.
Basic French Online: This site offers a variety of "French" products, and in the stationery section, you can find a decent selection of notebooks and stationery.
Paper Blanks: Decent journals that kind of mimic Moleskine. The plus is that they fall open easily and are a pleasure to write in. I'm not always keen on the printed covers, but they are a nice journal.
Chronicle Books: This publisher puts out a large variety of books and products. They have a number of great stationery and journals that are fun and unusual.
Exaclair, Inc.'s "where to purchase" list is a fabulous collection of great web sites offering pens, paper, journals, stationery and all things wonderful.
Papyrus has a lot of nice stuff. My favorites are the simple Marcel Schurman notebooks on this page, which look like something from many decades ago. I have a few in tan, though they only show red and blue now. The look like the notebooks from the movie "The Interpreter" (notebooks that I wish I could find and have been trying to figure out the brand -- anyone out there know?)

Labels: art, journals, links, stationery, supplies, writing

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Artists' sketchbooks.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Looking through my old sketchbooks is an exercise in pain and amazement. Some of what I drew is amazingly bad and some amazingly good. One page fluctuates from lame, rehashed art-school drivel and then, a few pages later, I somehow drew something unique and real.

Visiting a gallery or buying a book that highlights the final product, the finished paintings, reveals a high standard of what can be. It shows off technique and concept and all that is good. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming, at least to me, because I can't imagine getting to that place, that beautiful finished product. I wonder how the artist arrived at the destination and I desperately want to see the road map. It's the sketchbooks, those behind-the-scenes bastions of shameful mishaps and great planning, that go into creating that finished work, that are the roadmaps. I've said to students that before they get depressed and down on themselves and their own art, they need to take a look at a stack of my sketchbooks and see the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Smithsonian's Archives of American art has some fabulous sketchbook samples from famous artists. Check it out. See what inspires you.

Labels: art, art life, journals, sketchbooks

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Steal this journal: when theft is acceptable

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Steal this Journal?

Definitely.

As with seemingly 90 percent of on the edge projects, this one originates in Seattle. The basic concept is to encourage people to journal by leaving journals, labeled "Steal Me" in places where people can find them, use them, and maybe get them back into circulation for future thefts.

The idea is pretty cool, conceptually speaking. But does it work? Do people really steal the journals, write in them a bit, get them back out and begin the process again?

I know I tried BookCrossing for a while, which had a similar idea that involved "freeing" your books. I freed quite a few of my books in some of the area towns. I think, in speaking with people about it, the idea confused people up here in North Dakota. Maybe we don't trust anything given to us for free, or we don't actually think it really is free but that there are strings attached.

I would love to make a journal and leave it to be stolen somewhere, but it would most likely collect dust or be found in a location and taken to the proper authorities as a "lost and found" object.

It's a shame. The concept sounds like a lot of fun. Perhaps a modified guestbook would work, leaving a journal in, say, the local coffee shop and encouraging people to anonymously journal in it while they had their break or sipped coffee. The book would be returned to the shelf, ready for the next person. It's just an idea.

Though a more permanent website is in the works at www.stealthisjournal.com, you can find out more about the project at its "temporary" website.

Labels: internet, journals, links

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Green Journal.

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Sketchbook examples online.

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Failure to complete.

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The foundation you don't see.

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Blue dragonflies.

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Empty promises.

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Great journals and sketchbooks.

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Artists' sketchbooks.

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Steal this journal: when theft is acceptable

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