Curious Goods Onionskin Journal, part 1

Over Christmas holidays I received a gift from one of my best friends Annelyn of Curious Goods. She's been making handmade journals since we were both frustrated art kids in academic school, and her latest experiment is the onionskin journal.

Onionskin paper was used for creating multiple typed documents with carbon paper, or for writing letters to send via airmail. It was even used in animation: "onionskinning" is the process of flipping sheets of animation roughs to check the smooth transitions between drawings. 

It's light, translucent, and sturdy, able to take even fountain pen ink without bleeding. Because of that, it's the ideal material for an art journal.

I can draw, write, paste, layer, and otherwise play with this journal as much as I want. I can fill the blank pages to the edge with scraps, sketches, and my thoughts.

I've even worked on it during an international flight!

My habit of writing backwards seems to suit this journal. Two columns of text suit the wider format, making it look more like a book. 

The backwards writing turns the words into just another design element, a textured background against the collage and drawings. Also, writing backwards makes me feel like everyone's ideal diarist and art hero, Leonardo da Vinci.

I love adding little movable elements like flaps of paper with illustrations or stickers underneath.

My collection of inks, fountain pens, stamps, stickers and washi tape is also put to good use. In fact, I printed out some of my own art on sticker paper to use in this journal.

As they fill up, the pages wear and wrinkle and gain weight. Flipping through the journal is a sensory joy, listening to the crinkle and savouring the feel of the paper.

I loved the journal so much I ordered some more. I'm looking forward to filling up these one hundred and ninety-two pages with my art, and many pages after that!

Mermay!

It's Mermay! Springtime is a good time to turn over a new leaf.

This year instead of just doing mermaids, I wanted to use concepts that made me think of mermaids. Hair. Tails. Weightlessness. Allure.

I didn't go as deep as I do in Inktober, but I'm pleased with the results.

Various Platinum and Kuretake pens in expired Moleskine planner/diary.

commonplace book

A commonplace book is basically a running record of things you pick up every day that educate or inspire you. Often it's like a scrapbook, or a card file, or just a collection of interesting quotes. Blogger Ryan Holiday has a pretty interesting post on his methods.

I have very messy notebooks where I record lists of books I like, quotes, errands and basically everything, but I wanted to collect some quotes to practice my lettering with. My commonplace book is an A6 Nocturnelle from Paperblanks. It's not very 'commonplace' looking, but I fell in love with this journal ages ago because it looks like a door in a Gothic novel. Paperblanks also has great paper for pen and ink. My calligraphy dip nibs just skate across this paper!

Copperplate Hunt 101 nib with Rohrer & Klinger Salix ink.

This is my first quote, dashed off in dip pen and framed with washi tape. Of course the aim of a commonplace book is to quote correctly - it's Kobori Enshu, not Ensho.

Same nib, with Noodler's Bulletproof Black.

Yogananda is a great guide for life. Concept designer Chris Oatley of the Oatley Academy is a great guide for work.

Copperplate nib and Mitchell 'script' nib, Bulletproof Black.

Listening to podcasts is a great source of inspiration for me. This quote comes from actress and comedian Aisha Tyler interviewing John Cho on her awesome podcast Girl on Guy.

Copperplate nib and Speedball B-5 lettering nib,
Noodler's Bad Blue Heron and Luxury Blue ink.

Jen Dziura's column Get Bullish gives 'aggressive lady-advice' for the go-getter gentlewoman.

Copperplate nib, Diamine Sherwood Green ink, and acrylic stamps.

Karen Healey is a YA author with a collection of pretty great quotes about writing...and some choice words of her own.

Copperplate nib with Bulletproof Black.

This post about Elizabeth Bathory was pretty terrifying, but it did make one important point. The online magazine The Gloss has a column called Shelved Dolls, a fascinating series on women in history, where I get a lot of inspiration and amusement.

Some other commonplace books I like:
The Journal Diaries - Ellina's Commonplace Notebook
Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom

Mushrooms

A warm-up exercise that turned into something in its own right. Inspired by this post on Colossal.

Pencil, various pan watercolours. Lettering and borders,
Noodler's Lexington Grey in extra fine fountain pen.
Fabriano small artist's journal.

some things I have been doing...

Here is a preview of some things I have been up to.

Sketches and drawings in various notebooks, with various fountain pens and brush pens, captured by iPhone camera and saved to Evernote for the most part.

drive by sketches, colour

A little cleanup, and more legible captions, and these could make decent postcards--maybe for people who actually live here. London is bigger than its landmarks, and this looks more like home than a tourist attraction.

moleskine sketches

From some pictures I took of Bergdorf's windows when I was in NYC a few years ago.

A little sketch for the merboy story. It is driving me nuts that I still don't have a name for this thing.

coffee: how do you take it?

'actually I feel like every day is coffee day' ... because it is.

Mitchell Copperplate nib (because I wanted to complicate my life), Jorg Hysek fountain pen ink. Note on this ink: it is not waterproof, and it smells like grade school paste. Regardless, I love it. I do wish I had a Jorg Hysek pen to put it in, though, because those things look like props for Star Trek.

visual notes

More sketchblogging from the square Moleskine.

The pillar-like thing on the bottom left is one of the water fountains that stood outside the villas in Il Borro, a resort in Tuscany.

locks and pens

This isn't exactly a page-a-day thing, but I have been a little caught up, and I would like to make time in my day to sketch regularly. I'll be posting my doodles here. My friend Jamie gave me a great Moleskine squared notebook, and it takes to dip pens very well (although, as always, I have to watch out for smears!)

Tried using a copperplate nib I picked up for 80p at the London Graphic Centre to draw a door lock from the Duomo in Florence. It's stiffer than the nibs that the oblique holder uses, so you really need to use pressure to get any variation. And because of the funny shape, my feel for the nib was off and one side of the lock ended up stretched out--a totally unforeseen effect!

page a day: fairy tales

page a day: origami

Pink fighter jets and origami.

Waiting rooms

I have a new notebook! Love Design Life brought me a lovely sketchbook from Bangkok and I've decided to make it my new journal.

I spent a lot of time waiting for specialists today...not all the appointments were for me. The ear doctor (my mother), the internal specialist (me), the dermatologist (me again), and the dentist (my grandmother). I'd discovered how to load comics onto my iPad, but with e-readers there does come a point when your eyes get tired, so I had to find something else to do.

At least I wasn't alone.

holiday at la paperie

It's the holiday season in New York City, and I was lucky enough to be in town! Here are some pictures of Kate's Paperie in Soho, decked out for the holidays.

the monastic life

Some research for a story idea...

Sources:

Romanesque Architecture

Montecassino Abbey

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain

Turkish Hamam (warning: Comic Sans)

Today I did yoga, primed paper with tea, and danced around a lot to the Beatles. Not very nun-like behaviour, some would say, but I disagree!

Sensation

So my friend gave me Pelikan watercolours for my birthday and they were brilliant. I should do a post of all my birthday swag soon...

I thought I needed to do more women of colour in my paintings. My mom agreed--she says she wants to see 'a rainbow of women'! Isn't that a nice name for a project?

Here's the first attempt:

Sensation

Pelikan watercolours with Blue Heron waterbrush in Fabriano notebook.

notebook drawings

Dug through my things and found pictures from the Italy trip with my cousins some years back. They make very nice drawing references.

I also have a very cute, and very cheap, small notebook, the Chinese-stationery character kind. It has interesting textures, sweet sayings and funny little illustrations. I thought they would go quite well with my new hyperrealistic pen style.

They do!