Wreck this Journal, Week 7

Yes, yes I did.

This, too.

I have been putting off these two things, because I was afraid of, yes, wrecking the journal. I did them both today with the girls. And something wonderful and unexpected happened.

I chose to walk through town dragging the book to the parking garage, then have the girls drag the book up the flights of stairs to the top, and toss the book off. While I was walking, dragging the book, a group of young women passed me, and I felt embarrassed enough to explain that I had to do it, because it was in the book. To my complete surprise and delight, one of the girls said she understood because she has the same book.

arriving at the parking garage
(we actually climbed even higher than the walkway visible above me in this picture)

I forgot to take a full shot of the garage.
This is one I found online.

looking over the side

awaiting flight

When we got to the top of the parking garage, the 8yo asked if she could be the one to toss the book off. She sent it down close to the side of the building. As it was falling, I wondered too late if it was actually safe to be doing this during such a high traffic time--what if the book hit somebody? As it was falling, we heard a squeal. Then, we lost sight of it.

falling

gone

Well, no spoilers here, watch the video...



I don't know how to stop the music.
The slide show in this video goes to about 1:55, the song is about 4:55.

So you see, we ran downstairs, saw no one was hurt, then started to look in the bushes for the journal. Then, a girl spoke from behind us. She had picked up the journal for us. I turned and saw all the young ladies who had passed us earlier, and one was proudly holding her book! They liked the look of mine, and were curious to see some of the things I had done. I thumbed through the book with them, then told them about the Next Chapter!

the girls

and see, she made it through okay

Although I noticed when looking through the book with the girls that there still seem to be a lot of untouched pages near the back of the book, here are some of the pages I've been working on this week as I continue the wrecking journey.

I painted over the background on the ugly drawing

my doodle envelope

yeah, four letter words
(they might need some color)

some more materials cartoons

Peace.

Wreck this Journal, Week 5

Wreck these sneakers!

I'm not sure if it is because I am still hesitant to take the big wrecking steps of dragging, swinging, and tossing the book, or because the girls and I are now in full summer swing, which means more time riding bikes, swimming, and gardening, and less time with books and blogging, but for some reason, I was clinging less tightly to my journal this week. So I'm just getting around to posting week 5 in week 6.

I wasn't able to participate in the favorite pages swap because I can't leave comments on that new(ish) comment format Jamie is using on the Next Chapter homepage, and I was too lazy to send her an email. These are my current two favorite pages...

(1)
I find staring at these circles calming!

(2)
I love the art of science and the science of art.

I was surprised that the page that had the most impact on me this week was the fruit sticker page.

fruit sticker page, week 5

When I first started putting the stickers there, I was just glad for a place to stick those darn things that usually end up stuck to anything nearby when I'm cutting up fruit! This week, though, I realized that my habits had been changed. As soon as I peeled a sticker off a piece of fruit, before even washing the fruit, I went in search of my journal to add the sticker to the page. I interpreted this as giving myself permission to drop whatever I'm doing to make art! Tiny steps can add up to daily practice. This realization is being validated by the 100 in 100 project, inspired by Rowena. For me, it has become a daily self portrait. So it makes perfect sense to me that self portraits are making their way into the journal.

self portrait, more of a tear than a scratch

a nice print made verso

Picking up the book without using your hands is pretty easy in the wrecking world!
After picking up the book with my feet,
I covered the page with a piece of paper and drew a self portrait.

I brought the book in the shower with me early on.
So I covered this page with paper, too, and drew a cartoon self portrait of a summer storm bike ride.

Along with the art of wrecking, I made more room for drawing in the journal by gluing blank paper over a few more pages.

I covered up Keri's publishers and acknowledgments pages.

A blank page awaiting the 5 steps for an artist's life!

I decided to draw cartoons to illustrate Keri's materials list.

The girls and I bought blue candy to do the tongue painting page. It was fun, but we realized we'd need a lot more candy to make a picture. I augmented mine with crayon and marker!

Tongue painting revelation: there isn't as much pigment in candy as you think!

I finally did the laundry, so this page that waited patiently in my jeans' pocket, got a chance to go through the wash and be stuck back in the book.

Two of the paper girls fell off, so I glued them on the opposite page.

In anticipation of serious wrecking, I bought a few more rolls of colorfully colored duct tape. So perhaps I'll be able to take the book for a walk this week.

More wrecking to come...

Wreck this Journal, Week 4

Still making pretty things, I drew a picture on the cover.

Even my ugly drawing turned out kinda pretty.
(click to enlarge)

Since there were so many photographs of the wrecking I've been doing this week, I made a slide show. I don't know how to do anything video-fancy, though I have been inspired by some other folks' great videos to learn, so this is just a silent slide show...

I bought the girls each their own copy,
and their way of saying the title, Wreck This Journal,
rechristened mine, Wreckless Journal. I like it.

I love how different both girls are. The 8yo, as we left the store, kept saying, "I can't crack the spine. I don't want to wreck this book." Meanwhile, the 6yo was taking every opportunity to toss it and flap it.

Here's the 6yo drawing with her pet worm.

Here are both girls playing with cocoa.

The 6yo gleefully adding some jam.

I am still attached to this little book that I bring everywhere. We are having so much fun together. I have made a lot of art and a lot of mess, and I have been using it as a journal. I did tear out some of the things that I had been keeping attached like the airplane and crumple pages, but I made a little pocket in the back and stuck them in there, along with some other things I've torn out. I decided to stop keeping track of the order that I've finished pages because that got too boring. Wrecking with the girls has also brought out the crayons for me, so I have colored over many pages.



This is definitely a fun summer project for our whole family.

Wreck this Journal, Week 3

Did Jamie say "attachment"?? Well, yeah, that's an issue! That's why I mailed my journal first thing--to let it go. Of course, now that we're reunited and making art together, the attachment is even stronger! My daughter has already asked me if this page--the first two pictures below--will be my favorite page that I give away (I think she has her eyes on it :-)!

This is the tear this page, rip it up.
I ripped strips, then weaved them to themselves,
When I saw that the next page was glue/tape these pages together,
I ripped it, too, and wove and glued them together.

front

back
I also cut out the text and glued it to the next page.

I slept with the journal and this is where I found it in the morning.

I cut through a bunch of pages, but since I'm still choosing to make art from my destruction, I cut out a figure and glued the cut-outs back in on different pages.

(1)
I tore this page out and it's in my jeans pocket awaiting a wash.

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

For the crumple page, I decided to crumple an oval, then tape it back in.

For the wrap something page,
I chose to wrap all the pieces that I've cut or torn out of the journal so far.

I can keep adding them as I tear more.

A view of my crumple page, my paper airplane, and my package of wrapped scraps.

Yeah, I burned it. I'm glad I read about other people's experiences first,
so I was at the sink with the water running before I lit the match.

My dinner, documented.

In order to get the page in my mouth to chew it,
instead of just biting the edges, I tore a strip, and chewed that.

I had been neglecting part of the purpose of this book. I have been enjoying the wrecking, but I hadn't been using it as a journal at all. In an attempt to combine both, I'm choosing to use my write one word over and over page to write the word "peace" whenever I need a moment's peace.

Peace.

Another ongoing project is documenting a boring event. I am using someone else's idea of numbering the pages by when I finish them. The wrecking and creating are not at all boring, but the page numbering is. So this is where I will document it.

page numbers so far

I tore out and attached the Lose This Page so I will have more room for my page numbers list.

I plan on covering the text with blank paper as my way of losing it.

As you can see, I am still very attached to my journal. I haven't swung it and hit walls, I haven't dragged it behind me on a walk, I haven't dropped it from up high, I haven't asked anyone to do something destructive to a page. Perhaps I'll face those challenges in this coming week. For me, just finding all these new ways to make messes that make art has been freeing and rewarding.