I’ve been reading this book club blog called “The Next Chapter” since the beginning of June.  They have been reading “Wreck This journal” by Keri Smith.  In this book, people are given instructions on each page on different ways to Wreck the Journal.  I’ve been enjoying looking at the progress of peoples journals.  Some at this stage in the game (they are on week 7) have a really glorious patina and in their destruction have become works of art on their own.  Since, I have a thing for journals, I purchased this book with the intention of playing along.

My work/career path right now is SO SERIOUS.  It takes a lot to give myself permission to just screw around in the studio.  So not only does it feel strange to be so awful to this book (some of the things they suggest you do is smear pages with dirt, chew on the pages, etc.), but it also feels strange to share things that I’ve done to this book, because my efforts aren’t… serious.

I’ve moved into my new studio this past week.  This is my first day off from work, teaching, or moving since the beginning of June.  I’ve been keeping a mental sketchbook of what I want to work on this past month and a half.  After a month an a half of not physically working on my art, I have a huge list.

When I walked into my studio this morning, ready to get to work, I of course, felt totally overwhelmed.  I noticed this book on my desk and decided to crack this book open today and started dabbling through the pages.

I worked on the book for about an hour.  I found myself feeling limited, which surprised me.  This book tells you what to do on each page, and I kept finding myself thinking, “But I want to do this instead” or “I’ll start with this ‘instruction’ but then I’ll embellish it”.

While working I was reminded of a practice that I used to do in my studio:  The first thing I would do after walking into my studio, would be to pull out a piece of paper and just mindlessly watercolor for a half hour.  By the time I felt done with it, I would have a new idea, or a struggle with a current project would seem more clear.  Sometime this process would help me remember what I was working on the day before, or would help me make a decision to get some new work started.  The act of getting my hand moving made the transition from home to work easier.

The thing I like about what is happening with this book is I’m not creating art pieces.  When I’m working on watercolors, I still have a dialog in my head about whether or not what I’m working on will be any good.  I’m still judging.  With this book I found myself trying to solve problems with the tasks presented to me, and looking for new avenues, with but had no intention of making an “art piece”.

Here is some of the pages I wanted to share today:

I started with this page, where it asks you to drip something on the page and then fold the book in half and make a print.  I poured coffee, india ink and speed ball ink on the page and got this:

Since this book is not designed to hold that much ink, it bled through about 4-5 pages.  Actually the pattern on the back looks pretty cool:

I then decided to cut through multiple pages:

And then I took all the scraps and scotch taped them to the front page of the book, which actually gave me an idea for a book project I’ve been wanting to work on:

I’ll keep working on this throughout the week/weekend.  Maybe I’ll be able to take some of the explorations in this book an apply it to my regular studio practice.