Who Am I? (Fake Journal Month)

Who Am I, Sepia Micron Pigma Ink & Gouache, 5.5x7.5"

This is the beginning of my contribution to International Fake Journal Month (read on for more about this). To participate, I’m filling a journal this month as a woman who doesn’t know who she is and is trying to find out. (Maybe she’ll learn how she lost her memory too.) I started by Googling “Who Am I” and clicked the first link, a YouTube video by Casting Crowns which inspired the rose and waves besides my pondering self.

Then I checked iTunes and found more than 100 songs named “Who Am I.” I shall play detective, listening to each song, reading the lyrics looking for clues to who “I” am. I’m looking forward to Snoop Dogg’s “Who Am I” day. As I write and draw what I learn, I’ll fill the journal and by the end of the month may have discovered my true identity.

International Fake Journal Month

Roz Stendahl of Roz Wound Up and The International Fake Journal Month blogs is one of my favorite artist bloggers. This month she introduced a quirky and wonderful concept: The Fake Journal. The idea is to create a journal for a month, where you take on a new persona, and fill that journal with the writings and sketches of that person as he or she evolves. To learn more about Fake Journal Month and Roz..

To learn how to participate in International Fake Journal Month blog click here.

I first discovered Roz years before blogs were invented. I was searching for something on the internet and found instead pictures from her amazing series, the Daily Dots. Dot was her beautiful Malamute dog who she sketched faithfully every day of Dot’s life, eventually filling “43 volumes of memories.”

When she joined an online group of sketchbook artists I belong to a couple years ago I was so excited to connect with her again. Roz is incredibly generous in sharing her knowledge, wisdom and enthusiasm for art, sketching, bookbinding, art tools and techniques. When she began blogging last October I was delighted to become a regular reader.

For my Fake Journal I’m using a 5.5″ x 7.5″ Maruman Art Spiral Journal that I haven’t used before so it will add another layer of experiment to the project. Maruman Journals are made in Japan, spiral bound and ribbon tied, and have about 25 pages of slightly textured, 80 pound paper.  I used a Sharpie marker on the first page and was able to write on both sides of the paper without show-through. I only noticed slight buckling where I painted the rose.