a granny-nanny journal

Once again our son Jason and his wife Carrie are participating in Fort Bend Christian Academy's Eagle Week. Every year during the week before spring break, the school sponsors mission events for their high school students, both in Sugar Land, TX and all over the US . . . some groups even go to other countries.

Jason's team heads for Alaska where the kids work behind the scene for the Iditarod dog sled race, then do various community service projects.

And I stay with the grandkids as "granny-nanny". During their last Alaska trip, I kept a dedicated journal just for that week and I decided to do so again this time.

After removing the bug-eaten pages of this vintage children's dot-to-dot book, I replaced them with various sample papers that, folded, were a perfect fit. I left the labels on the papers just for fun. Only 7 full sheets in all,  which filled the cover perfectly.

As usual, the first page is my palette --- a limited travel palette in a wee mint tin for this book. And just for fun, I'm trying to stick to just brush pens (without pencil guidelines), a squirrel brush (less control), and a fountain pen for most of the text. I don't think I've ever done a color chart at the start of a book before.

Artist Ros Jenke has inspired me with her "etegami-like" sketches lately, as has the work of Debbie Davidson. After a bit of on-line research to learn more about this Japanese folk art, I decided I'd try the style in this journal. Not at all traditional: this paper has no "bleed", I'm not using postcards, and I'm not using traditional tools --- I don't have a "hanko" stamp (name stamp / chop) but I have a red watercolor pencil! Anyway, I'm going to try working a bit looser with line and color. These first two sketches are still too controlled!!