notebookism

Blank Page # 32

Every Wednesday at Notebookism we open a "Blank Page" -  your chance to ask, answer and discuss anything notebook-related.  Keep it nice, keep it relevant.

Blank Page, an Open Thread.

Every Wednesday at Notebookism we open a "Blank Page" -  your chance to ask, answer and discuss anything notebook-related.  Keep it nice, keep it relevant.

Blank Page, an Open Thread.

Seven simple suggestions for journaling

"Style. Your journal can be all-emcompassing and can cover all aspects of life. Or it can be specific. My journal began because of cancer and mostly focuses on this topic. But sometimes I write about parenting and other side issues too. You might keep a food journal, an exercise journal, a memory journal, or a dream journal. Just choose your style and proceed.

Format. Any format will do -- writing in a book made specifically for journaling, jotting down thoughts and notes on loose paper, typing an on-going collection of entries, even recording your voice will do just fine. Whatever the mode of expression, the point is creating a record of what is going on in your mind.

Rules. There are no rules. You can write every day or you can write once a month. You can use words or drawings or charts and graphs to depict your inner thoughts. Regardless of how you journal -- or how often you journal -- you will accomplish the goal of getting closer to the real you.

Censoring. Make sure you record your exact emotions -- no matter how scary or frightening. Don't shelter your thoughts. Don't feel embarrased. And don't worry about spelling and grammar and punctuation. Journaling should not be purposely crafted or manipulated -- it should be real. No one is grading or evaluating or judging you..."

Read the full article

Image by clinique @ Notebookism/FLICKR
© All rights reserved

A peek at my (untitled) Artists Book

"I went through deconstructing the idea of book, and then came back to the traditional book form as it suited my subject matter. My book looks at “image” and how the way we present our body to others affects the image they have of us, and furthermore how this image is just that – image – and does not have anything to do with our true “self”. The book is brief and I limited my exploration to tattooed, clothed and naked bodies..."

Jan Allsopp
Visit her blog

Pseudo-scientific Pen Test

I was having trouble getting the lid closed on my office "pencil box" today. It was so completely chock full of various pens that it was hard to actually find one I liked. So, in the process of determining which pens were dried out or gross, I decided to make sample sheets of how each pen writes for other pen geeks like me to know which pens they might want to covet and which they might want to avoid like a sticky 2-year-old. With the exception of a few pens, these are all under $2 each in your average art, office or crafts shop. As is the case with most things in life,  the adage "you get what you pay for" holds true with pens too.  The more expensive pens demonstrate good quality and are refillable which is worth the additional investment.

First is the plain paper tests. These are my favorite pens of the bunch. I actually started my tests on the vellum stock which is shown further down and are for the truly geeky at heart.

Read the full post at Ana's blog, "Snow Angels".

Gift from Levenger

After years of using Levenger products - specifically its Circa system - I was rewarded with a gift from the company recently, courtesy of Ryan (aka Rasmussen on DIYPlanner.com).

Even tho I was expecting the package, it was still a thrill to open the courier box and come upon the gorgeous gift box with its matching elastic band.

What was inside? Let's see ... there were soft colour pocket dividers, 3x5 size; 3x5 white and soft colour vertical tabs (with and without the Circa notches); 3x5 white and multi-coloured cards; and a Circa-Dex, too.

And how many years have I been a Levenger user? At least 7 years. I was going through my old diaries last night and came upon references to Levenger purchases dating as far back as November 1999. Some references included the promise never to order from Levenger again, but as you can see, I've not kept that promise.

It has been a love-hate relationship with Levenger. I love its products but I hate the exorbitantly high costs of having them shipped to me in Malaysia.

I've purchased a wide range of Levenger products, and my old diary entries indicate some early disappointment with items that did not meet up to the glossy catalog pictures. Recently, however, I've finally settled on using the Levenger Circa system as my primary notetaking system. The desktop punch was one of my earliest (and probably most expensive) Levenger purchase, but it has proved to be the backbone of my personal Circa system. With the punch, and the Circa rings, as well as notebook covers, I can make my own home-made Circa notebooks. My favourite feature is the Rolodex-style notches that the punch makes, that allows me to move pages within my notebooks.

Love it, love it, love it!

And thank you, thank you, thank you, Ryan and Levenger, for the most welcome gift!

View @ FLICKR

Related links:
Levenger
DIYPlanner.com 

© All rights reserved

Forgotten diary captures horror of the Somme

A British soldier's pocket diary of life in the trenches during the early days of the Battle of the Somme have been made public for the first time.

Pte Walter Hutchinson was a young shop manager when he enlisted in the 10th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment.

His poignant record of the battle, in 1916, includes a moving account of the first day during which more than 62,000 comrades died.

Pte Hutchinson's handwritten account gives a graphic story of his own survival as wave after wave of soldiers went "over the top" only to be cut down by German fire.

His entry for Saturday, July 1, tells of his first taste of gas before he chanced on one of the most awful sights that he had seen.

He and others had to scramble over the bodies of three soldiers he knew, lying with their heads blown apart.

Read the full article by Paul Stokes
Telegraph.com

LINK

[Thanks Chris]

RHODIA Users on FLICKR

Bienvenue! Celui qui est Orange!

PaPaYa-licious!

Now this is a fun name:

"PaPaYa! Favorites are now available in hard back journals. Each journal has a lay flat, closed binding, gold foil details, lined and unlined pages, inside page designs, a smooth- matte laminate finish and cherry blossoms on the inside covers. These books are treasures to keep your notes, thoughts, drawings, and writings..."

PaPaYa!

VISIT.

"Guercino: Mind to Paper"

The driving force behind Guercino’s artistic success was his skill as a draughtsman.  The Witt drawings are all figural scenes, largely mythological, religious and informal studies. Additional loans from the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and two American private collections include a rare large nude male study, an imaginary landscape and a caricature.  The works in the exhibition have been specifically chosen to demonstrate the artist’s wide-ranging choice of subject matter and his remarkable technical and compositional skills.

Much of Guercino’s early experience came from life drawing.  He drew incessantly, sensitively recording the world around him and examining scenes from every conceivable angle, as can be seen in the tender Child seen from behind, standing between his mother’s knees.  As with this drawing, he would often zoom in on a part of the whole composition, leaving large areas comparatively unworked.  Frequently he used ‘close-up’ studies to examine the relationships between significant characters, and to study their facial expressions.

"Guercino: Mind to Paper"
2007-02-22 until 2007-05-13
Courtauld Institute of Art
London, , UK United Kingdom

LINK

Orwell's Writing Tips

George Orwell has earned the right to be called one of the finer writers in the English language through such novels as 1984 and Animal Farm, such essays as “Shooting an Elephant,” and his memoir Down and Out in Paris.

George expressed a strong dislike of totalitarian governments in his work, but he was also passionate defender of good writing.  Thus, you may want to hear some of George’s writing tips.*

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:

   1. What am I trying to say?
   2. What words will express it?
   3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
   4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

* From “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell.
Writingclass.com

LINK