IFJM 2015 Day 1

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This is the journal I will be using, Japanese brand ruled soft cover notebook. This is an APICA CD15
7x10 
#IFJM2015

Happy International Fake Journal Month!  Curious about what that is? Click HERE or go to the tab at the top of the page labeled Int'l Fake Journal Month.

This is my first year participating and I'm very excited.  I've wanted to do this for several years but too many obstacles stood in my way in previous years, but this is my year! Or perhaps I should say this is Mavis' year. Mavis Mabb is the persona I will take on as I create her journal.  

Here is a brief explanation from IFJM creator Roz Stendahl of Roz Wound Up....People all over are taking a few minutes every day during the month of April to journal as someone else. The exercise is one which helps you focus on your own process. Some fake journal keepers find it an excellent time to dedicate themselves to building new skills and habits. 

My Goals

1. Write more in my journal
2. Use heavy mixed media: collage, Gelli prints, stamps, stencils, a variety of wet media 
3. Work intuitively, freely and boldly
4. Worry less about the outcome
5. Use paper that will get wavy, wobbly, warp and crinkle
6. Do the unexpected

My Persona

Meet Mavis Mabb. Mavis Mabb is a rather eccentric retired medieval history professor, and almost octogenarian who on the eve of her 79th birthday has a vision in a dream that causes her to sell most of her possessions (except her tea things, her books and her dogs) and buy a small cottage on the edge of the woods near the sea. There she follows in the mystical tradition of the hermits, monks and saints of old and seeks to discover the great truths of the universe, and when she has discovered one or two, or all of them, she will consider them, and hopefully be at peace with her creator and ready for a grand journey into the next life. 

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The inside front cover and the first page include hand made circular stamps, Golden High Flow acrylics, Pitt Artist Brush Pen and Platinum Carbon Fountain Pen for the writing, and a piece of text that is collaged in. 

One the first page Mavis writes: I've named my little cottage Stargate, for when you exit the front gate and walk a little ways along the road and up the hill a wide view of the sky opens up and at night an amazing number of stars can be seen here away from the lights of the city. It's certainly not named after that awful sci-fi TV show! 

The quote Mavis includes is this: "The first great thing is to find yourself and for that you need solitude and contemplation - at least sometimes. I can tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing noisy centers of civilization. it will come from the lonely places." -Fridtjof Nansen

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Mavis writes: C. sent me this little "thought for the day" - I think she is worried about me living out here all alone. She believes that I am depressed - little does she understand that this solitude, this spare and simple life is my joy and I relish its freedom and space to be myself, finally, and to be quiet and think among my books, my land and my dogs. I am brewing my life as I brew my tea: strong and clear, and without sugar, so that all the notes and delicate undertones have a chance to sing out. 

First page spread includes Gelli prints on deli paper and card stock and used dried tea bags collaged in as well as washi tape on the left edge and top.  Gouache for the tea pot sketch and a hand embossed stamp in the lower left. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen for the quote and a 0.5 black Staedler pigment liner for the writing.