In my last newsletter I wrote about Jolabokaflod starting… and in the comments I told about a game we play during Jolabokaflod called “Book Roulette”. It goes like this: set a timer for 2 to 5 minutes. Grab a book from your Jolabokaflod stack and read randomly until the timer goes off. Reset the timer grab another book, read randomly… repeat this process until you've sampled all of your new books. The book that you thought was most fun “wins” the game - pick that one and read more in it during Jolabokaflod while eating chocolate candy and drinking hot chocolate.
Confession: I depart from the Icelandic Jolabokaflod tradition a smidgen in that I include new blank sketchbooks and notebooks as part of the “book buying” of the Jolabokaflod fun. I like to make certain I've got a new sketchbook and notebook on hand when the new year begins.
Side note: the rest of this newsletter contains links for the various art supplies mentioned - I am *not* affiliated with any of the companies. I will not get anything from the companies for mentioning them. I am sharing the links with you in the spirit of the English and Science classes in which the teacher expects you to cite your sources.
Here's a photo of the small, 3.5 x 5.5 inch, Royal Talens brand sketchbooks I like best. They cost around 10 dollars each and the paper is good quality for fountain pens, ink and watercolors and gouache paints. (Link here)
In the photo on the left you see my sketchbook “G” which I've been sharing here (and have just published in its entirety1 - link here). Sketchbook “H” is the one I'm currently beginning to work in. The new sketchbook still in it's wrapping so you can see it is on the right.
When I'm starting a new sketchbook, as I am with book “H”, I write something on a random page in the middle of the book.
I'll also do some doodle on another random page in the middle of the book.
Now my new sketchbook isn't “scary new” anymore. I have no idea at this moment what else may happen on these random pages. If I end up needing to change these marks I will - that's what Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White is for (it's like the old fashioned correction fluid people used to use with typewriters - but this stuff can be drawn and painted over. Link here.)
One of the fountain pen inks I really like is from The Birmingham Pen Company. A bottle of a good ink costs around 15 dollars and will refill a fountain pen hundreds of times. This company makes good quality inks in a wide variety of ink colors to choose from. (Link here.)
A fountain pen brand I like is TWISBY - it has a large ink capacity and a built in ink converter. These fountain pens cost around 35 dollars and are customizable with many nib sizes (extra fine, fine, bold etc…) to choose from. A good fountain pen is a treasure! Here's a link for the TWISBY pens at a stationary store with lots of other gifts for readers/writers.
Here, for the fun of it, is me reading a poem I wrote in honor of local bookstores and Jolabokaflod. I hand wrote my poem in a blank notebook by PaperBlanks using a fountain pen. (Link here for notebooks)
We made another “book gathering” trip to a used bookstore/public library book sale this past weekend. Traditional Icelandic Jolabokaflod focuses on new books that came out within the year or so - I do that too (see my book list in my last post) but I like adding a variety of used books to the mix. For very little money - especially at a used book sale at the public library - I can get many books for 5 dollars or much less, support the library and have a decadent array of books to play Book Roulette with on Jolabokaflod. (And jigsaw puzzles are just extra fun 😃)
Of course to play Book Roulette you don't have to use a timer… here's a mug I made about picking fun books. (Mug link here.)
I hope you'll deliberately make time this week to do something delightful that takes you away from doomscrolling on your phone. Please take care of yourself! You are needed and wanted in this world. 💚
Here's a drawing I did with blue fountain pen ink during breakfast recently.
In this holiday season, I’m especially thankful to all the readers who have generously taken out subscriptions to support my work. Your encouragement and support of me is both humbling and motivating. Thank you for your patronage - it is such a gift! As a patron please feel free to access and download any or all of the ebooks I've written and illustrated from this 23 book index page here.
Here's a look at the cover of my newly published sketchbook which is available here https://www.blurb.com/b/12223780-a-m-sketching-g
Ooh, book roulette! It sounds so daring!!
Great ideas!