Ever After 2016 is coming!

Here's something I've become very excited about!

I haven't been the best at keeping my blog up lately but I have involved more art in my life this year and that's all that really matters. With that said, I have invested in a few classes this year that have made the involving of art so much fun and this is one that I can't wait to start! I haven't picked my fairy tale yet, have you?  Click Here To Find Out More!

monday playtime

i haven't had a lot of time for art lately, but last night i got time to sit down and spend a few hours playing. it was delicious. literally, i had more coffee than i should have had.

i honestly feel a little stuck on some of my spreads with sketches on them lately. i haven't felt like coloring in faces, i've been choosing to play in paint and layers of backgrounds. they'll get done eventually.

so, last night i took a page that i had used to get my posca markers going. these markers are ah-mazing! i was looking for something to work mostly on top layers of art journal spreads but i have found that they are very helpful to me as i build layers in my backgrounds.

then i took some new red and blue craft acrylics and some sequin mesh. 

here, i took some white acrylics and pushed it around on the page. still no brayer so i am using an old credit card. then i put down a layer of watercolor crayons.

using my black posca i drew circles. i really enjoyed the free doodling here. it's not extravegent drawing but it was all about what i was doing right then.

next... tissue paper! 

a little mod podge and tissue paper is always a happy combination. 

on top of that, a smidge of metallic purple craft acrylics.

this is really only one of the many pages i worked on, i just picked the one i worked on most, i guess. i'll likely share the others as i work on them. i fully intend on filling this journal to the brim with arty goodness.

so, as i mentioned, i am feeling a little stuck on my spreads with faces on them. i expect that will be resolved shortly as i've signed up for tamara laporte's lifebook 2016! and with it i got not one but two of her online workshops! i've chosen fabulous faces and ultimate world of whimsy! i'm so very excited to get started!

WOYWW #2

is it wednesday again? so soon?

where is the time going in such a hurry?

either way, i love wednesdays, it's time to nose around the desks of some of my favorite bloggers and see what they are up to! you can follow along by visiting the awesome julia dunnit's blog stamping ground.

i haven't really posted anything since saturday but i have been busy sketching faces in my art journal. i'm trying to retrain myself to draw faces and i'm starting to work on adding emotion to faces, slowly. 

i am loving it. there is nothing more cathartic than drawing a face to me.

so, for starters i've shared a better picture of my corner of the den.

i don't have the windows open fully but the morning is my favorite time to be out here as the light is the best!

 

the airplane you see in the upper right hand corner is not mine. my love builds them, puts electronics in them and flies them. he recently ordered an airbrush machine and both of us are so excited to see it come in. i'm looking forward to learning how to air brush a multitude of things from kids faces to those planes!

anyway, back to my corner and what is on my desk at the moment.

about to start shading faces.

a closer look at my favorite girl from over the weekend. inspired by tamara laporte and her fabulous faces class. i took a shot at this girl when i first started drawing and it was honestly pretty hideous. my inner critic has issues with this one too but she is leaps and bounds better than when i started, of course. i'll see if i can dig out the journal it is in for a throwback thursday post tomorrow and you can giggle with me.

i can't wait to start shading this one.

a couple whimsy girls from over the weekend. i actually started this one last week but didn't get to finish it until this weekend. much of saturday and sunday was spent on the couch watching football with my love and my art journal.

i'm experimenting with some different shapes in my whimsies.

 

this is another one i can't wait to start work on, it's not much at the moment but i have a lovely spread envisioned for her.

the ideas i have for this spread is heavily inspired by tamara laporte and a recent piece of hers called sister smoke.

this one was meant to be a whimsy but she has evolved into a round faced angel thanks to my 4 year old. i was sketching her last night and my daughter asked if she was an angel. i added a halo and rough wings and  said yes, she's an angel. i love when that happens!

i simply can not wait to use some mixed media techniques on the wings especially because i haven't been able to draw wings as of yet.

and lastly, another sketch inspired by tamara laporte and another recent work. i'm really looking forward to some of the classes on my wish list for the fall. learning solid background layering techniques can only help me out at this point.

i'm really having some issues with the positioning of the nose and mouth on the 3/4 face. i'll get it, though, if i have to resort to looking up videos or seeking out my old notes.

so, there you have it. that's what is on my desk today. what's on yours?

current favorite song to bounce around the studio to, macklemore's "downtown".

 

saturday night couch sketching

yesterday was a pretty broken day. spent most of the day incapacitated with a headache, sleeping. when i actually did emerge from my cave, i felt good. it was nice to watch the lsu game that my love had recorded for me. while i watched that game, i couch sketched. i haven't couch sketched in soooo long!

this is what i accomplished.

practicing faces.

this one is being inspired by a recent page that tamara laporte uploaded to her facebook group.
she's placed a little funny on the page for the re-creation of tam's page but maybe i can work something out.

this is the whimsy pair that i started the other day.

i'm not real sure about the hair on either girl.

i am hoping to find time today to color them, but we'll see. maybe i will just sketch over the weekend and start to paint monday. who knows?

still of the night

i actually completed a spread in a day, start to finish. for me, this is an accomplishment! especially as it is that i have recently rediscovered my creative self less than a week ago. it wasn't all that bad though, i had already built the inspiration for this spread before i finished the last one. it makes things go much smoother when that muse is already flinging ideas.

i've seen whimsies done by many an artist but i had never tried onr myself. always putting it off, never brave enough. i knew it was going to have to be a whimsy. for those of you who do not know, a whimsy is a term i've seen used in the style of a whimsical girl.  features are exaggerated and/or diminished; big head/small body, big eyes/small lips, elongated necks and extended limbs. tamara laporte has a short offering on whimsy girls in her free online course; art, heart and healing. she also offers a class that i have been dying to take called, ultimate world of whimsy. this spread has sealed the deal,  i am buying that course as soon as i have money.

so then, i happened to be looking into another class that i actually have access to, which is christy tomlinson's she art workshop, for ideas on another spread. when i stumbled across the she art phrases pdf. i have found quite a few phrases that i'd like to build pages and/or cards around, this one included. i've also started rebuilding my lists of lyrics as i love to build pages around my favorite song lyrics or lyrics that mean something to me.

so, without further delay, to the art!

my large eyed whims-me girl

i knew my girl would need a companion.
i contemplated another doll or a pet and settled on a kitty.
we'll call him nermal.

sketch complete, time to start coloring!

 

here i've watercolored the girl, kitty, and moon;
and then i have touched them up with my prismacolor pencils and blender.

 

a collage is the first layer of the background.

 

a few layers have been added. on top of the collage is water color crayons.
on top of that is white acrylic paint. once that dried i stamped some images in black permaink.

 

this picture was snapped after a few more layers.
on top of the stamping i added another layer of watercolor crayons and an additional layer of white acrylics.
after the white had dried i prepared to have some fun!
i placed white and black down to mix into gray and added some purple and blue and i intend on using my trusty
old credit card to scrape the paint all over the place.

this is actually after quite a bit of pushing and pulling the ink around for a while and then wiping some layers to give it the look i wanted it to have.

 

the finished page after refining many of the lines, shading, highlighting, stamping and writing my phrase.

well let me just say that i loved drawing my whimsical girl! i actually have another spread on the next page that i started sketching while paint was drying on this page. i will share those later, perhaps tomorrow!

my phrase was "she loved the stillness of the night". i love this phrase, it totally applies to me. i will often slip outside into my darkened yard and just enjoy the quiet stillness that is the early morning hours.

between now and friday i am going to try to complete one more spread, but i don't expect to have any posts to share over the weekend. there may be art, if i find time.

and with that, i am off to bed!

goodnight moon.

 

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edited 12:52pm 9/17/15

after posting my picture on facebook a friend brought it to my attention that i had misspelled stillness. *insert sheepish grin*

so i've uploaded the fix. :)

see! i can spell, i promise. just not at 2 a.m.!

 

first complete spread!

it's done!

ok, it's not perfect but it is a start and i am so very pleased!

i haven't forgotten the little bit i had learned about drawing! and, really, my skills can only improve from here as my layering backgrounds is still very rough.

i'm not super happy with the size of the font and how the words came out when i watercolored them. however, i am not concerned about fixing it as i am *DONE* with this spread. i have done what i can. i feel like i am safe to "detach" and move on to my next project.

i looooooove washi tape!

the phrase means a lot to me, i spent a lot of time figuring it out. i struggle with feeling like i should be more successful or further along in life. i do struggle with acceptance. i often have to combat my introverted nature and "resting bitch face" even though i am one of those people who don't care much about what people think about me. but this phrase says i am happy just where i am with what i have. so, eat that inner critic!

my words, up close.

so, i watercolored the page with my phrase on it but it just didn't come out the way i had hoped it would. the letters are so big that they  hide so much the drip technique, which i LOVED! but all this, this is my inner critic speaking. all that matters is that i finished it and that i am happy with it how it is!

my upside down doll face. the shading may be off but i'm quite pleased that her face looks even remotely like a face!

hello funny face!

thank you for following me through my first journal spread. tomorrow... whimsies!

successful spilling

another late post. however, i feel rather accomplished, i have "spilled" daily and posted the results almost daily since the night i cleaned my desk off.

i've been busy tonight and i should be sleeping but i spent a relatively lazy sunday cat napping on the couch and watching football because i wasn't feeling well for the most part. so, now i'm not tired.

i have a few classes i've paid for and made very little headway on in the past two years, but i really didn't feel like taking on those challenges tonight. tonight i decided to tip-toe my way into a free class offered by the very awesome tamara laporte called art, heart, & healing in hopes of providing my brain with a much needed refresher of many very basic techniques.

well, here's what happened.
but first, for fun...

mmmmm a brand new knead-able eraser. you know you want to smell it!

the beginning of the first project requires one to write down all the things your inner critic says on one of the two pages of the spread. all those nasty hurtful things that make me feel a whole lot less like a barefoot glittery princess. i've shared the spread but only after covering the page with gesso, because, while i love to share my art with people (because if i can do it, so can you), i am much less keen on the idea of sharing just how nasty and mean my own inner critic can be. plus, the idea here is to write it down, get it out of your head, forgive the inner critic, and then cover it up with paint and make something beautiful out of it.

so, onward!

yay for putting the smack down on the inner critic.

opposite page of the spread is where i start my drawing. i am supposed to draw a girl that represents me. represents. she will not look anything like me.

ugh, i haven't drawn a face in over 3 years.

face complete, sorta...

i had A LOT of trouble with the nose, this trouble did not relent.

i really like to draw stylized and whimsical girls, so that is where i am headed.

yeah, mitten hands. what about it? i can barely draw a nose and you want hands? pshya!

so, my watercolor crayons, acrylics and i just aren't getting along whilst i shade this face. time for some... fun!

one of my FAVORITE mediums, prismacolor pencils and a blender.

after much more back and forth on the face, i reached a stopping point that i was relatively happy with. now you can see the direction i am going in.

done! (for tonight)

sure, she is far from perfect and there is A LOT of work to be done still. but i am a happy girl at the moment and my inner critic has been (mostly) quiet all night.