May Flower Challenge and practice with lines and circles…

I played with my India Ink and paints today.  I mentioned before that I’m taking Jane Davies class, Sketchbook Practice.  The link to her blog can be found in my April 10th post.  I just used copy paper for practice.  The last piece with circles and lines is my old standby…. a phone book page. 

I also signed up to participate in the May Flower Challenge over at Lori Moon Studio.   Click on the button over on the sidebar to read about it. I tried it earlier and the link seems to be broken…I’m sure it will be back up later.  Her blog is here.

Journal Pages

I spent most of yesterday afternoon in my studio. I say “studio” rather lightly because my little basement room doesn’t look like some of the studios I see on other blogs.   That’s fine with me, I’m thankful to have a place to  do my art.  I moved everything down there because the dining table was covered most of the time and I’m trying to keep everything in one place.  

I started a piece on a canvas yesterday…I do not like it and I will probably end up painting over it and trying again.  I finished two pages in my Strathmore art journal.  The first page started with a magazine page that I altered with Citra-Solv.  I glued it down first,  then glued a face  from Gas-House McGinty book pages.  I used some additional doodling pieces to complete the page. I used Caran d-Ache water-based crayons, gesso,  and acrylic paint to embellish the face.  Finally, I used a tiny paintbrush with black ink to tie it together. 

The next page is one that I did quickly with charcoal pencil, tinted charcoal pencil and a Derwent sketching (Dark Wash, 8B) pencil. I tried a wash with some orange and yellow acrylic paints.  I liked it better without the color but I couldn’t leave it alone    I also used another pen on the hair….I don’t remember the name of it.

Journal Page and ICAD

OK…I made a mistake and tried to use an orange Bic marker on this…it was a mess.  I used some oil pastels on the background and the marker wouldn’t mark in some areas.  I got out my Dr. Martin’s Bombay India Inks in golden yellow, terra cotta and yellow ochre.  I was able to use my dip pen and the inks and “fix” it.  I also used a tinted charcoal burnt orange pencil and a burnt ochre Prismacolor pencil.  I also used the inks thinned  with water and painted over some areas with a brush.  It was an interesting experiment that I probably won’t be trying to duplicate (because I don’t think I could if I wanted to). 

Here are my ICAD’s for yesterday and today:

Dreamscape – Journal Page

“Dreams are answers to questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask. ” ~X-Files

I’m still playing with watercolors.  The Prang watercolors give such nice vibrant color to a page…I’m hooked!   I tried several different media on this page.  I started with watercolor and some acrylic paint over that.  I used too much white acrylic paint and tried to subdue that with my Prismacolor Art Stix.  Then I kept adding layers of watercolor, letting each layer dry before doing the next one. At one point, I used charcoal for the facial features. It’s difficult to explain but it looked really horrible at one point and I kept adding things to try and “fix” it.  It finally came together and I was happy with the finished page. 

 

Moleskine#24-25

I’m trying to get my Moleskine finished…I have about three more spreads and I’m determined to do it.  Here are two of the latest pages.  The first one is a really quick sketch with a  peat tinted charcoal pencil.  I went over the lines with a Sharpie pen. There’s some dried glue or something on her cheek.   The second page I did today. I painted the page with watercolor…didn’t like the watercolor on the Moleskine paper. I glued some collage pieces down over the watercolor and used Caran d’Ache crayons on the page.  I had to use my Signo uni-ball pen because my Sharpie wouldn’t write over the crayon.   

 

 

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something. “

Wilson Mizner (US screenwriter-1876-1933)

 

Dream Elixir – Journal Page

“You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.”

Irish Proverb

Again, for this page, like the last page, I put down some watercolor….let it dry and stared at it for a few days.  I started with the face first.  The lines are a combination of tinted charcoal, Sharpie Pen, and a black Stabilo pencil.  I love doing these pages as they just evolve as I go.  I’m going wild with the watercolors.     I found the above quote and added it to the page.    I very rarely write on my pages and if I do it’s usually a quote. 

 

Fashionista Class Journal Pages

I have been doodling and adding some inspiration pages to my Strathmore journal.  I’ve been working in it for the “Fashionista” class I’m taking.  This first photo I quickly sketched with pen over watercolor, then I added some more lines with my peat tinted charcoal pencil.  I realized this morning after I’d taken the photos that the poor girl doesn’t have any eyebrows

 

Composition Journal – #19 and Blackberry Winter

I was experimenting yesterday with charcoal pencils. Some time ago, I bought some Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencils. On this page I used the Burnt Orange, Forest Pine, and Peat pencils. I also used a General’s Charcoal 6-B pencil.  I started with vivid red orange and cad yellow medium hue  acrylic paint on the background.  For the face area, I used unbleached Titanium, raw sienna and a little of the cad yellow and orange. The hair is raw sienna with black acrylic paint.  I did this in two stages….I used some charcoal over the paint and used hair spray as a fixative because I didn’t have anything else…and why not…..I never use hair spray…I think I’ve had this can around for about ten years   Anyway, today I went back with more paint and ended with more charcoal.  I think I’ll be trying this again. 

We are experiencing something here,  according to Ozarkian lore, that is called “Blackberry Winter.”  The wild blackberries are starting to bloom and whenever we have a cold snap around that time, it’s called blackberry winter.  My mom told me that she’s heard it called that as far back as she can remember.  

I found out about a new online art journaling class by Kelly Kilmer.  It’s called “The Journey of You” and will start on May 23rd.  The price is right…only $20.  After May 23rd, the price will go up to $25.  Go to her blog here and read about it on her May 9th post.