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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here we go…already Day TWO of the new year.  I didn’t make any resolutions this year.  I have never been one to make resolutions…but a new year is a time to reflect on what you need to change.  Reflections have been made

I got out my embroidery quilt blocks this past week…now that the holidays are over, I plan to spend more time making new blocks.  If you want to see the ones I made last year…go here .  I have two ready to sew together on my sewing machine and then I can do further hand stitching on it.  I am thinking of taking  Workshops being offered by Alma Stoller called STITCHED.  I need to make up my mind because the class started yesterday.  There are twenty different fabric artists doing workshops and they are all open to you after you join and you can delve into the ones that appeal to you first. 

BTW, the journaling workshop by Effy Wild, that I mentioned in the previous post,  is very good.  I picked up some tips from the first two videos.  Like I said, it doesn’t cost you anything (unless you want to donate and she doesn’t push you to do so).   Here are two journal pages from last week.  The face started on a sheet of black notebook paper…at one point I was ready to toss it in the garbage but I kept working on it.  The other page was named “Robot Chicken”  by my DH

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.

Sweet Adele – Strathmore Journal

My FTB journal is finished now, so, on to other things.  I have been working on Carla Sonheim’s class this week. I’m behind on ICADs for this week. I’ll  post some over the upcoming weekend.  Here’s a page from my Strathmore Journal.  Adele was one of the first names to pop into my head.  The name Adele means noble.  I started with a watercolor background.  I used white gesso and painted a few patches all over the page.  Then I used my acrylic and India inks to draw the face and swirls, etc…it’s not easy drawing with the dropper.  I used three color of inks…raw umber, cherry red, and aqua.  I finished with more lines with my Sharpie pen.

Ink Faces

Someone asked about “Faces 101.”  It is part of Carla Sonheim’s Dog Days of Summer, online art camp for kids and adults.  It’s a three week workshop….last week was “Imaginary Creatures” and this week is “Faces 101.”  Next week will be “Junk Mail Artist’s Book.”  I have some creatures partially completed but I will probably wait to finish them after next week.  I’m trying to keep up with this week’s assignments.  I’m having the most fun doing faces this week.  If you want fast paced lessons…Carla keeps one moving along   Here are some ink drawings that I made yesterday. I didn’t have any black ink so I had to use some India inks and Liquitex inks:

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:

What I’m doing now…

I finished this piece yesterday.  I had a pencil sketch of this girl from several months ago. I painted it and then outlined it with India ink.  The background was all blotchy,  so,  I cut her out and glued her in my Strathmore journal.  The background is collage pieces from old magazines.  I liked the sketch best….oh well    I signed up for Traci Bautista’s  latest class on Sunday.  I have taken almost all her classes…I like her style.  I have been on the fence about taking it for about a month.  I’m sure I’ll be posting some journal pages from this class in the future.  You can check out her regular blog here.  Here’s my journal page:

 

Composition Journal – #18

Lately, I can’t seem to get away from green and pink   I started this by gluing down a page from an old murder mystery novel. I drew the big flower image on the page first with my dip pen and India Ink. Then I colored the page lightly with Caran d’Ache crayons.  The collage pieces are from an old atlas that I stamped and painted. 

My time on the computer has been limited the past week,  so, I am behind visiting  my favorite artist blogs. I got up earlier than usual this morning and found Dianne Bishop Carey’s blog: Art Beneath the Cottonwoods .  She is a new (to me) artist and you might want to check out her blog if you have never been there.  Her blog heading says mixed media, altered books, journal pages, calligraphy and fiber arts.

Working on Postcards

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Hanna is sponsoring a postcard swap. She said:  “280 people x 10 postcards equals 2800 postcards!”  

That’s a lot of postcards going off to various parts of the world.  I will be sending two to Sweden, one to Malaysia, Spain, Germany, UK,  and Canada.  Also, three, in the US.  I have five almost completed.  I think I will be doing some pen doodles over the cards.  I started with painted phone book pages that I tear into collage pieces and glue down on the postcard.  This time I am using precut watercolor paper by Strathmore.  Here are some photos of painted papers and the five postcards that are almost completed.  The first photo shows how I do the painted papers, the next one shows five cards in a semi finished state.  I hope to get my cards finished and mailed out by the first week in April. The deadline for sending them out is April 8. 

The next photo shows some quick sketches done with a dip pen and India Ink on pages from my old Gregg Shorthand book:

Moleskine#23

I just finished reading Janet’s fantasy about going to the Academy Awards tonight.  Go over there and read about the lovely gowns she picked from and her escort for the evening.  To be honest, I don’t know how many years it has been since I watched the Academy Awards.  It drags on and on for hours and I can always read about it the next day if I want.

If anyone is interested, Workshop 2 will start Tuesday(March 1), over at Strathmore Online Workshops.  It’s free to anyone, all you need to do is sign up.  Linda Blinn is teaching this workshop and a portion of the description about the class says:  “To personalize your journal, notice how the addition of fold-outs and embellishments make the pages interactive. Play with design layouts and spreads, and learn how to integrate writing and images while keeping design principles in mind… but not being constrained by them!”

I completed this page in my Moleskine today. I had a background on there for days but didn’t know what to do with it.  I  drew the faces and used my dip pen with India Ink to emphasize the lines.  Seeing the crow on the page reminded me that we saw a huge blackbird migration fly over our house yesterday….there were hundreds!  Early this morning, there was a smaller group that stopped and landed in the trees surrounding our house. They were making lots of noise and I went out and started clapping my hands and they all flew off.  I’m not sure what attracted them…I hope it wasn’t my bird feeders.