Lifebook Lesson 14 - Honoring your (my) Past

This is our week 14 lesson in Lifebook.
I have been an unruly student and have jumped around a bunch in the Lifebook course so you will often see the weeks out of order. Here I just picked the most recent lesson that Tam had posted and ran with it!

I started this page last week, and as you can see below, she went through many processes.


This is how she started out, I was most proud of this drawing because I didn't have to refer to my drawing notebook to be able to complete the face.
Not once did I refer to my learning materials! I am getting it!


Then I watercolored her face and worked on some shading. Shading is always difficult for me but, practice makes perfect right?!? Have to keep after it.
I got her roughly where I wanted her without too much fuss but then she sat for several days, I had lost interest and I didn't know where I was going with her.
Last night I sat down and re-watched Tam's videos and worked along with her and this is where it took me...


It was around here that her hair had changed. I had lost the outline of the short "do" that I had penciled in but it didn't seem to fit anymore. I don't know why she turned out this way but I was lead to it and it feels right.





Voila!
Well, it is missing a fold out piece but I have yet to come up with something creative to do that will not cover my picture.

I am really enjoying the Lifebook course, many of the lessons are really fun and interesting!

Last Week's BOD Spread

For the first time in over a month I finished a Book of Days spread and it felt soooo good!
It FEELS good to get back to art. I have been arting a lot in the past week. About half way through the week I was starting to get discouraged, specifically in my Lifebook page. I had hoped to sit down and art it out! One day, done! Alas, that's not my life, there are little interruptions, BIG interruptions, bad days, busy-ness, and plain old laziness. But, I belong to a group on Facebook for the Book of Days and it has evolved into the most wonderful of support systems! When I am feeling down it's what I surf around on for a while and I always come away with a smile for I have found art posted by my sisters to inspire me or I have witnessed someone post with honesty about how they may need positive energy/prayers sent their way and I have seen a group of women swoop in to the rescue to offer prayers, love, support, and kind words. It leaves one with the most wonderful feeling that there are indeed still wonderful people in this world and this is just a sampling of such good hearts.
Effy Wild's blog post really says it all. <3

And so, onto the art...

I have been loosely following along with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's 30 Days in your Art Journal.
Well, I bought and paid for the class and finished week one with no problems in March.
But then, in week two she does this awesome spread where she uses tags to journal on and I kept putting it off, meaning to buy the tags but never getting around to it. Weeks slipped on by and I started looking around my house for things to use instead, don't get me wrong, Julie offered up several awesome substitutions but I REALLY just wanted tags.
Finally the 1st of April rolled around and I knew I had been art-less for too long.


This is the background as it sat for over a month, untouched.

Painted with wet craft acrylics, I did the base in apple green over a non-gessoed page, then smeared a corner with another craft acrylic in a shimmery red which just turned out to be pink.
Stamped the circles with a toilet tissue roll and black acrylic paint.
Then I took my most favorite shimmery purple craft acrylic and colored some circles in and then painted some clear glitter acrylic paint over them because there just wasn't enough sparkle.
Yum, loving glitter.


Gratuitous glitter close-ups!

So after a month of ignoring my BOD I decided it was time to move forward and put this pretty background to use! I had considered using those subscribe postcards that fall out of magazines
(I started collecting them from all over), but they were a little too busy for my liking,
I considered card stock cut in the shape of tags or just in funky shapes but it seemed to plain.
And one day I was cleaning and re-organizing all my supplies and I found a stack of
multi-colored post its and that was IT!
They were bright and colorful but still a little plain for my liking, so I took a total of 12 of them and painted them all different with my watercolor crayons and then sprayed them with a spray I made from my shimmery red acrylic paint and water
(Again, it turned out pink, not red! Oh well!)

Shiiiiiiimmmmmmmmerrrrrrrrr!


Stacked in sets of 2 for journaling in a possible layout plan.

So, then the work started! This was one of the easiest journal layouts to keep up with!
I just tucked the sets of 2 glued together post its in my book and everyday I would pull a set out and journal on it and glue it down!
The layout was pretty much complete, I just had to journal!


Half finished!

My layout ran from Wednesday, April 11th to Monday, the 16th.
Somewhere in there I had decided that I needed something more and I cut some post its into three equal pieces and watercolored them and glued them in thinking I would write important words or something on them or something that would pertain to each day but I was undecided so they stayed blank for a day or two.
On Sunday, I realized that I should just incorporate my daily prayer journal into my BOD because I have been a bad panda and haven't been keeping up with it at all!
I belong to a 30 Day Prayer Journal group on Motley Soul, and Mika is usually so good about posting a scripture daily and thus far I glued and clipped all the ones from March into a composition notebook, but I hadn't done anything in April.
So, why not put those in my BOD!?!
I mean, I joined the group wanting to make scripture and prayer a bigger part of my life!
Well that's what I did!


The finished page!

On Monday I got Happy Mail from on of my BOD Sisters and in the envelope was my very first row house, some awesome napkins and papers, paper doilies and PUNCHINELLA!
I have been wanting some but found none in my small, small town, and I never get to go to the city anymore, so I was SO thankful that my sister H. Crump sent some to me!
To commemorate my first bit of punchinella, I used it!
As a stencil first with orange paint and I also cut off a small bit and glued it onto the corner!


Had to take a picture with the light hitting the shimmer paint.


And finally, showing most of the glued in scriptures!

And that's it for Tuesday's blog!
I finished two other projects yesterday/last night as well but I am going to blog about them one at a time and will schedule them to post the next two days so check back I am trying to make blogging a more regular thing!

Book of Days

This is the last page that I completed in my Book of Days for the week of March 3rd!
I am such a bad bad girl!

And again, instead of trying to make up a month and make myself totally miserable (though I do have the daily journaling done in my day planner), I am just gonna let it go and start anew right now! No sense dwelling in the past and being hard on myself for procrastinating, it will only feed procrastination, laziness, and depression.

You might sort of recognize the layout, it's my interpretation of a lesson in a class I had started.
I had started Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's 30 Days in your Art Journal and I had completed the first spread and totally was loving on the class when life took a bit of a detour and my Book of Days was interrupted, again!
But now, I am really going to make an honest attempt at forming a daily arting/journaling habit.
I am INSPIRED!

My mind and its magnificent walls

I have been around but I haven't been very active with art of any kind and it makes me a sad person, I think, to not work on art.

Though, I discovered just how clever my mind has been lately at keeping me from starting/completing projects or working in my journal. My craft area has been a wreck for over a month now and I usually just look at the mess and sigh, perhaps I wish I had a maid or could blink and make everything clean again, at the very least I just wish for the energy to get something done. I haven't had a lot of energy lately. But on Monday I woke up with an immense amount of drive to get some things done around the house and that helped, A LOT! I got the kitchen clean with the exception of the pantry and fridge. I also got the dining room sorted out and my craft supplies re-organized in there! Now I have a place to art and can find my things when I need to!

So after all that was done, I was wiped out! So I took my sketch book to bed with me and I intended to play with drawing eyes. Lesson 2 of my Face to Face class, yes, I am still only on lesson 2! But my sketch book sat there for the entirety of the night, every time I saw it my mind came up with SOMETHING new.
These are thoughts that have occupied my brain when thinking about working on eyes...
-You've worked too hard today and you're shaky, why don't you give it a day or two?
-You're OK at eyes, you know how to draw the basics, what do you need to finish that lesson for?
-Eyes are NO FUN to draw, plus you aren't any good at them, just move on. (Notice the conflicting thoughts there?)
-You should print out the pictures of faces but you're almost out of ink, oh well, guess we'll do it another day.

So, somewhere along the way I decided to bite the bullet and work on some eyes. I snapped some pictures with my phone camera of the faces (eyes) I had looked up on the computer so that I could draw while Anthony played his game and off to drawing I went.

First was a worksheet on which I was supposed to draw three sets of eyes in boxes, I started on the first set reluctantly but by the time I finished them I was having fun! Imagine that, FUN! I easily finished the last two sets and I realized they weren't perfect, far from, but I was OK with that, I just wanted to draw more eyes!


Here's my worksheet.

So, then, I got out my phone and worked on drawing a pretty set of Asian eyes. Unfortunately this was the only set I finished before bed, but I was looking forward to drawing more, and I did, I finished off the exercise yesterday and am looking forward to moving into Lesson 3!


Working on getting comfortable drawing from pictures.


Sans eyelashes, eyebrows and most shading,
just trying to get to where I shut my mind down and draw what I see.

Life Book Week 5 - Kylie's Lesson

Kylie's lesson in week 5 of Life Book was both inspirational and so much fun!
It took me 6 days to complete it and I definitely had some moments in which I wanted to rip it apart and throw it away, but I just put it away for the day and picked it up the next.
I tried to make sure that I did something on it everyday.



It started with a tissue paper and scrapbook paper collage, a layer of gesso and a layer of watered down pink acrylic paint, then a watered down layer of brown acrylic paint.


Next, I started working on the background.
These are a selection of words that I feel describe me.

I worked on clothing and color a wee bit and totally messed up my own teeth!


And finally I reached a point where I was pretty happy with my project!


I was not super happy with the paper I used underneath the face, it ended up being a lined scrapbook paper and I hadn't realized that until after I got the photo transfer of the face down, but oh well.
And, while I was burnishing the photo transfer it started to peel! Oh no!
I just went with it though.


After I finished burnishing the transfer I still had to shade it in and add some color and while it is not perfect, I really ended up liking this project! It was a really great learning experience, it inspired me, gave me a hundred more ideas, and I think that photo transfers are going to become one of my most favorite new techniques!

Yes indeedy!

30 Days in your Art Journal

I bounded into a small amount of extra money and I signed up for yet another class!
This'll probably be the last for a bit but I should have plenty to blog about with all the classes and challenges I have taken on.
Just soaking up the art, thanks.

So, my new class is 30 Days in your Art Journal with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and just two days in and I simply ADORE it!
I went to get back into my Book of Days because I had been neglecting it and I found that I was completely blocked. I was so worried about all the time I had missed and overwhelmed with the fact that I would have to make all of that up. I have been keeping up with a daily journal in my day planner, mostly these symptoms I suffer but often notes about what inspires me or what I am thankful for. But I let it go so long that all I could think about what how overwhelming it would be to catch up. And thus, I kept tucking my Book of Days back at the bottom of my stack of journals.
:(

So, last night I made a decision to wipe the slate clean and "forgive" the time I fell behind. I came up with this idea...

Picture is a little blurry, I think I had a fingerprint on my lens.

So, what I did was took a printed picture from the Star Wars: The Old Republic website, I think it was one of their wallpapers.
I simply folded it in half and tore around the edges, slapped it in the book with some Mod Podge, scribbled with watercolor crayons all around the edge, and wet that up with a brush with water and gesso on it.
When dry I wrote about the game having kept me busy and away from art for so long.
There, slate = clean!
Moving on!

The next page is the first day of my 30 Days in your Art Journal and while I have pictures of it in the process, I really don't want to share it until it's a completed page. At the very least, until I have more than a couple pictures to show off.
I am enjoying this class greatly though, I can see myself going through it a couple times through until some of the processes are ingrained as habits.

I am also still taking my Life Book course. I hit a bit of a snag with one of the lessons and lost interest for a while. But I recently wandered back in and moved on to the next lesson and am having a blast with it. I will just go back to the one I skipped later, I am sure it will hold more relevance to me at a later time.

I am also immensely enjoying my Face 2 Face class, in which Mika is teaching us how to draw faces!
This class has to be my most favorite because I am learning SO much from it, but I am taking it real slow and getting in a lot of practice tries into my sketch journal. I don't sketch everyday but I would say that I make some effort about 5 days a week.
I wont inundate you with magazine sketches until I come up with something really good!

So, there is my current class review. So far I haven't regretted a penny spent on any of my classes.
And I even have a wish list of classes to take or things to learn, including.
I hear Rhomany has a great Lettering class, I could stand to learn how to draw letters better.
And I have always wanted to take the She Art workshop by Christy Tomlinson.
And lastly, I am really interested in Angels in my Studio, a class I stumbled across while surfing blogs!

We'll see what's next as I really need some new supplies so funds may have to go towards that for a bit!

Face 2 Face - more magazine sketching

I finished this picture late last night.
Now, let me be clear, the point isn't to add all the shading as it should be, really, it is to work on proportions, to practice, and for training.



I was drawn to this picture because of the mouth, I always do pictures with closed mouths.
So, last night when I was done with it I HATED this picture. Put it away a little bit frustrated, but this afternoon when I pulled it out to take pictures to send to Mika I thought it wasn't so bad after all.
It's an honest attempt and I can only get better.
At least it is closer to the photo than my last one was!

Hubby bought me a new journal so I think later tonight or tomorrow I will work on some backgrounds.

Face 2 Face - learning proportions and placement

Yesterday I started my Face 2 Face class on Motley Soul and WOW.
Within the first few minutes of having access I was so excited and completely enthralled.
The videos are great but Mika has provided sooooo much printed materials, it's crazy!
I feel like I am taking a real art class in college but without all the stress of a GPA, I am just left to learn and enjoy it!

Just with the first class I have learned proportions and placement, some of which I did already know but I have learned a couple of easy tricks that help me immensely!
I am just floored with how great this class is, and Mika, though she is busy is always willing to lend me her ear and give advise to a newb artist!


Learning proportions and placement, trying to get it straight in my head just where everything goes.

This was my first sketch done without the help of the provided grid paper.
For some reason my lips always come out HUGE! Working on that.

Attempting to sketch a picture. Yeah, it's way off, I have a ways to go but I wont give up!

So, I am pleased with my purchase of this class and I look forward to learning!
If you haven't joined the Motley Soul Mixed Media Art Community yet, you should!

Creative Motivation

Oh where, oh where has my creative motivation gone?

Got my new computer in, also got a new phone (hubs thoroughly spoiled me) but somewhere along the way I lost some creative motivation. Due to space issues I do not have a room of my own for a studio, due to space issues I had to move all my art supplies out of my room into the dining room where it sits all stacked up on the floor at one end of the dining room.
I stayed much more motivated with my supplies within reach in my bedroom.
I have to see if I can find a way to remedy this.

So, I am hoping that my motivation will return as I signed up for a class I have wanted to take since it was advertised the first time. I started drawing last year and I just adore it, I need a lot of practice, but I adore it! My friend, Mika, over at Motley Soul Mixed Media has a class called Face 2 Face where she teaches you to draw faces. I bought it last night, just got access and started with the first video and I think this is just what I need to regain some artistic motivation!

I also have my Life Book course to get back to, but I need motivation first.
I think I will start by moving some select supplies back to my bedroom again, and then I will complete Mika's drawing exercises, and then I will get back into Life Book.
That's the plan anyway!

Oh, and I just have to share my most beautiful journal! I won this journal from the Motley Soul Mixed Media site for being THE most active member in the month of December (I think)!
I LOVE this journal! I have been loving on it since it came in but I have yet to put anything IN it.
Well, now I do!

No computer blues...

So, you will all have noticed (or maybe not) that I went quiet.
Well, I am still here. I am waiting for my new computer to come in.
I had just gotten my desktop back from my son, who was using it for school.
He bought himself a shiny new one and gave me mine back. Unfortunately I didn't have it but for a little while, I hadn't even finished moving everything onto it thank goodness, and it died.
We tried to have it fixed, but it didn't work. I think we have to replace some vital parts, which may prove impossible with the type pf computer it is (thanks HP).
: /

So, hubby let me order my replacement yesterday! Yay tax refund!
It's a gaming computer because I am an avid gamer, so it has to be built specially.
I am expecting it to arrive sometime in the next two weeks!
I am sure you'll see me around much more after that!

I also have been having bouts of this... thing.
Drs say it may or may not be Multiple Sclerosis. The Dr who read my MRI said there was a likelyhood but my Dr says they can't be sure until I have a lumbar puncture done and I wont get a lumbar puncture until I can see a neurologist, and I can't see a neurologist until June.
Some days are much, much, MUCH worse than others.

Anyhow, be back with you as soon as I get my computer!