My Latest Face for Life Book 2014

I finished this last night...I wish I had paid closer attention to the arms...But I really love her face! I am suffering from a bit of insomnia so I have nothing else to say that would make any sense!

Okay, so much for 29 Faces...Maybe Next Time!

I have to say, major swing and a miss for the 29 Faces Challenge, in quantity anyway!

I am happy to report that through the 29 Faces experience I found Life Book 2014 (found here).

Though I discovered Life Book about 6 weeks into the year-long program I am thrilled to say I have 4 weeks completed and now am only 4 lessons behind. So while I am not working strictly on faces...here is the ONE I did complete as part of the program. It is a mixed media piece using 140 lb paper, Caran D'ache crayons, an assortment of fluid acrylics, paint pens, gesso, and collage.

I probably will not have time to work strictly on faces at this point, but I feel following the Life Book lessons will make me better equipped to participate with everyone next time around! I hope to create one more face for the challenge though!

Thanks for stopping by!

Day SIX (or Day 14)

Welcome Back!

Last night and this morning I worked with Masa paper and watercolors to create a sugar skull. I know, wrong time of the year for such an activity, but I am taking a watercolor class AND I wanted to try something I had never done before.

The thing is, I think I painted on the wrong side of the masa paper...But either way, I was into it. I have since found a blog that describes best how to use the paper and mark it (duh). If you are curious you can find it here.

I also used some bright colors which I have been attracted to lately: Turquoise and rose.  Maybe there is some significance there...maybe not.

Thank you for stopping by!
JW

P.S. I found a site here that describes the importance of color. Sounds about right for me as I am striving to achieve the words listed below!

Turquoise, a blend of the color blue and the color green, has some of the same cool and calming attributes. The color turquoise is associated with meanings of refreshing, feminine, calming, sophisticated, energy, wisdom, serenity, wholeness, creativity, emotional balance, good luck, spiritual grounding, friendship, love, joy, tranquility, patience, intuition, and loyalty.

The color pink [or rose in my case] is the color of universal love of oneself and of others. Pink represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability.

Day FIVE (Day 13) I Feel So Inadequate

Today I feel completely inadequate. I am so amazed by the wonderful artwork of the 29 faces group. I am really grateful to be allowed to post anything linked with the project.

I did a series of drawing on my dogs but they are just black and white and unfinished and will probably remain that way. Still, since they are faces, here they are. Oh, and I am only counting them as one face, since I haven't had time to do anything with them.

Dean is a rescued fellow. He is quite neurotic.

Emmett was rescued from a high kill shelter (50% death rate)
by me via facebook. A story for another day.
 Volunteers droved him 1700 miles to me.

Maynard was a pet store reject.  Adopt don't shop! He still has issues from
not being properly socialized. But he loves us and we love the Maynard!

Meg is 13 years old and suffers from doggie Alzheimer's.
She has a large dent in her head from an accident before I found her.
Also a rescued doggie. She is the sweetest soul you could ever meet.

The pack.

Thanks for stopping by!

DAY FOUR: Meet Daisy (Day 12)

Welcome back!

I have been inspired by a lot of what I have been seeing on artist's blogs. I really like the "big eye" look and so I googled it... 

Anime was one of the first things that came up on the search. Some of what came up reminded me of The twins from "The Shining". I think this is their little brother and his dog:

You would be lucky to own a Margaret Keane
and you compare her art
 to a Jack Nicholson movie?

After a bit more searching, the look I wanted came up as "folk art" inspired. I spent a lot of time looking at folk art styles of painting and drawing.  This is "Daisy". She is marker and colored pencil on really crappy paper that began to roll up under the wetness of the markers.  

I worked on this last night and finished (for the most part) this morning. Last night at watercolor class I also painted my first color wheel in close to 20 years. I actually set up several pallets for several projects...none of them face related...It was two hours of complete bliss!

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Artsy Challenge...And DAY THREE (Day 11)

In my obsessive use of the internet to look at women's art and the faces they are creating (it does seem to be all women anyway) I came across this blog and this challenge:

larapabst.blogspot.com/2014/02/mail-art-opportunity.html

So I signed up on her page. If you want to contact me, leave a comment. If you aren't comfortable leaving your email on this page, still leave a comment and we will work something out! I think this could be awesome!

'

I am in love with WonderStrumpet's art found here, So I borrowed a similar big-eyed look of her people and combined it with some folk art dog stuff I've seen around the web. I didn't do enough planning and I was just experimenting with color, but again, I am having so much fun! I love looking at professional artist's work and instead of being intimidated (which has kept me from creating since I didn't feel "good enough") I decided to just DO IT! So far no one has told me to stop blogging or drawing, and so at this point I am grateful for a lack of comments!

DAY THREE (Day 11)

A work in progress.

And my muse:

Does this count as face 5?

29 Faces Challenge: My Day One and Day Two (Day 9 and 10)

As mentioned on the Challenges Page... I am getting a late start on the 29 faces challenge. So my Day One is Day 9. But better late than never or so I've heard from other procrastinators and late bloomers. I have never studied how to draw a face and so I have no idea of what I am doing or even what medium I want to use or style I want to practice.

I am truly loving and being inspired by everyone's pieces. I don't have time to comment on everyone's pages...but I am in awe!

DAY ONE (Day 9)

Reminds me of a police crime sketch artist drawing.
 Did I mention the last face I drew was over 20 years ago?

My first face is a simple sketch in pencil in my sketchbook. I didn't use a grid and used a variety of faces in the local paper to assemble something human.

DAY 2 (Day 10)

Just trying a medium I have never used and playing. This is Gladys .

I have never used oil pastels. Well...years ago I picked them up. I think I tried them and thought: What the hell is this smeary stuff? It was too much like smearing feces or something. But this time I had fun. Clearly I need to learn some technique and skills, but I enjoyed myself.