Mixed Media Online Class: Faces_Completed

I finished her!!!! I love it - though the finished product isn't what I expected.

Choosing the florals from the napkins I got from Sharon - not EASY!!!! I settled on leaves and a yellow rose. As you can see - the yellow rose got lost in the background .. its VERY muted. I suck at painting roses - so adding paint to bring out the petals was not an option!!LOL Also - I keep looking in the top hand left corner, thinking I should put something up there ... but ... well ... I am going to leave it for now.

On Sharon's videos, she talks about basically trial and error with the napkins and gel transfers...so what you may THINK you are going to get - you don't get!!LOL

I love this and I am so ready to continue on with her online classes...the next series is taking the line drawing we used for this project - and creating THREE more canvases...or in my case ... well..you'll see the surface I use!!LOL

As always, critiques are always welcome.

Mixed Media Exercise: Faces Continued

Okay ... I took everyone's advice and kept on going. What a difference a couple of hours make! Sharon's technique for building the face is wonderful. I was so excited to see my little face coming together.

I'm not sure about the shadow placement and I feel as if the nose can be a lot more defined .. but so far, so good. Also, the little valley above the lip - I've always hated painting those, LOL, so I'm still working on that.



Her braids .. I need to get some highlights in there .. but this is basically what I saw in my head when I signed up for Sharon's class - and I am so glad I did. I can't wait to finish this, so I can continue on with the other exercises.


So far, so good though .. thanks to all for the encouragement!!

Mixed Media Excercise: Faces

Alrighty .. first off - I suck at this mixed media stuff. This is my first time SERIOUSLY doing a project - and I don't know about you -but it isn't as easy at it looks on all the blogs!LOL

I joined All Norah's Art ning group, and signed up for the Faces class. So many wonderful and talented artists on this group!!

So, I sign up for the class, and everything that can go wrong - goes wrong. I can't find my mini canvas or printouts that Norah provided, I don't have any napkins...LOL...but - I'm a decorative artist - we IMPROVISE. So, digging around in my hoard..errr..stash, I find a cute little wooden pocketbook.

I can't find the sheet music printouts - so I used a stamp.

THEN, I do my first gel transfer ever. UUGGGHHH!!!! Its terrible looking!!! But, I'm going to keep going.

The ONLY thing that was easy for me, was sketching the face!!LOL ... so today - I transferred my face to my surface...and this is what I have so far.

Decorative Painting and Paper Crafts

From the very beginning of my dabbling in paper crafts, I wanted a way to combine a new love - making cards and and old love - decorative painting.

Yesterday, Toletown.com had a cyber Block Party, and one of the events was painting this cute little design - Friendship Shelters.

While Lorrie used acrylics, I opted to paint her design with Twinkling H20's. It is such a cute little design - and I finished the entire project, including putting the card together in a little under 2 hours.

The papers I used for the card are from the July 2009 Classy Pak by Tiare.

For all you decorative artists out there who are doing cards now ... a GREAT and less expensive alternative to the digital sketches and even rubber stamps, are to use the line drawings we already have!! I know I have tons from pattern packs and books, which I fully intend on using moving forward on cards, scrapbook layouts, etc.

L is For Love

February is Black History Month and the month of Love. I sketched this early this morning, watching my son as he was chit chatting online with his best friend.

All I could think of was my "little baby boy", in about 5 years - would be a senior in high school!!! Right now, he still loves hugs and kisses and hanging out with Mom ... so, I'm going to take advantage of those times before he is too grown. :)

K is For Kimono

I'm still hanging in there with Sandy's A to Z Challenge...and I saw this little angel in my head, while flipping furiously past all the political brouhaha's on the dead tube.

What a fabulous reason to click OFF the tv - and get to doodling. I used prismacolor markers to outline, and Luminare watercolors to color. You can't tell by the photos, but all the sketches I've colored with the Luminares, have such a beautiful sheen. I just love these watercolors....and a little goes a might long way.

Hope and Love

I had to turn the tv off. Between all the negativity surrounding politics, the devastation of Haiti...and even the constant worrying I do as a newly separated/single Mom ... I could feel it. A creeping oppressive weight starting to push in on me ... and I have decided to push back.

I can't do anything about stupid Washington politics.

I can't do anything about the utter devastation in Haiti, other than to pray and donate when I can.

I can't do anything about my personal situation but frankly be thankful that I had the strength to walk away rather than be disrespected.

I *can* stay positive .

I CAN thank God every day that I drive to work, that I am driving to WORK.

I CAN thank GOd that I have managed to have some semblance of normalcy with my soon to-be-ex, because our son deserves to have 2 parents who can put aside their differences and respect each other - for him at least.

And I can paint.

I can draw.

I can dig as deep as I need to dig, in order to keep pushing the negativity away.

Here are two ATCs that I did, while pushing the negativity away. "Hope" is on a watercolor ATC, and "Love" is on a mini ATC canvas.