Journal Class

I've been taking another class. This class was called Foundations of Journaling and it was taught by Laure Ferlita. As you know, I've enjoyed some of her trip classes. Well this one was just as good! I've posted most of the pictures we did but not all of the exercises or pages. We covered a lot of ground and had a lot of fun. Again, this is another class of hers I highly recommend.

Now I am moving on to her Explorations class. She has room for a couple more people. See, she keeps her classes small so you get the attention you need. Why don't you click the Imaginary Trips button on my sidebar and see what is being offered. Hurry if you want in the class that is starting on July 20!

Sarah's Challenge #s 5 and 10

I've combined two of the challenges for this page. Challenge #5 was to draw with your non-dominant hand. Challenge #10 was to use simple collage and sketching.

I found it really hard to use my right hand. I tended to use my arm and kept my wrist stiff. I think my writing fit with the theme although I was in seventh grade when I got to buy the Creamsicles not first grade where I learned to print!

For the simple collage I went really simple but I'd been wanting to use this fruit pop in a page and this worked out to be a great one for it. Some sketching, just outlining but using my right hand made it a challenge. I added the borders to finish the page and do a bit more sketching.

If you haven't yet tried to use your non-dominant hand you ought to give it a try. For one thing, it sure gives a different look to your work, for a second, it is rather a fun challenge, and last, it makes you appreciate wherever you are at with drawing with your dominant hand!

This challenge can be found at Sarah's blog. Try it out.

July Challenge - Day 4

This pic did not come out so pretty. It was definitely a challenge. The challenge was to hold your pen at the high end tip as if you were holding a brush at an easel and draw something with it. Sarah figured it would loosen up the work and it sure did that. Funny thing is, I love to see other's loose work but not sure I like it in mine. Maybe there is more to loose work than loose.

I did the penwork at first with a fine tip but then realized it wasn't going to show up over the practice writing I had on the page under it. (I really didn't want that practice showing up like a whole journal page; it had been done for a class I took). Since it wasn't showing up I reached for a heavy black pen that wouldn't bleed through and what I had was a brush tip so that's what I used. Basically this is a practice piece over a practice piece. Maybe I'll like it more over time. I think if I'd gone back in with gouache and painted it the whole picture would have looked nicer but the markers were handy and it was late. Late is not good for me as I don't make the best decisions then. Ah well, that is a lesson in itself. Hope I have something prettier to show next time.

Edited to add my final version where I added a red background. I like it much better.


Check out Sarah's challenge here.

July Challenge

Sarah at Curious Crow is challenging herself and anyone who wants to join her during the month of July by trying to do things to stretch and grow beyond just sketching in a sketchbook. I've decided to join her and the picture here is my first piece I've done. This is for day three. I would have done day two but it was to use the primaries and make a color chart. I've done a color chart which I will be posting about soon but it was for a class I took and since I just did it recently I didn't want to do another just yet. Day one was to add paint or collage to some of my journal pages just to present a challenge when I use those pages. The picture here has a piece of testing-out paper glued onto the page. It was sitting on my desk when I needed to add that collaging so I used it. Then I wondered how in the world I was going to incorporate that into a page.

So how did I do it? I used ink to draw my picture. I used some purple for flowers. I used the grid I had around the top red square in the window on my little adobe house which I drew from my imagination thinking about how it should look and using what I've been learning in watercolor painting with Laure Ferlita in her classes. I added some swirls to another corner and although all of that didn't fit that strip of paper in completely it no longer looks foreign either.

Why don't you check out Sarah's blog and see if you want to join in?

Continuing With Fake Journal

I know the Fake Journal month is long past but when I get an idea I am going to continue to add to my journal.

I was looking through my newest book I bought Drawing Lab For Mixed-media Artists by Carla Sonheim and I realized I bought it because I enjoy her fanciful, fake animals. Then I picked up my papers I was using for my fake journal and saw a bird on the top piece. So, I picked up a pen and doodled it out. It's a fake for sure so I decided to add it to my fake journal as an official entry.