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.

First Portrait - Help Wanted

Well I need some help. I am taking a portrait class, Faces in Technicolor by Sharon Tomlinson. Her blog describing the class is All Norah's Art . This is my very first portrait and I am not really ready for them but I wanted to learn how she adds all the colors to them.

So where I need help is with my drawing. I have pointed out what is wrong with the pictures many of you were asking for help on and I am now asking for help myself. I know the mouth needs a little change which I saw when I was uploading the pics but beyond that, what do I need to do to make this look like my grandson? Your advice is most welcome and needed.

Blind (or almost) Contour Drawing

I got the new Carla Sonheim book Drawing Lab for Mixed-media Artists and have done a little bit with it. My cats came out terrible so I am not sharing them. They were just practice really anyhow. Then I saw a lesson on blind contour drawing which is not new to me but I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't want to go find a picture of a giraffe just yet or any other exotic animal so I settled for the dog asleep near me.

I have to admit I looked a few times so I guess this is technically a modified contour drawing. What I like about this kind of drawing is my speed goes way up over trying to do a careful drawing yet I still captured her likeness. When I was done I had a dog in the center of an otherwise empty page so I turned it into a journal page. This was drawn in an Aquabee 9x12 inch sketchbook where my usual journals are either a moleskine purple band or handmade to about that size. I don't normally draw as big as I did on this page. Watercolor added when I decided to make a journal page out of it. The whole page took less than 20 minutes!

Cherry Time

I was inspired by some cherries painted by another blogger at Maoma3 blogwho posted about her cherries and included the nicest little cherry painting on her journal page. I am always wondering what to draw and I just happened to have some cherries too. So, I put them in a little bowl, drew them with a Pitt pen and then decided to use colored pencils to color in the picture as my paper wasn't really suitable for anything wet. I'm happy with the way my page turned out. Hope you are enjoying cherry season too.

C is for Color

I got the new book The Journal Junkies Workshop. Using a few of their ideas I made this page. I've previously done a page for the letter A and have started (barely) one for B so I decided to do C here.

I used watered down acrylic for the watercolor looking background hoping it would somewhat seal the page. This is done on drawing paper and the paint was watery enough to soak the paper and bleed through to the other side almost ruining my page there. Adding watercolor pencil lines, I had to rewet the paper to blue them out. Then I let it dry and stuck with drier stuff like a photo I took of a flower in my daughter's yard and some butterflies from gift wrap. A little inkwork and I called it done at least for now.

I think my next journal will only have watercolor paper in it. I like painting on the 140# but it's so thick you can't get so many pages in a single journal. Could any of you tell me how 90# paper works for doing wet backgrounds concerning bleedthrough to the other side? I don't mind buckling as it flattens some when the book is pressed close.