GPP Crusade No. 60: I Love...

It's been a few months since I participated in a GPP Street Team Crusade.  Besides following Michelle Ward's prompts for the challenge, there is the fun of reading the blogs of the other participants.   I've made some wonderful friends through the comments and emails that have been shared through this group.  But, sometimes life has other priorities and I needed to step back... and I read today that there will be only one more crusade after this.  I'm SO glad that I'm jumping back in right now because it gives me an opportunity to say it loud from here:
 I love you Michelle Ward!

Mixed media with digital text.

I created a two-sided page on Strathmore Mixed Media Paper.  This paper is great!  It's smooth surface made writing I Corinthians 13 [the Love Chapter] with a Sharpie pen a pleasure.  Next I used a favorite technique gleaned from an earlier crusade - gesso resist.  Using a heart stencil, I applied tinted gesso with a sponge roller.
After the gesso dried, I used a limited color palette of transparent raw sienna, quinacridone magenta and phthalo blue, and transparent mixing white (zinc white).  Since the paint was thick (Liquitex from tubes), I thinned the paint with matte medium and water.  I wanted rich pigments and yet retain tooth to the paper for subsequent layers.  Using the same paints, flowers and hearts were stencilled on the page.  Circles were made using bottle caps for stamps.


Page without the digital journaling.

 Now I let this set for a few days before deciding what to do next.  Using a white Sharpie poster paint marker and Inktense pencils in similar colors to the paint, I brought out some of the shapes and added a bit of doodling.  Love was written with the Sharpie marker and shaded with the Inktense pencils.  A bit of additional doodling was added with a Sharpie pen.  I can go back to this page and add more doodling, but I decided to stop now and scan it so I could add a digital message.  When I read today that Michelle is retiring the crusade after next month, I knew what I had to say.

Here's a wink to you, Michelle!

As I stated earlier, I painted both sides of the paper.  One edge is deckled (paper torn against a deckling ruler).  I folded the page not quite in half to leave space for adding a binding later with my Zutter Bind-It-All.  My Martha Steward scoring board and a ruler helped me get a clean fold on this heavy paper.
This page used the same paints except for the transparent raw sienna.  There was no journaling on the page either.
Last night I found a face (Sharon Tomlinson, thank you) and brought it out subtly with Inktense pencils.
Inktense go on like a regular colored pencil, but when you wet the color, it intensifies and you can move it with a paint brush.  Once it dries, it is set.  I have a small set of 12, but would love more some day.
Please look into the Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusades.  They are still available for viewing and learning and doing!  Michelle has been a generous teacher and a great cheer leader.

Experiments & Faces

This is what happens when I experiment with no expectations...
I've been reading a book, DYNAMIC ACRYLICS by Soraya French. The author likes to use acrylic ink, often as the underpainting. I picked up a bottle of Liquitex Burnt Sienna Acrylic Ink. There's a dropper built into the cap. Wonderful. I applied the ink with the dropper on watercolor paper - dry, wet into wet, sprayed with water, alcohol, etc. Then I added Liquitex Soft Body paint - Ultramarine. More ink. Then I decided I needed a little black. That's when I saw a face. So I dipped a brush into the jar of black soft body paint & laid calligraphic strokes on the paper to bring out the face I "saw". I came back to the page later & decided it needed a bit of highlight, so I added a few strokes of yellow ochre. Then I bordered the page with strokes of black.

Another day, another experiment. I've been learning to paint faces. In Sharon Tomlinson's on-line class, we used Folk Art craft paints which has a nice generic skintone color. But Sharon also showed us an easy mix to create flesh tones.
This week I got out my set of Golden OPEN Acrylic paint to experiment with creating flesh tones. I was very happy with the results that came from mixing titatium white, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue. Ultramarine blue also works, but has a higher tinting strength than cobalt blue, so be careful to not add too much!
Well, I had the paint mixtures on my palette and dabs of the color recorded in my paint reference journal... so how about making a face. I had about 20 minutes available, so I grabbed a miniature watercolor tablet (3.5 x 4.75 inches), quickly sketched an outline & features, then applied paint with a 3/8 inch angular flat brush.
Have you ever used Golden OPEN Paints? They are luscious & creamy & so blendable!

This little study was painted very loosely. ALL of it was painted with that relatively large brush. The angle makes it possible to paint the smallest details when using a superb paint like Golden OPEN. (No, I am not getting any reimbursement for all this gushing.)
I definitely will be using this paint for more faces.

One last thing. If you want to take a fun on-line class, sign up with Sharon Tomlinson. She gives great feedback and is really fun. Sharon is offering a new class that will start this month using non-traditional colors for faces. Check it out!

Believe

Face2Believe.jpg
Originally uploaded by rgrdesigns

This is another mixed media project from All NorahS Art Faces on-line class that I finished this weekend. "Believe" is on a 4" x 4" canvas. A few minor adjustments to her face and hair were added since the previous post. Napkin and tissue were collaged on with Golden Matte Soft Gel. Using Staz-On ink, I stamped "believe" on rice paper that was colored with Ranger distress ink.

I was asked if she is based on anyone. Yes and no. There is much instruction on drawing faces that gives basic guidelines for placement and size of facial features. So, in that sense, she is "generic". However, I did refer to a photo of actress Amy Adams for the general shape of her face.

In the class, Sharon demonstrated blond hair and green eyes. I'm working my way to the brunette side. I knew that using only brown would result in flat looking eyes and hair. There are shades of gold, brown, rust and even deep burgandy in her hair.

I have two more canvases prepped for faces. Our instructions were done with Folk Art Paints which are very economical. But I'm ready to try working with Golden Open Acryllcs. My next challenge is to try mixing my own flesh tones.

All NorahS Art - Face 2

Face 2
Originally uploaded by rgrdesigns

This winter I signed up for an on-line workshop taught by Sharon Tomlinson. I've been playing with drawing faces for a while now and have wanted to learn how to paint them better.
This is a work in progress. It's amazing how many things I see in the photo that I didn't notice before ... should I even be posting this?

You can still sign up for this class. Sharon's style is not as tight as mine is and is very charming. So is she!

This is painted on a 4 x 4 canvas that was prepped with old sheet music, paint and an acrylic transfer. The church is from one of my photos taken in Hannover, Germany.

I will add a little more to this before calling it finished. I just wanted to let you know about this wonderful class before more time passed on.