Self Portrait Challenge for Art Journaling

When I was growing up, I usually had short hair. I grew it out for a while, but it didn't look good. We didn't have the styling products in the 60's & 70's that give volume and control like we have now. Super long straight hair was popular. My sister had that. My hair was fine with a bit of wave and didn't work for that style. I had shag haircuts that actually worked for my hair. But that is NOT what I wanted. I would see models with long, luxurious hair. Artists would draw girls with long flowing hair. Hair was such a big thing that there was a song and a musical.
So, my first entry for the self-portrait challenge that Misty Mawn posted provided an opportunity to get nostalgic. As a teen, I would draw girls like this following the illustrations in sewing pattern catalogs.
This is on watercolor paper. After sketching in graphite, I drew in the lines with a Pitt sepia marker. The color was filled in with water soluble colored pencils that I gently blended with water. It's too bad that spell check didn't catch me writing "luxurious" wrong. I even looked it up before writing it, but I had to go back in & correct it after I'd penned it in wrong. Argh!
For the record, I have come to appreciate my hair and am thrilled to have a great stylist who gives me razor cuts. There are wonderful products that bring out the curl and keep down the frizz. And then there is my friend "L'Oreal" to thank, too. LOL

January Art Journal Challenge

Misty Mawn put out a challenge to work in our art journals daily through the month of January. Since I already was planning on being more intentional with my own journaling, I decided to join in. I was spending time with family when the month rolled in, but I was prepared with art supplies. Here are some of the pages I've done so far.

On the first, I was inspired by images of hour glass style timers in a magazine layout. I cut one out and glued it to a watercolor wash background. The journaling was done with Pitt sepia markers. I glued the 4 x 6 artwork into a Strathmore sketch book that I describe in my last post.

The next day my sister was baking. My reward for the bit of help I gave her was when she handed me the spoon that she had used to scoop prune filling for the kolaches. Yum! I don't really look like that, but my hair is kind of like that & I was wearing a henley shirt. I have a tendency to make eyes lopsided & I'm working on it. This was done with Pitt sepia & Conte pencils.

These larger drawings were done on the 3rd while playing Balderdash with some of my family. I used graphite drawing directly into my sketchbook.

Back Home with some Journal Pages

Happy New Year! Last week I finally felt well enough to go spend time with family for a few days. I took some art supplies along so I could play & also make art with my nieces. I took inexpensive watercolor paper that I cut into 4 x 6 postcards and 2.5 x 3.5 ATC's. My thought was that I could stretch the supplies if my nieces went to town with their art. But that didn't happen & as it turned out, I'm thrilled that I had done this. I ended up doing little art pieces that I glued into my journal which is just a Strathmore sketchbook. The watercolor paper gave me more options for the media I chose

I did do some sketching directly into the journal as well as another larger sketch book. This post shows some of my sketches that were done in the last days of December. They were all done with graphite. The scroll work & contemporary portrait were with water soluble graphite. I used a brush marker for background on the scroll work. They both have white gel pen accents.

"Roast beef or chicken Kiev?" was just a quick portrait with graphite direct to sketch book. My faces are usually drawn from my imagination. Sometimes I look at magazine or personal photos.

I got some inspiration from my sister when I did the water soluble graphite portrait at the top of this post, but she was busy making a collage and I couldn't study her face well so it doesn't look like her other than the hair style. I didn't crop the sketchbook out of that image, so you have a better idea of how my watercolor paper cards fit the pages. I can go back and make notes if I want in the free space.

Pitt Pen Variation on the Prairie Fire Theme

I've recently been greatly inspired by artist Pam Carriker. I discovered her blog earlier this month. When she wrote about her new Pitt Pens and posted a video demonstration I was curious. I remembered I'd purchased a similar set several months ago thinking they would be useful for value studies, but I had never gone very far with them. More often my art is very spontaneous. That's not a big deal when working on paper that can be cropped to improve a composition. But as I work on stretched canvases, I don't have that "luxury". It's frustrating to realize that once again I've put the focal area of a painting right in the bulls-eye zone of the canvas. Not cool. So - I'm trying to plan better.
Pam's post was timely because the technique is very quiet and relaxing for me. It was mental therapy for me while I rested my body during my recent illness. I will continue to do this sort of thing in the coming days as my stamina and health improve.
I've been using the Pitt brush markers on Strathmore Bristol smooth that I cut into ATC's. After lightly sketching outline strokes with graphite, I follow through with the Pitt brush pens starting with the lightest shade and progressing to black. I added accents with white charcoal pencil and black gel pen.
Be sure to check out Pam's blog to see her amazing work!
Do you have any forgotten treasures in your art supplies?

Variations on a Theme - Photoshop Play

It's nice to have quiet activities to occupy myself with while recouperating from a prolonged respiratory virus. Even though I am longing to paint on canvas, it can become a very physical activity. Instead, I've been going through digital files looking for reference photos. I found myself drawn to images of our Prairie Fire Crabapple blossoms. Tonight I played with Photoshop Elements and applied various filters to this image. Then I put the variations together in this collage.

Late December Views 2008

The weather provided much drama this Christmas week. Here's a glimpse of some of the variety of moods it provided.

On Sunday, blowing snow and frigid temperatures set up the atmosphere for this dramatic sight.

Later in the week I looked out the window to see this welcome visitor in our crabapple tree.

It was then that I turned to see this gorgeous Iowa sunset.

Yesterday the temperature rose well above freezing and fog formed over the land adding an air of mystery to the landscape.

The world appearred to go only as far as my own back yard.

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas to my faithful readers. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for your encouraging comments.

At Christmas, many of us take time out to consider what we believe is the greatest gift of all. His name is Jesus.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (New Living Translation)

The traditions of Christmas point to a King born in a stable. We hear of angels announcing His birth to humble shepards. They sang “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

Jesus grew into a man who loved the outcast and brought hope to the hopeless. He spoke Truth.

When He was 33 years old, Jesus was put to death when those in power were threatened by this man. But Jesus was not just man, He was God. In three days He arose from the grave.

Jesus has many gifts for those who believe in Him. Eternal life is one of them. He also gives the gift the angels sang of. Peace on Earth. We tend to think of this peace as an absence of war, an ideal world. But there is peace on earth today. It is in the hearts of those who believe in Jesus and have asked Him to forgive their sins and to live in their hearts.

"Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. " Philippians 4:6-7 (Contemporary English Version)