30-Minute Drawing

This is a quick drawing using Caran d'Ache Supracolor II pencils from a 10-pencil set.  Since there isn't a skin tone color among the 10, I chose green to work with in the shape definition and shading. It works!

Batik print from melted Crayons!

Our Creative Club had such fun yesterday using melted crayons to make neat batik prints!  I had never done that before but one of our group had--and it was she who led this group get together activity.  Thank you, Karen!

The crayons had to be quite hot (and fully melted) for the wax to be painted on 100% white cotton and fully penetrate the fabric (to the back side) before immersing in a short dye bath and rinsing.  In the painting process, some of the wax caked on...but no problem.  That was taken care of by ironing the print (after the dye bath and rinse) sandwiched between clean newspapers to take the extra wax off and moisture out.

We used a black dye bath and it really reduced the vibrancy of my painted crayon design.  So, I've painted elements of the print with Setacolor and Lumiere fabric paints plus emphasized details that had gotten lost with a black Marvy/Uchida Fabric Marker.  Voila!


This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com.

Life Book 2016 - Week 36 Project Completed!

"Forever Beautiful"

The top photo is my final piece for the Week 36 lesson led by guest artist/instructor Annie Hamman of South Africa.  Annie taught a lesson earlier in the year which was awesome, but I struggled with it, just as I did with this lesson.  But both work products are pretty amazing!

This piece took three tries.  In the process photo (on the bottom), you can follow along with my comments.  Photo #1 shows my first try which was problematic from the shadow and light color application technique that was part of the lesson.  I like color, but I couldn't get it to settle down from the intensity you see.  So, I gesso'd over the face to begin again.  

Photo #2 shows my second try.  The face was too round and again, the shadow and light color application was just not working the way I wanted.  So, I prepared to start afresh the same way.

Photos #3 and #4 show the beginning stages of my third try which resulted in the final piece (top photo).  There were a number of sacrifices made in the collage elements (that I really liked), but the final piece is worth  I liked the capped sleeve imagery so much that I added some watercolor paper beneath them to incorporate them into the piece.  Again, I keep learning and am seeing so much growth in my artistic ability this year (my second) in Life Book 2016, and for that I'm very grateful!

This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org.

This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com.

Life Book - Week 31 completed!

This lesson was instructed by Gillian Lee Smith and is titled 'We All Cast Shadows'.  It involves a lot of foundation layering and adding imagery over it.

The purple ink I used during the layering process affected the addition of acrylic white on top.  So I had to finally cover the face and floral areas with clear gesso in order to complete those areas and get truer white coverage where it appears.

This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org.

Life Book 16 - Week 30 "Shadow and Light" Lesson with Jane Davenport

Here is the lesson I finished today from Jane Davenport's instruction module called 'Shadow and Light'. The initial steps were to create a line drawing. The first line established the chin curve followed by a line for the top of each eye, then one for the bottom of the nose and another for the middle of the lips. 

This painting was done with watercolor which is not a medium I normally work with. Jane's step-by-step instructions were very helpful though. I did find working wet on wet was challenging in this lesson and didn't quite work for me the way the instructor demonstrated. But then her tools were different then what I had available.  

Sometimes its amazing to see how a two-dimensional surface drawing can actually become an image with some depth. So I'm also posting the line drawing that was done for this.  

One surprise for me was in the use of watercolor for the eyelids. I didn't think I'd get the kind of depth I wanted, but both eyelids came out well from that perspective.   

This piece is good lesson information and works for the intended purpose. It is not my best but I have a much better sense of how to work with watercolor than I ever have!  

This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org.

The Reveal!

I can now share the three Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I made and swapped with a partner in Belgium recently (those on the bottom in this photo).  The theme for the swap was Healing, Transformation and Magic.  So, the first ATC on the bottom left is the loose interpretation of a person transforming into a butterfly while magic is in the middle and healing takes the form of truthful being-ness in the card on the right.

I packed these little ATC treasures in color-coordinated Japanese paper envelopes and then placed them in the purple organza bag. It was such a pretty package, and I know my partner was delighted with them. It was so fun to contribute in making the day they were delivered so special for my partner!

Unintended Saying

I was recently cutting out photos and words from magazines to use in some future art projects and look at the clever (and completely unintentional) saying that resulted!

Life Book 2016 - Week 13

I will probably re-work this piece. I like how the background started out (top image).  But the 'flower' in the center (bottom image) of the more developed piece is too controlled compared to the rest of the background.

Life Book 2016 - Week 24 Lesson

I just finished my Week 24 lesson and am really pleased with it.  I love how the face came out (light and shadow areas)! Overall, I think its pretty effective.

This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org.

Creative Club

Today's club project was to create a weaving using yarns, ribbons and plant cuttings. What a terrific idea and it was a great day for such a neat outdoor project!  I don't claim to be a weaver, but it was fun to make this first one. By the way, the loom we used was made out of a wood picture frame...clever idea that worked just fine.

Posted to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com