Cay Denise

This lesson was about creating our own stylized lettering to use in our art.  I don't have some of the recommended supplies for this exercise.  So rather than using watercolors on most of the colored areas, I've used gouache mixed with water.  The background coloring constancy from one section to the next (behind the letters) needs some work, but I like the letter shapes and having used writing to enhance each.  Now...need to do more practice pieces! This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

It was a long day of work on this assignment on January 11...the first big Lifebook 2015 project called the 'Beacon of Light'.   Mixed media is a totally new medium and adventure for me.  I haven't used watercolor crayons/acrylics before and liked beginning to learn how they can be used together, and that they actually work very well in combination especially when trying to achieve a smooth appearance of multiple layers of paint. It didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, but it is a good first start...the beginning to learning. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willing Arts Ltd.  For more information, visit this link:   www.willowing.org .

It has been some time since I did any digital drawings.  Because of that, I forgot to check the size of the drawing when I started.  So, this piece ended up being much smaller than imagined. The male face is new subject matter for me and takes more shading and other qualities to build a sense of image, since men typically don't wear make-up, etc. I admit, stubble is missing--but it looked better without it. This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

I'm not used to working in mixed media, so this first effort with it using Life Book guidance isn't as pleasing as I would have hoped.  But it is a lesson that anything worth doing well -- takes time to learn. For this piece, there were challenges with the watercolor paper peeling because of being worked too much too wet, use of too much gesso in the layering process, and some papers didn't fully adhere. What I did like included using some of my stamps (which have been stowed for years) and using Caran D'ache water-soluble crayons. Now...on to do our next assignment! This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .