Cay Denise

I quickly sketched a bust at the J. Paul Getty Museum's Sketching Gallery recently.  The tools provided were charcoal and a couple of lighter colored pencils plus paper and artist's seat.  Charcoal is not my typical medium and I had some blending challenges with it as can be seen.  But the overall sketch is a kind of fun image...and has some character.

My first intuitive painting from a recent Painting Experience workshop led by Stewart Cubley.  It was a weekend of freedom painting in terms of imagery.  There were no assignments other than to be open to painting the painting that wanted to reveal itself through each participant. I absolutely loved the movie about Paulus Berenson, an amazing artist and philosopher, that was shown as part of the workshop.  I highly recommend it!

This is the Week 13 lesson through Life Book 2017 led by guest instructor, Annie Hamann of South Africa.  The lesson for me involved a lot of firsts.  It was my first time using 15" x 22" paper...so there was much more room to fill up collage-wise and important decisions about face placement-- since that came first before the body and hair. Also, it was my first time using black charcoal.  Unfortunately, the application of it (both pencils and sticks) over acrylics just wouldn't work.  I'm wondering now if I need to try 'vine' charcoal. I also applied layers of tissue paper to create more realistic hair color and some shadow areas in the hair. As part of the lesson, we were to incorporate some symbolism.  What I've included as symbols for  grounding are a rose-like window within a labyrinth. I'm really curious about what others see in this project.  When you look at it, where do your eyes go first?  Where does your eye travel, if it does?