Cay Denise

'Blue Moon Madonna' - January 31, 2018 I've finished the work in progress from the weekend.  The digital drawing printed on a book page was completed with collage, gesso, paint, Gelatos and pen work.

After weeks of procrastinating in doing any painting or drawing for my new online art class this year, I started a piece tonight by prepping the substrate. Even though I didn't work further on that one, I found a magazine image that just called out to be drawn.  So, I made an outline of it, scanned it in to the computer, and then worked on the color and shading digitally.  What I did next I've never tried, but it was based on another magazine idea of drawing an image on newsprint.  So, I printed my drawing on a book page, and the result has great possibility.  Next, I'm going to gesso and collage over a part or all of the book page and see how it turns out. Piece in Progress

A Woman Unleashed project was to draw a crown for yourself.  This was mine using a Sharpie pen and watercolor crayons.

I went shopping on my birthday and found this really cute outfit...not that I bought it but would have liked to. The ensemble (excluding the shoes) looks great...and is so artistic/chic!

From the photo, can you tell I was looking upwards (toward a ceiling)? In this selfie drawing, I've tried lighter shading compared with an earlier selfie effort (the video in the last post shows that one). Lighter shading takes some layering to accomplish and a combination of types of pencil strokes.  In critiquing my own work, the eyes don't look quite right.  They look more cartoonish than real. So, I've got some work to do in creating more realistic ones. I'll keep practicing!

Have you ever tried drawing your face from a photograph? It's not easy, especially when you're trying to see and draw your features honestly. In a new online art course with Kara Bullock that I'm taking this year, I was to sketch my face using a gridded photo of myself as guide. I completed it though have done a lot of shading (beyond purely sketching) to see if I could convey the photo image. Some of my drawn lines are harsher than those in the photo, and since the drawing is done free-hand--some of the elements are a bit misshapen and/or out of alignment.  But all in all it isn't bad, even though the drawing isn't pretty. Its amazing what you can learn about line, shape and shading by doing it even if you don't like the result!

This project was based on the artist trading card swap image I did earlier in 2017...that I called Enlightened Emma for this activity (see first photo). The spirit doll is an interpretation of Enlightened Emma through a stone, pipe cleaners, fabric, ribbon, yarn and assorted do-dads (second photo).  It's easy to do but takes a bit of time.  To wrap-up the process, the instructor had us do a bit of writing about the piece and if you wanted to put a story to it--even better. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org .

As the New Year began, so too did my newest online, year-long course from Kara Bullock Art.  We're studying nine different art periods starting with the Renaissance and using inspiration from a piece by Piero della Francesco for our first project. It is at the first of a year-long class when the work is the greatest.  That is because of course background information and basic technique video tutorials and pdfs that need to be reviewed plus then comes the lesson videos to review and the project to be completed. So far, I've reviewed the course info, basics tutorials that include a grid technique to more accurately replicate an inspiration image, and three of the seven lesson videos.  At least I've had some time for this and hope to get through all the videos by next weekend.  I'm bound to get behind quickly with a new lesson coming out each week, but that's ok.  I'm going to try to relax and enjoy this year's ride.