Joy in the Water

The benefits of sharing studio space are numerous:  encouragement, accountability, instruction, inspiration and critique, to name a few. I have the privilege of sharing space with six other artists. We are a diverse group including painters in a variety of mediums, those who collage, recycle artists and even one fiber artist complete with antique 4x4 loom. Our studio schedules do not always coincide, but we all usually come together the first Friday of every month between 6pm-9pm for the monthly Downtown Bellingham Art Walk. Next Friday, August 7, is the August Art Walk.

Many of you know I have been recently working on creating women. Next Friday, many of those pieces will be available for viewing for the first time. The last few ladies in this process have become a series I've entitled the Gaudy Ladies, due to their vibrant primary colors. Most of my ladies have simply been faces, but one of my studio mates challenged me to create a full scale Gaudy Lady on a 5' x 2.5' (really BIG) canvas I had stashed away. After resisting for longer than I care to admit, I began the work I have currently titled "Song of Joy"this week.

It began with collage, using sacred sheet music from my grandmother.

After that I added a sheer coat of yellow as an under painting. I then added my lady.

I particularly like her hair at this point. Everything else is up for grabs...
Next came the flowers I knew she needed.

Yesterday I began the work on the background.

I expect to get her finished this weekend and have her hanging for Friday's Art Walk. Come out and see how she ends up.

This is not something I would have tackled before my association with my studio mates. My fear of failure would have kept me from even trying. In fact, I must regularly tell my Inner Critic (I.C.) that this is simply an experiment... That it doesn't have to be perfect... Or the best... Or sell! I simply must continue doing the work.

So far my I.C. has been held at bay even though he is rarely silent. Perhaps I will surpass his ugly expectations one more time.

Please don't let your nasty, negative, nit-picking Inner Critic keep you from even sticking your toe in the water of your dreams. Thank him (or her!) for his opinion, but you are choosing to risk all those terrible things just this once. That you want to see for yourself what will happen.

And you can even tell him that Jenny thinks he may be over-reacting, the water of your dreams is truly magical and worth ricking a little splash.

I think your dreams are yours for the making. I think that is why they were given to you. Go for it!

Because I love you. Bunches.

Unintended Consequences

When I began my journey of creating 100 pieces centered on women, I chose the ambiguous word "making" to give myself the freedom to use any medium that seemed interesting. I've learned to draw a recognizable female face, both with realism and abstraction in pencil, pen, marker and various types of paint. I've begun to explore highlighting and shadowing to bring dimension. I've grown in confidence as well as skill.

These outcomes I expected.

What I didn't expect was how my day now feels incomplete without creating some kind of lady, how 100 days passes in a heartbeat, how quickly one can assemble a body of work, and how I could easily spend the next year exploring this theme.

But 10 days ago my paintbrush introduced me to my growing tribe of Gaudy Ladies. Who knew I had such joy and delight and color inside me? I can barely wait to get into the studio to see who my brush will create next. What an adventure!

Would I have found them without first doing the 80+ pieces that came before? Who knows. And that no longer matters to me. I'm having the time of my life with these colorful women!

I share all this with you, Precious One, because your own version of my Gaudy Ladies hides inside you wanting to be discovered. Your "ladies" might be songs or dance moves or photographs or poems or stories or flower beds or teachings or massive weights moved or clothes made or closets ordered or books read or any number of skills. You need only choose a task to practice regularly. Your heart is probably giving you hints where to start. Your Creator is faithfully giving you clues on your genre.

I think you may already know where to begin. And what begins as a chore might just develop into incredible joy. Really.

Don't be afraid; dare to follow your heart. Share your task with one other person daily.  Sometimes the accountability of texting an image daily was the only thing that kept me creating!

You truly do have it in you. I believe in the process and I believe in you.

Because I love you. Bunches.

Offerings for the Ninth Week of Making

I met with a friend this past weekend who commented that the ladies created here over the weeks of this challenge have one thing in common. Aside from the wonky proportions of my style, she wondered at their absence of happy expressions. I explained that I'd been working so hard at shape and proportion of facial elements that any expression at all seemed incidental. Truth be told, I've  been pleased if my efforts were recognized as faces at all!

If a person wants to become accomplished at anything, she must be willing to be a beginner every day. And a person must be willing to be bad at something in order to become good at the same thing. How many skills have I chosen NOT to attempt simply because I have been unwilling to expose my ineptitude? More than I'd like to admit, certainly.

I knew a child once who would climb up his new 2-wheeled bicycle and say he knew how to ride it. I believe he thought that he was supposed to know how to do it before ever learning the skill. He'd sit on the bike, kickstand down, and insist he could ride. How many of us approach skills with this same attitude. How many of us are willing to save those ugly, ungainly first attempts? Whether the skill be riding a bike or dancing or shooting a 3-pointer or drawing?
 

 

Micron Pens

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils

 

Derwent Inktense pencils, Sharpie paint pens, Micron pens

Loved this quote found on Pinterest.

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils, Sharpie paint pens.

 

This one is called: SOMETIMES GOD IS SILENT

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils. 

Acrylic paint brayered background, gesso, stencils,

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils, markers.

Princess Be-Right-Back told me about a song by Sara Groves she thought went well with these last two ladies. She was right. You can listen to it here.

So this week's ladies are all works in progress, like we all are. Let's all dare to be beginners this week. And hold our first, tottering attempts at the new skills as precious. Because they are. And so are you.

Love you. Bunches.

Tutorial Thursday: The Decorated Journal Cover

Today's photo-heavy post will explain how to remove and replace the covers of your wire-bound journal after embellishing them. By now your art journals are probably beginning to fill with gorgeous thoughts, images and text. If not, today's tutorial will jump start a brand new journal for you. Let's get to it!

Begin with a wire-bound journal of any size. 

Open it to the inside back cover where the flat ends of the wire binding meet the "arm" ends of the binding. Carefully spread the "arm" ends away from the flat ends. The goal here is to try to keep the "arm" ends spread evenly all the way down the spine.

Remove the wire binding and set aside along with the paper.

Now to the fun part. I applied gesso to my covers with a brush. I then stamped into the gesso while it was still wet to create a bit of texture. (You know how I love texture.)

Next I brushed on a little paint (Liquitex Teal, Golden Permanent Green Light and Zinc White Fluid Acrylics) and laid a piece of drawing paper over each side, burnishing gently with my hand before lifting the paper. I love this technique for creating texture, but it also created the paper that will become the inside front and back covers.

While those were drying, I mixed  a little Golden Cyan Fluid Acrylic paint into a small amount of Golden Molding Paste on my palette. You can use a paper plate or piece of waxed paper as a substitute. You might also try this same technique with joint compound from the home improvement store with good result.

Then using a palette knife I spread the colored Molding Paste through a stencil onto the dried front cover. When the stencil is lifted, you have a lovely raised pattern on your cover. Repeat this process onto the back cover.

Once the covers are embellished the way you'd like, let the whole thing dry. Or if you are impatient as I was, use your heat tool or blow dryer to speed up the process. 

Now get the binding and paper. Insert the binding first through all the paper.  Bring the flat end of the binding snug against the paper so that the "arm" ends are long. 

Next place the front cover onto the binding. Here's the final trick:  place the back cover onto the binding face down on the front cover. This will insure that your embellished side will be on the outside rather than the inside.

And lastly, bend the "arms" back to the flat ends of the binding. I've found this most easily done by keeping the flat part of the binding flat on the paper. This seems to retain the curve of the binding better. Flip over the back cover and you have your beautiful new journal!

Have lots of fun playing in your journal. I'd love to see some of your creations, too. Send me photos! Because, guess what?

I love you. Bunches.

No Time Like the Present

Time passes so quickly, like it or not. But truly, we only have this present moment in which to really experience life. How I live this minute is what counts. What I choose to use this current moment for is what is important. Do I always remember this? Absolutely not! But looking back at the past 2 months,  I am astounded at what using 20 minutes or so daily to create a woman has done for me.

First, I have established a new habit. My day doesn't feel complete if I don't draw. And, believe me, I have never been one to draw. Second, I have created a body of work that I can use for future projects. And third, I have made some improvement with this daily practice.

So here are this week's ladies:

Copied from magazine ad - pencil and pen

Pencil and pen

Pencil and pen

I worked on this one at the studio during Art Walk last Friday night. Collaged purchased paper,  sheet music, iron-on inkjet photo transfer, packing tape transfer of a book page and acrylic paint.

Same as above with the addition of stenciled birds, more acrylic paint and china marker wax pencil.

Ball point pen and roller ball pen.

Time will continue to fly by. That is a given. But by simply snatching 20 minutes or so from your present, you could be making a new habit. Or making a simple change. Or making an improvement in a current habit. Two months from now you could be looking back at a new body of work. There is no time BUT the present. 

And I'll be here cheering for you. Really. Because I love you. Bunches.

Week 7 of 100 Days of Making

Happy Monday, dear ones! And since another week has gone roaring past, I am posting the women I created. I had a few days of slump this week where I refused to continue. I was tired, frustrated and decided to give this ridiculous task up. I allowed one of those unhelpful, negative, destructive statements ("What's the use of this? You'll never be a real artist.") overcome me for a couple of days. But only for a couple of days. 

I returned to the task on Tuesday with this lady. She is looking back at the past and letting it go.

 (Derwent Inktense pencils over acrylic paint)

( Graphite pencil, Derwent Inktense pencils)

 The background of this page had been used for notes and then splashed with acrylic paint. I wasn't sure there was even enough space to create a lady.  But low and behold, a carefree couple of girls showed up. I call this one Dancing in the Garden.

 I found a magazine with loads of large female faces selling various makeup products and decided to try my hand at copying which I haven't attempted very often. This is one of those done over acrylic paint and writing.

 Sundays usually find me taking notes during a church service. I use both images and words to help me both stay focused and remember what has been said. So this one is one of those.

Finally, this morning I tried another magazine copy. I call her Wonky-face. The point of all this is to simply do the work. Honestly, I can see where most of these can be improved upon. However, when I look back to the first week, I see improvement. Progress, not perfection.

So, you precious and beautiful soul, keep on doing what you are doing. Don't give up before the end of the race. I believe in you!

Because I love you. Bunches.

Really? Week Six Already?

Here are this week's women:

This first piece is collage and acrylic paint on canvas. She is my very first acrylic painted lady. The collage material was pretty napkins. I separated the 2 layers of the napkin and affixed the printed piece to canvas with acrylic medium.

This lady needs little introduction. She was the basis of Thursday's tutorial. (If you missed it, check out last week's post.

Love this lady with her calm in the midst of happy chaos (something I endeavor to mimic). She is done with Derwent Inktense pencils and Sharpie Paint pens.

These 2 pages were done as a demo at the Whatcom Art Guild Spring Art Show this past weekend. Collage and acrylic paint and embroidery. The lady with the leaves for hair was embroidered onto a fabric softener sheet and affixed to the page with acrylic medium. The crowned lady was a hand-cut stamp created from a photograph of my then 3 year old God-daughter, Kira. Here she is stamped onto the page using acrylic paints.

I hope to use new techniques this week. And I hope you dare to try new things this week as well. Be sure to check back on Thursday for the 2nd Tutorial Thursday.

And in the meantime, remember I believe in you more than you know. You are strong, creative and worthy of all good things today. Truly.

And I love you. Bunches.

Tutorial Thursday - Draw a Whimsical Face

Today's post is for those of you who have asked me (and those who wanted to ask but didn't) how to draw a face. Anyone can do this. I promise. Simply follow the instructions below and you will surprise yourself (and you might have a little fun with the process.)

Step 1: Draw an egg-like oval shape. Draw it loosely, as this looks more natural.

Step 2:  Divide the oval in half from top to bottom. Then divide it in half again from side to side. My oval's horizontal line is a little bit high, but you get the idea.

Step 3: Draw the upper eye sockets (like frowns) along the center horizontal line, being sure to leave one full eye space between them. Divide the bottom of the oval in half again. On this line draw the nose (like a smile) as show below. 

Step 4: Divide the bottom of the oval between the nose and the chin in half again. This is where you draw the lips. The upper and lower lips are drawn separately. they do not connect unless you are looking for a Joker smile. The upper side has a small scoop in the center of the top. Feel your upper lip where it meets your lower lip. It goes down slightly in the center. Next draw the bottom of the lower lip with another smile-like line.

Step 5: Draw the iris of the eye  with a partial circle attached to the eye socket line. If you draw a full circle, your face will look surprised. Next draw the eye lids. You guessed it, a frown-like line attached to a vertical line at the inside of the eye socket. Finally, connect the outside corners of the eye socket to the inside corners.

Step 6:  Draw the hair line (another gently curved line) about halfway between the eyes and the top of the oval. Add eye brows about halfway between the eyes and the hairline. Use short, light lines. Finally draw in the pupil. Because a sparkle in the eye gives life to your person, draw the pupil as a wide comma or a small circle with a piece out of one quarter of it. Add tiny dots or flecks around the iris as shown. You can darken the eyelids and iris at this time.

Step 7: Add a curved line connecting the eyebrow to the nose as shown. Now add half ovals for ears. The bottom edge lines usually lines up with the nose. Feel your face. You'll see.  Next draw some curved lines for the neck. The neck is made by drawing (you guessed it) a curved line. Start the line slightly under the ears, giving it a gentle curve in and then out. Add some curved lines for hair.

Step 8: Continue adding lines for hair. I got kind of scribbly here. You definitely don't have to.

And there! See? You did it! Your drawing will look different from mine, because it will be done in your perfectly unique style. I learned this simple and quick way of doing faces from the book by Jane Davenport. (You could find her on YouTube as well.)

Finally, I couldn't help but splash some Inktense colors onto my face. They go on like watercolor, but once they are wet, they become permanent. Love these things and my water pens.

Here's the final face. Day 45 in my 100 Days of Making Women project.

I know you will have fun with your whimsical faces and I would love to see what you come up with. Text, email or post them on FB under this post

You are wonderful. And creative. And capable. And I love you. Bunches.