Little Sunday princess.

Say hello to my sweet little Sunday-princess.

Good morning.

I had my doubts about this painting. I've tried so many times to draw a child but I find it very difficult. But I did it this time, yay!!

This was made on day 14 so now I'm soon half done. I am really amazed to see what I can do. ME!!? I had no idea of this before now. I think it was because of Norah's blog. Not that much what she does but HOW she does it. I really have learnt much of her way of mixing colours. And of course the fact that this is not a competition. I've kept asking myself what is the worst thing that can happen? The answer is NOTHING and that makes me much less afraid of trying things.
This painting was my last using a photo as inspiration at least for a week. Coming week I'll try to use my imagination when drawing and painting. I really look forward to that.

My girl today may not be the best in the world but she's MINE and I LOVE her. She has these "following eyes" too so I kind of feel she's a bit alive.
What I have learnt is that it all depends on the time spent. If I give myself enough time with each painting it will be good. (at my level that is) That way it can be a little drawback to decide one each day.




This girl is made by using acrylics and I don't know how many times I've been painting over her face. It's a wonder that I can't rip her off the paper in one whole piece. Besides acrylics I always use water soluble crayons to make the irises. I find it much easier to achieve that "glazy" effect by using them. She don't look like the girl I used as guidance at all. Of course the shape of her face and the angle are the same but it stops there. Perhaps next time I should show you my inspiration photo as well as the result.

Enough for today, I'm going to draw a new face, I just hope it will work for me even without a photo to look at. Take care!

More faces and some music.

Faces # 12 and 13.

Hope you're all haveing a nice Sunday morning.

My painting from the 13th was inspired from both a photo and some music. I'm extremely pleased with how nice I got the colours blended in this one, but I'm getting a bit tired of all this beauty.
All the photos I use as inspiration are from fashion magazines and all the models are as beautiful as can be. The benefits are that there are no extra lines and saggy skin.
This girl is adverticing a special brand of lipstick, and as you can see the lower part of my painting is "torn out". That's where the written part in the ad was. Just as I was wondering what to do in that space I heard this music and knew I had to draw her shoe.

Parts of the lyrics goes like this: I'm lost in the tango, I lost all my fandango too. Drinking tequila from the señoritas shoe. Dancing on the tables, shooting for the moon while a thousand guitars are playing in tune.

Can you see why I had to make that shoe?




Take a few minutes to listen to this music. It's a well known Norwegian artist and these rhythms are really catchy. Enjoy!



My 12th girl.

This girl is posing and showing outfits. I really fell for the hat. I simply love the swirly lines of wide brimmed hats, but it don't help my training on faces much. I got to do this nose though, it's a bit unusual for me with a nose in this angle.
I shouldn't have made the white spots in the background uneven. I can easily see that I could have made it into buildings. Well..., done is done.



Just one more left before I start using my imagination again. I look forward to that.
My last this week will be a little girl with very red and curly hair. I've tried several times to do children but it won't work so I'm quite courious if I can do it this time.

That's all for today folks, wish you all the best.

Some art journaling.

Just something I did in my journal.

The first spread was my thoughts after the big disaster in Oslo a few weeks ago. I didn't feel for using colours at all and I think my spread can speak for itself.





This page shows a face I did in a hurry some days ago. One should think that my "one face a day during August challange" was more than enough faces but it's addictive. I find myself drawing/sketching small faces or parts of them all over. It's kind of testing things out. An eye in a different angle or a nose seen from below and even complete small faces.

This specific face is made using water soluble crayons and markers only. I had decided to try my waterbrush on a bigger surface. The brush is very good but the result is more wet than if I use a "normal" brush. I have a bit less control (UHA) but it's great when blending colours. All in all I like the waterbrush very much, but when I'm in need of control I wouldn't dream of using it. Making eyes for instance.



As I spoke about in an earlier post, I'm thinking of drawing without a photo as inspiration next week. I think it's important not to be too dependent of a photo, that would easily lead to limitations.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Two more girls.

Hello my friends.

Two more girls today. My 10th girl is a strange one. She was so mild and soft when drawn, and came out quite different when painted and done. She appears a bit stiff and looks very determined.
When I look at her now I see that there is few shadows, perhaps that plays a role. Besides that I did something in a hurry that I shouldn't have. It was just before I was going to serve dinner and : "just a minute I just have to....." I put a shadow line to her left side. (I'm lefthanded) I didnt bring my thoughts when I did it. The line itself is too dark and it's on the wrong side of her face.
Inspite of that I'm quite satisfied with her. At this point I have some finished girls to compare and I like them better with a painted background, I feel there's somthing missing without that.



This girl is mostly a joke. It's faces I'm making but I couldn't resist this one. So this model is showing fashion from back in time. Do you see the shoulder pads? Do you remember how we looked like? We were like wrestlers all of us.

I'm surprised how well the rose came out. I, honestly, didn't know that I could draw not to mention the painting. I'm really enjoying it.



Right now I'm in the phone at the same time as I'm writing this. I think it's better to just finish this off.
Wish you all the best.

Two more girls. One dressed and....

Good morning to you all.

I had a quarrel with my 8th girl.
She insisted on wearing that outfit and that colour. She has knitted the hat herself and wouldn't follow my advice to hold it in her hand.

I was trying to draw a sideway profile and I'm not pleased. She looks a bit fun but take into concideration that she's showing us her back.
Her chin should have been shorter, her face should hold the same angle as her hat. Besides that she was good practice and I learn the most of those who is not that good. I really feel that I'm improving, I use less time to draw and certainly less time to paint. All in all I feel that my daily drawing/painting is useful when talking about learning.
Next week I think I'll draw without a photo as a guideance. Well, I'll have to see.
I'm still struggleing with drawing the hair, but I'm practicing. The other day I baught my first canvas ever. I placed it besides my desk and it'll have to wait. It feels much too scary to start painting at.



My # 9 girl.

I was a bit uncertain whether to show this one off. One can never know if anyone out there will feel offended. I apologise if someone do.
When I first saw this girl (photo) I fell for the image. An angled face with a loooong neckline, which I really like. All the light in this one was tempting too. To be short, I couldn't resist the temptation.
This girl is adverticing for a "must have" bodyoil. (15 years ago) I remember when I was a child there was this painting in many homes. That girl had a red dress on but her posing was almost the same as mine. Today that painting is very attractive in antique fairs.
The skintone is still a challange for me. All my girls do have different skintones. The one above has the whitest tone of them all, but I think it works.



I'm glad I tried this one because I learnt a whole lot about the light and how to deal with it. It felt quite odd with all that white at her shoulders but it's all the same correct and it works well.
Enough for today, new challenges are sitting on my desk waiting to be handled.
Take care.

Another tour in NY

Ready for some more pictures from old New York?

The first card shows: Hall of Fame. University Heights.

The card doesn't have any dating but I assume it's made between 1910 - 1920. That building looks quite modern to be of that age. There's nothing printed at the reverse so I can't tell you any more about it.



The second card shows: Columbia University. I wonder how the neighbourhood looks like today. There is a printed text on this one saying:
"Columbia University occupies an area of 26 acres from Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue West, and 114th to 120 Streets. Was originally founded as Kings College in 1754 at Broadway and Barclay Streets. Moved in 1857 to Madison Avenue and 45th street. New buildings on present site were erected between 1892 and 1902 at a cost of $ 13.000.000. Endowment $ 29.000.000."
Isn't it amazing with the empty streets?



The last card for today shows: The Obelisk, Central Park.
This card looks so peaceful, and have a look at the car. Printed text says: " Obelisk Central Park. This is a 200 ton monolith brought from Egypt in 1880 and said to be 3400 years old. It, therefore, is a great curiosity, not only on account of it's age, but also because of the Egyptian hieroglyphics written thereon."

Is it still excisting, I wonder.



That was all for today, I hope you've enjoyed it.
Have a nice day and take care.

Girl # 7 and a bit more.

My painted face today is not as "perfect" as I would like it to be BUT she's the first one of my girls that has the nerve to look me stright back in my eyes. I really like that.
Many many years ago I learnt how one could decide if the eyes were "correct" or not. What I learnt was: I place my object (painted girl) in a distance and I myself move around in the room, if I can feel that the eyes are looking at me from different angles they are so called correct. This one does that. Ofcourse the girls need to look stright into the camera to achieve this effect. The hardest thing is to get both eyes focusing at the same point, and if not it won't work.

I was learning to make handmade and handpainted dolls at the time, and our teacher showed us one correct and one that wasn't. It's easy to see if one know about it. I have been too focused to pay attention to this with my girls so it felt very good when it happened now. It's almost like one can spot a bit of their soul.



This girl was my first using a photo as a reference. My girl don't look like the one in the photo, not even close. I used the photo just as reference to the angles and things like that. I can't decide whether she's a fashion freak or if she's ready to milk her cows. What do you think?
Her expression is something like: did you notice what I did, hope you didn't.

I always see something to change when the painting is done so perhaps it would be smart to draw one day and paint the next. That way I could study my drawing for a while and do the changes before paining them. How do you do it?

¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨*¨¨

I was trying a new tool one evening and it's good. Have you tried a water brush? One fills it with water and use it on top of water soluble crayons. The brushtip is very fine but soft so it takes a bit of time to get used to it. It worked so well for me the one time I've tried it that I will certainly try it again. I see that it can be useful for blending colours.
I've used it on the "bricks" in my journal.



This is the brush, and it's filled with water.



Enough for today, I have a drawing job waiting.

Wish you all the best.