Closer to Spring

I think we have a build in sense for spring.

At least my whole body is shouting spring to me.  The frost is still here, but the light and length of the days has increased a lot. And the garden comes alive. The Eranthis flowers are nearly done with their job and now the Snowdrops are in bloom, all over the lawn.

What does spring do to you?
I can tell you what it does to me, I get "crazy" in  a good way and it get worse each year. So filled with energy and the need to get things done. Humm.... almost like a tulip bulb. Hence me washing the kitchen, and now it's an all over clean up of the house that's on my list.

It's such a joy to listen to the birds this time of year, they're busy too. I wake up to the lovely sound of birds singing in our garden. When it gets warmer, we have more of an out door life as well. Can't wait for it to happen.

 In general, I'm a sun person and love it when the temperatures rises. I'm quite sure I lived closer to equator in an earlier life, if there ever was such a thing.

Anyone who remember the film My Africa, at least I think that was what it was called. White people living in Africa back in the 1920/ 1930.
I have a silk dress from Africa and that period of time, and I came across it while I did some tidying. That actually inspired my next piece. Do you get the feel when looking at the photo below?

Crispy cooling fabrics, silks, linen and cotton. It doesn't take much for me to find inspiration when the spring is right around the corner.
Happy spring everyone!

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

Edith in progress

It's a long time since I've done any faces.

You know Johannes Vermeers painting, The girl with the pearl earring. That's what I've used as inspiration for my painting. And, when I had done her eyes yesterday, I thought she looked like Edith in the series, Downton Abby. Can you see it?

I'm pleased on how she is turning out, the only thing that might be a problem is her nose. I'll just have to work on it. I'm using watercolor pencils for this one, and I'm very happy for having control of the painting process. Watercolors are much harder to control, and I always feel acrylics won't cooperate as well with me.

I'm not sure I will do more about her, I don't need a copy of Vermeers painting. I might do another one and change her a bit. I'm planning on doing a piece with a girl and some birds.

Coming weekend I'll probably spend time on my computer, trying to figure out how to use photoshop. I've been talking of that programme for so long, that handyman bought it for me yesterday. Now I'll have to do the tedious job of learning how to. Wish me luck.

Lets face it.

SOC 4 week 2

I drew this face a year ago for another project I did, I like it and traced it to use it over again. It is quite a challenge to paint using just a couple of colors. Although I have lots of colors, I couldn't find one single color named coral, so I had to mix two colors to get a coral one.

This has turned out to be an excellent practice of colormixing for me. The palest areas have lots and lots of water mixed into the color to tone it down. The coral and teal makes a brilliant grey to shade with, so that was an easy task.
Her grey hair area is made using the mix of coral and teal and on top I've used white ink. I've wanted to try doodling on top of a face for a long time, and now, I've done it. It feels a bit odd, but makes the face look very special.
Colors used are Neocolors 2, Malachite green, Salmon pink and Raspberry red. In addition I used white ink and my black Micron pen.
A big thank you to Kristin for hosting this fun event, and also a big thank you to all of you who visited and left your supportive comments. It's so much fun to read them all, and much appreciated.

Art journaling

Today my fried and I had our first art journaling day together.

We had fun and she made her first page. Not at all happy with the result, which I very well can relate to, but the most important thing is that she's started. I had to get started yesterday just to warm up before we met, and I did a page which I thought of as finished when I left it.

But, of course, it wasn't finished. A lot more work to do here. This page was one I had left a long time ago, and finally wanted to do something about. I didn't have any plans except getting my fingers messed up with paint, and I sure did. Acrylic paint, some neocolors 2 and markers are what I used to make this one.

Yesterday I also had the great pleasure to order some new Twinks. 5x The Whole Enchilada and some for me as well. I'm so happy for that, 5 new people that will start painting with the Twinks, and I get to increase my collection as well. Not bad at all. I also finally ordered quite a few Zeta journals and some more watercolor paper. Boy do I have alot to wait for in the mail. It feels just like winning the lottery.

My journal spread is done, and I'm happy with the result. The colors are a bit more balanced in person, my photo shows it too blue.
We've had pure summer here for some days, and our appletrees are just about to blossom. I'm so looking forward to that, they're so beautiful when it happens.

Thanks for popping in, I hope you've enjoyed your visit.

Learning color values.

I have made a decision to practice painting faces,

I so much want to improve my skills on color values and smooth transitions. Not that I'm thinking of making real life paintings in the future, but real faces have real colors and transitions and they are the best tool for me as inspiration.

So, one of my newly bought sketch books now has been turned into my private facebook. Since this is all about painting and mastering the colors, some of the faces will be traced and some I'll draw myself. I'll probably use a photo for inspiration for each face, I've already downloaded alot of then from the internet. What I like the most is a face with caracter, lived life so to speak. I also found some really good portraits of children with clear and good expressions.

My first face is a traced one and shows a gentleman in his mid 50's I'll guess. I have no idea who he is, found on the internet, but he has this good expression in his face.

Now, I'm especially pleased with his eyes and ear. The most important thing for me to remember, while painting, is why I'm doing it. Color values and transitions, that's what it's all about. I'm so looking forward to this exercice, and in the future I'll have a book full of faces. Perhaps one day I can paint a face even without drawing it first, wouldn't that be something?

Have a really nice day, and thanks for popping in!

Back after a lovely week in Spain.

It is good to be back home.

It always feels a bit strange to just be on holiday doing nothing. First thing this morning I put my fingers back in paint and I enjoy it. Far too long since I did that now, so it was about time. I painted this face in a very rough tecknique, not at all sure it would work, but it did. I'm very happy with the result even though I see some small things that could have been better.

The first photo is taken using a flashlight, and some of the roughness disappeared.

The next one is taken in daylight only and is much better. It's painted on a handmade paper which has a difficult surface to paint on. The binders in the paper is uneven and make the paint show uneven too. That's why I chose to paint in a rough style.

I have some catching up to do in my class and also to visit your blogs. I'll be there soon.

Testing faces.

Is it possible to gain a decent result using twinks as medium?

I like doing faces, but have never done any using twinks only. Is it possible for me to do it, and how would the result be? The face I've been testing is a tiny one, it measures 8 by 5.5 cms. I know it's much harder to make a larger one, but for my test I did this small one.

Now, my first pic. shows the face in daylight only. One can't see any signs of the twinks, at least no shimmering spots. Let me just add, it's not done to be a beautiful face, just a 15 minutes from start to end test. The colors I've used are: Oyster, Sunburst, Chiffon Pink, Ocean Wave and Chestnut Brown. In addition I used a watercolor pencil to outline the face. White and black pens too, of course. All the pictures shown are the same face, it does differ a bit because of the angle when photographed. In fact, with some small adjustments, this could become a pretty good face, if I might say so myself.

Next pic. shows the face with an extra lightsource coming from bottom right. Now the twinks shows off, and notice her right eye. Isn't that really something, her eyes acting like normal eyes. Reflecting light in a super way. Remember it's the same face, so without extra lighting it appears as a normal painting.

Last pic. shows the face with light coming from top left. Now, notice the left eye and compare with the others. Isn't it amazing? This last one is a bit wonky because of the angle, but it's not important. The twinks are going to create much fun in the future, and I just have to try a large face to see if I can do that too.

My question was, is it possible to gain a decent result using twinks as medium, the answer is YES it is! This test was so much fun to do, and I'm so pleased to discover how to mix a great face color using my twinks.

Pan-pastels.



 

I bought myself pan-pastels while in the US.

 

Today I tried them for the first time. Easy to use, but difficult too. I think I have to make myself a face stencil, it's not nice to see all the pencil lines. I have to practice alot too, but I liked them. Isn't it strange how helpless one can feel when using new tools? Perhaps I should practice painting without drawing first but it's so difficult, I feel. And shadowing......I have alot to learn.

 

The other night I was surfing the internet and came across some tempting watercolor pencils too. Well, I'll have to think about it for awhile, meaningless to buy and buy and not use them. Right now I'm more up to reading  than anything else, but I have alot of things I'll try later on. 

 

I did this face rather quick, and ended my work even without coloring the neck. It was just meant as a test and I saw many things to do different. A good learningpiece.

My first try on ages.

 

I finally sat down in my studio and did something.

 

Oh my, I'm completely out of practice! It's been such a long time since I created anything that, at first, I didn't know what to do or how to do it. This face is made on a A-5 sketching sheet not meant for watercolors. I did it just to get started.

I think I need a challenge to work up my skills again. Perhaps I'll make a piece a day during August as I did once before. I was actually thinking of making another one of my painting/embroidery pieces, showing my visit in the US, but that'll have to wait until I can manage to draw again.

 

 

 

Later on today I'm going to pick up a series of books to read, I believe it's 52 in the series. I did read them years ago and want to reread them now. That is a factor which can stop me from making art on a daily bases. When I first get my nose in a book, it's always difficult to let go of the book.

 

I bought alot of different art supplies when in the US and do want to try them out too. I'll tell you more about that in another post, now I'm off to enjoy the sunshine. 

Digiart is fun.

 

Have you tried altering your own art? 

 

I've made a folder on the computer, called facebook. It contains alot of old painted/drawn faces which I have worked on in picasa. Even the least appreciated paintings can be successful with some digital work.  A fast done sketch, meant to warm up the drawing hand can be one of the best at the end. The "real" artists don't appreciate this kind of work I've been told, because it's possible for anyone to do it. Well, I don't agree, first thing is that it's a painting/drawing of my own, next thing is that I don't think anyone could do excactly the same as I do. Something similar, but not excact.

 

The painting below is one of my favs, because of the colors and the way the light surrounds her head. The original work can be seen here. What do you think? Blues, greens and turquoise are so beautiful together, they are classic combos.

The next face is one I didn't like at all (original work) but with some digi-work it has become one of the better ones. Anyone who remember this one? It's very interesting to work in picasa, it's almost like searching for pearls.

The original work can be seen here.

It's Sandra weekend and we have been redoing her room. It was time to change from child to youth. All the childish stuff put away and in came a make-up table. Mostly it's about feelings, to feel like a youth instead of a child. Well, you know...........

Happy Sunday to you!

Back to normal

 

Today I felt for painting something new.  For awhile now I have been thinking of drawing quick faces, max 15. min. Today I did that, and did the painting very quick too, I want to make something that looks less overdone. And I could use the practice to loosen up a bit.

Today's painting is "good" when it's about loosing up, and I like the way it turned out. The background was another test, it could be worked alot more but I saw what I wanted to see.

 

 

Do you often feel the need to change the way you work? I have been collecting alot of different faces lately, to use as inspiration photos for these quick drawings. I also need to convince myself that less perfect can be just as interesting  as a more perfect work. Todays work is a page in my art journal.

In fact, I like this one better each time I see it. What's on your desk right now?

Time didn't excist.

 

I had a fantastic day yesterday.

I was working in my journal and didn't notice a thing before Handyman came back from work. I really felt how much I've missed it, that good feeling to just let go.
It was all about faces, hair (!!) and laces. Can you tell I had fun?
I often wonder how all these girls have enough space in my pencil, eh....they do live in the pencils, don't they? Who are they, why do they look as they do? I also wonder wether my girls looks the same or if they have anything in common. Is it possible to tell that I made these girls? No matter what, I have fun making them and I don't get bored of it either.
Notice her lace dress, I made it with my white pen and added some shadows. It looks quite real, doesn't it? I glued bookpaper patches onto the pages before starting my work. It's not all that easy to paint on top of that but it adds so much that it's worth the extra work.

I almost gave up on the one below. Not at any point she would cooperat. She was a struggle from start to end, but now I like her.  I used much less paint in her face and the letters shines through. At the beginning I didn't like it, but now I think it's cool. Notice her throat too. Sorry that you can't read the text but it says:

It's always a problem figuring out a great hairstyle while drawing.

Some times a rainhat makes a big difference in a girls life.

Her dress is special made for her, one of a kind worldwide. I always end up not knowing what to do below the throat. The dress is from a background paper I made awhile back, cut out and glued on top of something I disliked. Her arms, you ask..........pftttttttttt  she had to amputate them. But let me tell you, she's really good using her feet.

 They live next door to one another, and just as I write this I see that one is out-standing and the other withdrawn. It's the size that does it. My fish/monster had to wait, I so much wanted to make these girls.

I know I have to do this more often, it's just that there are so many other things I want to do too. Isn't that what we call a luxury problem?
Thanks for visiting, it's always so inspiring.

In motion

 

My girl is done for now. I call it "Over here"

 I'll have to look at it for awhile to see if I'm pleased. It's not always easy to tell when in the middle of working. Her hair is done using Golden fluid acrylics, the fluids are a dream to work with but I'm not that happy for the shiny result though. Her shirt was painted over, mainly because I forgot myself and made the busy background. It's not the first time I paint over a magazine outcut, somehow I never feel comfortable using that when I'm working on canvas.

I'm up for a new trade and that always leads to great inspiration. Right now I'm working with tissuepaper, painting and sewing on it. I strongly consider to sign up for iHanna's postcard swap even though I'm quite busy at the moment. I missed it this spring and so much want to join in.
Things has been settled regarding to Christmas market. My friend and I will have two tables and that mean that I can bring my homemade "shop" I'm pleased with that, the dolls and shoes looks better in that invironment. The market is held 16th to 18th of November.
I'll leave you with this today, I have work to do.
Enjoy your day!

I almost forgot how fun painting is.

 

At last I sat down in my studio.

I started this painting awhile back and have, the last couple of days, been wanting to do something about it.
It's really nice to sit down and work without thinking of anything special. This is a WIP and I don't know how it will end. Right now I enjoy the process of making it.

Isn't it fun to see the changes during ones work, new expressions and new challenges. I never stop wondering how I always forget about all the fun of one thing while doing something else. The only thing I do know is that I'm far too little patient to be really good at anything. To be really good one has to practice all the time I believe. Having fun is the most important thing for me, and as long as I'm pleased it doesn't matter.

This painting is inspired from my blogfriend Janet, over at random acts of ART,she always seems to come up with new and surprising angles and ways to put her girls, so she inspired me to try something different myself.  I always feel it's troublesome to start mixing the skintone, but after some time it becomes easier.
As you see there are alot of work left on this one.

It's far too long since I worked in my journal too, perhaps it's time to do that now. I have a few things I want to try.
Last day in October, where did this month go? Very soon it's time for washing and polishing again, and I feel I just did it. Oh well, not think about that yet.

Have a play and be creative!

No doubt this is my boy!

 I'm so happy I could dance.

 
 When I look at it now, of course I see details that could've been better, but I found it was time to stop. I'm happy that it came out so well as it is now. Not even in my wildest dreams did I think I could do this. Yes I can paint and yes I can paint a face but to get it to look like someone I knew, who on earth would've thought that? At least not me.
Well, I could, and I'm as happy as I can be! Handyman is making me the frame, it's a simple one because I want it to be. First time my son saw my work he said, and this is his excact words : which onion is that? I saw his glittering eyes, he recogniced himself emediately. And YES he wants to have it.
June 28th is his Birthday and then he'll have it.

Right now I'm deep into a new project. Below is my first painting as it is now. I'm not sure whether it's finished. I can feel at least two more coming, they're part of my "using old letters " project. The one below is called : Naked Thruth.
 I've been in this flow for a long while now and I just love it. It feels like I could work on forever.

What's on your workdesk right now?
Take care everyone!

I'm on the track.

I'm moving forward, but slow.

 

It's amazing how many feelings that comes alive when I'm doing this painting. How much I would love to hug this little boy just once more. But, that's 25 years too late.
He so came alive when I added his toy named Kose as in cozy. He had two ways of carrying him, as you see in my painting or holding him in the downpointing arm. That's why that arm is slightly longer/thinner than the other one.

Now I can feel I know the face, with his full cheeks and the clare strenght between his nose and overlip. I'm so excited to see if I can get his eyes right but frightend as well. If I can't do them it won't be right. The form is correct now with one eye a bit different from the other. Of course I believe I can make them right, but I'm not sure.

Yesterday was such a day when nothing would work, so I put it aside and did other stuff. Today I'm going to find the right redness to his cheeks. Alot of work remains on Kose too, I have to make him fluffier. I really enjoy doing this, especially when I feel I get it right.

As it is right now, this really IS my boy, and it is me doing it! Unbelievable.

Have a beautiful day.

My largest challenge, ever!

 A short update

While I was preparing the gift to my son yesterday, it stroke me why not paint him.
And I started this painting today. If I can do this, I can do anything. I'm not at all certain I can do it but, I want to try.
I'm using a photo to paint from. He is two years old and the photographer gave him an empty lipstick to hold in his hands. I prefer to let him hold his all time favorite toy, a turquoise elephant.

Wish me luck, and have a nice day you too!

A painting and a tablecloth.

Are you all enjoying your Sunday?

I have kept painting faces, and one should think I improved in doing it but, each face is a new one with different ways of doing it. For me it's impossible to decide to make, lets say, a sad face and then do it. I have seen some you-tube films doing it and I'm so impressed. What I do notice though is that practising every day make my drawing moves more confident. One week away from it and it feels like starting all over.

The last face I did was a copy from a small image I saw in a magazine. I wanted to try making the clear differens between light and shadow. I should perhaps have done it on ordinary paper but then again it's quite interesting  with that uneven result. I did some small changes on my drawing compared to the original.  It was fun to see how the light changed the painting as I worked on it. Just to avoid any misunderstanding I chose to glue my inspiration image at the back of my painting. As you see I added some more colour .

Below is the original. It's quite small but big enough to see what I needed to see.

My version. It's painted with watersoluble crayons and a black pen. I'm sure I will experiment a lot more with light and shadow. It's very facinating.

Yesterday I got a phonecall from my friend telling me that the tablecloth had arrived in her mailbox. I didn't want to show it off here before she saw it in person.(She reads my blog from time to time.) She was so pleased and it fitted her table perfect. The most difficult task when making it is to join the fabric and the crocheted parts. It's very easy to get that wrong so that the fabric will always wrinkle in the joints. As promised, here is a photo of the piece. Can you see the beautiful shine in the fabric? As I was working on it I thought of doing one with much smaller squares. That could give a very different result I believe. I have this fabric with Lily of the vally design on it (all white) and that would be suitable for smaller squares. Perhaps I should think a bit more of that.

We have a beautiful day here, the sun is shining and the birds are singing. I love Sundays!!
Best wishes to you all.

I had to pull myself in a bit.

Good Morning!

Yesterday was such a happy day, for no reason. I just felt happy.
 My prepared covers shouted at me and I had to paint another face. This time I felt for making a realistic face so, from time to time I studied a photo to get things right. I also felt for getting closer to nature than my last faces have been.
Did I say right.......I always see things that's not right. Why didn't I notice the right eye before painting?? Ugh... And her chin and and and...... Do you experience this kind of things too??
I'm so deep into the process that I start painting immediately when the drawing is done. I don't remember to put it aside.
The hair thing is another chapter. This time I'm pleased with the hair and I will practise a lot more doing it. Below is the first layer of paint done. I discovered a new way to use my water soluble crayons ( this whole painting is done using crayons.) I simply scribble on top of a clear stamp holder, you know the ones one can see through. Then I add water with my brush and mix it before painting on my drawing. That way I can mix a lot of colours and add little by little.
It might of course be that I'm the last one in the world knowing this, but now I know. Before painting I add a layer of matte medium on top of my drawing, which make it much easier to get an even result. Boy do I look forward to my new crayons. Now I have 30 different colours and the new set contains 126!! With my new way of doing it  that means thousands of shades.

Can you see I gave her some blood here? Isn't that just amazing to see in the process, how the drawing is coming " alive" It was much easier to give her a graded (?) skintone using the new way of doing it. Still not perfect, but I'm learning. Hopefully!

And now she got lively eyes too. Her hair is not bad, but I need to practise it more often. When it comes to her earrings I can't decide whether one should be lowered. She is tipping her head a tiny bit towards right so it isn't unnatural but it strikes my sight every time I see it. What do you think?

When I started this one I was determined to make the background first of all. As usual I forgot while in the process. All in all I'm pleased. In person she is not quite that pale as the photo trick you to think. Handyman asked me what I should do with all these faces. I don't know, but I have a suitable wall so perhaps I should make my own female portrait gallery.

Have a great day everyone!!

Funny faces.

We had a fun weekend.

This weekend handyman took Sandra to a local fair and when they returned she had this face. I had to laugh because I thaught she looked so funny. I'm not a tiger, I'm a cat she told me. This suited so well to my heading today. Funny faces.

We did some painting too this time and we settled for painting funny faces. Sunday was fathers day here so Sandra wanted to paint a piece to her moms boyfriend. She did hesitate a bit at the beginning because she couldn't draw a face, she told me. When I told her that I wanted to draw like her she was very surprised because "your drawings are much better than mine"

Perhaps one need to be a grown up to understand that. To let go of all the knowledge and just draw like a child. I'll have to practice that. I'm far too much locked up in expectations on how it really should look.

Below you see Sandras face, she has used my watersoluble crayons. She wrote the text before I noticed it, I would have suggested for her to write on a seperate sheat. With that said, I love her face. It's so free and creative. That's excactly how I want to do it.


My painting became too much "normal" drawing and too much funny painting. I'll practice!!

This is in fact my first face since the end of August, so it's still in my hand to draw a face. One of the faces I painted in August became a bit more like I'm thinking of. Back then I painted a face without any drawing at all, not easy but fun and I think it became quite expressive. Have a look here. It's the one without a headscarf I'm talking about. It's not a sweet and nice painting but the more I look at it the more I like it.

I was inspired by Janet to try this again, she always makes such beautiful faces. Have a dive into her blog and I promis you'll have some awsome moments.
I am going to make another funny face.


Have a wonderful new week and take good care!