May 3rd Face

I found this incredible site, http://facesoftheearth.tumblr.com , with the most awe inspiring photos. There are face photos from all over the world. It was a hard choiceto pick one photo, but, I wanted a profile. I found this gorgeous woman. I had to attempt it.

  She was started as a pencil sketch. I wanted to add some color. I used Primacolor colored pencils. I needed it to be more vibrant. I finished her with chalk pastels, which I am beginning to love. They require you to get your fingers into your work. The mess and feel of the chalk is mesmerizing!

May 2nd Face

The second face is a pencil sketch. Primacolor colored pencils were used to add a little bit of colorto the sketch. She is kind of hard looking... different from most faces I do.

May 1st face

My first face is a pencil sketch. I took the picture of my sketch with my cell phone, so, it is not the best. I thought I would have a little fun and use the app, Pixlr-o-matic. I added a sepia tone and framed it in the second picture.

29 faces May

Over at Ayala Art, http://ilove2paint.blogspot.it/p/29-faces-may.html , she is hosting  29 Faces for all to join. All you have to do is draw 29 faces during the 30 days of May. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but if you want it can be. It doesn't even have to be completed.

It sounds like fun. So, join in for the fun and watch the other artists and the faces they post.

My page in Karen's Art Journal

 Over at http://willowing.ning.com I'm involved in a journal pass. It started out with only four of us and has grown to ten great women. I completed my page in Karen's journal. Her only request was to use a quote. Being that it is Spring, I wanted to do a flower theme. I found a quote by Lady Bird Johnson.
 My page was done using water colors, crackle paste, glimmer water colors, markers and puff souffle pens. I painted the flowers on water color paper, cut them out and applied them with pop up dots.

 

Handmade Books

I have found a new obsession...bookmaking. I have joined a couple online bookmaking groups. The first group is wonderful http://milliande.ning.com/group/thehinges.  It is being run by the inspiring Dawna and knowledgeable Ruth. I count my self so lucky to have these two women and the other women at this site to encourage and teach me along this path. This month we are making the Accordian Fold book. It is a very simple book.

The second site I found was through Syd at the Milliande's site. She was creating books at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtistsOfTheRoundTable/.  I decided I would join. I told you I was becoming obsessed. I found the site very confusing, but with the help of  a dedicated woman named Rabbit and help from Jacqui, I think it will just take time to learn how to maneuver around the site.

At A.R.T. we are working through Alisa Golden's book "Making Homemade Books". Rabbit makes a file for each lesson. They were on Lesson 7 when I joined. I decided I would pick and choose which lessons I would do til I caught up.

Lesson 7 Brush Book... I took a piece of newspaper, gessoed it on both sides. Let it dry. Soaked it. Painted it with watercolors.  Dried it with a heat gun. Stamped it. Wrapped it in construction paper. Inked the construction paper. I can't believe the texture! It feels like a soft canvas cloth.

Lesson 3 Long Pants Book or Accordian Book... Done for both groups. The cover was a designer paper that I painted with multiple coats of metallic paint. Singular signatures were sewn into the book. The pages were mixed media paper painted with the same metallic water colors. The pages contain worldwide stamps that I have saved from the cards and packages of the wonderful art swaps I have joined. The tiny 2" x 2 1/2" book is wrapped in floss with a handmade clay key.

Lesson 3 X Book with Pockets... Cover was made with designer paper. The inside pages were parchment papers. The pockets were stamped with inspirational words and the pockets filled with paper treasures. This book is very small about 2 1/2''.

Art Pins

I've never been very interested in making jewelry til now. At http://milliande.ning.com/ I have met the most fantastic artistic women. We decided to do a pin or brooch swap. The beautiful ideas that came about were awesome. How could you not be swayed to try your own imagination into whatever you wanted to make. There were so many ideas... fabric, thread, clay, metal, fabric, wood. I was up for the challenge. But, what.... So many ideas, so many new things to try, I thought and thought.

Tim had a pocket full of round washers in different sizes. I love the idea of using things I have on hand and I really liked the shape. I investigated washers on http://pinterest.com/. Oh,yeah, this was what I was going to do. Not so easy because I had too many ideas swimming in my head. I eventually reined the ideas in and finished thm.

First, I inked and alcoholed them. I added beads to some and old earring parts.  Most I added a thick varnish coat. I really liked the way they came out.