A lurking Muse

For many years even as a small child I always played with sketches. I struggled and struggled, gave up, tried again then gave up and this went on for well til now.  I remember one time seeing the TV Guide and they had those sketches you were to attempt to draw, send it in and they would basically tell you if you had potential. Well there was this dog and I sketched it and sent it in...and...I got a reply back saying I did have potential but that was that. I never went any further with it and being a child you never keep  things for encouragement late in life. And I never took an art class in high school or years later...hmmmm

Since getting my wireless I have been visiting YouTube quite a bit and I see some very good and creative people out there. I think my problem, and many of us say to ourselves negative things, which prevent ourselves from going any further with whatever we are tackling. I always love a challenge and as I get older I seem to be less " afraid" and I have a more I don't care what anyone else thinks attitude....good or bad that is the way I have become. So.... recently I dug out my sketchbook that I purchased months ago. I  just started with eyes first, I always think eyes are truly the window to the soul and I am becoming quite, well, good at them. But, you can't just draw eyes and that be it...you have to do a face...yikes...did I say that??? a face??? the whole thing??? well it was rather late, after midnight, and was having a bit of a time getting to sleep so I got out a regular HB pencil and my sketchbook and started just randomly drawing, letting go of negative thoughts, forgetting the challenges of the past and just being free with the pencil and this is the sketch I finished in about an hour or less. I was actually shocked that it looked as good as it does. Even the next morning when I showed hubs he asked me " Did you draw that"? you didn't draw that did you? I said yeah....now who else would be in bed drawing at that time of night (he fell asleep on the couch btw). So I realize I have a huge way to go, but, I must say for my very first attempt at a face and not really knowing what was going to turn out, I have to say, I think I did pretty good. I won't win any awards and I don't plan on doing any portraits of anyone but they say the face or human body is the hardest thing to draw. I think I had a little divine intervention as well because I felt so free and so uninhibited.

So here are 3 sketches for you to look at...if you don't mind and tell me honestly what you think? I now look at them and see things I could do different but I wont' change them as these are definitely depicting a mood I had set for myself.

Thanks for taking a look and I can't wait to show my mixed media faces I have been working on, they are whimsical and I am mastering the watercolours with white acrylic paint. I am now so excited to be able to do some of these faces that are popping up everywhere around the Internet.

Charcoal eye, I love charcoal but it takes a bit getting used to.....

 Pencil sketch first face , I have a lot of work to do on face shape as I look on here.....but at least you can tell it is a person. LOL

 2nd pencil sketch, not sure what is going on here, is the hair too big or the face too wide

♥♥♥

ATC Technique Book

Hi everyone, winter has finally reared it's ugly head. Once again we had freezing rain then turned to snow. The ground is white now and more to come.

I have been doing a few arty things but this is not what this post is about.

I want to guide you over to Jenxo's blog and read her post about the ATC Technique book.

A few years ago Jenxo and I moderated a beginner ATC group and Jenxo came up with the idea to make a little book of techniques. People would sign up and say which technique they would do with a description on the back as to how to do that technique. It was a huge hit. If there was 10 of us you make 10 of the one technique you signed up to do.

We sent our ATC's to Jenxo, she made the front and back covers with techniques of course then sent everyone a book back with the ball chain and holes in the book. I am not sure she is planning on doing that part for any newcomers to this but anyways I am directing you over to her post and you can read all about it there. It is nice to have techniques on hand when you need some inspiration or are stuck in your muse, which happens to all of us at one point or another.

Jenxo has started up the idea to add to the existing books we have or you can sign up and start one of your own. Depending on how many sign up you will get that number back.

So go read, sign up, and you will be so surprised at how many techniques are out there.

Til next time....stay crafty

♥

Calendar pages complete and a Mixed bag of goods

As you all know I was doing calendar pages along with Roni over at her blog Ink stains with Roni. I have completed all of them now and want to show you the rest of them. I enjoyed making this project, I learned some new things, made myself something for a change and got a much needed calendar. Although this one I won't be able to write notes on it for myself but I can enjoy it just the same.

Although August isn't usually fall colours yet but being in Canada we actually see subtle changes coming in late July. 

August- Melted Crayons...I liked this technique

 September- Stamped Gesso

 October- Distressed Glue

 November-Molten Pigments: ie I didn't have pigment powders so I scraped chalks into my glue

 December-Sparkle Mosaic Stamping: I didn't have scrap rubber so I used fun foam

 So there you have it....I am really pleased for the most part. I have decided to start an Art technique Journal and put scraps of paper that have been clipped from each calendar page and write down the technique. That way when I want to do something again I have it handy. Another goal for this year.

And....more stuff, are you bored yet???

Over at Helga's blog My Artistic Life, Helga gives a tutorial on how she painted a background which I applied to my little hearts.  Here are a couple little Valentines to show you how I made mine. I used chip board off the back of a 12x12 paper pack. I cut out hearts, punched holes at the top, painted them using the following colours...Delta Apple Green to splatter, Americana Baby Pink, Americana Canyon Orange and Delta Cardinal. I pounced instead of brushed on my colours. First  I gave my chipboard hearts a coat of gesso. I punched an inchie punch out of scrap and used the window to draw it on the heart and cut it out before I painted, I Painted the heart back and front. Use heat gun to speed up drying. Then I print and cut images a bit larger to fit over the window on my heart. I then added grommets to my heart to put ribbon through. Covered the back of the heart with a smaller shaped heart from designer paper with pinking shears so I can add To and From. Aren't they the cutest? I am not usually into Valentines but for some reason this triggered it....thanks Helga for some inspiration.

 Click on the images to get a good close up of the colours, they blended so nicely with the pouncing I did.

 And....there's more....wake up.....

These are some bamboo tiles I got from a kit I ordered a while back from Artchix Studio. The kit contained a sheet of images, a few bamboo tiles. I won a challenge on Facebook back late summer so I finally ordered a few things and used my coupon. I am addicted to these suckers. I posted on FB I was looking for place mats and lo and behold my Mum found me some and I was able to locate some locally but I will wait till Mum's arrive before I set out for more. There are 130 in one place mat. They come in black, natural and a walnut colour. wooohooo, I love these. My dictionary pages are getting cut up as I am cutting words out of it and adding to some. I used ball chain to hang them and I experimented and coloured one ball chain with alcohol ink and I was amazed at how wonderful it turned out.

I must thank Jenxo who sent me one of these

 along with a swap we had over Christmas, it sparked  ideas. I have received many comments on it and I plan to sell these in the fall. They are so addicting and you could put many things on these besides images. Stay tuned as I have so many ideas for these I can't stop....

And last but not least some wooden puzzle piece magnets. I loved that heart colour I did a couple puzzle pieces. Added some images I had on the computer, found a few quotes online and added some either bling or Stickles for interest.

Thank you for bearing with me during this long post.

It is raining here when it should be snowing so we are on high flood alert in the basement.

Til next time, stay crafty my friends.

♥

More Calendars, an ATC and Hearty goodness

I have had these few calendars done since late last week but with Blogger acting up and things going on around here I am only getting to these now. The days are flying by so my calendar will be put to good use very shortly.

Here are the following months......

May-Colorized bleach....I think this is my fav technique so far.....

June....Gradient Stamping with a Twist

July...... Bubble Wrap Emboss Resist

August Calendar will be coming soon, I needed to buy Crayons for that one..

Remember to take a peek over at Ink Stains with Roni for all of her techniques. You can find all the Months on her Right side bar. This is a lot of fun.

And here is a challenge for Bella Creations in the OhLaLa group.

Heather gave us a Gecko Gal Bingo card image only to work with.

Here I did some Gimp (Image Manipulation), added the B/W girl image and coloured her, added butterfly wings, then replaced the O in Bingo with a Gimp brush.

I inked the edges with Jumbo Java Ink by Tsenko then pleated some pink ribbon and seam binding together, added my little safety pin and charms. Overall this was a good challenge for me to use Gimp and get more practise. I am coming along but I am no where near a Graphic Artist....yet...

One more little ditty.....

On Artchix, Helga gave a little tutorial for painting hearts using their Eco Shapes. I didn't have any on hand so I cut my own hearts out, made an inchie window, painted with similar colours that Helga used. I think they turned out pretty spiffy. I love the slip slap of paint and blending right on the surface. Of course I used a good scruffy brush for this then I used a toothbrush to splatter on the Apple Green. Love the combos here.

Thank you for dropping by.

I can't remember if I posted but the car is fixed, many dollars later but I am up and running.

It was covered in ice from last weeks ice storm but it is OK now and I am a Happy Camper.

Keep arty my friends.

♥

We have a Winner......

Drum Roll please.........the Winner of my 300th Blog Post Giveaway is...... Sandi

Congratulations Sandi. I tried to send you a private message but Blogger is acting up so if I can't contact you by this evening I will do so tomorrow.

I will need your mailing address to send out the Prize Package.

Thank you everyone, I wish I could give you all a prize but recent car events have made that impossible.

With big (Hugs) to everyone.

♥