Taking a Break

....from my faces.  Sometimes I feel like I've been doing this blog so long, my posts all look alike.  I'm stepping out of my comfort zone here and posting a photo that's a bit more abstract.....a little unusual for me.  As much as I adore flowers and nature,  I've been trying to look at shapes, angles, etc.  This shot was really different....I took it looking through the glass to a multi-level steel staircase structure.

Okay....now that I've posted something out of the ordinary for me, the next image is a still life which I "doctored" with Kim Klassen's "Abstract" texture and the

dry brush filter a couple times.  I think I may have also used the watercolor filter...can't remember.  

Now if you want to look at some faces, take a look at Ruth's newest blog "Tawny Moon Studio".  I do like her mixed media combinations.

linking to Texture Tuesday.

Today's Girl

A new journal page.  I first laid down a background of Faber Castell's Gelatos and Glimmer mists plus added gesso.  I drew my funky girl on top even with ridges from gesso. Jane's class is encouraging us to get out all the art supplies we have sitting on shelves and work with them.....colored pencils, watercolor pencils, water based markers, alcohol markers, paint daubers, Twinkling H2O's, Distress paints and markers and much more. I thought I had a lot of supplies, but I don't have even half of what Jane uses.  And....I'm going to try not to purchase much more.   Notice I said "much".  

I still need to work on hair....just like my own hair, it's always a work in progress/practice!  I love her big eyes and diminutive mouth.  

I found some more classes I want to take.....found this website through one of my Flickr contacts.  I want to take every one of her classes.  They sound like so much fun.  Carla's teaching a Gelli art class now.  I'd sign up for it now, but I'm in one too many classes as it is.  I also found her husband's class on Photo Silly.  I had seen his class advertised a couple years ago on Alisa Burke's blog.  For whatever reason I failed to bookmark it and then when I looked for it again, it was not there.  I will definitely be taking his class.  

Oh Universe, can I please have some more time????

Garden Show

I took this shot at the annual garden show in Crystal Court.  There are always lots of plant vendors as well as vignettes designed by landscapers. There are literally flowers everywhere on all three floors of this mall.  I loved all the gorgeous colors and the unique designs.    

I thought this image might look nice with an overlay of the  gelatin prints I made today.  

Talk about a riot of color........I didn't have to do much editing to it.

Now go find your rainbow!

Gelatin Prints

Recently our art group got together and learned how to make gelatin prints.  Libby had both the "Gelli" plate and homemade gelatin plates.  Yesterday I made my own plate, and today I played with it pulling prints from stencils and masks.

Some of my results here.....

These should make good journal pages and maybe I'll draw a couple faces on them.

I did do a face on one of my journal pages here

I'm trying to do a face a day but I'm getting behind on Beyond Layers 2 and on my Lightroom class.  I need more time!!  Don't we all?

Practice Practice....

I've been busy.......practicing my faces and a body here and there.

Beginning stages below...

Another beginning drawing and after watercolor addition...

 Another dreamer...

A little body and what Jane calls "lolly legs".  We cut them up and placed them in different positions for fun and probably to learn more about the movement of the human body for drawing purposes...

Another before and after below....

Drawing faces is not a simple thing for me but I do enjoy it.

Another body.....

More next week.  I plan to incorporate more journal art with faces and bodies.

Girl 2 with Another Layer

She looked a bit drab so I added watercolor.  I think I could pump up the color of her hair a bit. Since I'm somewhat new to colored pencil faces, I'm a little hesitant to "go for it".  I need to relax and go with the flow.

Splash Masks

Jerry from Shadowhouse Creations has the most gorgeous textures and gives them away.  His latest is a collection of 

"Splash" masks.  You can go here to download

them.  Thank you, Jerry.

Here is my first edit using one of these new masks. I set it off with

a border from Pixlr.com.

Cool?  He gives you the instructions too. I can see endless possibilities for using these.  As he says, you can use

more than one mask and play with blend 

modes and opacities to your heart's content.

Have a happy Mothers Day with Mom or whomever this week-end.

I Collect.....

That was the theme for the past week's Beyond Layers 2.  I really don't think of myself as a collector, but when I started looking around the house, I found  that 

I am a collector of sorts.  I love blue/white items of decor.  

I also have lots of sea shells.  They are mostly  shades of white (my favorite color for decorating).  

Their organic nature and variety of shapes appeal to me.  Many of you already know I'm a Buddha 

collector.  I saw another one yesterday that I'm mulling over.  I don't really need it but it's so beautiful.  But then.....do we really need anything we collect???

This past week has been really busy.  I'm still working on my face drawing skills.  

This is the first few steps of the process using only colored pencils.

Oh the eyes.....they are the hardest for me.  But Jane Davenport is certainly sharing her tips in her class.

Also this week our little "Eastside Art" group got together at Libby's house Wednesday and had a great time.  In the morning we learned how to make our own gelatin "slab" for  gelatin prints and made all kinds of wonderful prints.  In the afternoon we sewed our prints on batting to make artistic "prayer flags".  I did not take photos, but you can see great photos of our work here on Jacki's blog.  She took wonderful photos of Libby's beautiful home and of our art.  Thank you, Jacki.  And a big thank you to Libby for sharing her talent with all of us.  It really was a fun day!  

I Love Colored Pencils

I've never really worked much with colored pencils even though I have a set of Prismacolors.  This class taught by Jane Davenport seemed just like the ticket for me.....wanting to keep up with my other artistic endeavors aside from photography and digital editing.   I love drawing faces.  I also have an entire bookcase of art supplies that I haven't used in forever.  It is a fun class, and I think I've learned a few things about drawing faces.  We started with colored pencils.  I must admit, drawing a face with colored pencils was a daunting task.  Jane has us practicing on all types of paper.  Cold press watercolor paper is not the best for colored pencils when it comes to blending.......lesson #1.

I will share some more as I go.  

I'm still taking Kim's Beyond Layers and I'm a bit behind on that...trying to juggle several classes at the same time.....

See you soon.....

Texture Tuesday - April 23

Spring has definitely arrived in Southern California.  I have only six rose bushes but they are sporting beautiful new dresses.  This is my first large bouquet and there are still as many on the 

bushes.  When I bought the bushes, I had several requirements.  They must be able to handle living at the beach which is overcast and a little cool in spring months.  They must have beautiful form (I prefer the pointed buds).  They must have fragrance and they must open beautifully.  There are some roses that are so pretty as buds but they open and blow out.   A long list of requirements I know, but I only had room for six.

For Texture  Tuesday, Kim gave us pretty much free license to play......just needed to use at least one of her textures.

I used two layers of her "Cameron" from her paper collection.  First layer was at soft light 100% and next layer was at darker color 100%.  This was the result

I also edited in Lightroom (lightened the highlights and shadows) before I added textures and text in PSE.

Have a great week and don't forget to visit Kim's linky party.