Faces And Sgraffito

We are successfully dug out of the snowstorm here in NY.  It was a doosey!  And it could have been worse.  I am grateful that we are all safe.  I am hoping all of my artist friends here in the northeast faired as well with all the snow!

I have been getting back to some face sketching as I am in the midst of a love affair with abstract painting.  Misty Mawn has a new online course going on right now called "Face To Face".  If you have never taken a class with Misty I recommend it!  You will not be disappointed!  I took her class last year and it was great as is this one!  She packs so much in the class it is hard to keep up!  

I created this girl using a sgraffito technique.   Scratching is something I am loving these days, making marks in paint and now marks in oil pastel.  I had a pack of portfolio pastels that I had not yet used so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to break them out.  This was done on white pastel over black acrylic.  I am trying to continue to let go of wanting to be perfect.  So I do like this girl's face imperfections and all.  

Sharing with Sunday Sketches .

Her Mind Is Jumbled But Hopeful . . .

I was up late last night sketching.  I miss drawing.  It immediately takes me out of my own head just as painting does but there is something different about it.  And the faces come out of my own imagination never knowing what they will look like or what their expression will be.  

It felt good to use the pencil again.  As always I try not to get caught up in being perfect.  My favorite part to draw are the eyes even though hers are closed.  When she felt done I spilled some words over the page.  

"dreaming of better days, always love forever, always hopeful, let us see light"

Wondering if those are her words or mine . . . 

Sketching Faces . . . Its Been Awhile

I don't quite know why or how I got so far away from sketching . . . anything . . .

The other day I was watching reading through Misty Mawn's book Unfurling (amazing book, a must read!! )and felt inspired to sketch a face.  It was so long since I had sketched that I feared I couldn't do it.  I used charcoal and white pastel which is new for me.  Typically my sketches were only graphite.  I used the eraser to pull out the light areas.  I found this way a bit trickier, adding the light with the pastel.  Despite the fact it blended like a dream with the charcoal I found myself annoyed with the dust.  And then there were too many layers to erase.  Don't worry, there is a happy ending to this rant!  

The moment I began writing the word love all over her I finally fell in love with the sketch . . . 

Sharing with Sunday Sketches

Its All About The Hair

Today I am not feeling like myself. I am a bit bummed out, a bit sad and anxious. Its just one of those days I guess. I don't even want to create. And yet I know that would help. Instead I went out for a walk alone with my ipod. It worked for awhile but then the yucky stuff came back on in.

Anyway, I was happy to share this latest sketch with all of you. I did this one the other day in a 9x12 sketchbook which I have decided is rather large! However it did give me ample space to fill in her crazy hair. It was fun taking the graphite pencil and just scribbling. I even had it on my tabletop easel as I worked on the hair. I loved creating the smudginess around her eyes.

I am sharing her over at Sunday Sketches. Hope you are all having a joy filled day.

xo

New Portrait And Another New Class !

I laughed writing the title to this post! My online class addiction continues! I have lost count at this point of just how many classes I am taking and sometimes I forget. lol I hop around from one to the other taking little bits and pieces from each artist. Somehow that just works for me. And I get tired of slapping myself on the wrist for it.

So, having said all that I was excited to share this new portrait sketch with you. Truly if you asked me to pick one medium that I enjoy the most I would have to say sketching. And sketching faces is my favorite! I recently signed up for my first class with Pam Carriker. I have her book "Art at the Speed of Life" and love it! I refer to it often. Go out and get it! You will not be disappointed! When I found out about her "Pursuing Portraits" online class I just couldn't resist. And it is super affordable too.

I sketched out this portrait using techniques I am learning from Pam. I used watersoluble graphite so I could make her into a watercolor piece (not part of Pam's class) I also used my black sharpie marker to bring out the details which is always fun! This girl is so different than my other faces. And I like that about her. She looks very serious as if there is alot on her mind.

I wonder what she is thinking.

I am sharing this girl today at Paint Party Friday.

Sunday Sketches

Thanks to all of you who commented on my last post. I so appreciate the encouragement especially when I try something new. Today I have a new girl to share. I sketched her out late Friday night. I am always my most creative at night. Not good for sleep but good for art!

I used graphite and then added a black pen to outline and make her eyes pop. (you all know how I just love eyes!) I was not too happy with her hair but it was late and I just didn't want a do over.

I am sharing her over at Sunday Sketches this week.

Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend! Been painting today, a new portrait I am excited to share soon! Amazingly I don't hate it! lol

Lou and I went to the movies earlier today to see "The Vow". OMG sooo good!! Seen any good movies lately??

A Sketch, A Journal Page, And Hearts . . . More Digital Fun!

I can't seem to tear myself away from photoshop. I have been playing with digital collage using my sketches and paintings and am becoming seriously addicted! lol

Yesterday I took a recent sketch and collaged it with a journal page you may have seen in this post. I played and played till I liked how she emerged from the background. Obviously I am liking just the faces of these girls without hair.

Whether its photos or collage, photoshop seems to be my go to creative outlet.

What is your go to creative outlet that you find yourself returning to again and again?

Would love to hear about it!

xo

She Dreams of Love . . .

I am so hooked on graphite and despite the fact that I long to paint my sketches I don't want to add color. I think I am just afraid of it. Maybe I hide behind the monochrome because it is more comfortable for me. Ok, way too much analyzing here! lol

Anyway, I really enjoyed sketching her especially with closed eyes. I am crazy with eyelashes no matter if the eyes are opened or closed. After I drew the heart wings those words came to mind "she dreams of love" and I thought the perfect place for them was in her hair.

Someday maybe I will try to paint her. In the meanwhile I am sharing her over at Sunday Sketches this week. Check out Sophia's blog for all the details!

Sunday Sketches

I have been doing lots of sketching lately actually more than painting. And I seem to be very drawn to sketching pretty girl faces. This one especially I feel a connection to and I wonder what her story is. The faces always look familiar to me. Maybe they are each a part of me.

Since having learned Jane Davenport's face sketching technique I am creating even more faces. I find it an easy way to get started and I love that. Although I would like to add color to these faces for right now I am enjoying them in just graphite.

I am sharing this today for Sunday Sketches. Stop by the lovely Sophia's blog and see all the beautiful work being shared this week!

xo

Face Sketching And Another New Class :)

As most of you know I love to sketch especially pretty girl faces. I wanted to share one of my sketches using techniques I learned in a new class with Jane Davenport called "Supplies Me". If you have an addiction to art supplies like I do then this class is for you! Each week she covers a new supply and incorporates it into sketching faces and figures. Yes, my addiction to online classes continues! lol

Face sketching has always been challenging to me but Jane shares a quick and easy technique for a face which I used on this girl. I really love how she came out especially the eyes. I was supposed to use colored pencils but went with graphite in case I needed to erase. I only wish I could paint this type of face as easily as I can draw it.

I am sharing this pretty girl today for Sunday Sketches. Stop by Sophia's blog to see all the great work being shared this week!

Click HERE!!

Wishing you all a lovely creative Sunday!

xo

She Remembers . . .

In my last post I eluded to having a rough week and this girl just about says it all. I haven't been doing any art and yesterday I was feeling really upset so I went into my studio room hoping to get my mind out of its funk and anxiety. I grabbed a new piece of watercolor paper, a watersoluble graphite pencil and just started sketching a face. It was fast and messy because frankly I am tired of trying to be perfect.

I just kept adding water to her letting it go wherever it wanted to. I used a bit of black and pink caran d'ache crayons. Then I added some stamping with a few of my favorite stamps. When I stepped back and looked at her I was overwhelmed with the emotion of it. I didn't plan to make her look sad and yet she does. If I tried to create a sad face I couldn't do it. But this was what was inside me that splashed out onto the paper. The words "she remembers" popped into my head while I was stamping. And when I looked back at her I got chills.

Although I don't wish to be sad I do wish I could create art this raw all the time. I want to create art that makes people feel something. And when I look at her I feel.

I have spent most of the week crying. I have a sick pug at home and am beside myself over it. And to make things worse tomorrow is the anniversary of my first husband's death. Even though it will be 17 years it is still hard. I really never look forward to labor day weekend.

Sorry for this bummed out post today. I do hope though you enjoy the art. :)
I will be sharing this girl for Sunday Sketches. Please stop by Sophia's blog and see all the beautiful work this week!
xo

Her Hair Was Made of Hearts . . . New Sketch!

Today was supposed to be my Texture Tuesday post but alas I never got my act together for the challenge this week! Oh well. So I thought instead I would share this sketch I did yesterday.

I was having a bad day yesterday, headachy, not feeling like myself, (again, I know) so I thought about trying to sketch and get my mind off of things.

Lately I have been focusing on sketching realism with my faces but yesterday I thought it would be fun to go back to a more stylized face. And I am glad I did. I like her. Sometimes I get off track with creating what I think I "should" instead of what I truly am drawn to. I wanted to make a pretty face and I think I did!

The idea for her heart hair came after sketching in wavy hair that I hated! lol So as you can probably see I erased that and started putting down hearts.

The words came last that I scribbled up in the right corner. . .

"Her Hair Was Made of Hearts That Fell From The Sky . . . "

I think she will look pretty on a canvas. . .

xo

New Sketch . . . Feeling More Free To Be Messy

Last night while Lou and I were watching the finale of American Idol (anyone else watch?) I grabbed my sketchbook which had a bit of dust on it. I always have it out in the living room along with a couple of my graphite pencils just in case the mood hits me which it hasn't in a very long time. And since the finale show was so darn long I started decided to start moving the pencil around.

Lately I have been telling Lou that I long to be messy in my art work. I want to paint and draw recklessly, just letting my muse lead me. But what happens is I am wound up tighter than a knot and am constantly trying to achieve perfection from the get go with each piece I attempt. I feel like it would be more fun to just let go and be messy! So that is just what I did with this sketch. I was making crazy marks laying down shadow areas on the face, and where the eyes, nose and mouth would be. I just tried to keep the pencil moving and not stop to correct anything. There was a lot of correction that came later but I have to say that it felt so freeing to draw that way. And the end result is so different than any face I have drawn before. Even the nose which usually makes me crazy cause it is so hard to draw came easier somehow. I cannot stop looking at her!

Have any of you felt that way with your art? Hope you guys like her as much as I do! I so want to try and paint her. And paint her messy and imperfect! Not sure about that yet. Maybe I will stick with the pencils for now. . .

PS . . . For those of you who watched AI, I was secretly hoping Lauren would win. Was shocked and a bit bummed that it was Scotty ;)

Make A Wish . . . New Collaged Piece

"Make A Wish"

mixed media on 8x8 wrapped canvas

Thanks for all the great comments on my pug photo in my last post! it is one of my favs! Who am I kidding? All of the photos I take of Bosco are my favorites! lol I thought it would make a cute card so I listed it today in my etsy shop!

Despite the fact that I woke up today with an ugly headache I tried not to let that stop me from finishing this piece I have been working on for quite a few days. This was inspired by techniques I am learning in Jodi Ohl's class "Fun With Faux Encaustics". I am veering off the traditional road with her class but am having fun learning alot of great collage layering techniques that I don't usually incorporate into my paintings. Of course I have absolutely no patience to let layers dry which can be a problem! lol

You may recognize this girl as it was a sketch I posted a few weeks ago. Well, I decided to print out my sketch on plain paper and collaged her onto the canvas. I just colored her in with some crayons and charcoal pencil. I have to say I had alot more fun coloring in a sketch than painting a face! This may be my new favorite way to get my sketches on canvas!

Make A Wish . . . A New Sketch

I want to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my last post. And for those of you who shared your own experience I thank you. It really helps to know others out there feel the same! My anxiety has lessened but it seems that there are always aftershocks that hang around for a couple of days. I want to try and keep my sketchbook close by.

Yesterday I sketched her out. Kinda going off of the previous sketch I was inspired by the face and hair from the fashionista sketch! I wondered how it would look if I did just a face in that style. I didn't feel like adding a nose and I really thought she looked ok without one. I had never tried a closed eye but I had fun working on the lashes and shading the lid. Even closed I love the eyes!

Don't know yet how she will make it to a canvas. Possibly a via altered photo . . .

Out of the Darkness . . . Scratching Up My Sketches

Out of the Darkness

mixed media on 8x10 canvas board

You may recall this face from a previous post. For this piece I printed out one of my sketches on matte photo paper and altered it with sandpaper and ink. Then I used water color crayon to do shading on her face and hair. I added some molding paste for texture and to incorporate her into the background. I love the chalkiness of black gesso. I toyed with a few things for the background details. First I sketched out a tree to the right of her but wasn't sure (you can still see it lightly sketched in white crayon) In the end as you can see I went with some butterflies that I stamped on with white gesso. I also used some micaceous iron oxide around the edges because I like the sparkles. Unfortunately the photo doesn't convey the texture or sparkle too well. She looks better in person!

I really liked altering a photo of one of my sketches. I had fun making her look a bit goth and grungy. I may just have to do another!

Sunday Night Sketching

First a big thanks to all of you for the sweet comments and well wishes! I am feeling much better although I still don't feel like I am back in an art groove. Haven't done much but tonite I sketched this lovely girl! I did some waves in the hair this time but swept to the other side. I know, not much variation from my last one but she is so different! And on this one I spent alot of time on the nose. The nose has been tough for me especially as I strive for realism in my latest sketches. I can see improvement since my last post. I also had fun with the lashes.

I hope to get back to more art soon. The sketching though I can just pick up anywhere, just paper and a pencil. So simple and yet can express so much.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Finally Back To Some Art . . .

So I have been sick for most of the past week. That would explain me being somewhat MIA here in blogland. Hubby came down with something the end of last week and then on Sunday I went down like a ton of bricks! Whatever icky bug this is took me out before I even saw it coming. And dam it is icky! Today is the first day that I have felt better. I will spare you all the details but lets just say I haven't been this sick in years. And for me it is quite a mind game given my history with chemo.

The brighter side of this post is of course my new sketch. I sketched her out tonite and it felt great to be doing some art! Oh how I have missed it! And I have missed blogging! Hope you like her as much as I do. I will be by to visit you all soon!

I have missed my lovely creative friends! :)

She Made It Through The Uglies . . .

When I started sketching her yesterday I just couldn't get it right. The beginning features I sketched out looked bad. Maybe I wasn't in the zone. So she looked pretty ugly! And then after many changes I saw this face emerge. I am used to seeing the uglies during the painting process but this is the first time I had it happen while sketching.

I am glad I was able to work through some frustration so that I could find her. As you can see I am liking the shorter hair!

Hoping you all had a great New Year's weekend!

She's A Bit Different . . .

Sketching is always exciting. I had now idea how this would come out but I really like her! My hubby bought me a 6x8" sketch book and a set of graphite pencils for christmas. I sketched her last night with my new supplies!

I am trying to stick with the realism especially in the eyes. I don't usually sketch hair this way but I love it. Not sure yet if I will paint her. For now I am enjoying looking at her in black and white.