Playing at faces

 

Sometimes just having a page of text with gesso on it begs to be used. And, a number 6B pencil smudges so nicely, it takes me a long time to decide to add color to a face. I really like drawing a simple line and running my finger over it to sculpt the shadows. This drawing sat around for several weeks, just being itself. Not asking for anything more. Floating from pile to pile until one day I glued it into a journal. Big mistake. I was sorry it stopped floating the minute I saw her surrounded by all that white space. 

A tin of Stabilo chalk pencils arrived last week and this is what happened. OK, so she is more colorful, but is she happy about it?

One more Whimsical Painting

This is the third painting I have fooled around with in the Whimsical Style taught by Mechelle Harrison at Creative Workshops.

I really enjoy using a piece of chalk to make the outlines for the forms. I don't feel as if I am doing anything serious because it's just chalk and can be erased with some spit. Cool!

But often times, when I am nearing the finish, I begin to feel sad because I like, really like, the way the chalk looks.

I mean, look at this moon! The chalk adds so much to the etherial beauty of this shape. Oh! And the texture under the black paint shows up under each stroke of the chalk.

And, here the white contrasts with the red in such a nice way.

It looks all skewudgelly. This is a new term. I just made it up. It's how it feels to be white chalk on black paint, surrounded by red and purple. Say it out loud. Ske...wud...gel..ly. See?  A very feeling term.

This window! Oh, this is the kind of window that needs to be looked out of. It turns an entire landscape into a frosted fairy wonderland and makes everyone smile for the rest of the day.

This is today's moon, it is a waxing cresent of 3% in the sign of Libra . We can't see all of it because the Earth is still somewhat in the way, but it is there alright. I know it because I painted it. If you wait a day or so, you will see it outside your window, too.
Or, if you ask nicely, it will follow you into your dreams tonight to light your way in a rainbow kind of way. You can ask it for a wish. Ask for something dear to your heart. And, if you say, "Thank you" everyday for 30 days, your dream will come true.

A fun workshop.

 One of the fun things I did during my year of contemplation was a workshop over at Creative Workshops  given by Mechelle Harrison called Whimsical Landscape Painting. Several nice videos shows her process and it was a lot of fun. Starting from a textured surface painted a dark color, I chose black, we then drew a simple landscape with chalk.

 From there it was a matter of painting color in layers to bring the landscape to life. I live in South Florida and am surrounded by beautiful palms , so I made my landscape painting of those lovely trees. Mechelle paints delightful, happy and colorful artwork that just makes me smile every time. I hope you go over to see about this workshop and have fun creating with bright colors and simple shapes.

Back after a long break...

Really did need time off to evaluate stuff. If you like to play around with numerology, as I surely do like to do, I finally realized I was in the middle of a seven year. It's a time to rest and reconsider what you are doing in your life that you would like to change or stay the same. It's a time to think about all the good things you have, are, wish to be and intend to do. The year started out with a lot of personal chaos, dipped into an abyss of self pity and then headed into a tunnel with a sparkling, tiny, but sparking light drawing me onward. The light is now all around me and I am in bliss. The bliss of being comfortable being me. The bliss that feels so hopeful. I feel the bliss of life newly born and I am grateful.