oops!

So, Friday I promised I tell you a funny story about one of the faces I've done. This girl...

When I started the page, as usual, I didn't really have a plan as to where I was going with it. I just started by painting the background, using some stencils and then some stamps. I used a few of the stamps from this Bo Bunny set. I used the "scratchy" one and the coffee stains one. (I know you don't see the coffee stains one, keep reading & you'll see why. LOL)

After creating the background, I {obviously} decided there needed to be a girl there. So, I drew the girl and proudly showed the page to one of my friends. (We were having a crafty day.)

She looks at it and says basically, "Um, why does she have such huge boobs?!" I was like WHAT?! 

I hadn't paid any attention to where I was drawing the face in relation to the stamps that I had used and this was the result!

Oh. Em. Gee!!! We were all rolling laughing. I hadn't even realized what I'd done!

Needless to say, she got a bit of a makeover. And... I pay a bit more attention to what I'm doing now. LOL

playing around

I was playing around in my art journal yesterday & decided to take pictures as I went. I missed a step or two, but hopefully you'll get the idea. ;)

As I've been experimenting over the last couple of months with different products in my journal, I've come to realize I'm not a huge fan of using sprays. Or at least in the way they're intended to be used. The splatter-y look just doesn't seem to work for me. I like it in other people's journals, just not my own.

In an effort to expand my horizons a bit, I used Dylusions Inks to create my background. My friend Rebecca gave me a Studio Calico kit box to help prevent over spray. It works really well!

Then I used Liquitex Matte Gel to spread the spray like paint. I like how it didn't dilute the gorgeous color!

While I didn't really mind the brush strokes, I wanted a bit more texture, so I wadded up a piece of plastic wrap and pressed it into the spray/gel. I LOVE how it turned out!

 (I changed to my actual camera so the pictures look a bit different now.)

Next I sprayed green in the center, spritzed with water & moved my journal back & forth to let the ink drip.

I tried a technique I've seen on various videos, blogs, etc., where you sprinkle salt on top of the ink. It soaks up the dye and leaves little circles of lighter color.

Once it's dry, you brush off the salt to reveal the mottled texture. To be honest, I wasn't super happy with how it turned out.  Maybe I used too much salt, or let it sit too long before brushing off. I debated painting over it, but decided to just roll with it.

A few days ago, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out some stencils. LOVE that I can do this, btw. One that I cut was a kind of doily shape. (You may be able to see where I stamped some images on the background... that would be the step I forgot to get a picture of. Oops!)

The one on the left was just begging me to draw a girl in it. LOL Who am I to not listen?

This is how the page looks as of now. I want to add more to it, possibly a quote or something, but I'm just not sure what yet.

I kind of enjoyed taking step-by-step pictures as I went. Tell me what y'all think. Would you like to see more posts like this?

faces, faces, faces

Not long after I started art journaling I decided I wanted to learn how to draw faces. I vaguely remember liking to draw as a child/teen, but had never "officially" learned.

One thing I know about myself is that I'm a visual learner. Tell me how to do something? It's like my brain has short-circuited. SHOW me how? I can just about do it immediately. So, I knew I needed to watch videos and take classes.

The video/class that made the most difference was from my favorite artist, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. She has a DVD in the Interweave Store called "All About Faces: How to Draw, Paint, Stencil and Collage Faces in Mixed-Media Art". (It can be purchased as a DVD or downloaded to your computer. I did the latter.) I learned SO MUCH from this video. She talks about everything from the proportions of the face to shading and different products you can use. I love her philosophy that perfection is overrated. So freeing!

Another favorite is "The Whimsical Face" with Jane Davenport. She is so much fun, and I could listen to her accent all day!

After these and a few others, I began to feel more confident when drawing faces. I still feel like they need a lot of work sometimes, and I DEFINITELY need to work on the hair, but overall I like how they're turning out. I now have one journal that I've pretty much exclusively done faces in. My own "facebook" if you will. LOL

Here are most that I've done so far...

I have a little "funny" to share about this girl, but I'll save that for another day. ;)

This is the one I did after watching Jane Davenport's video.

I did this girl with one of my favorite products, Faber Castell Gelatos. Originally, I had intended to define her features, but found I really like her like this!

There are still a few classes I'd like to take, mainly "FACEcinating Girls" with Andrea Gomoll. I love her style and can't wait to see what I can learn from her to incorporate into my own art.

Thanks for stopping by & I hope to "see" you again soon.